Help ceiling tear

[Skyeyes2blue]

We have model 127D9J857 (27' Overlander with 2 double beds)
A place just above the dividing partion of galley and bedroom has cracked.The wood frame of the divider seems to be pushing up from the floor of the trailer on the gaucho side. also there is a gap between the wall and the divider of about 1/2". In the bathroom the floor makes popping noise when walked on , in enry way the floor gives slightly. We wondered if anyone knows how to stop this, we are afraid if it continues it will badly damge the structure.
FYI previous owner had frame stiffeners installed on the rear in 2002 . Would this have any effect ?

[Ganglin]

I'm going to guess that the problems you have are unrelated and are in fact three different situations. Or, at least two with the soft floor by the door being an old leak that softened the floor. Have you pulled up the carpet/flooring in that area to see? Used an ice pick to see if it's soft?

We have a 71 Overlander and have a similar problem with the divider post. I had planned to start a Thread with the question at a later time with photos. Might as well see if anyone has any ideas for us both if you don't mind.

Facing the rear the right post on the divider appears to have jammed the ceiling at one time and cracked it. The plastic cap at the top is broken. Is that similar to your situation? My first thought was the trailer was bottomed out on that side, or at least ran over something large, at one time. But, would think that would have shoved the tire up against the wheel well and we have no sign of that.

[dwightdi]

The outriggers have most likely rotted. This gives poor support to the floor causing it to flex. The weight of the shell (without proper support from the floor) caused the settling of the shell over the floor. The partician gets it support from the floor area that is over the frame. Therefore, it does not go down and the shell settles onto the partician and bumps in the road cause the partician to rip thru the ceiling. You will likely have to take down the banana skins to examin and then have someone make up new outriggers and weld them in.

[Skyeyes2blue]

Our tear is on the left side if facing rear of trailer, this is the side our double goucho is located. We do not have any plastic between the vinyl ceiling material and wood partion. The tear is directly above the frame for the doorway. The door was missing for this location when purchased and I assume it was accordion type.
The front floor problem is caused from leak, which I now know for certain. I think leak is located where the TV antenna raising crank goes through roof. That is the next problem to repair any suggestions?

dwightdi, what you said makes sense . I think the bath floor creaking is caused by same problem. Have any idea how difficult this procedure is? My husband is very handy, welds etc., but I would like to know how difficult it is before I suggest the solution. He had informed me often that he has no magic wand. So I bought him one for his birthday, but he just doesn't have enough faith in it and still insists on the hard way of doing things.

[dwightdi]

I have seen people drop the side lower wraps by just drilling out the pop rivets along the bottom seam where it meets the middle of the bottom. The sides are a simple bend so they just swing down except for around the wheels. You might have to do a cut just in front and behind the wheels so you can see what you have. Then you can decide what to do about it. A simple patch would cover the cuts when you reassemble the banana peels. The lower pans in the front corners are 3 dimensional and are more difficult to drop for that year. You might not have damage in those areas. As long as the frame does not have any major difficulties, such as rear droop or cracks, the unit is most likely worth working on.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Skyeyes2blue

We have model 127D9J857 (27' Overlander with 2 double beds)
A place just above the dividing partion of galley and bedroom has cracked.The wood frame of the divider seems to be pushing up from the floor of the trailer on the gaucho side. also there is a gap between the wall and the divider of about 1/2". In the bathroom the floor makes popping noise when walked on , in enry way the floor gives slightly. We wondered if anyone knows how to stop this, we are afraid if it continues it will badly damge the structure.
FYI previous owner had frame stiffeners installed on the rear in 2002 . Would this have any effect ?

The cause for the bulkhead pushing up through the ceiling is vibration, and bottoming out.

Obviously, the trailer was towed with improper running gear balance.

Secondly, the axles quite well are shot.

The frame kit has nothing to do with the problem, but might have locked in another problem.

The fix, is not complicated, but it must be done a certain way.

