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This project is getting dragged out, partially because I procrastinate and some other things have come up, plus I am in Florida so it is either raining or too hot. So I will start the post now before I loose tract of pictures or the Toy is sold at my estate sale.  I was not sure weather to add to other post or start my own so will give credit to others that have done this.

I found this post most helpful and the way it was done made sense to me.  http://toyotamotorhome.org/forums/index.php?/topic/9727-warrior-roof-sag-at-ac/#comment-8958

I started going to use some 1 1/2" aluminum angle I have, but as I did my due diligence I found a variety of different materials used that deflected too much, including 3X3X1/4 aluminum angle.  Not sure what to do I asked the engineer at the local steel company and he was of the opinion that 11 gauge 1X2 steel would work. In hindsight I would use something wider as I will need to be very careful with the seal around holes as there is little surface area.

So far I have purchased the steel and oak and have routed the edge of the oak, stained, polyed and pre drilled everything.  I thinned some rustoleum I had and did the best I could to coat the inside of the tubing. What a mess that was! You think rustoleum takes a long time to dry, try it is a tube..  I angled the ends of the steel and inserted some chunks of wood and sealed the ends with Dicore self leveling lap sealant, I chose dicor as I had a tube with a bit left in it. I neglected to check if Dicor is paintable, but should not be noticeable,  I hope.

I left the oak 3 inches long and measured off the middle for the holes so I can cut a bit off each end to put the holes in the right place when installing, doing this as I am sure wall's are bowed in and will move out as roof is raised. I used the holes in the steel for the pattern in the oak.   One thing I am doing differently is countersinking the holes in the oak and putting the heads of the carriage bolts on the inside, think I will paint them, instead of looking for or making caps? 

That is all I can think of at the moment.

 

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Looks like a really good start. because of the wood it will be attractive too. I like that tubing better than just angle iron. Silly of you to talk about your estate sale. You have so much to your going to have to live forever.

Linda S

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Managed to get a bit more done, primed and painted the bars..  Was going to do a video on painting, but thought it might be boring.  Trying to figure how to isolate the steel from the aluminum, which I noticed others have not done?  Poked through my collection of stuff and have some self stick roof repair tape left over from something and decided to cut it up in strips and put on bottom of bars.  This is not the expensive Eternabond tape, just some generic I had.  Depending on weather I may get to install these Monday so stay tuned for more exciting posts :rolleyes:

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You do Amazing work Jim! When your done can I bring Grannie down from Ohio and you can do the same for her? I'll bring the beer:-)!

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This looks like a great start. I have a 1992 Winnie Warrior and plan to do this project in the coming year. I had also seen the other tutorials on fixing the sag problem and I was also concerned about using aluminum structural supports as were done in the other tutorials. I know that aluminum is lightweight but it deflects terribly. 

It is great that you are isolating the two dissimilar metals. If you do not (I know from experience) the less noble metal will rust at an accelerated rate due to galvanic reaction. I would use stainless steel fasteners for attachment. The last thing you need is for the fasteners to fail. The key is to paint any and all parts of the black steel so that oxidation cannot get a foothold.

This is the start to a great tutorial. I look forward to the rest of the project! Thanks!

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Thanks for the responses, if it was not for the view counter I would think no one is interested:o

Did a bit more this morning I am adding the tape to the supports and getting ready to lift the roof.

I am using a 3 ton floor jack which is way more than needed, using my 2x8 ramp boards I can spread the weight out over a large area on the floor, which may or may not be needed.

Also considered someones suggestion on lifting the ends of the bar up 1/2 inch when mounting to curve the roof. My vents and AC are sitting on 3/4" plywood, so maybe not needed?

These are not the factory cabinets so I have loosened them for the lift, I may have to re-position them after the roof is straight. 

There is little weight involved so no exotic fasteners are required, I am using common 1/4" bolts and have no qualms about it. IIRC the sheer strength on a 1/4" common bolt is around 200 lbs. These are likely the strongest fasteners on the house part.  I use stainless on most things I replace but see no reason to spend money on it here.

