Enjoy the new hinges. Keep Squeakin.
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sadly, #399 has two broken hinges! i thought mine was outside of the troublesome hinges. barely made it a full year. It might be the record heat weāve been having lately out here in Cali. There was a crack and then a full blow failure to the driverās side on Sat morning. Then a full on failure no warning on the passenger side this evening. No cracks were seen either. @Mike_GFCUSA I emailed you to get on the next PIT tour. Iām so bummed because Iām leaving for Colorado for a 10 day off road trip on 9/21. And now I have two F-ed up panels. I just thought it would happen after like 2 years, just caught me by surprise.
Anyhow, canāt wait for the new hinge, it looks BADASS!!
PS Is this something you can do on your own, like you mail me the hinge and i drill out all the rivets and put the new hinge in? Or is there more stuff involved. I just dont really want to wait until next yearā¦
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Mike installed the new hinges for me here in Steamboat this weekend. He fit me in on the CO PIT so I wonāt be traveling around with a taped door. Desert season is here and time to test out the new hinges and not worry about how my wife is opening and closing them. Ha
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Hey Riley,
If support hasnāt reached out can you shoot me another email, I may have an idea.
Thank you,
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Mike was in Boulder, Colorado yesterday on the PIT and replaced my cracked hinges with the new embassy hinges. He worked through some cold, wet, snowy weather to get the project finished. The new hinge design looks great. I have no doubt the problem is fixed. Thank you GFC and Mike for the great customer support.
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Thanks Dale! It was great to meet you, keep on enjoying the camper, in good weather or otherwise.
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Good to see all the fixes and positive feedback. Canāt wait to meet Mike on the next leg of the tour.
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Donāt forget to let me know when your on the East Coast near Maryland, because Maryland best and finest crabcake is on call for you when you get here. Hopefully Iāll be picking my camper up here in the next few months!
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You have my word, I will let you know and I will happily eat your sea critters
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Right back atcha!!!
Nice. Are they doing away with the liquid sealant between the frame and the tent? If so, it seems a user replaceable hinge option may be a possibility. I wonder what the most technical part of the replacement is?
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There are discrepancies between different generations of manufacturing that Iāve found on this trip that would make it difficult to do an encompassing or easily laid out DIY. The tool kit and materials needed is also not something everyone would have. The biggest issue is that a customer DIY repair would not be warrantied.
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I was afraid of that. I think I could do the job properly, but Iād rather have a person with experience with all of the designs, with contingencies for all of them at hand, do the work. Attaching the new hinges looks pretty simple, but getting everything sealed properly may very well require a Large Michael.
@Mike_GFCUSA - Any plans to give us a running tally of the campers youāve touched on the road? Every one you service is another mark of great customer service, as far as Iām concerned.
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@ Dale - Thanks for the first photos Iāve seen of the hinge end cap.
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My awning brackets utilize the bottom track on the camper. New hinges look like they use that track. Am I SOL on using my 270 awning now? Anyone else dealt with this yet?
I have the kinsmen 270 and Iāve been emailing with Matt on getting new brackets that work with the embassy hinges. Iām not totally clear on whether heās got them built yet or not, but heās suppose to send me an invoice, so Iām assuming theyāll be ready soon if they arenāt already.
Edit: looking back at the original email, he said heās a few weeks out on the new brackets. That was on Sept. 3rd, so my guess would be heāll start sending some out at the end of this month or early nextā¦ hopefully.
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Thatās great news. Thanks. I actually messaged him today also. Definitely wanna keep my awning but wanna update these hinges!
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I sent a bunch of photos to Matt so he could see the hinge, how it sits and where the panel opens to so he can get the design down.
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@Mike_GFCUSA Now that youāve done a bunch of retrofits, any estimations when leg 2 starts on the east side?
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Please post photos when you have them in hand. I still have my awning in the box since Iāve been waiting out the final solution for the panel hinges. Iāll wait to see if I want to modify the mounts myself or buy what Matt offers.
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