Roof Locker Radio Door Removal, How I Did It

[BillfromWI]

2014 Flying Cloud Roof Locker Radio Door Removal and Replacement

This may have been addressed in another thread but I was unable to find what I needed. Be forewarned: at almost the first step this project becomes one that must be taken to completion—reassembly without the rebuild would be difficult. Some uncommon tools are needed.

I will use part names from the “2013 Flying Cloud End Liner Roof Locker, Rear W/Radio…” diagram that was posted by 25Twin in his/her “Disassembling rear roof locker” thread of December 2017:
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f38/disassembling-rear-roof-locker-177388.html

I decided to change radios (Sony to Sony) which could be a simple plug and play but when I pulled the radio out and glimpsed the rat’s nest behind I decide to try to clean it up. Some of you will view this as a waste of time, but it was my time.

In the rat’s nest I found an unused HDMI cable, an unused 12v cable with a Molex connector (satellite receiver wiring?) and a “Aux-in Selector” box that allowed TV audio to play through the radio speakers with the original radio, but not the new one.

I have read that others have removed the Divider from the Roof Locker to gain access to the radio compartment. I eventually discovered that my Divider is installed with a single pocket screw into the floor of the Roof Locker inside the radio compartment very close to its back wall (close to the skin) and a single ¼” dowel in the wire access cutout for HDMI cables from the Blue Ray player. There are two dowel holes there; only one is used. I doubt that I could have reached the screw (if I had known it was there) and I have not tried to remove the dowel—it is pretty tight. Removing the Blue Ray player box and the panel the 12 and 110 volt outlets are mounted in provided the access I needed to begin this project.

Overview
“Door, plyform”
The curved exterior panel the radio is mounted in; Door, plyform, is primarily cosmetic but it does support the radio. It is attached to the “Support, roof locker, end” from the inside with four (4) screws and four (4) nails that were shot from the outside. The nail holes are small and filled. If you look closely you will probably find them. My screws were Pozidriv wood screws; not the usual Phillips sheet metal screws.

Support, roof locker, end
The Support is attached to the top and bottom of the Roof Locker with ¾” square solid wood cleats. The cleats are screwed and stapled to the Support and Roof Locker--they are cross nailed with a lot of 1” staples. There were also four (4) 1” sheet metal screws from the outside of the inside skin into the edge of the Support. I leave it to your imaginations to figure out how this miracle happened.

Removal (Demolition—it got messy)
Door, plyform
I was able to remove three (3) of the Pozidriv screws with a stubby screwdriver and a small ratchet wrench screw driver (both Phillips) by reaching through the HDMI access cutout. I could not reach the fourth screw, the upper right one closest to the Roof Locker, well enough to completely remove it. I was able to loosen it enough to hacksaw it. I might have been able to get the fourth screw out if I had had a Pozidriv bit. The four nails were of no consequence; their purpose was to stabilize the panel while the screws were driven during assembly.

Getting those four screws back in might be possible but that would be very difficult. Removing the Door does not improve access very much. If this is as far as you would go, don’t bother.

Support, roof locker
With the Door off I had a pretty good view of the lower cleat through the hole for the radio. Try as I might I could neither remove all the screws nor any of the staples. It was installed to stay. I finally hacked it out in splinters with chisels, at which point I was way beyond No Return. Getting a chisel anywhere near the upper cleat was impossible and unscrewing the screws through the skin was also impossible. The upper cleat is only about four inches long, there was a lot of leverage in the Support from the now unattached bottom, and I was way beyond no return, so I ripped it out and chiseled the upper cleat off the Roof Locker. The screws through the skin broke out of the plywood Support—only one was anywhere near the centerline of the edge. Sloppy manufacturing saved me the trouble of cutting the screws out.

I could have salvaged the Support with glue and clamps but I was now in Reconstruction Mode and the Support was 7/16” narrower than it should have been so I used it as a template to saw and route a new one that fills the hole.

Design
The name of this part; “Support”, and the manner it was installed indicated that my reconstruction needed to be strong, and I wanted to be able to take the cabinet apart again without destroying it.

I used ¾” Baltic Birch plywood for the new cleats. I bolted them to the Roof Locker with ¼-20 machine screws and tee nuts or brass cap nuts where they were visible. I added a cleat to the radio cabinet Divider.

I used the Support as a template to saw and route a curved cleat that I attached to the inside skin with #8-32 tee nuts on the outside.

I attached the new Support to the cleats with #8-32 machine screws and tee nuts.

I attached the Door to the Support with two (2) ¼-20 stainless round head cap screws and tee nuts. These are at about the horizontal center line of the Door. The Door is backed by a spacer on the Support.

Assembly
A lot of drilling in tight quarters is required. You will want a right-angle drill for the tee nut holes in the Roof Locker and a very small diameter drill for the tee nut holes in the skin cleat for the Support—I used a Yankee Push Drill; the chuck diameter of most drill tools is too large for what I did. Alternatively you could mark the holes in the cleat with a transfer punch, remove the cleat, and drill the holes.

1. Place the Support in the hole and carefully reach inside the compartment through the HDMI cable access hole with a fine point marker to trace the location of the Support on the adjacent surfaces, including the interior skin, to mark the location of the new cleats.

2. Drill the cleats for the ¼-20 or #8-32 machine screws.

3. Use double stick tape to place the cleats on the lines from step 1.

4. Use the cleats as guides to drill the holes for the tee nuts or cap nuts. Clamp the cleats, and a backer board to prevent tear out, to the Roof Locker.

5. Bolt the cleats in.

6. Drill the Support of #8-32 machine screws.

7. Place the Support in the opening and use it as a guide to drill holes for the tee nuts.

8. Bolt the Support in.

9. Drill the Door for ¼-20 machine screws.

10. Place the Door and use a transfer punch to mark the location of the tee nuts on the Support.

11. The door may need to be shimmed to align it with the Roof Locker. Mine needed a quarter inch at the top.

12. Remove the Support, drill holes for the tee nuts. Glue and screw the Door backer spacer to the Support. Use the tee nut holes as a guide to drill the spacer.

Congratulations! Now you can finally get back to the radio.

While everything was open I installed an AC outlet inside the Blue Ray cabinet for the player and HDMI splitter for the main and bedroom TVs.

[25Twin]

Nice work!! I'm glad I gave up trying to remove that panel! What a pain that looked to be.
Being new to Airstream and trailer ownership, I am baffled by the construction methods used, which seem to be a real impediment to long term maintenance and upgrades.