Now that the mothership has closed, you can not remove/replace end caps. (They will be destroyed during removal) So resolving leaks will require a different tack.
After many months of worry and reading up on how-tos, I finally decided to take on sealing the end caps yesterday. I have done numerous caulking jobs in the past, so I’m not sure why I was so nervous about this project, other than the fear the caps could crack or break.
So I printed out the LD Companion steps, read and and re-read them, got all my supplies together and set off from home. The rig is parked remotely, so I had to make sure I had everything with me before I left. I didn’t do too badly in this regard, I only bought a caulking gun.
To the supplies list on the Companion, I would only add or confirm what helped me:
• Air compressor (to blow out any debris)
• 10oz tube of 5200 Fast cure (much more than enough, but I didn’t know at the time how much I’d need)
• Painters tool & a plastic putty knife
• A caulking gun (depending)
• Stainless steel screws & drill
• Brake cleaning fluid – maybe overkill, since I also used a compressor, but for $3 more, why not?
I ended up not using the DAP 3.0 crystal clear sealant on the colored area - I wasn’t troubled by the thin line of white that the 5200 left in the blue sections. I brought clamps, thinking I could use them at least up near the cab, but there’s no way to do that, so I went with stainless steel screws of various lengths, ¾” to 1.5”).
The prep work was pretty easy, I started on the driver’s side end cap next to the cab because there was a good amount of separation which gave me space to work and see what was underneath. I didn’t get it all the sealant but I got enough so the new stuff would adhere to the surfaces. I used an acetone-soaked cloth wrapped around a putty knife to clean out the area as good as possible and finished it off with the brake cleaning fluid that’s mentioned in the Companion. [Ed. The best clean up is MEK. MEK is now available for retail sales in many states. I notice that ACE hardware is now selling an MEK substitute. Never heard of using brake fluid.]
After I cleaned the first area, I went to the rear end caps which is what I had been afraid of for so long. I did the same cleaning steps, using a razor knife, putty knife, acetone soaked putty knife and scraped as much as I could. I didn’t think to have a rag handy to catch drips when spraying the brake cleaner so it ran down the side of the end cap and appeared to stain it. I wiped it off as quickly as possible with acetone and a rag, but probably not fast enough. Other than that, prep work went well.
Now I was nearly ready to start with the 5200 sealant. I had gone through the steps in my head because I wanted to work as efficiently as possible. Plus it was hot and the layers of nitrile gloves were dripping sweat pretty early in the process. It was about this time I realized I had left the caulking gun at home.
With my new $5 caulking gun, I taped off my work areas (I could have done this before I started but didn’t). On the front end cap I pre-drilled two holes thinking they would be enough to secure the end cap. I underestimated by 4 screws. I wish I had thought through their placement sooner, but I was already in progress with an open tube of sealant.
I moved to the back and began work on the area that gave me the greatest amount of fear. It actually didn’t go too badly at all. I had a spot up at the top of the coach that had considerable separation and I was able to fill it and pop in a screw. I’ll cover it with Eternabond next. I added screws as shown in the photos – I hope the LD community isn’t too horrified at how I defaced her with the screws. In my defense, there were already screws in other parts of the end caps, so I wasn’t the first one to do this. Not sure if this was done by the factory when it was built or sometime thereafter. Instead of removing the screws, I think I will be painting over them once I can get some matching paint. Here’s hoping they don’t crack the end caps, which may be the reason that I should remove them and fill in the holes. Any thoughts from the community on this are appreciated. I sank the screws in (not too snugly) only after I had filled the gaps with sealant to ensure that they would have sealant on the threads.
I went back today to take a look at it and I don’t feel too terribly about it. I’ve included some before and after photos of how it looks.
Long story short, it’s not the most professional-looking job, but it should stop water intrusion, which is the goal. I think I’m satisfied enough with the result. I probably wouldn’t do this on a 90 degree day either, but I was also wanting to get the project checked off the list.
I used a good deal of 5200 on the front end cap, if I hadn’t needed to do this, I would have gotten the small tube. I think I only used 2/3 of the 10 oz tube, which cost $25. All in all, a pretty low-cost, not-overly complex project.