I cleaned the steel thoroughly and primed, then several rattle can coats of Rustoleum.

Something else I see in hind sight, I should have measured for these when I replaced the roof vent.

Don't bring beer, bring lots of money and I have Paypal if you would like the pay in advance discount. Did I miss anything?

 

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OK no beer! If lifting the roof do you have to unattached the entire roof from the sidewalls or does it just flex somehow? Do you still have your roof AC unit up there?  I hope people notice your Sweet AC unit installed in your BR. Nice work! Keep posting pictures if you can Jim.

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50 minutes ago, markwilliam1 said:

OK no beer! If lifting the roof do you have to unattached the entire roof from the sidewalls or does it just flex somehow? Do you still have your roof AC unit up there?  I hope people notice your Sweet AC unit installed in your BR. Nice work! Keep posting pictures if you can Jim.

The roof is sagged in the middle and the walls are slightly bowed in at top. Lifting the middle should put the roof back where it belongs and right the walls.  So no reason to unattach roof.  Hard to measure but I believe the walls are in a 1/4" at the worse part of the sag, 1/8" each side or may have been built like that. 

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The saga continues,  nothing worse than having all the material on the roof laid out with drill in hand and that pesky thought pops up, I wonder where the wires are?  So too late to stop now, have not hit any yet.  

Not much to explain here, laid out as square and centered as best I could, then started drilling.  I had used the steel as a pattern for the oak, used a drill press for the tubing so the holes are nice and straight. Drilled the center hole first and used measurements inside to measure and cut the oak.  Put lots of butyl rubber tape around bolts and tightened up.  The roof repair tape will serve as a spacer here so I do not squeeze all the butyl rubber putty out, 2 birds with one stone there.

Due to 1" wide channel I will also caulk this for double protection,  in hindsight a wider stock would be better.   It is only 85° out but it is well over a 100° on the roof already so enough for today,  will go play with something else! 

I also noticed that the roof air is raised with 3/4" plywood between the roof frame and aluminum.  They have put foam blocks to keep the AC base from sagging, All the vents have the plywood so I suspect it is factory? Any questions?

 

 

 

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This one got dragged out and still have to paint the nuts and caulk along the bars on the roof.  Not sure what I can add here that would help someone who might want to do the same thing.  I cut off the bolts and tightened everything down.

I would think that the seams in the ceiling panels would be on cross supports, they are not, I hit both seams dead center and nothing but foam in the roof.

I spent just about $80 on the project, the steel was $30 and the oak about $30 (highway robbery)  Some 6 inch bolts, lock washers and nuts, a couple rattle cans of paint and 2 tubes of caulk. 

Time was 3 hours on the internet looking, hour to go order steel, hour to pick it up.  Layout and measuring 2 1/2 hours, drilling 1 hour, looking for stuff I just had in my hand another hour. So if I would have done it all at once it would have been the better part of 2 days. Which is not really possible as had to wait for stain poly and paint to dry.

I did notice that the AC and vents have 3/4" plywood around the openings between the aluminum roof and the framework, see pic.

Job came out nice, I am happy with it,  anything I should add here?

 

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  • 2 months later...

Update.  I sealed the tubing as best I could with plugs and caulk.  I started noticing some rust at the ends of the tubes, running down the side of POP'$.  I opened one tube and there was some moisture and rust inside,  not seeing any water inside the Toy.  I cleaned up as best I could and let it dry out, then pulled the bolts one at a time and foamed inside the tube using the bolt holes.  

Opened the other tube and there is lots of rusty water inside, maybe a pint, again no sign of moisture inside the RV.   No idea how the water is getting in tube, must be some capillary action? The tubes are holding the water well, grateful it did not leak inside.  Pulling the bolts and foaming is a pia so will try some kind of extension on the foam nozzle for 2nd tube. Should have foamed as I did it or perhaps angle iron or a you channel would be a better option? 

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Lap sealant on the nuts

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