[encantotom]

i am finally getting around to this repair.  yesterday i took the trim pieces off.  for those that do this themselves, once you take the screws out of all the trim pieces (btw i labeled with tape the pieces so i would remember which ones went where)..... the first thing you do is put the slides out a little.  then you can slide the trim pieces on the slides (two on each) off with a little help with a wood block and rubber mallet.  

then put the slides back in, drill out the rivets on the round plastic discs that are at each end of the slides....that allow you to slide the trim pieces that are on the side of the coach over (they have end caps on them) and once you get it slid to the second disc, you can gently lift it over it and keep moving it till they are off.  

you can see from the pictures that all of the rivets on the skin between the two slides were missing on mine.  and all the rivets behind the rear slide were either missing or loose.  

following the lead from bill and richard, i will get the skin aligned, put rivets back in the original holes, then put bigger rivets in between the original ones.  i will do 2 rivets between each of the originals.


my skin had shifted nearly 3/16 inch.  

tom

[encantotom]

i used a air over hydraulic floor jack right underneath the rear of the front slide where frame crossmembers meet.  i jacked it up until the skin aligned and the rivet holes lines up.  i measured and it was jacked up 3 1/2 inches.

then i cleared out all the old holes and used a harbor freight air rivet gun (which worked fantastic) and put in the same sized small rivets in the old holes.  

then i drilled new holes and put larger steel mandrel rivets in.  i did two rivets in between each set of old rivets.  then used the air riveter again 

let the coach down and it held nicely.  i still have to put silicon on the rivet heads to stop water intrusion.  i will also caulk the seam.  i also have to put back on the round plastic discs.  

next is to do something similar to align the skin behind the rear slide  

tom

[Joe Galowitch]

Good afternoon all I have another rivet question. We were at Newell in June and they did the rivet recall. Now it looks like I have rivets popping or it’s the caulk that they covered the rivet heads are popping out. My question is how to tell if the rivets are ok or should they be replaced? I am loading some pictures any help or advice is appreciated.

[Richard]

Joe,

It looks like the paint or caulk dislodged from the rivet head. The heads look intact on the picture you attached.

[Latitude 28]

Joe,
A quick way to tell if the rivet is shearing or working in the hole.  You will see a black streaks coming from the suspected rivet. 

Steve

[Joe Galowitch]

Ok thanks so what should I recalled with?

[rundlc]

Is the rivit inspection something that Newell takes care of because of a flaw in the design?
You don't know till you ask?

[encantotom]

yes, i believe they are still taking care of it and the fix too if needed.

just check with them.

if you want to call sometime i can tell you how to do it yourself as well

tom

[Deper10]

When we were at Newell last Sept having a number of misc. repairs made, they did the rivit inspection at no charge to us and found that our coach was OK.

Dario

2001 #581 45'8"

[rundlc]

Thnaks Tom, that is good to know. Ill be seeing them Jan 22 in Calif. Decided to wait for a few more months for repairs