flexing nose piece

tinner12002 wrote:
mguay, I was thinking maybe I could take the cap off as you did and reinforce the back side with some wood strips and fiberglass. How hard was your cap to get back on, lined up and sealed?

Not that bad! A 2-3 person job. 2 tubes of caulking, 2 tubes of lap sealant, assortment of screws to replace the stripped/rusted/broken ones.

Where the roof meets the cap, I just stuck the screw gun bit through the lap sealant at all the bumps(screws), then i used a putty knife to scrape it on the cap side. I left the moulding buried in lap sealant and adhered to the rubber roof, then rolled it all backwards away from the cap.

mguay, I was thinking maybe I could take the cap off as you did and reinforce the back side with some wood strips and fiberglass. How hard was your cap to get back on, lined up and sealed?

tinner12002 wrote:

jw of 4 corners wrote:
you may want to drill a few small 1/4" holes in the closet wall at the area that deflects and then purchase a foam gun and low expansion foam to fill the cavity before you try to rip the front all apart. Do not go cheap and buy "Great Stuff" it expands too much and will cause problems.

I would never had thought that the cap would be close enough to the closet wall for foam to be able to fill the gap.

It's not! On mine there was about a 6" space on the sides...and even more in the center where the point of the cap is.

Click Here to see what I found under my cap!

jw of 4 corners wrote:
you may want to drill a few small 1/4" holes in the closet wall at the area that deflects and then purchase a foam gun and low expansion foam to fill the cavity before you try to rip the front all apart. Do not go cheap and buy "Great Stuff" it expands too much and will cause problems.

I would never had thought that the cap would be close enough to the closet wall for foam to be able to fill the gap.

you may want to drill a few small 1/4" holes in the closet wall at the area that deflects and then purchase a foam gun and low expansion foam to fill the cavity before you try to rip the front all apart. Do not go cheap and buy "Great Stuff" it expands too much and will cause problems.

I don't think I'm getting frame flex...well no more than normal. Whats happening is the cap is flexing in and out on the very front of it due to what appears to be as not having enough support or reinforcement on the back side, something I read is common on older fiberglass caps. When we slow down we hear the small section pop back out...I can see it in my mirror.

On the last fiver we had found screws were coming out of the front cap. The dealer told us the frame was flexing to much and it needed to be reinforced. While it was still under warranty the dealer remove the front cap and added some gussets. I think it helped but didn’t solve the problem. We sold it and bought a new rig three years ago and one thing I wanted in a new trailer was a good frame.

When driving slow there are a multitude of things that will creak. Leaf springs with plastic bushings that are worn out. Hitch to rails in the bed. And the chin area.

If it is the chin...it will be a bit more complicated than removing the closet for a fix. The way to check chin/pin box deflection is like this. Tape/secure a tape measure to the front cap that hangs down to the pin box. Write down the measurement with the 5er unhooked from the truck. Then hook up and take a new measurement. If the difference is more than 3/4" or so...there is your problem.

Knowing what I do about how cheaply 5th wheel suspensions are built...I would look there! I have rebuilt mine twice in 4 years and about 35k miles.