Crunched a Door Panel

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seb

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Oct 5, 2014
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Recently while negotiating a Flying J gas station exit, I managed to crunch the left rear door panel on my 2014 Winnebago Adventurer 37F.  A combination of my rig size, unbelievably rude motorists, sunset, and inattention on my part to cars, trucks, mirrors, horns, and big orange posts set in concrete made this a fun day! This panel is the swing up door for the power station all the way aft.  Although the door is workable and you have to look pretty close to notice, the door is not salvageable.
Before I get a hold of my Winnebago service center hext week, does anyone know if Winnebago supplies that door as a finished (painted) part?
Also, if you did not know this, Flying J says it always has a gas lane in the truck section of their fueling depots.  This was a questionable statement from the Flying J people in Palm Desert, CA since I know of at least one place that does not have a gas pump in the truck diesel lanes.  Would be much more comforting to know the status.  Perhaps the rather anemic Flying J iPhone app will tell me.
 
As far as I know, the doors are unfinished.  Winnebago contracts all full body paint to nearby CDI, they might be able to finish a bay door.

That's a shame you dinged your bay door, parking lots are dangerous even if you are in a car! I always prefer the truck lanes because there are few small vehicles in the area and lots of maneuvering room.  BTW, I've never noticed a gas pump in the truck lanes of a Flying J.
 
I crunched one last summer. The cost was about $1000 and comes painted black. I also destroyed the plastic cover at the wheel well which was about $500, also came in black. My local paint people want close to $500 to paint everything. I installed the new parts myself. It took a little ingenuity to get them installed as the new parts appeared to be a little different than the original. The installed parts now look pretty good, but are still black. Total cost will be about $2000 by the time I get it totally fixed. I think Winnebago has to make the parts after the order is placed. It took several weeks before the parts were shipped. Since your rig is a 2014 the parts may be in stock somewhere. A post jumped out and got me. :mad:
 
Also, if you did not know this, Flying J says it always has a gas lane in the truck section of their fueling depots.  This was a questionable statement from the Flying J people in Palm Desert, CA since I know of at least one place that does not have a gas pump in the truck diesel lanes.
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That is most certainly not true - I can cite numerous examples to the contrary. In fact, I can think of only one FJ on the east coast where that is true.  I can only guess that whoever stated that either misunderstood your question or misspoke "truck section" when they meant "RV section".

Although the door is workable and you have to look pretty close to notice, the door is not salvageable.
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You might be surprised what a competent body shop can do. Have you obtained an estimate from a shop that has some experience in RV repairs? Your local RV dealer is not really the best source for body work - most of them subcontract it out anyway.  Where are you located - someone may be able to suggest a good RV body shop?
 
I took the damaged door to my friendly body shop and they said since it was aluminum they could not fix it. If it had been steel they would not have a problem.

I tried to fix it myself and it looked pretty good but not to most people's satisfaction.
 
Aluminum is a different beast than steel when it comes to major repair procedures, but that's why I suggested a shop that is familiar with RV repairs. And shops are learning to deal with aluminum - GM has used some aluminum panels for a few years and the new Ford F150 has a mostly aluminum body.

My aluminum door "skins" have been repaired a couple times, but the damage has never been too deep. More of a scrape than a puncture or ripple.
 
When a couple of our aluminum doors suffered gouges, I called the dealer and asked who did their body repairs. The body guy re-skinned and painted the doors, and they look like new. Photos of the pre-repair damage here.
 
judway said:
I crunched one last summer. The cost was about $1000 and comes painted black. I also destroyed the plastic cover at the wheel well which was about $500, also came in black. My local paint people want close to $500 to paint everything. I installed the new parts myself. It took a little ingenuity to get them installed as the new parts appeared to be a little different than the original. The installed parts now look pretty good, but are still black. Total cost will be about $2000 by the time I get it totally fixed. I think Winnebago has to make the parts after the order is placed. It took several weeks before the parts were shipped. Since your rig is a 2014 the parts may be in stock somewhere. A post jumped out and got me. :mad:
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I did exactly the same thing the first time we took it to Disney. Disney put us in a parking lot that was very hard to get out of. I thought I was just catching the curb, but also caught a a 24" tall post that I could not see in my side mirrors. I have yet to repair the door and wheel panels. I think I will call Winnebago and ask about getting the parts from them rather than go through the dealership.
 
I got my parts from:

http://www.lichtsinn.com/rv-parts.aspx

They are very close to the Winnebago factory.

I don't believe you can get them direct from Winnebago.
 
I contacted Winnebago a few weeks ago about buying parts.  They sent me back to the dealers.
 
seb said:
I contacted Winnebago a few weeks ago about buying parts.  They sent me back to the dealers.
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Whoever you talked to must be out of the loop.  Here's the link for buying direct from Winnebago.  When I talked to my Winnie contact about this last summer, he said they will be expanding this to include more parts as it matures.
 
I don't think there is any provision for special orders on that site. Also some of the prices are really high.
 
I called Lictschnn today and ordered my parts. Thanks for the lead. They were great to work with.
 
Indeed!  Lichtsinn is almost $200.00 cheaper than my cheapest quote. ?

 
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