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1991 Excella Classic Exterior Door Hinge Repair
I am the 3rd owner of a well-kept 25 footer. When I purchased the trailer from a private owner I noticed that there was a stainless shim behind the lower outer door hinge and it was starting to work its way loose. I figured I could just tighten the hinge screws and solve the problem. Of course, nothing is that simple. The screws would just spin, like there was no nut on the back or possibly that at the factory they threaded the hinge bolts into the extruded aluminum framework and the threads were stripped. I did as much research as I could and found many solutions, but none that worked for me. I actually did not run across any that told me there were ¼ - 20 nuts inside and that a 7/16 inch wrench would fit….. if you could get it or a socket over the bolts.
Prior to diving in on the project I spent a lot of time checking to see if there was any electrical, coax, telephone wire, radio speaker wires, etc. ~ and decided to move forward in small steps. I documented the job with about 8 photos. I hope I can upload that many and attach to this thread. The only way possible to tighten the hinge bolts is to access the back of the hinge from the inside of the trailer. This means cutting through the inside wall. I decided to cut two oblong access points using a ¾ inch hole saw and sawing between the two holes. The overall hole size is about 5 inches long by ¾ inches wide. You will need this much room to see and operate. There are nuts on the backside of the hinge screws. The nuts are covered with sealer and it is difficult to remove. I found that using an offset awl to get behind the sealer, then a pair of duckbill pliers to pull the globs of sealer out worked quite well. In my case the nuts were too close the doorframe to get a socket over them, impossible to use an open/box end wrench ~ so out came the vice grips. You will need these. I will recommend a small to medium size pair of vice grips. Latch on to the nut then go outside and with the proper sized phillips head, slowly back the screws loose and replace. Note: your average sized #2 phillips head bit will not work and will quite possible strip the screw. The screws are ¼ - 20 taper head. Of course use stainless steel screws and nuts. I chose star-nuts as replacement nuts because they grip into the backside of the outer aluminum skin.
Notice I used a lot of tools in trying to get past all the obstacles. The photo only shows about ½ of them. Don’t forget to reseal the nuts to eliminate water intrusion. Reinstall insulation, and find an appropriate way to cover access holes. I used wood trim as you can see in the final photos. I did include one photo of a screw I had to drill out due to damage from previous attempts to remove.
HINT: Screws are stainless. If you drill them at too high of drill speed or fail to use cutting oil you will just smoke your drill bits. You will notice I show a vari-bit in the tool photo. They are very sharp and very durable. First latch onto the nut inside with vice grips then use the vari-bit. The nice thing about the vari-bit is that after the 2nd step, I drilled through the bottom of the taper and popped the screw head off. I could just push the bolt through from outside to inside.
Lastly, I started with the bottom hinge because it was beside the stove and I could better hide a botch job there than up high by the range hood. The lower hinge repair took about 10 hours over 3 days, due to me being analytical, overthinking, running back and forth for tools, losing my flashlight, etc. The top hinge took less the 30 minutes. Yep, knowing what you are getting into can make this a 2 hour job maximum if you have average skills, common sense, and a great selection of tools. Have Fun!
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