Do I Have a Saggy Roof?

[Nicole in WA]

Recently purchased a '75 Boler. My door frame has a lot of issue (see photos)

Firstly there’s a major crack in the door frame. I was reading up this morning on how to fix this and I have that part figured out.

The part that I’m struggling with is structural integrity of the door frame & the crooked door. I think I need to reinforce the door frame in some manner but I’m unsure what might be best. Do you think I should simply build a wooden frame all the way around the inside and drill that in? Another blog post suggested making a mock wall (see screenshot) but since the stress point on my door seems different from OPs I wasn’t sure if this would solve my issue.

Perhaps adding to the issue, whoever owned it last also removed the upper kitchen cupboards and the support bar so I also need to reinstall those. But reading posts on this got me thinking that maybe my roof might be sagging. For those eyes more trained than mine do i have a bigger problem on my hands than just a crooked doorframe? Are all of these issues related and in your opinion which should i tackle first?

Thank you so much I’m advance! I love reading all of your posts and I’m so grateful to have a resource like this ❤

[Mikmay]

Check your frame as that is the major reason for that type of crack.

[Nicole in WA]

Do you think the door frame though is also the main reason for the door being off kilter? Or is that more attributed to the lack of cupboard?

[Mikmay]

Originally Posted by Nicole in WA

Do you think the door frame though is also the main reason for the door being off kilter? Or is that more attributed to the lack of cupboard?

I don’t mean the door frame but the actual frame the trailer sits on a cracked or weak frame is the major reason for a crack in that area .

[bobdobqb]

Hi Nicole,

When bolers get loose on the frame (like mine was) they can flex and the weak areas around the door radius crack. Also as previously mentioned it can be related to frame cracks and sagging. Cracking around the door is a common boler occurence.

The crooked door can be a sign of worn out hinge assemblies. There are rebuild kits for them. It also can be a sign that the holes where the door hinges mount have been oversized and need to be filled and redrilled (both were the case for Lita )

Also the cabinet (and the closet) keep the boler shell integrity from sagging as well and if the rivets are loose that will also let things flex. But a sagging roof can definitely be fixed with some work.

One more thing is that if the axle's torsion suspension is dead the ride will be really rough in those eggs which could result in the cracking of the frame (they were built light) and cracks in the shell. I would probably get the frame and axle checked out first. . If it's the original axle it will undoubtedly need replacing.

That's a lot of things I know but nothing on these old trailers is really too complex and can be dealt with if you have the time and and are a bit handy. Or if you know someone who's handy

The forum is a great source for info. Lots of kind boler folk here.

Bob

[sharon_b]

The cabinet to cabinet bracket was put there for roof support, not just pretties. Get the roof back up & I think a lot of this will stop. I saw an egg in the shop because the only way to closed the door was to put a ratchet strap around the entire camper. The shop reinstalled the bracket & problem solved