Diplomat windshield and fiberglass

[DAVEfromPA]

After two years of blissfully trouble free fulltiming in our 2008 Diplomat, we've recently had some trouble. To upgrade my Pa driver's license, I visited a DMV office in a small strip center in Lancaster, PA. There, I encountered an unusually angled speedbump. It violently roiled and rolled the coach unlike anything previously experienced in our 15,000 miles. A cabinet door opened, throwing china all over the counter and floor. Two weeks later while traveling from PA to central IL I realized my wife and I were yelling at each other. The new wind noise was caused by a gap in the upper curbside corner of the windshield. When we arrived in Bloomington Normal, we were referred to an auto glass company that does work for at least two local RV companies. The tech was very reassuring over the phone. However, upon arrival at the coach he said he'd never seen a situation like ours (of course). That said, he worked at the seal with his special tool and looked over the situation. He then had me lower one jack to twist the chassis and the windshield did seem to move. He banged on it with his hand, declared that it was as good as he could do and filled the areas around the two top corners with urethane. (We since have about 100 miles on the coach with three levelings and so far the winshield has held.)
The next morning, we noticed a 2 1/2 inch crack in the fiberglass at the lower front corner of the roadside rear slideout; just above the jack we had raised for the windshield repair. While I had never examined a fiberglass crack, before, it was fractured along its center edges as if it was a compression crack. At that point we were referred to a body shop that specializes in RV fiberglass work and had glowing reviews. At their shop the owner looked at the crack and said he had never seen one quite like that, before. (of course.) The repair looked great in his parking lot, but, failed before we had driven the 18 miles back to camp. The bodyshop is going to take another run at it.
I'm beginning to believe I may be going about this wrong. Any comments from more experienced RVer's would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[JimM68]

Ouch. I ain't gonna touch this one, other than to say it is really hard to imagine that a dip with an rr8r chassis has tweeked it's frame at parking lot speed!

[bullydogs1]

I wonder if you could take pictures of the areas involved and send them to Jeff Marner at ALL4ONE or Brett from ALLIANCE Coach in Wildwood Fl..Both of these people are ex Monaco people and I would try to seek their help...There was some kind of HALO kid which reinforced the fiberglass on 2007 windshields but I can't begin to guess if that had anything to do with it.

[moisheh]

I would start with a truck frame/Alignment shop. Will not cost much for them to look at this. Another thought: Contact your insurance company and have the adjuster recommend a shop. This should be an insured "accident". You will need a special shop to do the repairs. Sorry to hear of your problem. Good luck.

[Robert T]

Sorry to hear what had happen. I am a field adjuster for a large insurance company.What you have is most likley a collsion claim on your policy. I am in NE Ohio and you are in Pa what part I do not know. If near Ohio I could make a shop suggestion.

I have handle claims such as this and what I found on one claim I handled caused the fiber glass to twist with inner wall structure. Claim was over $22,000 paid out to fix.Had to remove interior walls ,set the coach on a level area which was a frame rack,tie the coach down then squared the body and repair the inner structure ,re- assemble and repair outer skin

Another claim the welds on the front cap steel cage broke, Had to remove the front cap/dash to repair, cost to repair this coach was $11,000.

First contact your insurance company and put them on notice asap.

It would be best if you do have an inner structure issue need to be certain that shop can do this type of work ,may have to take to Elkheart, such as Preccision Paint.

Sway bars will help in the future.

[jimkate]

I had exactly the same thing happen a couple of years ago. It wasn't a speed bump, it was a pot hole in a gravel parking lot. Popped the windshield out on one side.

We pushed the window back into place, caulked it well, and it's been fine ever since.

I guess you've got to get lucky sometime.

Maybe you should call your insurer.