Re-attaching Aluminum Support Blocks to Propane Dog House Lid

[2008RN]

I bought my Oli used at 10 months old (2020 hull# 648).  When I got my Oli one of the small Aluminum support bars was missing in the dog house lid.  One my first voyage, We lost the other one within the first 40 miles. I noticed I had a bad habit of lying down the access port cover, so I fixed up a 18g wire and hooked to the large support bar and to the back of the access port cover.  Just one year as the owner on one of our 5 day outings, I got to the camp site and went to open the access port to turn on the propane;  The large bar had fallen off, and was hanging by the wire.

I was going to call Oliver to order 2 more small bars, but since I am out in the cold when it comes to Olivers Warranty I decided to make Aluminum Support bars.  I had left over 1”x2” Aluminum rectangle left over from mud flap installation (Original rectangle material was 1”x1.5”), and I had a few small pieces of Black 5/8” thick Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMW) lying around.

The large bar that I still had only a few very small areas that had the resin attach to it (marked in Red), and the area where the bars came off where real smooth.  The surface of the aluminum had a fair amount of oxidation.

 

    

I  cut a couple pieces of aluminum with a Angle grinder cut-off wheel, and the  UHMW was cut to size on a table saw. I counter sinked the UHMW with a 3/8 spade drill and drilled out for a 10-24 SS screw.  I also tapped the aluminum with a 10-24 tap for attaching the UHMW.  I got a little carried away when I attached the UHMW to the aluminum, I used blue lock tight and lock wash and nut on the back side.

I was paranoid of the aluminum support bars falling off again, so I go a little carried away with the mating surfaces to be attached.  I used a 1/16 angle grinder cut-off wheel and cross hatched the aluminum, I then drilled and tapped 1/4-20 threads into the aluminum. The 1/4-20 holes are NOT for bolts but something extra for what ever I used to adhere to the Aluminum.  I also sanded the aluminum by hand with 40 grit sandpaper for metal.

For the Fiberglass I sanded down the original area with the 60grit sanding pad on a angle grinder. I left one small portion of an edge for locating the bars side to side.  I used a Dremel tool with a carbide bit to cross hatch the fiberglass. Finally I did a final hand sanding with 40grit sandpaper.

        

 

I made a tool for locating the aluminum support bars from the edge of the of the fiberglass.  I took measurement from the impressions in the fiberglass from the resin, and the one Aluminum bar that I had. I calculated the offset of the bar .640” from the edge.  This measurement was including the white trim piece.  I didn’t realize that the trim would just come right off. If I had to do it over again, I think I would done the measurement without the trim piece. Note the picture shows me holding it without the trim on the shell, but I did not use it that way.

   

Note the wires in the second picture.  Before I mounted the bars I made a couple of security straps.  I figured that by some chance one of the bars would come off I  Attached 16g wire with heavy duty eyelets to each bar.  That way I will not loose any more support bar if they cam unglued.

The next question was how to adhere the support bars to the fiberglass.  I felt that my 2 low tech options were JB weld or Gorilla glue. I research both, and both seemed to be a reasonable option for adhering aluminum to fiberglass.  I have used Gorilla glue a few times and never had any problems with it besides the bottle has a short life span in Oregons high humidity after it is opened. The JB Weld had a fractionally higher shear factor than the Gorilla glue did, and I have use JB weld in so many applications and it has never failed.   I flipped a coin and JB Weld won, although it might have been a 2 headed coin.  I ended up using 1 package of the Professional size JB Weld, and one of the regular size. to do the job.  I used a Bondo plastic putty tool to spread the JB weld.  I  put a small amount on the fiberglass just enough to fill the cross hatching squeegeed across the fiberglass.  Then I put a large amount on the Aluminum cross hatching.  Put the Aluminum bar in placed and then clamped.  Note the trim piece in place.

   

Below is of one of the bar ends.  The puddle of JB Weld on the inside of the bar is what pushed up through the 1/4-20 holes.

Here are the tools I used for the JB weld.  The 3M adhesive remover worked great for cleaning up the JB Weld (sometimes I can make a mess).

   

The final Product. I secured the wires with GB 1” square adhesive back wire tie downs to keep the wires out of the way.

  

 

[Wolfepack]

We had the same issue. At our delivery in March 2022 the right hand aluminum block fell off in front of us.  Oliver tech attempted reattachment and we were told all was good to go. Two days later when we arrived home in FL, I took off the propane cover to discover the aluminum block was missing.  I could only hope it had not damaged a vehicle behind us, that piece of aluminum could be a nasty projectile.  I need to do a thorough inspection of the underside of the trailer. I sent pictures to Oliver and they sent me a new block and instructed me to use JB Weld for the reattach.  I wonder how prevalent this issue might be and if JB Weld is the fix why are they using the clear glue at the factory?    
 

