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Fiberglass is loose and Bowing under front of 5th Wheel

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Jim
 Jim
(@j_a_wolfe)
Posts: 10846
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fiberglass is bowing and separating on the edges under the front of the 5th wheel on both sides. This is over the bed of the truck on both sides of the 5th wheel hitch. The fiberglass is loose and appears to only be attached by two self tapping screws. looking for suggesting on how to fix this problem?

 
Posted : December 2, 2019 8:29 PM
(@Anonymous)
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On our2013 36RL I had/have similar problems. I found that there weren't enough screws holding the fiberglass around the 5th wheel hitch area, I put in some more screws (you have to pre-drill as the steel is thick there). I have to re-tighten those 2 screws you are talking about after a few thousand miles of towing, I considered pop rivets but then maybe they would break through the glass instead of backing out the way the screws do. It's the flexing of the steel frame caused by bad roads that probably is the cause.

 
Posted : December 3, 2019 11:30 AM
Jim
 Jim
(@j_a_wolfe)
Posts: 10846
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Topic starter
 

Thanks that helps, the fiberglass is separating along the molding on the edges just a little bit, would you recommend I pull the molding along the edge off before I tighten the fiberglass up with screws? is there a way to find the steele braces along the bottom to screw into?

 
Posted : December 3, 2019 4:20 PM
(@Anonymous)
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Is the glass separating or is it just the caulking that has separated a bit? On ours the caulking had to be re-done by the dealer and it has held up since. I would pull the rubber piece off the moulding a bit (leaving the two ends still in the groove) and tighten up the screws if loose then put the rubber back in. I would re-caulk after. I'm fortunate in that our unit is white (not painted) so colour match is easy.

 
Posted : December 4, 2019 11:34 AM
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