Dashboard is Loose on Passenger side

[14Fleetwood]

My wife and I just bought a 2014 Fleetwood Terra coach. We took delivery of the unit in Michigan and drove it 700 miles home  to Delaware.  During the drive, we noticed that the dashboard is loose on the passenger side and moved quite a bit (maybe a quarter of an inch?) when traveling over rough roads.  There is also a noticeable squeak from that side as well.  I crawled under the dash when we got home but can't figure out why the dash isn't attached to the underframe or how to reattach it.  Anyone have any similar experience?  Any ideas how to correct this issue?  The good thing is I'm pretty handy with tools, the bad thing is I have no experience with this type of repairs.

[dickandlois]

14Fleetwood, Welcome to the FMCA Forum !

There have been problems with the dash support on the passenger side. The support frame under the dash needs a little extra frame work. 

A picture of the general area would help. Thinking you will need to remove the kick panel from in front of the passenger side. finding all the screws can be a challenge.

Then a picture of the area. 

Question, are you kind of a handyman ?

Rich.

[14Fleetwood]

Thanks for the reply Rich!  Fortunately, I AM pretty handy.  Unfortunately, it's kind of cramped to get under there (6'3", 225!!!).  I already added some angle brackets between the dash frame and dash board itself; seems like it had no impact on my problem.  I'm going to pull out the passenger seat so I can get in there a bit more easily.  What should I look for when I get in there?

 

JK

[jleamont]

2 hours ago, 14Fleetwood said:

What should I look for when I get in there?

I would place myself in a position for observation and ease of grasping the dash. While in that position try and push up on it and look off in the corners to see where the part moves and where other items don’t move. Then make my way deeper into it so I could see just where it’s loose at.

[dickandlois]

The attached picture shows the area where the dash looses support just above the wood sections that are pictured.

Removing the kick panel can be  a changeling if the owner has not worked repairing other items on a Class A  Coach. This is a picture of a Fleetwood Bounder That had a loose dash on the right side of the dash.

 The bottom of the panel needs to be removed along with the other items in the picture that are attached to the back side of the panel. Need the proper tools and some skill working on items like kitchen cabinets helps.

Angle  and steel T connectors the proper size and even some new of sections of the same sized wood installed. 

Rich.

You are correct it is a tight spot - removing the passenger set is a good move.  Dash is still loose because the dash needs to be screwed to a the correct size  angle, connecting the wood frame running from the bottom of the dash down to the floor. Above the section pictured is where I added some extra sentions of wood to get good connection between the dash and side support !!!!!

Wish I had taken pictures of just how I repaired the same problem years ago.

 

[14Fleetwood]

Thanks for all your insight.  I fixed my problem this morning.  I had my wife drive the coach while I observed what was going on under the dash.  What I found was that the entire sidewall of the coach was moving relative the dash frame.  I crawled under the coach to assess the attach points and what I found was that two screws had been sheared where the dash frame attaches to the sidewall frame.  I had to go through the engine bay to get a good look at the frames, but you could clearly see the two missing screw locations and that the two frame parts had been moving relative to each other by the chafing on the metal.  I drilled new holes (3) in the two frames and used self tapping metal screws to join the two frames.  See the picture attached to see the final results.  I test drove over a relatively rough road and confirmed the problem is fixed.  Thanks again for your help!

 

[wolfe10]

Excellent diagnosis and fix.

[hermanmullins]

14Fleetwood,

Could you tell if the screws had sheared off due vibration, too much tension or too much torque with the power driver when they were put in?

A side question, is that the A/Cs air filter i can see in the picture? 

As Brett said "Excellent diagnosis and fix."

Herman 

[14Fleetwood]

Both original fasteners had indeed sheared.  It was not clear why they had sheared (you cite three excellent causes); I noted that the same assembly on the driver's was side completely  intact.  Since I recently bought this coach used, I am not familiar with how this problem developed.  Note that I added 3 screws in place of the two that had sheared.

[dickandlois]

59 minutes ago, 14Fleetwood said:

Both original fasteners had indeed sheared.  It was not clear why they had sheared (you cite three excellent causes); I noted that the same assembly on the driver's was side completely  intact.  Since I recently bought this coach used, I am not familiar with how this problem developed.  Note that I added 3 screws in place of the two that had sheared.

We are the second owners of our current coach and it was a low mileage unit. Only one long trip, but that trip was to Alaska and when we decided to buy it there was a lot of haggling. What we found was long list and the dealer was not going to sell it for my offer.  

       4 mounts later we got a call asking if there was any interest in buying it. The person who bought it used the Lemon Law and was able to get out from under all the things that never seamed to end. 

Our current coach at the time was in over the road condition and I mentioned I would take it off his hands, but any money made would be made on the trade in.  Right or wrong and for most, way over the top. Months later and many hrs. of work it had risen from the dead and with the loving care has and now exceeded 120,000 miles. With that same care it has served us well for years, although not as decked out as the current coaches, one knows the chassis and coach strong points and weaknesses. 

We have looked at hundreds if not a thousand coaches and nothing has tempted us. The domestic engineer and the driver are happy.  Simple and reliable, enough tools and spare parts to get us home and with only 2 maybe 3 stops for a day or 2 to order parts.

Rich.

[mmaurice]

On 9/4/2019 at 12:54 PM, 14Fleetwood said:

Thanks for all your insight.  I fixed my problem this morning.  I had my wife drive the coach while I observed what was going on under the dash.  What I found was that the entire sidewall of the coach was moving relative the dash frame.  I crawled under the coach to assess the attach points and what I found was that two screws had been sheared where the dash frame attaches to the sidewall frame.  I had to go through the engine bay to get a good look at the frames, but you could clearly see the two missing screw locations and that the two frame parts had been moving relative to each other by the chafing on the metal.  I drilled new holes (3) in the two frames and used self tapping metal screws to join the two frames.  See the picture attached to see the final results.  I test drove over a relatively rough road and confirmed the problem is fixed.  Thanks again for your help!

 

How long were the self tapping screws that you used. I am afraid of going through the sidewall.