 

[Scott and Frieda]

I lost one of the smaller blocks off of our 2022 LE II as well. Seems like a serious quality control issue. Oliver sent me a new block and adhesive but without the "gun" for the adhesive, it failed to dispense correctly before oozing out all over my hands. I ended up using Gorilla Glue epoxy to reattach it as I've had great success with that product in the past. I also took some wire and looped it through each block then used epoxy to attach the ends to the fiberglass shell. This way if another block comes off, I should at least be able to prevent losing it. Is this a historical problem with all Olivers or a new issue?

[topgun2]

29 minutes ago, Gooey said:

Is this a historical problem with all Olivers or a new issue?

It has happed from time to time in the past but I would not call it very often.

Since you have already received a replacement from Oliver Service, they are now aware of your issue and a few others that have had the same problem in the recent past.  They will process this information and take steps to either correct installation procedures and/or material components if it is found to be a often recurring issue.

Bill

[Frank C]

35 minutes ago, Gooey said:

Is this a historical problem with all Olivers or a new issue?

Seems to be a random problem over the years.  Our 2019 still has all blocks intact.  Since Oliver chooses to use adhesive to mount those blocks, surface prep is critical, making sure both surfaces are clean and free of wax, dirt, grease, oil, mold release, etc. before applying the adhesive, so it’s very human-dependent.   And Oliver may occasionally have an employee that isn’t as careful with the preparation step.  

[Mike and Carol]

3 hours ago, Gooey said:

Is this a historical problem with all Olivers or a new issue?

I’ve still got my blocks.  It hasn’t appeared on the forum from many folks so it is probably a random problem.  Maybe bad batch of glue or incorrect glueing technique or something else.  It’s important that it’s reported so they can refine their procedures.

[johnwen]

JB Weld is still holding up for me.  4 months since I put it on 🙂 4800 miles ago.  As FrankC said, surface prep is critical.

John

[Galway Girl]

Will be doing a repair as well....Oliver Charged me for the new block for our 2019.

Thanks for the articles in the thread which will help me prepare the surface for a good mount.

Attaching with wires to make sure they don't fully fall off is a great add.

CS

Hull 505 - 2019 EII

[kmoon4545]

Same thing happened to me.  One block has fallen off...luckily I found the block.  2021 Elite 2.  I will reattach with JB Weld and use JB Weld to secure the others.  Hopefully Oliver will read this thread and address the quality issue.

[mossemi]

43 minutes ago, kmoon4545 said:

Hopefully Oliver will read this thread and address the quality issue.

Please don’t count on the Oliver production or service teams to read your post.  This forum is provided by Oliver and they host the server and provide the server support, but they do not participate and probably will not see your post.  So the solution is to open a service request with the service department.  This will provide a history of your problem for management to address.  Remember, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" and none of these posts squeak, but a service request does.

Mossey

[johnwen]

I talked with Jason about this at the rally and suggested the factory switch to JB Weld or something different.  He talked about the very dusty environment/lack of adequate preparation and the time expended between squirting some glue vs mixing epoxy.  He told me he has brought this to the attention of production, but I think there is a somewhat delicate line between service and production.  But whatever you do at least submit a ticket so Jason has more leverage behind him when getting something changed at production level.

John

[John E Davies]

1 hour ago, johnwen said:

 He talked about the very dusty environment/lack of adequate preparation and the time expended between squirting some glue vs mixing epoxy. 

That is a valid point, if only 0.5% of the brackets pop off, the production department may consider that to be an acceptable failure rate. But in the end that argument is an excuse for speed and cost over quality. They make those compromises throughout the trailer… if they had anal ex-aircraft techs like me designing and building these, it would take two years, not two months, to make and nobody could afford to buy them. 😬

It is like the electric jack gearboxes that are incorrectly filled with grease when they are assembled in China by unskilled labor, the excess time and training needed to hand pack them properly would add too much cost…. It is the same exact principle as glueing down those brackets.

But at some higher failure rate (warranty claims) it will become obvious that they need to switch methods. THAT is why owners should submit service tickets for small stuff that they fix themselves! I have been doing this for years. Usually nothing ever happens, except a “thanks for the information” but once it resulted in a major safety recall for a missing inverter ground cable. You never know…😳
 

John Davies

Spokane WA