Part fell off

[Lloyd59hen]

Last time I checked oil in my 2005 Adventurer I found a 51" long piece of rectangular aluminum tubing (3/4 x1 1/2 inch) under the hood opening rattling around. This was originally glued to the underside of upper area of grill opening, and just fell off. The damage this could have done would be major if it got into rotating engine parts or tire area. I suppose this adds some strength to the fiberglass, but this area seems very strong now. I do not know if I want to put this back or not, to attach with glue only is not what I would want to do, any fasteners would require drilling and exposed hardware. Any ideas? Maybe this was an addition to perhaps solve a cracking problem in grill area.
Lloyd Morris
Denton, TX

[FIRE UP]

Lloyd,
Well Sir, welcome to the world of "falling off parts" on Winnes and some Itascas. It seems to be a sort of "common" occurrence, sort of. There's a few threads on here about many parts that have just, dropped off the coaches. It seems Winne might not have prepped some of the parts for "gluing" as they should have. Some have re-installed-glued with alternate epoxies or, even fiberglass and resin.

I had a fender, just behind the left front tire start to flap around and it was the double face tape that Itasca uses that broke free. Well, I pried it out, cleaned all the surfaces with alcohol and whatever else I thought was needed for a good cleaning and then, put in some "Gorilla glue" and clamped it for 24 hours. I don't think I could get that part off now with a crow bar. Anyway, if you know exactly where it goes, a good and thorough cleaning of all the surfaces, and, either an epoxy or, Gorilla Glue, or Fiberglass and resin will most likely result in a permanent repair. Just make sure the surfaces are as clean, and dust free as possible prior to mate up. Good luck.
Scott

[cmpncrsaider]

I've glued metal to the fibreglass in a few spots on my rig with urethane adhesive, been over a year now and still strong. Don't get it on anything it won't come off (.)