Bumper Bash Repair January 17, 2021, 04:29:12 pm Hello Everyone,Almost a month after a wonderful three month trip through Northern Arizona and Southern Utah, I'm finally getting around to reporting on the DIY repair (or at least, mitigation) of my bashed bumper, that I worked on back in September.Many thanks to Ron B, and the others who chimed in on this. I took Ron's advice and purchased a 10-ton hydraulic equipment kit from Harbor Freight (https://www.harborfreight.com/10-ton-super-heavy-duty-portable-hydraulic-equipment-kit-62114.html ). Very good, heavy duty gear for around $230, all in. I should be able to find many uses for it.The most difficult part of this was figuring out what to push against. After laying underneath the rear of the coach pondering and experimenting for a while, I finally came up with the idea of clamping a piece a heavy steel angle across those two "triangles" that are welded to the underside of the chassis frame, and for good measure, fastening a heavy chain between the angle and the short. vertical steel post at the rear of the tow hitch box to secure against the tendency of the angle to bend under the stress.Since the point of impact was just to the side of center, I was able to postion the ram with its base against the steel angle, and the business end right against the center of the point of impact, on the inside of the bumper. Despite palpable fear that I was about to destroy my coach, I pressed on, and worked the lever very slowly, a little at a time, intently watching the outside of the bumper. I got lucky! It pushed right back into position, with no apparent damage to anything under the coach. Furthermore, simply pushing out the dent at the impact point caused the top surface of the bumper to drop back down into almost its original position. I was very happy with the result (see attached photos). I consider it good enough, although if I'm hurting for something to do, I might try a little more fine-tuning with a short body ram that I picked up as well (https://www.harborfreight.com/10-ton-hydraulic-short-body-ram-95979.html?_br_psugg_q=short+body+ram ), plus a bit of paint touch-up along that bottom edge. I won't bother to replace the black plastic strip.There may have been another bonus for pushing out the bumper dent. At Laguna Campground, where we spent two weeks right after the accident, we noticed that the rear coach window seemed to be fogging up after sundown, directly above the impact point. We speculated that the impact had pushed the aluminum cladding upward enough to disturb the glass. This was heartbreaking, as we consider this large rear window to be just about the greatest asset of the mid-bath. Happily, since the bumper repair, the fogging problem seems to have gone away. Perhaps pushing out the dent relieved the upward stress against the glass, and it settled back into position, re-sealing itself (fingers crossed). This is especially welcome after the Mothership's quote of $1300 for a new rear window (and $1500 for a new bumper!).Thanks again to all of you.Tim 9 Likes
Re: Bumper Bash Repair Reply #1 – January 17, 2021, 04:42:59 pm All,I forgot to include the "before" photos. These are the ones that I posted in the original "Bumper Bash" thread (see below).Tim 5 Likes
Re: Bumper Bash Repair Reply #2 – January 17, 2021, 05:11:54 pm For those of us who regularly hookup, pull, and unhook trailers, that is how a bumper is supposed to look.Harold 1 Likes
Re: Bumper Bash Repair Reply #3 – January 17, 2021, 05:21:41 pm Many LDs, with a few miles on them, have dented bumpers, most can be repaired to an acceptable degree.When using a Porta-Power jack, I place the largest piece of wood possible against the coach, to spread the load over a large area, the same as you did. An intact coach has great strength, the result of everything being glued together into a monolithic structure .You repair looks fine. Some repairs can require cutting the bumper apart, to straighten it, and then welding it back together. Better done on older rigs where the cost of a Factory bumper isn't worth itHow was your eperience with the electric ice chest?Larry
Re: Bumper Bash Repair Reply #5 – January 17, 2021, 06:30:11 pm Larry,The 12-volt freezer/fridge (ARB, an Australian company) has worked out very well.Most of the time we have it set at 10 degrees to keep extra frozen food. At the beginning of the trip, we fully stocked both the Dometic freezer and the ARB freezer. As the Dometic freezer began to empty out, we would transfer food from the ARB to the Dometic freezer, and set the ARB to a higher temperature for regular refrigeration until we stocked up again. This allowed us to go for longer periods without resupplying.The power usage, in freezer mode, has not been too bad, of course the data I have on this is from the three-month trip from September 24 to December 22, most of which was in relatively cold temperatures (Flagstaff area, then southern Utah). Before retiring in the evening, we would take it off the house battery and connect it to our portable power station, then plug it back into the house battery at about 10 the next morning. Also at this time I would deploy our portable solar panel outside to charge up the power station, which was usually somewhere between 40 and 60 percent, and easily bring it back up to 80 - 100 percent by sundown. The power station is a Jackery Explorer 500, which has a capacity of 513 watt hours (~42 amp hours). During the day, we usually had no trouble bringing the house battery back up to 100%, even with the ARB plugged in.All of this worked very well, but of course, though the days were short, we had plenty of sun. For the occasional bad solar days, we made up the deficit by using the generator. With just 2 solar panels (200 watts) on top of the LD, we are on the edge. Definitely time to add about three more panels up top, and double the battery capacity.How do you guys like your electric cooler?Tim
Re: Bumper Bash Repair Reply #6 – January 17, 2021, 06:42:06 pm Larry,I should have mentioned that we were resupplying roughly once a month on this last trip, and Florence thinks it's possible to go even longer.Tim
Re: Bumper Bash Repair Reply #7 – January 18, 2021, 06:33:31 am Judging by those eyelet screws attached to the bottom of your bumper, I'm guessing you use a Protect-A-Tow to protect your towed vehicle from flying debris. We use that device, and love it. Please forgive the off-topic comment. Just never saw anyone else on the road using it, and just wanted to mention it.
