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View Poll Results: Has your 2014 or newer Keystone trailer suffered cracks in the fender skirts?
Only once - warranty repair 2 40.00%
More than once - warranty repairs 2 40.00%
Only once - after warranty expired 1 20.00%
More than once - after warranty expired 1 20.00%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 5. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 06-05-2016, 12:04 PM   #1
testwest
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Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Lake Stevens, WA
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Cracked Fender Skirt on 26 RBPR

My 2014 Premier 26 RBPR has cracked fender skirts. They cracked almost immediately after purchase in November 2014 and we had them warranty-replaced at Camping World in Burlington in spring of 2015.

The replaced skirts are cracking again (spring 2016), this time more severely than even the OEM set! The problem appears to be a design flaw/poor choice of materials - all related to a finished product that can't take its air-loads when under-tow. Normal driving speed air loads excite the middle drop-down piece of the tandem fender skirt to flex. The inside brace/stiffener eventually breaks where it attaches to the pop-out frame. The ABS fender skirt then starts cracking at the screw holes - and now those cracks have propagated in all directions to the point that the skirt is only firmly attached at the front and rear tips.

I'm familiar with ABS, and find its extensive use (at the thickness used for these fender skirts) as non-load-bearing trim pieces INSIDE aircraft.

I've written to Keystone's Customer Relations to see what they can do. My request was for properly designed parts that I could self-install - I hold better tolerances than the dealerships.

Absent free parts of better design from Keystone, I will build replacement fender skirts and braces in my home-shop. My husband and I both build aircraft and their subsystems as a hobby.
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Old 06-05-2016, 01:53 PM   #2
slow
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This is what I did to resolve the skirt cracking issue: http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/sho...ighlight=skirt

No more fluttering with cross winds or loose screws.
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Old 06-05-2016, 03:54 PM   #3
sourdough
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Fender skirt issues are an ongoing thing. Search for fender skirts, cracked fender skirts etc. and you will see many posts referring to the problem. I'm on my 3rd set with a set of new replacements in our storage building and another waiting at CW (insurance). The fix is relatively simple. The skirts do not handle the air flow properly. The are inadequately braced and the screws are placed through thin metal. The vibration pulls the screws out allowing to skirt to flex; this in turn allows it to crack and eventually either fly away or break.

Re-secure the factory braces. Add your own in flex areas (I used thin aluminum), some type of washer under the screw head and speed nuts (8x32?) on each screw with a dab of blue Loctite. 3rd trip to FL from TX and haven't had a loose screw or fender yet.
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Old 06-05-2016, 04:27 PM   #4
gkainz
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Nice post and sorry to hear another fender skirt crack story. However, if you build some, make a set for me? Oh, and while you're at it, could use a new upper cowl for our '83 Piper Dakota.
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Old 06-05-2016, 06:23 PM   #5
dcg9381
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RV side skirts should be a little cheaper than a cowl for a Dakota, but they do seem to be problematic to find "the same one".

These darn things are barely held on at the factory - they need to be braced or they're likely to fail again...
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Old 07-31-2019, 01:06 PM   #6
markdol1
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Smile fender skirts

Just need to know what icon skirts are on my 2014 bullet 26 rbpr. mine just tore off . i think they are icon #2248 thanks.
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Old 07-31-2019, 01:16 PM   #7
cmlong
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Cracked Fender Skirt

When I replaced the fender skirts on my Cougar I reinforced the back of each screw hole with fiberglass mat and epoxy. Never had problems again.
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Old 09-10-2019, 12:40 PM   #8
mfifield01
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cmlong View Post
When I replaced the fender skirts on my Cougar I reinforced the back of each screw hole with fiberglass mat and epoxy. Never had problems again.
I've been thinking about doing this to mine. Do you have any pictures or tips?
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Old 09-10-2019, 02:48 PM   #9
B-O-B'03
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I just repaired the curbside skirt on mine this past weekend.

The "brace" that keystone had put in was a 3/4" wide strap with the side edges bent into a quasi U shape.

They had put one #6 self-drilling screw through the brace into the aluminum bar at the top and that had broken off. For now I have 2 #8 self-drilling screws holding it to the camper body rail and reinforced all the screw heads in the skirt with washers.

I figure I will need to do some more bracing to it, but hope this gets us through the rest of the season. It is too frickin hot here to work on it

-Brian
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Old 09-10-2019, 05:03 PM   #10
mfifield01
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Quote:
Originally Posted by B-O-B'03 View Post
I just repaired the curbside skirt on mine this past weekend.

The "brace" that keystone had put in was a 3/4" wide strap with the side edges bent into a quasi U shape.

They had put one #6 self-drilling screw through the brace into the aluminum bar at the top and that had broken off. For now I have 2 #8 self-drilling screws holding it to the camper body rail and reinforced all the screw heads in the skirt with washers.

I figure I will need to do some more bracing to it, but hope this gets us through the rest of the season. It is too frickin hot here to work on it

-Brian
I reinforced with a 2" wide strap in the middle. I put loctite and washers on the bolts. I did this a couple of years ago. On the way back from my NM/CO trip this summer, it was flapping. The washers had worn through the fender. I stopped in a Lowes and got some finishing washers. I was able to use those and wider washers. In time those will probably wear through the fender. I'm hoping to reinforce. The fiberglass method seems the best.
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Old 09-10-2019, 06:28 PM   #11
sourdough
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I've gone through multiple iterations of repairing fenders. The factory bracing is simply crap. The screws thru the fender are a poor way to hold them. And, as I've found over and over.....look at how the top of the J panel is secured under the transition strip. I've seen it before but on this trailer the failed to get maybe half of the support screws in the transition strip into the lower J panel; it's just held on by the tension of the metal in the strip instead of the screws going through it. It lets it flap and over time it just gets worse.

I removed my braces, pulled off the transition strips, pushed the J panel up as far as it would go without pulling out the ends under the more permanent fixtures (with DWs help), ran new screw through the panel that now was under the transition strip and then put rivets into the panel below the transition strip to stop the J panel from continually dropping and flapping. The flexing is what drives the poor fender into the dirt. I added additional aluminum supports (1"x1/8") formed to fit. The fenders themselves all have the original Roberts screws through painted finishing washers on the outside screwed thru the trailer exterior into 8x32 speed nuts. All cracks, backside of the holes have been reinforced with a coat of epoxy.

These mods have finally...finally, hopefully stopped the incessant problems with the J panels/fenders. Maybe it will help someone else.
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