Fiberglass panel surrounding hitch

[wickhamtw]

I have noticed the fiber glass panel on the under side has come loose. It seems that the screws (4) holding it up have pulled out of what ever they were attached to. Is it aluminum supports that they are screwed into or wood? Has anyone else had this problem and how did you repair.

Thanks
Tim W.

[greener]

We had the same issue. A service tech looked at ours at the Northeast Rally this year and repaced the screw with a longer one. So far it has held. Ours went into wood abve the aluminum frame. It`s a long way up there! Ours was the center screw behind the hitch.

[Pete Hanson]

I just finished repairing mine. I dropped the panel to find that the screws were still attached to the wooden slats they only stapled to the closet floor. All the staples had pulled free from the particle board. No surprise there. I screwed the wood back in place, replaced the fiberglass insulation with foamboard insulation and reinstalled the panel. It is much more secure than the factory had made it.

The more interesting thing to me was the fiberglass insulation. In the front part of the bay there is only about an inch of space between the panel and the deck above. That means they were crushing the fiberglass down to an inch thick which I believe reduces the insulating R factor to virtually nothing. That is why I replaced the insulation with 1" foam in the front and 2" foam where it would fit. Not to mention that mice had been in there. :-)

[wickhamtw]

Thanks for the info.