Quote:
Originally Posted by andy29847
This sequence of pictures shows the flex along the hinge line of my door. My door is less than 6 months old. I would like to hear if youse guys see similar distortion when your door is open.
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Same issue on unit I took delivery Dec2014. I believe the cause is the torque from the hinge springs, this twist is trying to close the door and it increases as the door opens further. The hinge plates attach to the doors bottom channel with two through-bolts. There is a third hinge bolt through only the deck itself - I can't see how this bolt helps much - a foam core with thin skins on each side cannot withstand much twist. Since the bottom channel is not welded to the side channels, the twist imparted by the hinges is resisted only by bottom channel's attachment to the door's core. This core to channel attachment is what is failing. The bottom channel is trying to twist off the door's core. I have carefully checked the hinge leaf on all hinges - they have slightly bowed, and the outside fiberglass is also bowing inward between the hinges.
Based the observations and prior postings it appears to me that perhaps removing the plywood from the door resulted in a composite structure unable to resist a torsion force, and this is aggravated by the bottom channel having an insufficient overlap over the core and its not being welded to the side channels. A deeper overlap and welding would transfer some of the torque force to the side channels.
It appears to me that the mechanical engineers at LCI frugged this one up.