Hood bracket came off when driving!

[marudnick]

We have a 2019 Sunstar 29VE. We were driving on the highway today and heard a ‘clunk’ sound. Wasn’t sure what it was. We continued driving for ~100 miles more, to our next campground. When I got out, I noticed a bracket hanging to the front of the RV (picture 1, sorry it came out sideways). It took a bit to determine that it was a piece holding the hood closed. See pic 2 for the bracket. On pic 3 you can see a bracket on the right side but not on the left side.

The RV gods must have been with us today. I can’t imagine how the part hooked onto the front of the RV. If it had hit the ground, we would have likely run over it. Ugh!

Question: It looks like we have the part and just need to reattach it to the RV. Do you think a mobile tech would be able to do this or do we need to go to a service facility? Any suggestions welcome!

[Eagle5]

A mobile tech can fix that just fine.
Eagle5

[marudnick]

Originally Posted by Eagle5

A mobile tech can fix that just fine.
Eagle5

Thanks. I have a mobile tech lined up for Thursday.

[Ray,IN]

The brackets are epoxied onto the front cap.

[marudnick]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

The brackets are epoxied onto the front cap.

Is there a specific type of epoxy that should be used? If so, I can mention it to the mobile tech.
Thanks.

[powercat_ras]

All the metal hood and grille brackets on the back of the front cap are only epoxied on originally at the factory They will continue to fail one by one over time. The hood brackets normally fall down to the ground and are lost when they fail.

The epoxy only method does not seem to hold on a pretty good percentage of Winnebago front caps.

I have lost exoxy bond on the hood brackets and the grille brackets on my 2015 Vista, they started failing in 2018.

A lot of us have augmented the epoxy with a stainless steel machine bolt thru the hood brackets to provide an additional connection to the front cap and to ensure that when the epoxy fails the hood brackets stay put. The are barely noticeable on the front.

[marudnick]

Originally Posted by powercat_ras

A lot of us have augmented the epoxy with a stainless steel machine bolt thru the hood brackets to provide an additional connection to the front cap and to ensure that when the epoxy fails the hood brackets stay put. The are barely noticeable on the front.

Can you tell me more? Just drill thru the fiberglass? I haven’t worked with fiberglass before, so I’m a bit hesitant to try something like this. Any suggestions on who could do this for me (body shop, RV dealer, mobile tech)?
Thanks.

[Morich]

I can't point to any specific post, but it is a semi-common thing to hear about and there should be several come up on a search of the subject. A Google search may turn up lots more if you go into other brands as it is a reasonably common method.

EDIT: I did a simple search for hood latch in the search box above and got ten hits, so you can choose your method!

[powercat_ras]

The metal bracket that failed has slots that will self position it on the back of the cap. I used a #10 1" Hex head Stainless Steel Machine bolt with Nylock Nut and a flat washer on the inside on the center of the middle slot of the bracket that fell off. I did not use a washer on the outside. I drilled an 1/8" starter hole from the inside, (you hold the bracket in place to locate the right spot to drill the starter hole). Use a sharp drill bit and light pressure. Then you drill the bigger hole that matches the bolt shaft from the outside, that way you don't break out the gelcoat bigger than the hole size you want.

Check to make sure the #10 bolt will go thru the slot in the metal bracket, I can't remember if I had to enlarge the slot to make the #10 bolt pass thru it.

You will want to break off all the loose old epoxy that was going thru the slots to get a good fit, making sure it goes down tight against the old epoxy. You will want to rough up the epoxy and the cap side of the bracket with sandpaper before you re-epoxy it. I re-epoxied with JB Weld. The bolt holds it in position and stationary while the epoxy cures. The epoxy takes a few hours to cure to near full strength, I would not move the RV for that amount of time while the epoxy cures.

The bolt plus JB Weld repair has held up well for me, 6 years and still rock solid.

[wyocamper]

This thread has a lot of good information on the issue.Stainless steel bolts/screws are the way to go.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by marudnick

Is there a specific type of epoxy that should be used? If so, I can mention it to the mobile tech.
Thanks.