Lower the front of the trailer. Place some blocks underneath the bumper. Then "SLOWLY" raise the front of the trailer, until the bulkhead retracts from the ceiling. Raising the front end too high can cause the sheetmetal to buckle. Install a patch over the torn section of the ceiling. IMPORTANT. Then you must cut some material off of the top of the bulkhead.

When finished, remove the blocks.

Andy

[Ganglin]

SkyEyes - is this something like what your ceiling looks like also.

Andy - if a trailer "bottomed out" would there not be some evidence of that - some damage to the wheel well or seal around it inside?

[silver 67]

... the "tear" looks somewhat like the one we had, however, the other side of the frame had a hole that was patched (badly). By removing the patch and with some inspection we found that we had a broken "bow" in the ceiling. Still not sure how that happened. The top was not bent, nor did it look like it had been repaired. To fix the break, hubby was able to rivet a support piece on both sides of the bow. We covered the ceiling damage with wood that matched the cabinets and created a curved door frame to give the ceiling additional support. I'm sorry I don't have pictures of this to post, as we were still in the dark ages of 35 mm. I'll see if we can scan them in from our photo album later this weekend.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Ganglin

SkyEyes - is this something like what your ceiling looks like also.

Andy - if a trailer "bottomed out" would there not be some evidence of that - some damage to the wheel well or seal around it inside?

Your photo shows the typical damage.

Bottoming out can cause many problems.

Damage to the wheel wells, would be down the list since they are plastic.

Andy

[Ganglin]

Now it all starts to add up. The PO said this was caused by the a/c unit being repaired and reinstalled at one point before his grandfather left him the trailer. My gut tells me he ran it over something and jolted it enough to cause the tear.

The bulkhead post is loose - so at least for us we won't have to go through the jacking procedure Andy outlined - we can just shorten the post a little and see if the ceiling can be patched in an inconspicuous manner.

Thanks for the feedback Andy.... it is always appreciated.

[Skyeyes2blue]

Yes my tear looks very much like your photo ganglin, and we do have some damage to the plastic wheel well, but think that it is from the goucho slide in at the wrong angle. We also have some seperation space between wall and the bulkhead starts about 3" above where the gally counter top intersect and goes to floor widening from about 1/4" to 2" as it goes down. PO spent over 20K on redo of this rig inside and out we have all records. The axel was not part of this work, they did have wheels repacked etc. Our tear happened while sitting in our yard, is it possible that the stabelizer jacks caused this? We always try to get her as level as possible.My hubby thought the problem was due to the size of the occupants sleeping in the goucho(which aren't minature anything).

[Ganglin]

Boy I don't know how that would happen sitting in the yard unless the trailer is on a twist. Your not using the stabilizers to level the trailer are you. They are just used to snug the unit - don't crank on them to lift the trailer up to level. I don't even use mine in fact. Bought a set of aluminum pyramid type jacks - the ones they try to sell on Ebay for $50 - and place them on the outer frame corners - again, just snug. If you need to level her get some leveling blocks at an rv dealer. Or, just use scrap 2x8's and plywood to run the low side wheels up on.

Hopefully Inland Andy will see this and reply. Curious, if you let the pressure off the jacks does the wall gap close...?

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Skyeyes2blue

Yes my tear looks very much like your photo ganglin, and we do have some damage to the plastic wheel well, but think that it is from the goucho slide in at the wrong angle. We also have some seperation space between wall and the bulkhead starts about 3" above where the gally counter top intersect and goes to floor widening from about 1/4" to 2" as it goes down. PO spent over 20K on redo of this rig inside and out we have all records. The axel was not part of this work, they did have wheels repacked etc. Our tear happened while sitting in our yard, is it possible that the stabelizer jacks caused this? We always try to get her as level as possible.My hubby thought the problem was due to the size of the occupants sleeping in the goucho(which aren't minature anything).

Please read my posts #6 and #9.

Placeing the trailer up on jacks, can also cause many problems if the shell was stressed along with the prior damage as I posted.

The wheel wells and ceiling tear are both related to vibration and bottoming out.

Andy