Trillium Door Sag - I know.... - Fiberglass RV
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Old 11-28-2015, 02:05 PM   #1
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Trillium Door Sag - I know....

1978 Trillium 1300: I know this topic has been discussed many times so thank you for those that respond. I have some questions regarding materials, etc. So, my door had a small amount of sag and I didn't have time to fix it properly so I added two bolts/nuts per hinge on the door side last year that almost snugged everything up. I am unsure how well most doors close but I always have to push the door close to shut, grab the door handle and manual pull it close from the inside or push hard near the handle from the outside. So I wanted to do a permanent fix to get everything right. The trailer is in amazing shape, not much to do with it so I have to do something this winter.

1) Do other's doors shut the same way?
2) How do I know if the hinges themselves are bad? They have slight vertical movement, but not much slop side to side. I know where to purchase them but need to be able to justify the purchase instead of just "Well they are almost 40 years old."
3) What is a specific epoxy that people have had luck with long-term?
4) What is the best procedure? I have seen people shove tooth picks, drill out and put dowels, etc. I am a "home mechanic" so I have all tools that I can imagine I would need, but have never worked with fiberglass before.
5) After removing all of the hardware, externally all of the holes look good and are not enlarged. On the trailer side of the hinge, the top screw on each was significantly rusted. Any idea why? It made me think that it was screwed into metal of some kind, which would be weird for only the top hole or that water had sat on that because it was the top hole.
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Old 11-28-2015, 02:15 PM   #2
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While I had a different problem, you might find my hinge thread useful.
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...air-47624.html

My door closes smoothly. The latch closes securely with no alignment issues. Good luck, Raz
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Old 11-28-2015, 02:42 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by P. Raz View Post
While I had a different problem, you might find my hinge thread useful.
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...air-47624.html

My door closes smoothly. The latch closes securely with no alignment issues. Good luck, Raz
Thanks! I read through your thread previously and you did an amazing job. I am hesitant to tear into the ensolite at this point since it is in such good condition, unless I have to.
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Old 11-28-2015, 02:44 PM   #4
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Thanks! I read through your thread previously and you did an amazing job. I am hesitant to tear into the ensolite at this point since it is in such good condition, unless I have to.
A dull putty knife and a hair drier are your friend Raz
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Old 11-28-2015, 10:16 PM   #5
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I appreciate it Raz. I was almost determined to go down and start peeling back the ensolite but thought better of it. My trailer is in immaculate condition, no noticeable rot anywhere and I am not sure if there is "rot" in the wood either. I think more than anything it is simply "loose" from use over the years. I will try the epoxy method first and go from there.
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Old 11-29-2015, 05:39 AM   #6
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I appreciate it Raz. I was almost determined to go down and start peeling back the ensolite but thought better of it. My trailer is in immaculate condition, no noticeable rot anywhere and I am not sure if there is "rot" in the wood either. I think more than anything it is simply "loose" from use over the years. I will try the epoxy method first and go from there.
I don't have ensolite. My trailer has foam backed vinyl on the walls. And the trailer was new. There is no telling how hard or easy removal of your wall covering would be so I understand your reluctance. That said, if there is wood back there, it is much easier for water to get to than the window spacers. Tooth picks, dowels, epoxy, and wall anchors have all been used with some success. While none are a permanent fix, they all will solve the problem in the short term. At least a few years .

