Fixing the "Leaning Door of Augusta???"

[2010augusta]

Well I know it has been mentioned before, but I finally could not stand the bedroom door leaning anymore, so I was determined to find the issue and fix it.

The top of the door mount could be moved about 1/2 an inch. I took off the outer most trim piece and a small piece of wall panel to get a look at what was back there and see how much more would have to come off to fix the "stud".


I could see the tip of a screw that was going into nothing. I went ahead and removed a "extra" stud that was screwed into the stud the door is hung on. To my dismay there was a tear in the in the ceiling pad and the "extra" board may just be a factory cover-up.



With the extra board of I could see better that there was only a couple screws that made it into the wall panel. I proceeded to take the door off the stud and was surprised that the trim board that is the door case came off with door. The factory screws that hold the door to the stud are barely hitting the stud.



With the door removed I could access the 5 screws that hold the stud to the wall of the trailer. I tried to remove the screws with my drill/driver and a #2 bit, but the screws were sunk so deep into the wood that the bit could not reach them. I got a standard screw driver out and tried to remove them by hand, but this failed too, as the screws could not back out of the stud because the heads were buried so deep. I went ahead and carefully pulled the stud out of the wall since the screws were obviously striped anyway.



As the stud came out I was once again surprised that only two screws were more than a 1/4 into the wall. With the stud free I was able to go outside and use more force and tools to remove the screws from the stud. After removing the I found that 2 were 3" and 3 were only 2 1/2". I set the screws back on the stud with the heads about where the countersink into the stud ends. It is easy to see why the door was so loose with this little penetration.



I went to Home Depot and got some of the screw-in type wall anchors, 3" and 3 1/2" #8 screws and some #10 washers. I used the washer to prevent the new screws from counter sinking as far as the factory screws and that way I an better control the final depth and use longer screws without a fear of going through the outside wall.



With anchors in-place and and the stud secured to the wall properly I proceeded to reinstall all the other boards and trim pieces. You can see in the picture just how much further back the stud is mounted just by the impressions in the ceiling pad.



I then re-hung the door and was happy that it would actually latch when swung closed. the gap is a bit large at the top of the door on the latch side but it is better than it touching and having to be lifted to close. it only took a hour or so and will make the bedroom door much easier to use.



Would anyone else with a Augusta or a 3670RL please tell me if their door mount looks like this,
OR if the extra board is being used to cover up the tear in the roof pad.

And now for a bit of venting...

I have lost track of the number of "little things" I have had to fix, repair, replace, or improve, just because the factory workers just plain screwed up. There is NO excuse for not using wall anchors when attaching something as weight bearing as a door frame to the thin wall panel and Styrofoam of the outer walls. Not to mention the screws were only about 1/8" into the wall board. It would be even better if there was an aluminium stud in the outer wall that the door stud could be fastened to, but that would put 2 studs very close together in the outer wall. I really love our Landmark and feel it was an excellent value, BUT I keep finding stupid stuff that many people would have to return to a dealer to get fixed, and these mistakes are having to hurt Heartland's reputation as a manufacturer. I have to wonder what other "small" mistakes were made to our trailer that I have not found yet, and just how the "small" stuff will fail as we use the trailer in the coming years. I know Heartland has only been around since 2003 and the current (non-classic) models have only been made since 2007-2008, so it will be a while before anyone knows the real long term quality of the trailers. I know my parents have a SOB that was made in 1996 and it is still going strong, I hope I can say the same for our Landmark in 2024 when it is 14 years old.

 

[JohnDar]

Great documentation of an obvious inattention to quality workmanship. Vent away, Alan, that's not even entry level carpenter workmanship. Maybe Jim B. will upchannel your post to the powers at HL. Some wall-to-wall, come to Jesus, counselling of the production staff may be in order...again.

