1985 Argosy Exterior door damage

[squareboat]

I had a mishap on my last trip, the rear walk in door on my 1985 Argosy Squarestream (it is a 2 door model) swung open and struck a tree which bent the lower hinge at the door frame at popped the top one completely off, The door itself was not damaged, just the door frame where the hinges attach. I was able to close the door with a crowbar a piece of 2x4 and a mallet (ouch) and was able to get it to latch in place. This has the curved door and frame. what are the prospects in finding a least the material to fabricate a new door frame? The hinges themselves look ok and could probably be reused. I'll try calling Paramount RV repair in reno and see what they can do.

[J. Morgan]

Probably a good welder could repair your door frame.

(Almost certainly)

This would likely be accomplished by removing the inner skin, cutting out the damaged sections around the hinges and welding some replacement aluminum in its place.

Chances are that relatively small sections would need to be cut out and the donor pieces would not need to be exact representations of the pieces cut out.

Just a guess, but chances are a production RV shop is just going to recommend replacing the door....

Then you have to find one and pay for it...

I would keep a welder in mind if this is the case.

[squareboat]

I was able to repair my door frame without any welding required. I got some 2" aluminum angle stock from the hardware store about 3/8 thick, cut 2 sections about 12" long to place where each hinge attaches to the frame. by removing the wood moulding trim on the inside of the frame I had about 1/2" of space to work in to place the flat end of the angle stock against the damaged section of the frame, from behind where the hinge bolted on. ( I had removed these screws at the beginning of the repair.) I drilled the hinge hole pattern on the angle stock. The other side of the angle stock was pointed towards the front of the trailer on the inside flat against the inside wall. I had to cut a notch on the inside wall side of the angle stock, the length of the hinge so I can have access to the nuts on the inside of the frame for the hinge screws. It turned out fantastic and the door works perfectly. I will need to modify the molding on the inside where the angle stock is. It turned to be a very clean repair.