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Old 02-17-2017, 07:00 PM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Challenger LX
State: Colorado
Posts: 122
THOR #3922
Challenger Grille

Rolled into Daytona International Speedway yesterday. While we were in line, awaiting security inspection, a lady came to me and said "your grille is falling off". Sure enough, the nuts holding the top of the plastic "chrome" grille to the fiberglass hood had come completely unscrewed, and the chrome piece was still attached, thanks to the good races of the two lower screws. After opening the hood, I found what is surely not one of Thor's finest engineering designs. That chrome piece is held on with four small screws and four very large washers, followed by a small locknut. Two of the locknuts were gone, and a third on the bottom was very loose, meaning I was pretty close to losing the chrome piece. I have now repaired, and added Loctite to the threads. I have less than 5k on my Challenger, so others might want to pop the hood and check out these nuts/screws.

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Old 02-18-2017, 04:16 AM   #2
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Challenger 37KT
State: Texas
Posts: 58
THOR #1505
Thanks for the heads up on the grille. Wish we were at the track. Have a good time, we are camping out and will watch the races on TV.
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Old 02-18-2017, 12:43 PM   #3
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 2017 Windsport 29M
State: Indiana
Posts: 3,692
THOR #5196
Sucks that your grill was falling off but nice the lady came to tell you! The grill is pretty lightweight so don't imagine it would take much to hold it in place.
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Old 02-18-2017, 04:21 PM   #4
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 37GT
State: Florida
Posts: 809
THOR #5246
Thanks for the heads up, just added it to my to-do list.
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Old 02-26-2017, 11:14 AM   #5
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State: Florida
Posts: 148
THOR #6491
Thank you for the heads up on grille. Enjoy the race. Are watching also.
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Old 02-26-2017, 01:15 PM   #6
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Brand: Still Looking
State: Alabama
Posts: 245
THOR #4160
Unfortunately that is what happens as your house vibrates down the road. I took the front grill off to add a screen to stop all the bugs from getting stuck to my radiators. Works very well and easy to spray off.

I would also highly recommend you check your basement door screws. If you lose all four, you have to drill the lock out. Also don't tighten them too much because your lock latch won't slide. I have been contemplating adding thread locker but not sure how that will affect the latches. I will be at the Thor factory April 3rd and that is one of my questions along with many more questions.
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Old 02-27-2017, 11:55 AM   #7
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Challenger LX
State: Colorado
Posts: 122
THOR #3922
Quote:
Originally Posted by Techn0 View Post
Unfortunately that is what happens as your house vibrates down the road. I took the front grill off to add a screen to stop all the bugs from getting stuck to my radiators. Works very well and easy to spray off.

I would also highly recommend you check your basement door screws. If you lose all four, you have to drill the lock out. Also don't tighten them too much because your lock latch won't slide. I have been contemplating adding thread locker but not sure how that will affect the latches. I will be at the Thor factory April 3rd and that is one of my questions along with many more questions.
I also noticed the issues with the basement door locks. Seems the lower left screw is the key - if it's tightened it affects latch operations. I dabbed a little Loctite blue on the lower left screws, then tightened the screws sufficient to secure the latch without binding the mechanism. So far, so good, but I'll keep checking them before each segment of our 5 month trip.
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Old 02-28-2017, 06:35 PM   #8
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Challenger 37TB
State: California
Posts: 20
THOR #5906
I also noticed the same problem. Luckily only one of the nuts came off. I quickly made a trip to home depot and bought some spares. I checked the others and they were all loose. I took them all apart and loctited all of them. Onto the next issue. LOL
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Old 03-01-2017, 01:15 AM   #9
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Challenger LX
State: Colorado
Posts: 122
THOR #3922
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Originally Posted by rcmark View Post
I also noticed the same problem. Luckily only one of the nuts came off. I quickly made a trip to home depot and bought some spares. I checked the others and they were all loose. I took them all apart and loctited all of them. Onto the next issue. LOL
My next issue is the generator. Today I installed the venting plate Cummins Onan sent to deal with a possible overheating issue. I've already replaced the fuel pump, trying to narrow down the problem. Generator will only run for around 20 minutes on the road, but runs like a champ with the basement door open.
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