Crack where underside of front end cap attaches to trailer - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

Behemoth · 08-01-2021, 06:28 PM

I'm sure you already know how I made a crack here.... Left something (a drill) on top of the tongue of the trailer above the hydraulics and lowered the trailer. Weight of the trailer rested on drill on top of tongue. Created a crack on the underside surface where the front end cap attaches. No damage to the end cap. It appears this panel is made of fiberglass reinforced plastic. Has anyone completed a repair to this area? Does anyone know what type of plastic this is? I was hoping to fix it with some plastic welding after i drill stop holes at the ends of the cracks.
Thanks for your help.

Behemoth · 08-08-2021, 08:48 PM

Here are some pictures of the damage.

JackandJanet · 08-09-2021, 12:43 AM

Been there, done EXACTLY that, except in my case it was a 12V water pump I'd pulled out of the battery compartment and placed on the tongue before I decided we had to move to a new campsite quickly because the one we were in had a slope that made camping there dangerous and I didn't want to lose the new site. I lowered the top and heard a horrible "crunch".

I fixed mine with 2" wide clear plastic tape on both the inside and outside surface of the plastic sheet that was cracked. This happened over 10 years ago and it's held up fine. There's no stress in this area and it's hidden from sunlight or other weather. I just wanted to seal it to keep bugs out and the tape has worked fine.

I'd totally forgotten this mishap until I saw this thread. I'm sure there is a better fix, maybe a plastic sheet like you find in ACE hardware and ABS cement. I'm guessing that portion is ABS like the end caps but it could be PVC. Of course, it COULD be styrene, and the plastic sheets might be styrene too. I think JBWeld makes a cement for plastics that might work regardless.

- Jack

pjriss · 08-09-2021, 11:22 AM

You'll want to stop drill the ends of the crack (find the end of the crack and drill a small hole right at the end so the crack ends at the hole). That will keep it from continuing to crack. Then I would use a dremel tool and grind along the crack, just to rough it up, then I would run a bead of Dicor or something similar. JB weld would work but it might be too thin. Then tape over it.

VJLarson · 08-12-2021, 05:22 PM

The exact same thing happened to us... almost. Except that my husband has a wife that is in charge of lowering the hi-lo and insists on walking around the rig to look for anything out of sorts before that happens. (This is after he says "good to go"). I found the drill standing upright between the gas tanks and the front of the trailer! He totally missed it. He is lucky to have me. LOL

Vicki

english775 · 08-12-2021, 06:25 PM

When I purchased my 2007 Towlite The cover over the front window was cracked and had small pieces missing. My front and rear end caps also had small cracks running from a couple of fasteners to the edge. I determined that both were made from ABS. Here's how I repaired them to made the repair almost invisible.

I ordered a small piece if white ABS sheet from a plastic supplier on fleaBay for a couple of bucks to replace the missing piece on the cover and some clear ABS cement, the thin type.

Cut some thin pieces or shavings of the ABS sheet and dissolve them with some of the ABS cement in a small sealable container (I used a baby food jar). Mix enough plastic and cement to make a small amount of liquid filler about the consistency of heavy cream. Keep the container sealed. This stuff dries fast! If it starts to thicken in the container as you use it just thoroughly mix in some more cement. This will be a white liquid that will be shiny and the same color as your cap when dry, unlike the premixed white ABS cement.

I stop drilled the cracks as recommended above and used a dremel tool to open the cracks up a bit into a V shape. Don't go overboard.

It doesn't look like you have any missing pieces to replace. Anyone else doing this that has missing pieces can make them up from the sheet ABS material. Just buy it in a thickness close to the original material.

Use the liquid filler to build up the, now V shaped, cracks. I used a thin piece of wire do drop small amounts of the liquid into the cracks. The filler melts into the original material and shrinks a bit when drying. It may take several applications, letting it dry completely between coats. Take your time and don't over fill them and you shouldn't even have to sand and paint.

The repairs made two years ago are still going strong and looking good.

drob00 · 08-12-2021, 07:06 PM

Mine had a small spall there from the prior owner when I bought it. I just used a white butyl rubber tape. Super easy, matches color, and works great. I used Pro Tapes Pro Flex Patch and Shield, but there are a bunch of them out there.