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carlsagan · 01-07-2025, 10:52 PM

I have been battling this Alpine for two years now and keep thinking I will get ahead but never do. After a Christmas day breakdown that was never fixed correctly by a wanna be mechanic I limped it 6 hours home for it to quit at the offramp to home. Trying to avoid another $1,000 tow bill I pulled it backwards to the opposite shoulder to get off the road enough to spend the night. I couldnt see my passenger front end and didn't realize the guard real was running away from me in the back and I swung the front into it and pulled all the mounts for the slide off the framing. I have done fiberglass work, a long time ago. I remember their being two types but I cant recall the difference, or what I would need to get to repair this. Luckily the damage to the clip itself is minimal other than all the pieces that mount it to the frame have pulled off. Any help I can find would be greatly appreciated.

Twomed · 01-08-2025, 07:49 AM

https://www.westsystem.com/instruction/epoxy-basics/

Everything you need to know about glass work...great refresher.

SafariBen · 01-08-2025, 08:03 AM

A long time ago the information was hard to find, now we can learn anything on youtube.

The two systems you're talking about might be vinylester vs epoxy resin? or maybe fiberglass vs kevlar vs nylon vs carbon? You can buy simple fiberglass repair kits that would be suitable for attaching some mounting brackets, or buy resin and cloth/mat separately for more volume than what's in the kit. Or find somebody local that has plenty of scraps, not like you need a big piece of carbon fiber to laminate up a boat. The fiberglass on RVs that I've seen has been high volume, low strength stuff, non woven mat with lots of resin, very little consideration to design or weight. You won't have much trouble putting a patch on that's stronger than it was originally.

Old Scout · 01-08-2025, 01:09 PM

What Ben said--grind/buff up the mating surfaces on front cap/door to allow for better resin adhesion. Apply individual layers of fabric. Attaching top of frame to top of cap/door is a bit challenging, but doable.

carlsagan · 01-08-2025, 09:49 PM

Thanks guys. I want to take it to a place that does Fiberglass work for them to do it. My garage is not heated where it sits so to do it there is not possible. My plan was to remove the steel support from the frame, take it there to for the glass work to be done and then bolt it back on, but it does not seem like Western RV designed this very well for removal and reinstallation with the fiberglass attached to the steel. It can be done but it is very challenging to get the bolts back in and tight, plus line everything up.

Old Scout · 01-09-2025, 07:55 AM

Yup--challenging but doable. You also have some vertical adjustment with the set bolts at the end of the hydraulic rams. You need to get horizontal centering just right, but vertical adjustment can be fine-tuned with set bolts.

carlsagan · 01-09-2025, 08:14 PM

I got it off today. I had to get my wife to verify she can get the lower inside bolts back in that go in front of the generator. There is no way I can get those two. The upper ones are even pretty tough. I would of thought they would have designed this a little better. I hope i never have to pull the generator out.

azpete · 01-12-2025, 09:31 AM

engineers do not take need for repairs into account most of the time.
just so it looks good is their favorite expression.
just my opinion. may not be correct. or popular.

carlsagan · 01-14-2025, 09:40 AM

That's for sure. Its gets really old dealing with that. This project is a snowball rolling down hill of a lifetime. I was just starting to think we would get it running this week in time for its next trip, then I get a call from the shop that is recoring the radiator for $3,300 letting me know the charge air cooler is bad also. This thing is going to cost half what I paid for it in repairs in 3 weeks. If anyone knows where to find a charge air cooler fast I need one tomorrow.

MiPaul · 01-14-2025, 03:55 PM

Is your rad aluminum or brass & steel? Our brass & steel rad had weepy tanks and the CAC was leaky too. We removed both and delivered them to a local truck rad shop, they wanted to custom make both new for buckets of money.

Disassembled, cleaned and sealed the end rubber of the CAC, seals are obsolete. Made rad end tank seals from Felpro cork/rubber sheet, new fasteners and no more leaks.

carlsagan · 01-14-2025, 11:21 PM

My rad is steel tanks. I paid a quality shop to rebuild it, and oh my did I pay. more than 10% of what I paid for the rig, now I will have close to the same in the CAC. Both had terrible cores that could not be salvaged. I think the rig got salt once or twice and was not flushed before it sat a long time with the salt on it and that's what ate it up so bad. Most of the exterior is in great shape, but a lot of the engine bay area is corroded badly and that's all I can figure it could be from.

MiPaul · 01-16-2025, 06:43 AM

That's unfortunate. We took both of ours to a recommended shop and they quoted us $600 to test and reseal both, should be a few days. After 4 or 5 days I pressed them on progress and that's when they said they couldn't be saved. Thankfully both of ours had good cores we could rebuild.

Ours has a good bit of rust too. I've heard vehicles stored over gravel rust faster. I'm not convinced yet but I've seen a few trucks that had the same rusted underbelly issue. We spent a bit of time on the east coast this fall and that rusted up quite a bit of stuff too.

carlsagan · 01-16-2025, 11:50 PM

I guess the bottom line is owning an old motorhome is just really expensive. But still not nearly as expensive as a buy a newer one and they seem to break almost as much. It does seem that the company that built ours, and most cooling packages does some shotty work. The guy that is rebuilding mine has really earned a lot of respect from me going above and beyond. He says a huge amount of his business is rebuilding the stuff that Radiator Specialties builds in all kinds of diesel applications. And it seems very clear from my searches that a lot of people have had CAC issues with alpines. He said they see 3-8 HP gains per liter of displacement with his CAC compared to the Radiator Specialties. I sure hope this engine runs a million miles now. I have replaced almost everything external to it at this point, even the air compressor.