While you are working on the door I would suggest lubricating the door lock. Replacements are pricey. Have fun, Raz
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Old 11-29-2015, 10:02 AM   #7
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I removed my door latch last summer and totally cleaned it out and then added some WD40. What a difference! Highly recommended...
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Old 11-29-2015, 03:29 PM   #8
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ckayaker, I am afraid of taking the latch apart in case I cannot get it back together. Are there lots of springs, etc?
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Old 11-29-2015, 03:35 PM   #9
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Hello Claire - I undid the screws that hold the inside and outside pieces together and at first thought there wasn't much I could do, so I cleaned out the dirty using a toothbrush and varsol. Once it seemed clean, I sprayed the moving bits with WD40 and reassembled the two parts on the door. It worked wonders and no scary bits or springs etc.
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Old 11-29-2015, 05:45 PM   #10
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A couple of points to consider.
1. My trillium had hinges that completely fell out. The previous owner replaced the screws with 5/16 bolts through the shell. Very ugly, please see my restoration project posted in these forums. I fiber glassed threaded inserts into the wood and and used stainless bolts in place of screws..
2. This post has several referrals to WD40 as what I take to be lubricant. WD40 is a water displacing solvent that is very good for cleaning. However it has very little lubricating qualities. I think a silicone based grease spray is a much better choice.
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Old 11-30-2015, 03:11 PM   #11
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WD40 is not meant to be a permanent lubricant it becomes a honey like material before long. Graphite lubricant is the usual lubricant used on locks and latches.
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Old 01-24-2016, 03:51 PM   #12
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Alright, so I have the door and hinges off, ensolite pulled back and I have the fiberglass cut out to give me access. I want the best, most efficient, longest lasting way forward to repair this. I have epoxy to fill in the holes if needed, but I was also thinking about going bigger, as in using larger hardware (drilling out the holes in the hinges), and then using bolts and nuts instead.... probably an infinite number of ways to do this.

P. Raz, did you use larger hardware?



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Old 01-24-2016, 06:01 PM   #13
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P. Raz, did you use larger hardware?
Larger. No. On my trailer they used screws into the door and the trailer. I kept the screws in the door and used flat head machine screws( bolts) and nylok nuts on the trailer side. These were long enough to go through the fiberglass body and the home made steel plates. The door screw and body bolt size were the same, no. 8 stainless as I recall. It's important to get both hinges parallel. To do this I made a tool , a piece of wood with two nails, to get the screw spacing correct. Hope that helps, Raz

Edit: An after thought, the hinges are chrome plated cast zinc so drilling to the next size might require enlarging the countersink, thus removing the plating. Be careful.
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Old 01-24-2016, 06:12 PM   #14
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Don't worry, I am a tinkerer with projects going all the time, so I will make sure it is right when I am done. So you just used bolts near the same size in place of the screws? How thick of a plate did you put on? Did you epoxy the plate in place?

Mine is the same way as yours, screws on both. I have already converted my door to bolts as a temporary fix before so I will take a look if I still want to stick with that or epoxy it in and go back to screws.
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Old 01-24-2016, 06:25 PM   #15
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The plates were made from a piece of 1/4" scrap steel I had laying around. I used the hinge as a template to predrill the holes in the plate and the holes in the trailer. The plates are not epoxied in. I suppose you could epoxy the plates in and then drill all the holes at the same time. Might make alignment easier. As I recall I had to a little filing on one hole. Raz
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Old 01-24-2016, 08:03 PM   #16
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I have some plate laying around as well so I will see if I can make that work. Good idea using the hinges as a template, I will do that as well.
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Old 01-25-2016, 07:02 AM   #17
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Here's how I set the door.

You might will need a helper inside the trailer. I used the egress window to get into the trailer. Some older Trilliums don't have an egress window.

I used duct tape to position the door. Note: The raised area on the belly band will not align with the raised band on the door. It's a flaw in the mold. I eyeballed the gaps on the sides. I filled 11 of the 12 holes leaving the upper rear. I attached the upper hinge by the one screw and adjusted things do the hinge pin was parallel to the gap and centered. I then marked and drilled the remaining 5 holes. A countersink center punch is useful here. Once drilled you can attach the upper hinge. The helper needs to align the plate and attach the nuts.

I positioned the lower hinge and measured between upper and lower rear holes. I made a spacing tool using a piece of scrape wood and a couple of nails. With this I laid out the lower hinge. Drill, attach, done. Don't forget to let the helper out of the trailer. Raz
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Old 01-25-2016, 09:15 AM   #18
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Thanks! I am going to try to select my hardware today.
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Old 02-20-2016, 04:01 PM   #19
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So, I have the 1/4-1/2" or so wood blocks in there from the factory. Would it be better to remove those or to do the metal over them and basically sandwich the wood between the hinge/fiberglass and metal?
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Old 02-20-2016, 05:03 PM   #20
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Id say if the wood is in decent shape leave it so the weight on the plate gets dispersed though the glassed in ply. I would worry that a corner of a square plate might try to push though the curved outer wall
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