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Old 11-22-2015, 05:23 PM   #21
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There is no wood in the door that I X-Rayed you can plainly see it is only foam - wood would show grain and different colorations in X ray
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Old 11-22-2015, 05:25 PM   #22
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Not my door pic, but one I found on the internet -

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Old 11-22-2015, 05:38 PM   #23
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I am not 100% sure about the plywood. I am repeating information I remembered the Lippert Service Rep sharing with me.
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Old 11-22-2015, 05:41 PM   #24
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They stopped using plywood years ago. What year and brand TH is the picture.


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Old 11-22-2015, 05:42 PM   #25
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Andy,

What year is your trailer?


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Old 11-22-2015, 06:19 PM   #26
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2013 - door replaced last June. Lippert paid for the replacement.

Maybe a naive question..... My door was replaced because of water damage. If there is no wood, what is the water hurting?
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Old 11-22-2015, 06:35 PM   #27
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Heartland stopped installing the Lippert wood ramps in 2010. Not sure when FR stopped installing the wood ramps.
I have a 2014/2015 XLR Tunderbolt. I was told it has no wood.


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Old 11-22-2015, 07:00 PM   #28
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If there isnt any wood in the door, how is it that when I drilled 4 holes in it for a fire extenguisher mount I got wood chips???Also,the frame edges on mine were not sealed with anything,I ran a bead of black 3M all around ith frame.The wood floor of the garage wasnt sealed either,I could see the bare,exposed plywood when the ramp was down.That got the 3M treatment as well.
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Old 11-22-2015, 07:05 PM   #29
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Maybe the Wolfpack TH have wood ramps.



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Old 11-22-2015, 07:23 PM   #30
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To be clear, my 2013 Forest River XLR 300x12 came with a ramp door made by Lippert. My door had to be replaced because it was failing at the hinge line. I first noticed the damage when it appeared that the inside covering was bubbling up. The door felt spongy in that area. Lippert determined that my door failed from water damage. Water was able to get into the door because the driver's side aluminum edge trim was loose (unglued?") on the door. Lippert replaced my door, even though I was out of my warranty period. My new door came with a bead of sealant where the trim rails meet the outside of the door. I can also see evidence that much more glue was used to attach the trim rails to the core of the door.

I thought that the door design contributed to the failure. I think the hinges should be longer, or the door should be re-enforced at the hinge line. One thing that I notice is that there is flex in the new door when it is opened. I can see and feel this at the corner seam of the outside trim rails. I am thinking about how I might make something that would spread the load of the hinges (and the hinge springs) across a larger area of the door.

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Old 11-22-2015, 07:25 PM   #31
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I've posted it before but here is what the XLR GM said....
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Old 11-23-2015, 10:54 AM   #32
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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.


door closed - no stress


door open pic from inside


door open - hinge line distorted
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Old 02-21-2016, 05:59 PM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by andy29847 View Post
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.
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.
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Old 02-21-2016, 06:10 PM   #34
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I should also add that I would think this to be more of an issue on the party-deck application.
When door is closed, spring torque is at its minimum.
When door is used as ramp, spring torque is at its maximum. But is for a relatively short time unless ramp is left down.
When door is used as party deck, spring torque is high - almost at its maximum - and the torque pressure is continuous. It is this continuous high stress which eventually causes failure.
It's got nothing to do with water - no wood.
It's got nothing to do with overloading the ramp (failure would be in opposite direction).

I would love to see Lippert take ownership publicly and offer some type of warranty repair. (Since I'm out of warranty, I dread getting into a non-winable pissing contest)
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Old 02-21-2016, 06:28 PM   #35
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FWIW, Lippert is going to replace my door. It's taking a long time, but they are paying. The new door was supposed to ship on FEB 5. It was still at Lippert on the 19th. I'm hoping that the door will be made differently. It wouldn't be hard ot make it stronger without spending a lot of money.
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