The original epoxy is identified on the Winnebago call-out sheet for sealants. If I were to DIY, I'd also use the SST hardware.

[marudnick]

Thanks to all for your comments. I was surprised, and disappointed, to hear that this is not an uncommon problem and Winnebago hasn’t decided to fix it. We were lucky that we didn’t run over the part and get our tire shredded.

We’re scheduled to have a mobile tech reconnect with epoxy. Hopefully that will hold for at least a few months. Then we can do the screws after we return from this trip.

[powercat_ras]

Originally Posted by marudnick

Thanks to all for your comments. I was surprised, and disappointed, to hear that this is not an uncommon problem and Winnebago hasn’t decided to fix it. We were lucky that we didn’t run over the part and get our tire shredded.

We’re scheduled to have a mobile tech reconnect with epoxy. Hopefully that will hold for at least a few months. Then we can do the screws after we return from this trip.

The tech will have difficulty getting the bracket securely re-epoxied without the nut and bolt to hold it securely in place tight against the back of the cap while the epoxy cures, it's a tough location to get a clamp between the back of the bracket and the front side of the cap, and since it's vertical gravity really fights getting it reattached without it moving for the hour or so it takes the epoxy to cure to a decent % of it's final strength.

Hope it all goes well for you, good luck.

[Ray,IN]

I'll find out how a new epoxy job holds up when i get my MH back from the body shop. They had to rebuild the lower half of the front cap, which includes the access door raising assembly.

[edju]

Originally Posted by marudnick

Thanks to all for your comments. I was surprised, and disappointed, to hear that this is not an uncommon problem and Winnebago hasn’t decided to fix it. We were lucky that we didn’t run over the part and get our tire shredded.

We’re scheduled to have a mobile tech reconnect with epoxy. Hopefully that will hold for at least a few months. Then we can do the screws after we return from this trip.

I hope it's not too late, but I hope your tech scrapped off the glue from the bracket and the inside of the fiberglass front. That helps the epoxy get a good bond. I used JB Weld 5 minute epoxy. You have to work quick, but that helps with the gravity drift of the bracket. I also used a curtain tension rod against a frame and the bracket to hold it in place just to be sure. My fix has lasted 3+ years and 20K miles, still seems solid. Just in case it comes loose again, I tied a string to the bracket and the frame to prevent losing it or causing damage running over it. Good Luck.
Ed

[Ted Fyden]

i epoxied mine last year and clamped in place for 24 hours. its still there this year and debating to put bolts in. I had read other posts and it does seem to happen. i didnt find mine and $110 dollar part and another 4150 plus to get epoxy gun and epoxy later its still there.at least i have the tools now..

[wahoonc]

Mine is still on the 2014 Itasca Meridian, however, I am going to go ahead and add some SS cap screws and nylock nuts. Better to be safe than sitting on the side of the road.

Aaron

[marudnick]

Follow up to this. I had a great mobile tech come by. He came the first time, but realized the epoxy he brought wasn’t up for the task. He sanded and removed all the old epoxy before attaching the bracket but it didn’t last. I called him and he came back a second time with a better, thicker epoxy. He clamped it down and told me to leave it cure until we were leaving, 3 days later. No extra charge for the second visit. We have now driven 175 miles and it seems ok. I’m going to check the brackets each time we leave. Eventually, I may drill the screws but we’re partway thru a 2 month trip and I don’t want to deal with the screws while we’re on the road.

Thanks all for your comments. If you are ever in Alabama and need a mobile tech, look up Mike @ RV Hero’s.

[Hermes2]

FWIW, this is a REALLY common WBGO problem. There are a number of lengthy threads on this on the iRV forum. When it happened to me, I sanded the brackets to bare metal, sanded the epoxy and used JB Weld (original) on the brackets along with clamps to hold them in place until it cured. The failure also occurred on the front grill. So far, the fix has lasted for two years so far.

[Ted Fyden]

I forgot the before pic but here is the after.