Front Cap Separation

[Nadge]

Originally Posted by dabrooks

I think I have fixed all my design flaws along with the other fixes which were QC problems. There were quite a few of each. While you are under the hood looking to see if your dash is loose also check the aluminum blocks that are epoxied to the front cap that hold the grill and headlights on.

I too had to re-epoxy the angle iron support (mine isn't aluminum block) for the front grill on my 2013 Allegro 36 LA.
I also added a center brace to further support the flexing front fiberglass around the grill.

[traveler of california]

Mine is at the dealer getting repaired as I write this. Should be done by Friday. I was told the repair is pretty easy but the painting adds time. Tiffin has been very good about this matter and we love our rig.

[dabrooks]

Originally Posted by traveler of california

Mine is at the dealer getting repaired as I write this. Should be done by Friday. I was told the repair is pretty easy but the painting adds time. Tiffin has been very good about this matter and we love our rig.

Do you have any pictures of the separation you could post? I would also be interested in pictures after the repair. I may have sounded a bit negative but we also love our rig but it doesn't mean that Tiffin couldn't do a much better job of design for attaching things as well as quality control.

[HGC]

Originally Posted by Nadge

I too had to re-epoxy the angle iron support (mine isn't aluminum block) for the front grill on my 2013 Allegro 36 LA.
I also added a center brace to further support the flexing front fiberglass around the grill.

Not sure of where the dash would be loose and what part of the grill you are talking of; ie: the lower or moveable upper grill. It all seems flimsy to me. As far as the dash goes, are you talking about the firewall from the front or talking about looking under the dash where they have "L" channels as braces in a rather "homemade" design? Thanks for any enlightenment on this subject.

[dabrooks]

If you raise the the hood and crane your neck around and look up you can see the bottom of the dash it looks like 3/4 particle board. You can see the vinyl material that forms the dash padding tucked under and stapled to the underside of the dash. That area sits on and is screwed down on a fiberglass ledge from the top. The screws are hidden under the decorative trim buttons that are near the windshield. If you push up from the bottom on the front edge of the dash you will be able to tell if the dash is still secure.

The grill that came loose on mine is the black lower part not the actual hood. Again if you raise the hood and look down at the inside of the grill you will see it is attached to metal blocks that are epoxied to the fiberglass. Two of those metal blocks came loose on mine. Also the drivers side headlight came loose because it is attached using the same epoxied system.

[HGC]

Thanks for the info on the dash and other loosening problems. Our dealer in Ohio has damaged more things than they fixed, so I can't use them. Rather hire the 3 Stooges. If we have to get things worked on that I can't fix, we will go to Connecticut Motor Cars since they seem to be a Tiffin surrogate and are said to do excellent work.
Soon as we get it out of winter storage I will check on this dash separation. It would explain the banging noise I hear when going over highway bumps and the like. Always sounds like the cabinets are going to fall off(and some parts have). What a joke this MH is. Like you, I have spent way too much time working on this thing and don't need to spend time at the Tiffin camp and drive 800mi. to WAIT FOR THEM TO FIX WHAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER LEFT THE FACTORY!
My heartfelt sympathy goes to those even more invested $ wise (like Buses or Phaetons).

[traveler of california]

Originally Posted by dabrooks

Do you have any pictures of the separation you could post? I would also be interested in pictures after the repair. I may have sounded a bit negative but we also love our rig but it doesn't mean that Tiffin couldn't do a much better job of design for attaching things as well as quality control.

My separation is very similar to picture posted earlier (post 5) in this thread except that mine is about 6" higher. If someone can tell me how to post a picture from my iPhone I would be happy to do so.

[Roger G]

I took my 36 LA to Red Bay today to get my front cap separation repaired. I was told that it is under warranty. I talked to my dealer first and they were authorized to do the work but I'm as close to RB as my dealer.

[TurtleKent]

Take pics and send them to Don Boyd. Then listen for Tiffin's remedy.

[dabrooks]

Originally Posted by Roger G

I took my 36 LA to Red Bay today to get my front cap separation repaired. I was told that it is under warranty. I talked to my dealer first and they were authorized to do the work but I'm as close to RB as my dealer.

Could you please let us know what they do to repair it and if possible some photos would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
While you are there it wouldn't be a bad idea to get them to check your dash and the mounting points for the grill.

[Roger G]

Checked the dash and it is ok. The dealer told me that what Tiffin told him to do was to attach something to the inside to act as a backing plate. Then use whatever bonding agent that is originally used to attach the front cap to reattach the separation. He would then pop rivet through the cap into the backing plate. The new trim piece would cover all this and be repainted. I didn't get to talk to the actual service guy, he was already gone for the day but the guy I did talk to said they would call me Monday to go over the procedure before they started. I'm going to suggest that they go ahead and add the backing plate and rivets to the passenger side as well while they have the trim removed. I would assume they would use an aluminum strip or metal but that wasn't discussed. I will get more details but may not get pictures since I just dropped it off and left it. From the pictures that I have seen and conversations it seem this always occurs at the seam between the side wall and the lower fiberglass fender and seems to always be on the drivers side? Just an FYI, if you ever wanted to take your coach to Red Bay, now is the time. There is NOBODY there. They pulled mine in a bay when I got there so they could start on it first thing Monday morning. There might have been 10-12 MHs on the runway.

[dabrooks]

Thanks for the update.

[Roger G]

I picked up the MH last Wednesday. They informed me that the trim was removed and the cap was screwed down and reglued. New trim was installed and repainted. I haven't crawled under to see if any backing was added but it looks good as new. They repaired the passenger side even though it hadn't separated. The tech said that he hadn't seen any problems on the passenger side, everything he had repaired had been drivers side but I requested that repairs be done to both sides anyway. All repairs were covered under warrant even though my coach was out of warranty.

[dabrooks]

Thank you for the update. You were very wise to have them fix both sides. Mine separated on both sides.