Broken latch, bumper & windshield looking for advice

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Y-Guy

Y-Guy

Well-known member
Joined
May 4, 2009
Posts
160
Location
Tri-Cities, WA
Over the past year I've got a couple items that need to be repaired and I'm wondering if these are something I can tackle myself or if I need to be planning on a trip to the dealership.

1) Driver side compartment door has a broken latch.  The cloudy plastic piece that is angled has broken off.  It appears I can just replace that piece, but I'm unsure. I might be able to re-glue the piece as well.  Anyone replaced these have any advice?
2) Rear right bumper is cracked, ended up backing our ATV trailer up a bit to much.  These were replaced by the dealer in 2007 because they were sagging & deforming, it would appear that it's just an outer shell that I could order and put on, but curious if anyone has done this and if it requires any special tools.
3) We've had a few rock chips over the years and patched, but this last trip we got nailed by a large rock that left a sizable crack in the upper part of the driver windshield.  Though its not in my line of sight I don't think it's repairable.  I've heard some problems when replacing the Winnebago windshields and some report rust on the internal frames.  I'm unsure how involved my dealer or Winnebago is in this process and want to make sure it's done right.  Any advice?
 
1) If you are talking about the "slide bolt" that comes out the side of the door, they are fairly easy to replace.  I bought the parts from Lichtsinn Motors in Forest City, bougt a pop-rivet gun at an auto parts store, drilled out the rivets, put the new part in, and riveted it in place.  It should take you about 15-20 minutes.
2) Cracked/torn fiberglass can be repaired by most body shops ...likely cheaper than total replacement depending on how bad it is. You can order replacements from the factory, but depending on the year and model that could get expensive as they have to get the old molds and out make them just for you.
3) If not in your line of sight, you might be surprised at what can be repaired ...it sure doesn't hurt to have a glass repair place look at it. If your insurance includes glass coverage, the repair normally doesn't cost you anything.  When I had my windshields replaced, each of the two pieces of glass was $750 plus labor, which included a bit of rust R&R on one side.
 
Paul,

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful.  I don't think the bumper part is fiberglass, it feels more like plastic.  I'll have a look underneath to verify it first.
 
I repaired the plastic bumper shroud on my Itasca. NAPA sells a plastic bumper repair kit that I used. The next thing would be getting paint to match, I had a body shop do some other work so they got me a spray can of paint to match.
 
I just had one of the small plastic latch relaced at dealers as a waranty item - it only took them 15-20 minutes on that one.. ( each compartment has one small plastic latch on each side of the door...)
Last Fri I had a crack in the lower windshield repaired ( Statewide Auto glass repair) - they glued it and felt it will last forever.. it was about 1" total length with the "bb" type chip in the center...
The first thing to do would be to put a piece of tape over it to keep it clean and so the glue can be forced into the crack... No cost to me (insurance covered the $63 repair charge...
 
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