Front Engine Hood Bracket Question

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MikeCoke

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Posts
288
Location
Four Corners Area of Colorado
Went to check the oil level today and found out that the right Hood Hinge had come off.
Anyone know what Winnebago used to glue the bracket to the body???
In the first Pic you can see where the glue made contact with the metal bracket.
The next 2 Pics show where the glue was forced through the  slots in the bracket.

Mike
 

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Most likely an epoxy resin rather than a "glue". I'd try something like MarineTex Epoxy Putty or even an auto body filler such as Bondo.

http://www.marinetex.com/marinetexepoxyputty.html
 
Mike, the adhesive that Winnie uses is:

Winnebago part number 112901-02-000
Plexus MA330 Methacrylate Adhesive 50ml found at ITW Plexus, Danvers, MA 01923

Lots of Winnie owners have used JB Weld with good success.  The KEY is, to rough up the fiberglass real good for a good surface for the glue to stick. 

I have also seen some guys that have used stainless steel nuts and bolts to mount these brackets to the hoods (I won't do that!).
 
RV Roamer said:
...or even an auto body filler such as Bondo.

Not sure how much adhesive properties Bondo has - that would be about my last choice.

West System epoxy with the appropriate thickener would be a very suitable choice assuming the fiberglass is roughed up like Mark suggests.  Plexus is indeed what Winnie uses - thanks for digging that up Mark.

Forgot to mention that Winnie apparently has had lots of bonding issues like you have had Mike.  The problems seem to have been pretty well mitigated by the 2005 model year.
 
My engine access door came loose in early 2006, and also the right rear bumper area.  My selling dealer re-glued both using SMC DURAMIX 4050. Six months later, the Winnie factory re-glued the engine access door again. I don't know what the factory used, but it is still good. One of the keys to getting the glue to hold is good preparation of the surfaces. I have no doubt my dealer didn't take a lot of care in that regard...
 
Here's a post I made on another forum about a similar problem.  It was made in early 2007.  We have another 15,000+ miles on the coach and everything is holding up fine.

"The grill on our Adventurer is held in place by 2 latches and a bracket behind each headlight assembly. Several years ago the right side bracket came unglued. We carried it in a storage compatrment until early this year when I heard about an adhesive others have used with success.
I bought a kit of SEM brand #39537 Weld-Bond Adhesive at a local body shop supply house and reattached the bracket. So far all is well. This summer we went over 12,000 miles through Canada and Alaska and it's still holding fine.

Some may say 12,000 miles isn't enough of a test but on the roads we were driving I would compare it to 30,000 miles in the lower 48. It got a real test on the Top of The World Highway. It was 110 miles of bone jaring, teeth rattling gravel washboard.

The kit consists of 2 tubes (hooked together to fit into a special applicator gun) of mixible adhesive and 2 mixing tips. It sells for about $47.00. The "special applicator" costs another $95.00 but you can easily adapt a standard caulking gun to do the job.

I unscrewed the round plunger plate from my caulking gun, made a flat plate with 2 holes (I believe 1 1/2" on center) and a third hole directly on center (where the original plunger plate attached). I screwed 2 carriage bolts in the outer holes with the heads facing towards the tube openings. Then assembeled the plate to the plunger, slid the adhesive tube in place and went to work. The special tip assures both adhesives sre well mixed as they are applied.

The product is meant to be used by body shops when they need to glue plastic outer panels to metal framework. The most common applications are for door skins and fenders. It's easy to work with and has a working time of 60 minutes in 70*F weather.

The whole process took only a couple hours including removing and preparing the grill, fabricating the bracket, and applying the adhesive. I let the glued assembly sit in the garage over night just to be sure there wouldn't be any problems."
 
Winnebago uses green Scotch Weld to attach metal hood brackets to fiberglass.

The hood brackets were totally munged on my new rig, way back. Fortunately I purchased my rig from a really high end servicing dealer with about 20 service bays (Sicards, Ontario). Instead of trying to replace the hood brackets with more of the same crap from Winnebago; they had the resources to custom fabricate entirely new brackets which have lasted for the past ten years. But the new brackets were installed with the very same green Scotch Weld.
 
John Canfield said:
Stan - Winnie currently uses Plexus MA330 Methacrylate Adhesive.  Don't have a clue when they started using this product.

Thanks John,
Sounds like pretty much the same stuff, with rather amazing characteristics; but not something you'd want to to be mixed with your afternoon cocktails.  :-\ I suppose the mfg switch was probably promoted by the fact that bargain-pricing has never been a major 3M selling-feature.  :)

Too bad this stuff has such a short shelf life, not to mention $$$, or it would make an ideal addition to your on-the-road emergency kit.
 
A good 'repair' kit to carry around is one of those two-tube plunger packages of epoxy.  They'll last a long time even with the tips broken off (if used.)  Actually I'm real light on spare parts since I can usually obtain them easily if we are on the road.  When we were cruising in the boat, spare parts availability could literally  mean the difference between life and death - I had to have a little bit of everything since the nearest marine store might be 300 nautical miles away.
 
We were preparing for our long trip last year, I found that the rear engine door was coming apart.  :eek:

I removed the door and did some research on what other people were using via the "other" forums.  I disassembled the door and proceeded to rough everything up.  I needed to buy material locally, as we were leaving the end of the week.  Found JB Weld to be popular, but my whole door was separated.  With the small tubes, it would take alot to get it back together.  I decided I would I used the JB Weld to re-adhere the hinge to the metal frame and clamped it and left overnight.  Then, the next day, I got and used PL6000 Structural Adhesive to reassemble the metal frame to the fiberglass. This was also clamped and left overnight.

I found the PL6000 at Lowe's next to the Liquid Nails, in the same type of caulking gun tube. One tube did the whole door.  Others had used it with good results - and mine is still rock solid.
 
Engine access doors/generator access doors/rear "bumper" ...and yesterday I noticed one of my fuel filler doors was coming loose!!  My fuel filler door appears to have been attached to the frame with double sided tape!!!  Maybe I'l try some of my "loc-tite putty" on it...
 
Paul - I noticed the fiberglass wheel well skirts are hinged like the rest of the bay doors, but the front ones are held in place with double-sticky tape.  That system works reasonably well but it doesn't last forever.  I suppose it's better than a screw head showing, though :D
 
Sadly, we discovered Winnie's bonding issues when the hood bracket popped off our Adventurer.  Thanks for the info on the adhesive.  Any tips on how to get the bracket aligned properly in the tiny space? 
Thanks
 
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