Re: Bumper Bash Repair Reply #8 – January 18, 2021, 01:31:16 pm Yes, we love our Protect-a-tow as well.Tim
Re: Bumper Bash Repair Reply #9 – January 18, 2021, 01:40:05 pm Quote from: T&F - January 18, 2021, 01:31:16 pmYes, we love our Protect-a-tow as well.Not familiar with that product, what is it?
Re: Bumper Bash Repair Reply #10 – January 18, 2021, 02:31:23 pm Quote from: HiLola - January 18, 2021, 01:40:05 pmNot familiar with that product, what is it?Google is your friend. I've been using one for 18 yrs.Chris 1 Likes
Re: Bumper Bash Repair Reply #11 – January 19, 2021, 09:24:32 am Lola,Here's a link: Protect-a-TowTim 1 Likes
Re: Bumper Bash Repair Reply #12 – January 24, 2021, 03:36:32 am Quote from: T&F - January 17, 2021, 06:42:06 pmI should have mentioned that we were resupplying roughly once a month on this last trip, and Florence thinks it's possible to go even longer.Our goals are a little less lofty, resupplying every two weeks. It’s hard to keep enough produce fresh for longer than two weeks, we don't eat a lot of dried foods. This summer's experience using an ice chest to supplement the refrigerator was a failure, buying ice involves going to town and dealing with people, not to mention waterlogged vegies.Finding a 40-qt, 12-volt refrigerator, that fit between the captain chairs and cost less than $300, didn’t seem too much for an experiment, so far, so good. Amazon.com: Massimo 40L Electric Cooler with Trolley Wheels & Telescopic...The cooler's narrowness is a result of less insulation, allowing it to fit into the tight spaces available in our 23.5’ LD, while traveling and when camped. The downside of the thin insulation is it allows more heat transfer, the more expensive Dometics and ARB refrigerator have much thicker walls. Everything in life is a compromise.It needs an insulated cover made for it before the summer, I’m now looking for the right material to make it with. It presently sits on a one-inch thick foam pad.A recording wattmeter is used that tracks how many amp-hours have been consumed since the circuit was energized. Andy suggested using this one.Watt Meter Power Analyzer - Greatlong 200A Power Analyzer, High Precision RC...[/url]Keeping the cooler half full with water bottles, the temp has lately been set at 24 degrees, using 16-20 amp-hours a day. Our normal camping temps are set higher, 38-40 degrees, good for storing produce. Power consumption is directly related to what the set temperature is and the ambient temperature. It has been cool lately so the consumption is low.With 500-watts of solar, as long as the sun shines, the solar has no problem keeping up with the winter-time electrical needs.Next summer will be a different situation, more heat gain with longer days and a higher in the sky sun. The cooler is strapped down between the barrel chairs while traveling and moved to sit between the captain chairs when camped.Stored for travel | Massimo E-Kooler Strapped down and secur… | FlickrLarry As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.
Re: Bumper Bash Repair Reply #13 – October 23, 2021, 11:12:32 pm This is a most fascinating post. I am now thinking that my bumper could be straightened using this source. WOW...but it is a scar well worn..I believe it has been there since early on with my rig. It isn't hurting anything and the person's pride that was hurt is long past that incident. hmmmm. something to think about.
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