replacing lower corner skin

[wayne.yl]

I am in the process of replacing the lower rear corner skin on my 77 sovereign. All has gone well until today. I have run into a problem when I attempted to cut the hole for the back light assembly. Once I cut the hole and trial fitted the assembly, I notice the light will not seal cleanly to the skin. Since the light assembly is designed to wrap around the corner it is curved. However the curve on the light assembly is not matching up to the curve on the new skin. The curve on the new skin must have a slightly wider radius than the light since the light bottoms out at each end before the center makes contact with the skin. I hope this makes sense. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get a better fit for the light?
thanks for any input.
Wayne

[PizzaChop]

Wayne,

I'm assuming your new piece of skin is being placed over the existing old piece, causing the larger radius.

If it were me (assuming 1/8" gap or less), I would shave off some aluminum from the light assembly to achieve a "tight" fit. (This is assuming everything else fits snug, and the light assembly is the only problem. The larger radius may affect the beltline and trim as well.)

[LI Pets]

How about a pic

[wayne.yl]

[IMG]C:\Documents and Settings\Wayne Patterson\My Documents\My Pictures\IMG_1496.JPG[/IMG]

Just copy this link and paste it into your Address bar.
If you are wondering of the scratches on the skin, don't worry. I left the plastic film on the skin.
I hope you can see the picture

[wayne.yl]

This a picture of the light assembly....I think

[Chuck]

Wayne...you can't post a link to a location on your "c" drive; your "c" drive isn't on the internet. If you want to "link" to a file like that, the file has to be sitting on a webserver that is accessible to everyone. (I.e. it has to be on a web server somewhere).

easiest way to post a pic is to look below the text window when you're doing a reply, and click the "manage attachments" button. another window will open, which will allow you to upload a file from your computer to the airforums.com server. click the "browse" button, browse to the location on your computer where the file lives....then click the "upload" button...close the window, and submit your reply.

tip: 640x480 is a good size for viewing on the forum. you may need to resize the photo in order for the server to accept it.

[wayne.yl]

Here is the picture of the light assembly on the back of the trailer and the difference in the curve of the light and the back corner.

[LI Pets]

Two things is the gap the same on the bottom?

If you take a compass and scribe the curve of the body on top of the light you can see if it's possible to shave the ends downs to get it flush.

My rear light was pushed in by the PO and I had to flex the skin outward to get it almost right, then I used vulkem to make a nice bead but it wasn't out that much.

The bad news is the curve you set is just wrong and the panel needs to be reset with the correct curve depth.

You also can bolt the light in place then put the panel on with the light in place perhaps.


More pic's may help

[LI Pets]

I just took a look at mine, that panel that you're replacing has a bump out right where the light is. If you look at it verticly there is a compound bump.

Maybe bolting the light on first then working the edges would be better?????

[Lumatic]

Originally Posted by LI Pets

The bad news is the curve you set is just wrong and the panel needs to be reset with the correct curve depth.

I believe LI Pets is on track. It is easy to get the banana wrap back on, but if it not in exactly the right position it will have a different flex and a different contour.

[wayne.yl]

Thanks to aerowood, I was able to pull the skin out enough to match the radius of the light. This guy knows his aluminum. I think I have attached another pic that shows my handiwork. Thanks for all the advice.
Wayne

[wayne.yl]

This is another look at the light assembly. I only posted this because, thanks to the moderator, I now know how to post a picture and I am just practicing.
Thanks again for all the advice. I couldn't imagine tackling the work on the trailer without all who offer assistance on the forum.

[LI Pets]

Originally Posted by wayne.yl

Thanks to aerowood, I was able to pull the skin out enough to match the radius of the light. This guy knows his aluminum. I think I have attached another pic that shows my handiwork. Thanks for all the advice.
Wayne

Looks great what did you do?

[wayne.yl]

Bob
you were right in that the panel needed a little adjustment. Obviously. I was reluctant to adjust it since I had already drilled and clecoed the panel top and bottom. Yes there is a bulge on that panel right at the light and I thought I had accounted for it when I was installing the panel. The bottom of the light fit much tighter than the top prior to my adjustment so I new it would not take much. My oversight came when I didn't account for the damage done to the horizontal rib at the seam of the top and bottom skin. When I removed the old skin I noticed the rib was barely attached and was somewhat bent. I took it off and tried to bent it back to shape matching it to the rib on the opposite side of the coach. I must have bent it too much because it pulled the skin in too far by one quarter of an inch. Ultimately though I had to pull the panel out about 1/4 inches at the top center of the light and redrill two holes. I hated having to do this but I had enough metal to work with so I am not worried about a weak seam at that point. All in all, I am very pleased with the results given I have never worked with aluminum before. The scariest part of the job was trying to discern where to drill the skin from the inside so as to rivet the light back to the skin. There is only a one half inch surface on the light to catch with a rivet. If you miss to the outside, well you know the rest. I only measured 4-5 times before drilling. I wish the light assembly were designed with an inner and outer section that would sandwich the skin in between instead of just attaching to the outside. Aerwood said his light assembly is this design. It sounds like a better, more secure design to me. Anyway this part is done.Thanks again for the diagnosis.
Wayne