310 front cap

[Bfrank]

Well I have managed to add substantial pain and agoney
to my 310 restoration project . I left my coach in neutral
with the emergency brake on and I found the beast rolled
off and under the carport; needless to say the skin did not
bounce back and it now has the look of a greyhound
scenic cruiser so after you stop laughing if anyone knows
of a place to purchase a front cap or some expertise in
finding windshield rubber and glass, side window glass
tracks and associated rubber please contact me . If you
learn anything from this mistake do not assume anything ever and take all precautions as I did not and am now suffering the consequences !! Damn the Luck

[74Argosy24MH]

I just bought both windshields for my Argosy, $1305, with crating and shipping. They also have the seal, but it was going to take 10 days to get and another $250 I got that from Airstream for $150.

Arizona RV salvage had them, the glass was cheaper, but the shipping and crating were more, came out about the same price. Waited almost 3 weeks before they answered, never mentioned the price for the seal. I had already ordered them by then so never bothered asking their price.

Only found 1 other place that had them, $1100 a side if you want to go that route.



Coach Glass

1-800 714-7171

Mandy

She is pretty good. Held up shipping for a few days because I was going to be out of town, everything worked like planned. Tell her I sent you, maybe she will give me a rebate.

How badly did it bend the windshield frame?

John

[thenewkid64]

I know of a guy in Tampa with an Argosy 20 that has been rearended and only wants 1500 for the whole coach. The side windows and inner cap should be compatible. And if you want to paint the upper cap you could replace it with the steel one from his argosy? I hae no idea on the glass condition, but if they are not fogged a new seal after the panel replacement and you would be good to go and have plenty of excess parts. I might even be willing to go in on it as a parts coach depending on what it has that I may want. Just a thought.

[74Argosy24MH]

That would be the way to go. Under the cap is a curved aluminum extrusion welded to the 3 uprights that form the framework for the windshield. These are welded to another curved extrusion at the bottom of the windshield. If the frame is badly bent, it would be nearly impossible to straighten so the windshields sealed properly, a whole lot easier to weld a good one on.

What was that thread about serendipidy....

John

[thenewkid64]

Bfrank,

Not that I want to get into your personal business, but are you insured?. If you have comprehensive coverage this may fall under that portion of the policy. Just looking for a way to ease the pain.

[ALANSD]

sorry to hear of that incident! Just to maybe make you feel a little less foolish- I had a SAAB 900 turbo parked in my driveway near the end. Later my 4 year old son came in and asked me why daddy's car was parked on mom's swing.......
I had left the brake off, the car slipped and rolled down the hill at the end of my driveway and parked itself snugly between two trees that had a "porch swing" between them. It took a big chain and a 4 my 4 wheel drive to get it out of there.

[Bfrank]

Thanks for the info the windshields are not broken but are fogging
on the edges so I guess that the laminate is coming apart at the
edges if I can find a cap or possibly rempve this one and straighten out the wrinkles I don't see how any one could ever
make it look undamaged. is the cap skin riveted to the windshield frame under the rubber seal that holds the glass? the first seam
is just behind the back of the side window. I was thinking I could
remove the inner cap liner and get to the inside of the front cap
and at least push it out from inside. I had some major leaking
around the front onf the side windows and am trying to find some
positive out of this remove the inner liner and windshields remove
both side window frames and remove the skin over the cab area
and try to straighten it or find a way to replace it or remanufacture one I have emailed airstream for an answer as to
wheather the cap is even available. It looks to me like they don't
want to fool with the classics as there is no real reference to them
on their site any more. I'm sure Andy at inland could fix it but
I'm no movie star and don't have that kind of money was trying to upgrade my rig to a nicer 31 ft I still have my 24' Excella it
just isn't quite as nice and roomy inside maybe I'll just cut it out
and have a sky light there ! Anyway I'll do whatever it takes to
get it back to where it was and hopefully continue to restore
the coach but I think I just added another year to the process

[74Argosy24MH]

The cap is riveted all the way around to the extrusion that forms the upper part of the 'cage' around the front. The upper side window rivets are part of these, the rivet line just continues around under the gasket. It is also riveted along the back edge between the skins and the front main rib.

Inside the top is a u-channel laying on its side, the top is longer than the bottom. There is a z shaped extrusion pop riveted inside this.

Mine is steel and probably .045. If yours is aluminum a body shop might be able to get it looking pretty good. Remember, about 90% of it won't be visible.

If you want any pictures mine is wide open, let me know want you want to see.

John

[Bfrank]

Thanks John I would like to see a photo of the windshield frame
with glass out. from my observations it looks as if you pull the
center strip on the windshield rubber and then it should be flexible enough to place suction cups on the glass and pull it out
of the frame is that correct or is there more to it than that?

[74Argosy24MH]

That's how it works. I pulled the bottom side out first. Used a wide putty knife between the glass and gasket, folded it down, stuck another putty knife there to hold it down, worked my away across the bottom. The curved side then seemed to want to come out, so I pulled it, the inside and top came out easily. Suction cups might be ok, but they probably weigh 50 lbs each, make sure that they have a good grip.

Do you want the whole frame or some specific area? If you want the whole thing I will email it to you, to shrink it down to fit on the photo site would loose any detail. The whole frame is about 8 mg, but you can zoom in and look at specific areas.

John

[Bfrank]

sounds great yeah if I can see it all would be nice and thanks
a bunch I think you can get my email addr from this site and
send it whenever no major rush but it will help me plan my
repair I'm sure and thanks once again John. I will try to take
some photos after I recover from the shock of all this. I guess
I'm lucky that I wasn't under it or something but I would have
used jack stands and I am usually good about taking precautions
just didn't think and a 50 cent brick in front of a tire could have
prevented all of this.

[JW84345]

bfrank,

I cringed when I read your post! Smashing up one of my AS RV's is a constant worry of mine (especially fear someone rear ending my trailer when xway's get backed up with city traffic).

Referencing your comment about Airstream service "It looks to me like they don't want to fool with the classics as there is no real reference to them on their site any more". They do not mfg and sell the classic MH anymore, but they will work on them. I've had work done on both my '69 trailer and '84 AS Classic MH at Jackson Center. Ive been fortunate not to need major repairs done, but have found their labor rate is reasonable and have always been pleased with their work. I'm sure they can handle significant repairs. When I had my MH there last February I saw a trailer in the shop with most one side stripped out being reconstructed. I suspect they could fabricate a repair on your classic MH. Don't have a clue what it would cost. Call there and talk to one of the service techs.

Good luck.