ugh.
well, I am gentle with my hinges, guiding them up and careful to close them. if they do fail, it won’t be due to user issues.
time will tell. it is a great platform for now–it will be interesting to see how the next few years play out. anything will wear out and break if a) you use it and b) you use it long enough. especially if there are c) moving parts.
I’m a bit skeptical myself with all of this. And the reason being because I hear the customer service from GFC goes out the window when the emails have to do with the issues going on with the hinges. Now I’m not here trying to start something but I’m putting it out there in hopes that someone can say otherwise as I will be making full payment this upcoming week. So far customer service is great. I just hope the great customer service continues to be as great when and if something breaks. Kinda strange that I already expect issues to happen as it seems it’s a very common thing with these campers. I can’t help but to still be excited for mine and pray I don’t join the “hinges breaking club”.
Thanks for the info. Post design and process change, this is the first failure of the new system posted (I think). Too many failures to keep track.
The failure rate of the first ~100 units was >10% based on reports here and on TW. That is abysmal and steps in design and process were taken to prevent the issue.
The effectiveness of the steps in design and process are still a little bit TBD in my opinion. Is the new design 100% reliable? Will the new design fail on average after 2 years instead of one? Will 0.1% fail instead of the original >10%? Time will tell.
Blaming people for rough opening and closing technique is BS. Leer and ARE camper shell hatches and windoors don’t just fall off. Hinges are not a wear item and maintenance replacement on those similar products.
I’m not sure if the blaming comment is directed to me, I have mentioned opening and closing. I mention this only to potentially blame the hinges for not being up to normal use. My comments are not directed at users. Whether I like it or not, I’m getting the same GFC hinges. I’d like to see the cause of these failures teased out of the mess here, just like everyone else. I agree with the comment that hinges are not wear items.
Peace.
Sorry for the confusion, not directed at you.
At the beginning of the hinge failure saga months ago there was some info put out that some customers were using the hinges in a way that might compromise them and this was the cause of failures.
Based on similar products the hinges shouldn’t have to be babied any more or less than camper shell hatch and windoor hinges.
I know this is tautological, but whether the hinges are attached with rivets or not does make a difference in how the hinges are attached. Maybe you meant something else.
The use of rivets could also help define what revision of hinge attachment was used.
I look forward to seeing GFC’s response to @ETALATE’s (Build 128) hinge failure. I was considering a road trip to Bozeman to have the refurb performed, but I’ll wait a little longer.
I’m giving some thought to removing the struts, too. Seems like there would be much less stress on the hinge without them. A center mounted piece of shock cord hooked to a small eye in a T-slot might work to hold a door open, with a pair of shock cords of matched length below, replacing the struts to keep the door.
Adjusted with very little opposing tension, and the door should be stable in light wind, without the constant stress of the struts.
If your thinking of removing, maybe something like this would work?
Thought of this when I read your post.
Thanks
Han. Ooops on that typo. Corrected.
The point is that it doesn’t matter how the hinges are attached to the panel (rivets/glue). The problem (apparently) is how the hinge is attached to the GFC frame.
I spent some time looking for hinges - all the usual sources; McMaster Carr, etc - and couldn’t find anything that looked like a good waterproof replacement.
There are some ‘hurricane hinges’ out there that would be interesting. They’re used for teardrop trailers. However, they’re extruded and have goofy flanges on them for attaching to plywood etc. I couldn’t find a hinge of that design with a ‘normal’ mounting system that looked like it would work.
I have not contacted any of the hinge manufacturers. The hurricane hinges look to be pretty straightforward extruded products, and I’m guessing that there’s not a huge market for teardrop trailer hinges, so it may not be that big of a deal to get a company to make some that would fit our needs. If we could go that route (custom manufacture) we could probably even get them to put a curve in the piece that mates to the frame in order to match the curve of the frame tubing.
There’s a few engineers on here that probably could CAD something up. I can do a crappy sketch if needed.
Link to some hurricane hinges: https://www.teardroptrailerparts.com/hinges---aluminum-trim.html
I don’t see any reason why we can’t come up with something like this. It would be bullet proof. And they’re not that expensive.
Ok. So here’s my crappy sketch. Someone want to give me one with better dimensions on CAD and I’ll contact a couple of these hinge companies.
None of this is to scale. It’s just an idea.
Hi all,
@mattyd, I’m sorry about your hinge. We’ve received your email and I will call you in a few minutes with the next steps.
For everyone concerned, there is a small group of sealed campers that were assembled with the crown molding that can impede the hinges ability to lay flat. I’m happy to explain why.
Basically, these campers were assembled with the crown seal, and waiting on fulfillment, when production started using a liquid sealant to further water proof the camper. The production team retroactively sealed them in order to provide the most protection against water intrusion. At this time, hinge failures were only starting to crop up, and we hadn’t yet pinned down that the crown seal was what was causing these hinge weaknesses.
Since this revelation, crown seals have been fully eliminated from production. All resealed campers have their crown seal removed prior to installing new hinges and sealant. This method has proven itself as a strong permanent solution, as the hinges are able to lay flat and perform without issues.
@ETALATE, I’m sending you an email today to get some more details from you re: your holes not lining up.
@TReitz your camper is well outside of the zone of potentially affected builds. Yours was assembled with the latest practices, and I am confident in its performance. I wouldn’t recommend removing your struts.
We’re working on getting @Mike_GFCUSA back on the road to get all of these campers fixed up for good. We will be resuming the PIT on August 1. We would like to resume sooner, but we used up all of Mike’s PIT supplies for production campers after the pandemic shut down while we were waiting for our suppliers to resume fulfillment. Our suppliers are back up and running, and taking into consideration the lead times associated with these supplies, we determined August 1 as a good date to resume the PIT. Of course, if we are able to resume the PIT sooner than August 1 we will.
@Mike_GFCUSA will be reaching out in the next few weeks to reschedule everyone’s PIT stops.
Thank you guys for your patience. I really appreciate the opportunity to provide this information for y’all.
Do you know at which build # the crown molding was removed from the process? I’m #166, not far off from @mattyd’s build, so I’m wondering if I should be considering getting on the PIT list proactively or not.
Thanks for asking, I’m happy to answer that question.
Unfortunately, our production team didn’t record the unit # of the last camper to receive a crown seal. Considering we switched to liquid sealant in the early 100’s, and only campers that were in assembly/waiting on fulfillment when we made that switch would have both liquid sealant and the crown seal, I would wager that your camper was built with only the liquid sealant, and is therefore in good shape.
That being said, and considering our proximity to the potentially affected campers, there isn’t any reason you couldn’t sign up for the PIT to have your camper checked out. Shoot an email to support@gfcengineering.com and I’ll get you in touch with @Mike_GFCUSA for scheduling.
I’ll send that email out now, thanks!
Taylor, thanks for the quick response, and one that makes sense.
Would a carbon fiber reinforced continuous hinge work in this application? There are competing examples in the market.
From the comments section of that video: " Our 1.6mm hinge takes a static load in excess of 150kgs , which is quite a bit more than any hinge made from an equivalent thickness metal or plastic hinge. It also doesn’t fatigue the way a Polyprop hinge will. If you really need a lot more strength it is possible to double or even triple the Kevlar flex unit."
No sweat, I’m happy to help. Unfortunately, design isn’t my department. I’ll be sure and pass that along to the rest of the team though!
I imagine a CF hinge will cost more, but if it could be expected to last 20 years without fail, maybe the premium would be worth it. Thanks for passing it along.
Really? They have to stop posting on IG. Come on now.
Is there a way for campers that are sealed to tell if you have both sealant and crown seal without removing anything?