Wheel Well Sealing- 76 Argosy

[Gkiesel]

Hi All, I need to reseal the wheel wells in our Argosy. They do not leak sitting in the driveway, but if it's raining while on the road, they leak pretty bad. Anybody have any tips? And is this a job for Vulkum or Sikaflex? Any help would be apreciated. Thanks, George.

[bebrigha]

Hello, Gkiesel! I have the same issue on mine... Did you discover what was causing your troubles? If so, can you enlighten me as to what you did to fix this specific issue, please? Thanks!

[Isadora]

Same issue here--but just on one side. Where to seal--inside, outside, or both? Maybe every seam and joint in the wheel well just to be sure. We have thought about spraying the wheel well with the hose to see just where the water is coming in.

[Melody Ranch]

My wheel wells are wood so different than yours, but the process should be similar. I hope it works.

After paying my "Ex" repair guys (Ex emphasized) to do the wheel wells I knew right away there was a problem when I could see the ground while looking at the wheel well box from inside the trailer. Back to the shop here at the Ranch.
I pulled the wood panels, waterproofed the wood surface and coated the edges with Vulkem. After reassembly I sealed both inside and outside cracks, where the box met the wall and floor, with vulkem. Then I painted the wheel well area (outside) with waterproof floor paint...the only thing I had sitting around. After that dried I applied truck bed liner coating from a can purchased at a local Auto Parts store. It all looks akin to a Rhino Bed liner I have in the truck. Without other guidance...I hope it works because those leaky wells are BAD.

[Aerowood]

Mine were leaking real bad on my GT when I obtained it. I did have the advantage of not having the interior skins on mine when I sealed them up. I thinned sealant to the consistency of syrup and poured the sealant in between the outer skin and wheel well, and the floorboard and wheel well. I also sealed from the outside. This took care of any and all dust or water intrusion.

[bebrigha]

Thank you for the advice, Melody Ranch and Aerowood!

Isadora, is your leak curb-side or street-side?

[Gkiesel]

I just took the tires off and sealed where the wheel well meets the fame. The old vulkem was brittle and shot. After that, no more problems.

[Isadora]

Originally Posted by bebrigha

Thank you for the advice, Melody Ranch and Aerowood!

Isadora, is your leak curb-side or street-side?

Our leak is curbside. And only going down the road in the rain, so the tire has to be throwing water up there and it gets in somewhere. I guess we need to take a flashlight after dark and see if we can see light thru the wheelwell into the trailer (or the other way around, maybe we can pinpoint the leak that way.

[soldiermedic]

Did someone day leak?

My wells were both rotted from the same thing.

Steve

[bebrigha]

George (Gkiesel) was very helpful via a private message; thanks, George!

Isadora, George pointed out that his leak was the dried-out vulkem where the frame meets the exterior wheel well. I checked mine, and it appears to be brittle as he described his. And, with soldiermedic agreeing, I'm starting there; hopefully, that will rectify the issue. Thanks, George and soldiermedic!

[adonh]

Look for cracks in the plastic wheel well lining. I had leaks as well while driving in the rain with my 76 and there were small and large cracks in my wheel well lining. Some were just hair line cracks so look closely. I covered the cracks with a product that I bought at a local RV supply store. It is used for repairing leaks on trailers. It is in a roll about 8' wide. One side is a flexible thin aluminum and the other is a thicker rubber real sticky surface. I first applied Vulkem to fill the cracks and then cut patches of the material to cover the area and applied Vulkem around the edges. I also applied new Vulkem around all of the edges. This was done about 8 years ago and no leak problems since then.

[kennethowens]

Not being in an "overly cosmetic" location....there
are numerous products to coat the whole area with
that should work. You may consider pulling all the wheels
and "Slathering" the area of both sides with the toughest
stuff you can find. Inland Andy suggested "UnderCoating"
awhile back in another thread I think. It may not be pretty,
but water damage is worse!