04 Meridian - Rear cap pulling away from coach

[Catpowered]

Within the past month I noticed the entire rear cap on our 04 Meridian pulling away from the side walls about 1/2" on the driver's side and 1/8" on the passenger's side. It is noticeable because the white fiberglass under the body paint is showing that much behind the vertical trim strips. It is most noticeable directly below the engine air intake. There is almost no "pull away" at the top and bottom of the cap. Winnebago service and my dealer service said they had not seen this before, did not know what caused it nor how to fix it.
Any forum members experienced this and what was the fix?

[Duner]

I have had a similar problem. My coach is the same year as yours and I expect that the problem is caused by the workmanship (or lack of). Mine separated about 1/4 from the driver-side sidewall near the top and ok near the bottom. But there was no pulling apart across the top so there wasn't any water leak issues.

Then last summer I had a little mishap going over a gravel slope when the rear cap driver-side caught the ground and ripped the whole cap loose on that side all the way up to the roof. It was pulled back about 1-2 feet and cracked the cap in many places. I took it to a highly recommended shop called The Paint Department in Chino, CA.

Since I had the separation problem, I was looking closely at why it was happening. Two of the screws near the top that hold that side of the cap to sidewall were installed too close to the edge of the cap and were broke out of the edge of the fiberglass.

I watched them do the repair and they very delicately used a forklift and a 4x4 to push the cap back forward while another guy screwed it down back in the original position.

If you remove the trim on yours where it is separated you'll see the screw holes pulled out or else maybe the screws are sheared off. I suspect it's like mine and the holes are too close the edge ( as in 1/8") of the cap so there's not enough structural strength to withstand the stresses.

My rig looks like new again. I can highly recommend The Paint Department for bodywork and painting. Being a fulltimer, they allowed me to stay in my rig the whole time with 50 amp and water hookups and a dump on site. And 5 or 6 coats of buffed out clear, it looks like a million dollars!

Good luck, Bill

[RickO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duner I watched them do the repair and they very delicately used a forklift and a 4x4 to push the cap back forward while another guy screwed it down back in the original position. Good luck, Bill

You know they're not working on some little classic car when body work involves a forklift and a 4x4...

Rick

[Catpowered]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duner I have had a similar problem. My coach is the same year as yours and I expect that the problem is caused by the workmanship (or lack of). Mine separated about 1/4 from the driver-side sidewall near the top and ok near the bottom. But there was no pulling apart across the top so there wasn't any water leak issues. Then last summer I had a little mishap going over a gravel slope when the rear cap driver-side caught the ground and ripped the whole cap loose on that side all the way up to the roof. It was pulled back about 1-2 feet and cracked the cap in many places. I took it to a highly recommended shop called The Paint Department in Chino, CA. Since I had the separation problem, I was looking closely at why it was happening. Two of the screws near the top that hold that side of the cap to sidewall were installed too close to the edge of the cap and were broke out of the edge of the fiberglass. I watched them do the repair and they very delicately used a forklift and a 4x4 to push the cap back forward while another guy screwed it down back in the original position. If you remove the trim on yours where it is separated you'll see the screw holes pulled out or else maybe the screws are sheared off. I suspect it's like mine and the holes are too close the edge ( as in 1/8") of the cap so there's not enough structural strength to withstand the stresses. My rig looks like new again. I can highly recommend The Paint Department for bodywork and painting. Being a fulltimer, they allowed me to stay in my rig the whole time with 50 amp and water hookups and a dump on site. And 5 or 6 coats of buffed out clear, it looks like a million dollars! Good luck, Bill

Thanks, Bill. This what I needed to know if I attempt the repairs myself. I called our local RV repair shop and they said it was 8 -10 hours labor. It doesn't sound that difficult, just finding a means of pushing the cap back in place.

[The Shadow]

My 04 Journey 39W had the same problem. The Service Dept of my dealer noticed it and they fixed it. Had the same problem with my Jayco Kodiak - in that case the screws used were too short and the factory service dept replaced them with much longer screws and that solved the problem. I have a feeling the Journey suffered from short screws as well.

Don

[bachler]

I had that problem with our Advantage; I made a little cart out of 1" SQ. tubing with 4 Little Rubber wheels from Harbor Frieght, Jacked the cap up clamped it to the cart, Took the stripping off to remove the screws, Pulled it away Retaped the air vent while I was in there, Cleaned it up put it back And used 5200 sealer, It has been good . I did the front anr rear the same way The shop wanted some were near $2500.00 To do the job; It cost me about $100.00 Plus I enjoyed it;;

[wagonmaster2]

I guess this is more of Winny's famous quality built coaches. Never heard of any other brand of motor homes coming apart like that.

Wagonmaster2

[Catpowered]

I agree with the crappy design and assembly. Up until now this has been a good coach but with problems like this why would I want to buy another Winnebago product? I suspect some staff member from Winnebago reads these forums but they will never answer or identify themselves as such. I would love it if Winnebago cared enough about their products that they would privately contact the owner with severe problems such as mine and suggest a solution. Perhaps when one of their quality built caps falls off and causes serious injury to the driver behind you they will initiate a recall. From the other coaches I have looked at it appears that the 2004 models are the worst.

[Duner]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catpowered ..... From the other coaches I have looked at it appears that the 2004 models are the worst.

Yes, I believe that Winnie ramped up fast in 2003 and 2004 to their peak production in these years. As a result, there must have been about 1/3 of the crew working as rookies that were not trained very well. And the quality department did not keep up with the rapid growth.

Additionally, they use drill screws everywhere in dissimilar materials, so a huge number of them are striped out or not all the way in tight.

My 1999 Chieftain had much better quality than my '04 Chieftain.

Bill

[ron55]

I totally agree with Mr Duner, absolutely no quality control!

[The Shadow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ron55 I totally agree with Mr Duner, absolutely no quality control!

When we had our 04 Journey 39W and I made similar comments the Winnie elite would get very upset. My view was that the QC was done by Larry, Curly and Moe. The sad thing was that during those boom years Larry, Curly and Moe did the QC for most of the manufacturers.

At this time, after owning our 2011 Impulse for almost 3 months, I can say that the quality "appears" to be MUCH better. With the Journey we had a big punch list over the first three months and it continued for the 15 months we owned it. With the Impulse, the only problem to date has been a T in the water line that was used for a 90 deg bend and the open end wasn't capped adequately. When city water was connected (dealer is on a well) the cap worked off but fortunately we were able to turn it off fairly quickly. The dealer fixed it the next morning and then we were off to Florida.

I did think our DVD player wasn't working because it skipped the sound every five seconds. Dealer selected the HDMI setting and it worked fine (I was a bit embarrassed on that one). No other problems to day. And, the Ford E450 is a lot better than I anticipated.

I'd be interested to know if owners who have recently taken delivery of other 2011 Winnie/Itasca models are having a similar good experience at this time.