 

[mrcomer]

Thanks for sharing Alan. It is too bad like you said that these keep coming up time and time again. You shouldn't have to deal with things like that but luckily you have the skills to make it right. I know first hand that there are many skilled people at the factory so it really saddens me to see such poorly assembled items like your door. I wish I had a good answer for why this keeps happening but until the manufacturers get away from quotas and paying each employee per unit produced, I don't know what a good fix would be. I hate that screws get driven right into pine wood, it always splits and is worth nothing. But there again I have seen this in many manufacturers.

Thanks for sharing Alan,
Mark

 

[dglatta]

I am also experiencing the "leaning door of Augusta" in our Landmark. Thanks for posting your solution!

 

[olcoon]

I'm no expert, but from what I saw when we toured the factory to see our 5er being built, I agree that the workers there are rushed too much. I realize that time is money, but I'd think that slowing down a little so that quality work could be done would make a big difference in the overall quality of each unit. In the short time we've had ours, and with my limited knowledge of construction, I can see flaws that are obviously the result of a "rush job", or indifference on the part of the worker.

 

[Bobby A]

I have been to the plant a number of times and I do believe there is some highly skilled worker building our coaches, however they are literly running from point A to point B, I also believe that if the workers had a little more time to perform there task there would be a big inprovement in quality and more attention paid to detail.

 

[jmgratz]

I am not sure if they still do it this way but I was told that the workers that build the coach get a bonus for each coach built and that bonus depends on if and how many repairs are made to the coach as a result of warranty claims. If this is still true, then by not filing a warranty claim the coach was well built as far as the paperwork is concerned and the workers get the bonus. Too many warranty claims, no bonuses. Maybe someone from the factory can clarify this. Also if there is no paper trail regarding repairs made then you will not have much of a leg to stand on down the road if more issues come up in that area you repaired. I am not criticizing anyone from making their own repairs but just trying to point out something I personally feel is important. BTW the repair of the leaning door looks good. Too bad you had to tackle that job.

 

[ncrebel8]

Alan I dont have an Augusta or 3670, but our 3410 RE has a door that works and mounts the same way as your door. And although we havent experienced this probelm YET, The extra 2x or false stud in your pictures sure looks like a cover up of the damaged ceiling. It looks out of place and uneeded to me. Simply easier to screw that 2x into place and trim around it than replace the damaged ceiling. Great job on the repair !

 

[jpajax]

I had a similar problem with my door it is in my 2010 3410. the stud didn't pull lose but it had pulled the screws out of hinges after someone tryied to repair it the next weakest link was hinges. hear was my fix. I weighed the door at 35lb. + that is a lot of weight to be hung on a 2x2 stud.

 

[Rickhansen]

Alan,
Kudos on the repair, it looks good.
The reality is that it might have taken an extra minute and a half and an extra $1.75 for hardware to have done this right at the factory during production. Many owners would have spent far more time you took to do the repair to get their rig to the shop, ten times the cost you spent on parts for fuel, plus the inconvenience of leaving their rig at the dealer for two weeks to have the same work done under warranty. The dealer would have then charged Heartland 16 hours at $50 per hour warranty service rates. The other owners probably would have gotten their rig back a mess, with half the quality as the job that you did. Not to mention their frustration and bad attitude that they would have at the end of the day.

I understand Jim's point on this, but you would hope that since this is a factory sponsored forum, the factory would be listening. I wonder how much bonus money could a production employee get by saving a minute and a half on every rig and causing just one customer that kind of frustration, and creating that kind of potential warranty cost for Heartland?

It's funny when go back and read the "old" posts on the forum - the "TIMK Tent in the Vent" thread was started about 4 years ago, and now that it's getting warm outside, we'll start seeing it resurrected again this year.

Consider yourself lucky I guess Alan, because you took the initiative and have the skills.

 

[2010augusta]

Alan, The extra 2x or false stud in your pictures sure looks like a cover up of the damaged ceiling. It looks out of place and uneeded to me. Simply easier to screw that 2x into place and trim around it than replace the damaged ceiling. Great job on the repair !

I have now heard that from several other owners with 2010's that have no "extra" stud in their units, and the board is just a factory cover up.