Belt Line Repair

[Scotty Hutto]

We tried several method, but in the end we used utility knives to remove the “bulk”, the plastic razor blades and De-Solve-it to get the remnants. I believe Talin uses Boeshield T-9 to help loosen it.  

Caulk removal is the toughest part. 

3 hours ago, Ray Davis said:

Hmmm,  I wonder what the minimum wage is these days?

I looked,  Federal is $7.25  California is $15.50  

I probably won't be hiring anyone from Ca.  I want one of those hard-working Federal guys.  LOL

Just kidding Federal guys.

On the other hand, if you use a two handled rivet gun to do all 300 rivets, you can skip “arm day” at the gym…

[Rocketman3]

After reading this and watching the video on fixing the beltline - how do I know if I have a beltline problem?

I have a 2000 Dynasty- (older than the ones you were working on). I looked at my beltline and it all look good, it all looks sealed. I ran my thumb over the whole lower beltline- it all felt smooth (horizontally) - in two section it felt fatter (vertically), right at the passenger bay door and at the rear radiator. 
 

As long as the upper beltline is also good - does that mean no issues and someone had a good day at the factory 23 years ago?

Thanks

[Tom Cherry]

18 hours ago, Scotty Hutto said:

For Guardian plates, still use a two handled hand gun, but beltlines? Spot repairs?  Ok. Don’t *even* try to do an entire beltline, much less multiple beltlines without an air-powered rivet gun. 

If you consider your time worth more than minimum wage, you’ll pay for the gun with the first beltline. 

Maybe.  Probably.  When i did my first Guardian, I said….go manual.  Had I KNOWN?  Probably the gun.  But, I did improve my upper body strength….but crawling under and then “pumping” iron and snapping the 25 or so for the first set of plates.  So, I survived….and said, you can do this.  I have had “shoulder joint” issues in my left arm since an ice fall in college in 1968.  I scrapped over 3000 SF of popcorn ceiling and sanded and patched and painted all that early in 2016.  That resulted in a summer long PT program….so I was finely tuned and had great upper body strength.

Yes….a hand tool will be much easier on Beltline than under a slide.  Yes, if there are hundreds. NO…NO…NO..IF you are doing work and replacing a few sheared rivets, some OEM Aluminum & some SS under a slide where the frame and (skin) are joined.  A GUN will pull the SS tight.

Opps, the original OEM joint or seam is now distorted.  NEVER replace some ALUMINUM with super strong, never break SS.  I warped the sidewall joint between the sidewall and the lower bottom outer “band”.  The SS rivets (which go in from the bottom) that I used to replace some Aluminum pulled the lower band too much and the lower band pulled away from the sidewall.  Had to grind off the SS.  Then put in an Aluminum one and cinch it enough to get the lower band and sidewall joint realigned.  Then (memory), interspersed SS & Al but controlled the cinching by watching the gap.  That section was maybe 12 -15 ft long.  It is now back to the original construction and the band looks great after removing the glob of clear and resealing.  SO….BEWARE & don’t go crazy and arbitrarily put in a SS and really get that “joint” TIGHT….like it SHOULD have been.  YES…A PICTURE would have been nice…..BUT.  READ THE FOLLOWING.

On my Camelot, the curved panel over the front wheels will loosen and sometimes rattle or make road noises.  Typically, the braces at the bottom will have loosened or broken and you reinstall or make a new one or whatever.

BUT…I & others have found that the assemblers that used the drill point screws that attach the top of the panel to the main body were “not well trained”.  Often times the rattle or noise is from the top of the panel that has loosened.

A tech showed me this when I came back the next day after less than an hour’s drive. He used MORE drill point screws….and added a few to attach it rather than the original 3 (each end & middle).  He drove in the new screws with a drill, but stopped.  With the new screws in place, he used a 1/4” ratchet and started to tighten each one but used the existing gap as a guide,  if he had driven all of them in, tight….the joint between the panel and the body would have been wavy and erratic.  Later on, I enhanced his technique and replaced the drill point screws with metal roofing screws (Lowes).  These are a Hex Washer (more contact than plain hex) and they have a fiber (for water proofing the screw on a metal roof).  The fiber washer acts a vibration reducer.  I have not had any issues.  Mine now have 5 screws and I used the same technique to refasten or reinforce the braces….

Hand torqueing a joint for structural integrity with a ratchet while maintaining the original construction spacing is not hard….but just driving in more screws would have destroyed the factory spacing….

 

[miacasa_2000]

Well I started mine today and have a few questions hopefully Jim, Scotty and Chris will chime in. First I started on the DSF where I didn't have any issues (mine are all past the slide) because of the advice Chris gave about the radius being a problem area and I wanted to head off a future problem, and I was pleasantly surprised how good it looked.  My screws are every 4-1/2" on center so I put rivets about a 1/2" away from each screw. Then when I took the screws out every other one came out full and the ones that didn't broke off at the steel. At the steel is the only spot there was any rust on the screws. So first question is am I on the right track placing rivets every 4-1/2" next to old screws and taking  the old screws out even if everything looked good, I imagine I should so they don't back out later and cause a issue but every 4-1/2" seams crazy but maybe that's why my belt held up. Anyway my 2nd Question is the section under the awning at the bottom of the channel it looks like they put it in with a putty it's soft like plumbers putty you can see it in the cover (pic 2) and in the track (pic 3) you also can see where it's missing in the track by the screw because that spot is in the cover. Is this where you mentioned the tape should go or should I just caulk it in? Question # 3 this same awning area do I replace the screws with rivets , will my 7/8" rivets work this area is a little thicker by the awning track slid down behind the belt channel or leave these screws alone? 

I know my coach has never been recalked because it was only 6 yrs old when I got it. I don't know what Monaco used it is kind of rubbery like silicone and is brutal to remove no long pc's like Scottys' 

Roy  2003 Dynasty

[jacwjames]

I only pulled the covering off the belt molding extrusion for about ~30 ft and did that section.  It was rear passenger side from above the bedroom window back down the side of the coach and then back to in front of the bedroom window.  The only screws that were bad were the ones that the water had gotten to.  I didn't replace all the screws, I left the ones that looked OK.  A lot of them were rusted through so when I tried to remove they just popped right off.   I just drilled those holes larger to fit the rivet and installed a new rivet there.  I maybe installed ~30 rivets. 

In hind sight maybe I should have done what you are doing. 

 

I have the metal guard over my awnings and didn't remove.  I believe I just applied a layer of the Geocel over the top of the existing caulk there.  It seemed in pretty good shape. 

On the rest of the belt moldind I removed the old caulk with the heavy scrapers, cleaned, and applied the Geocel.  I did put painters tape on each side of the groove I applied the Geocel to make a cleaner job.  Applied a thin bead, smoothed with my finger and then pulled the tape off.  I tried to free hand it but could lay a decent bead so resorted to tape, took longer but did a neat job.