Visit our Popular Forums

thenewkid64 · 03-15-2002, 07:56 PM

At least it happened at home on the driveway.....

I went to plug in my trouble light (appropriate name!) and when I flipped the exterior cast aluminum cover up to get to the 120-volt outlet it came off in my hand.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to repair this?

I would rather not have to remove the entire outlet assembly, it looks like the steel pin just rusted/seized and my use of the outlets has caused it to shear off.

Any thoughts or ideas welcomed.

FrankR · 03-15-2002, 09:25 PM

These covers are very easy to replace. They are held in place by a single screw. Take the old cover to a big box [home depot], and getn anew one. There are severl styles to choose. I'm not a big fan of replacing the foam gasket. My view is if water gets in, it's good to have a path out. Also buy the cover that snaps closed when not used. Frank

thenewkid64 · 03-16-2002, 08:29 AM

Here is a before and after picture of what I was trying to describe.

With Door

thenewkid64 · 03-16-2002, 08:29 AM

without door

FrankR · 03-16-2002, 09:55 AM

Your m/h has a special out door recepticle.
To repair your device requires some serious work. I think I need to see all the parts. Did the door pin fail or rust.?? Can the door be reinstalled if the pin and door were connected ?? Are these parts stainless? This is a very difficult repair. To change the plug must be difficult unless there is an acess from the inside. I'd like to help, but I'm stuck.......Frank

thenewkid64 · 03-16-2002, 11:35 AM

Frank,

Your Travel trailer should have an outside outlet on the curbside of the trailer rearward from the door. Based on the picture you posted in the exterior restoration forum I belive it is below the mid point marker light just above the wheels.

The door is held in place with what looks like a stainless steel rod.

The ends of the rod are still on the MH and where it comes thru the cover you can see where it rusted/sheared off.

I suppose I could drill out the old pin and attempt to find some kind of very thin stainless steel screws to put in on each side??

Any hardware reccomendations would be great.

PeterH-350LE · 03-16-2002, 01:01 PM

Brett,
Getting the old pin out of the door should be easy, but the part that is attached to the motorhome could prove to be more difficult.
If you can not push them thru with a nail punch or pull them out with pliers, access with a drill is very tight.
If all fails, you could drill out the 9 rivets and IF your wire is loose enough, try to turn the part to get access to the side for drilling.
(look at the favorite picture of your motorhome section, with the panel removed, you can barely see the whole unit hanging by the wire).
After successful removal of the old pin, I would look for a replacement at Home depot or use a screw set-up.
If you don't have olympic rivets, use stainless steel screws, which should not exceed 5/32 diameter. (So you can replace it with olympics at a later date)

thenewkid64 · 03-16-2002, 02:29 PM

That is what i was afraid of, having to remove the outlet box altogether.

This may be one of those times that the job justifies the purchase of a new tool!

I already have a dremel tool, they make a flexible extension for it to get into tight places. This may be the way to do it without removing the outlet box???

I will look at it when I make the third trip to Home Depot. I am doing plumbing and ALL plumbing requires 3 trips. 1 to buy the plumbing fixture that you need to install and the parts you think you need to install it. Trip 2 is to take back half the stuff you bought and get diffrent stuff to finish installing the original part. The third trip is to get the last part that you either thought you could avoid replacing or you forgot to get on trip 2.

Thanks for the input.

P.S. Peter, can I buy a couple of small pieces of leftover skin from your reskin job?? I need a couple of 4"X4" and one 4"X10" size. I need to patch some dumb PO mods.

thenewkid64 · 06-16-2002, 08:54 AM

Well I finally got the guts to take the drill to the exterior of the MH. I had purchased a new/used outlet box from Colaw and had it in the garage for the last month. Yesterday I decided it was time to install it. The only way to do this was to remove the fridge so I could install the whole new box. With the flange it will not come out thru the hole in the skin. I had the fridge out due to its untimely death. I am installing a NEW one now but that is a whole other thread. Here is the link to the picture, but I have yet to shave the rivets. Hey Peter, you have any trips to Fl Planned????

http://www.airstreamphotos.com/photo...x.pl?photo=328