Crack in metal roof under penthouse top.

[SierraHawk]

'03 Ford 5.4 SMB RB. Dynatrac 4X4. The crack is in the metal roof just behind the front door pillar. It is approximately 4" long and runs outwards from the cutout (for the penthouse) to about 2 inches from the gutter. It has not reached the penthouse gasket yet. The metal edges of the crack make a loud "pop" when there is torsion on the frame (front rolling over a 12"-14" rock on one side) and the body is forced to flex. You can't see it unless you have the top up and are outside looking down on the rim of the metal roof.

Questions:

1) Is this a unique problem?

2) How it should be repaired?

I am tempted to drill a hole at the end of the crack to stop the crawl but am unsure how to repair the crack in the roof metal. I suspect that the crack is following a factory weld but doubt if welding it again would hold for long. I'd also like to avoid taking the interior apart.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[BroncoHauler]

Without any pics, it's hard to tell for sure, but it sounds just like the same problem as someone else posted here just a month or so ago. Do some searching, and you should be able to find that post.


Herb

[Greg In Austin]

Yes, sounds like the same problem PatO has....

[Skywagon]

Mine , also makes a loud POP when my van flexes. Although there is no sign of any cracks YET!...
Will monitor and advise.
Bill

[PatO]

I drilled a 1/8 hole at the end of my 2 cracks and they have not propagated any farther. Next weekend will be a test as I'm going back out to Picacho (Colorado River) which is 30 miles of rough roads. As I told you in PM Sportsmobile is fixing under warranty.
Pat

[SierraHawk]

Hi Pat,

Thanks for the response. We are in Grand Junction CO and won’t be in CA for another 4 months. I will call Fresno and talk to them about what I can do right now. I will probably drill a hole to stop the crawl and create a patch that will cover the crack and take some of the pressure off of it. A little epoxy and a few pop rivets should do the job. It will also keep the rain out. If it holds, Fresno won't have to weld the crack or worry about taking the interior apart to avoid a fire.

Michael

[PatO]

I finally was able to coordinate dropping the van off and picking it up 10 days later. It's not a pretty repair but that hardly matters up there. I think SMB could have cleaned up a bit better inside and out after the repair and other work that was done but that only takes the plus off an A rating for their work. Peter and Stu were extremely attentive to getting the work done. Now to get the PH roof and the van roof Line-X'd so I can say goodbye to my other headaches up there; clear coat peeling, fiberglass cracking, paint rub off and rusting and rain gutter rusting.
Pat O

[daveb]

My top is being coated next week. There pulling off all the solara panels and shooting the complete PH top. It's not line-x but whatever the SMB's are coming off the line with nowdays. I'm told the job is about 600 bucks. They are going to fiberglass all the old holes not needed and I'm having a couple of through the hull waterproof power plugs added to the roof for the new solar
http://www.fisheriessupply.com/online/l ... 01/Ntk/All
Dave

[John and Dana]

I was working on my van today and noticed a small crack in the roof just behind the drivers door. The crack only about 1/2" long and comes out from under the penthouse roof gasket.

Pat O and SierraHawk how have your repairs held up?

Has anybody else had this problems and what did you do to make repairs?

Unfortunately my van is a couple months out of warranty so I don't know if SMB West will do anything for me. I will be calling them tomorrow to see.

John

[daveb]

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