Thor wall construction

[ron@wrightanglepllc.com]

I have a 2018 Thor 29M Hurricane - the "armrest" to the left of the driver seat fell off the wall (this has the self leveling control panel, emergency start button, mirror electronic controls, and a cup holder). The wall is water damaged behind the armrest, but only in that horizontal strip about 4" wide the length of the arm rest. Is the interior wall construction made of a wood product or is this wood behind the arm rest (in the wall) some kind of blocking used in the wall for attachment of the arm rest to the wall?

 

[Grumpy Grampa]

If you send Thor model and vin number. They will send you exterior and interior wall construction, materials and thickness.

Good luck

 

[Jimbo56]

Do you have pimples on the wall also?

My wall is a sandwich of plywood, styrofoam, and exterior fiber material.

How bout posting a picture. I had water intrusion in same area. Might be able to point you to possible culprits.

 

[ron@wrightanglepllc.com]

The underlying wood material behind the arm rest area was definitely water damaged as pieces came out with the screws and the wall is soft/dimpled - most likely water from the driver side window, but oddly no soft or dimpled area beneath the window until about a foot or more lower where the arm rest is below the window (in a horizontal strip). Trying to add photos but looks like I need to do so from my computer.

 

[Beau388]

I have a 2018 Thor 29M Hurricane - the "armrest" to the left of the driver seat fell off the wall (this has the self leveling control panel, emergency start button, mirror electronic controls, and a cup holder). The wall is water damaged behind the armrest, but only in that horizontal strip about 4" wide the length of the arm rest. Is the interior wall construction made of a wood product or is this wood behind the arm rest (in the wall) some kind of blocking used in the wall for attachment of the arm rest to the wall?

There is a video on YouTube showing some of the wall laminating press at plant 750. It shows workers laying down the outer skin down from a roll, placing the aluminum tubing bracing in place, adding the balsa wood filler pieces and the steel backing plates where cabinets, microwave, etc are to be placed. An auto glue machine adds thermosetting glue in the needed with two floor workers following the glue machine with adding dabs of glue where there are critical areas. This is necessary as different options may require extra care, as the glue machine is only programed for a wall with no options. Finally the inner covering is pulled into place. The 200 ton wall press descends and the microwave generator heats the wall assembly to 160 F degrees to catalyze the thermosetting glue. 20 minutes later the wall is moved by crane to the auto, wall router table where the window and door opening are routed out of the wall. The side skirts are done the same way with the router cutouts becoming the basement doors. Freedom Traveler, ACE, Hurricane and Windsport coaches are assembled in plant 750.
If you are the least bit mechanically inclined, a plant 750 tour is definitely recommended. The size and complexity of the machinery is awesome. Plants 150, 650 and 750 are colocated and all part of the original Four Winds facility purchased by Thor Industries in 1992 .

 

[EA37TS]

Get the structural diagrams from Thor and not the personal opinions of others. Thor will provide the diagrams upon request.

 

[ron@wrightanglepllc.com]

Thanks for the suggestion - I called Thor and got the structural diagrams. For the area I am talking about there are two horizontal 6" wide 1" thick plywood blocking pieces. Not sure why the second one which is shown at a lower position, but the upper one is right where this arm rest is located. I plan to just go over the interior surface with lauan plywood with a box to the inside which will go from the floor up to the underside of the arm rest to be the actual support. Hopefully will find and screw the lauan into the lower plywood piece but the main support will be from the floor and not the wall anyway.

 

[Jimbo56]

After Thor replaced the drivers window twice, the actual water intrusion was found to be in 2 other places. The satellite radio antenna. The steel plate was sealed. But the little black square antenna was only magnetically attached allowing water into the entrance hole for wiring. Then finds it’s way onto the mirror wiring. Thus ending up at the armrest. Also, look at those little bullet cab marker lights. 2 of mine fell out in my hand. I stuck them back in with pro flex. Again water followed the wiring .

 

[Jimbo56]

There is a video on YouTube showing some of the wall laminating press at plant 750. It shows workers laying down the outer skin down from a roll, placing the aluminum tubing bracing in place, adding the balsa wood filler pieces and the steel backing plates where cabinets, microwave, etc are to be placed. An auto glue machine adds thermosetting glue in the needed with two floor workers following the glue machine with adding dabs of glue where there are critical areas. This is necessary as different options may require extra care, as the glue machine is only programed for a wall with no options. Finally the inner covering is pulled into place. The 200 ton wall press descends and the microwave generator heats the wall assembly to 160 F degrees to catalyze the thermosetting glue. 20 minutes later the wall is moved by crane to the auto, wall router table where the window and door opening are routed out of the wall. The side skirts are done the same way with the router cutouts becoming the basement doors. Freedom Traveler, ACE, Hurricane and Windsport coaches are assembled in plant 750.
If you are the least bit mechanically inclined, a plant 750 tour is definitely recommended. The size and complexity of the machinery is awesome. Plants 150, 650 and 750 are colocated and all part of the original Four Winds facility purchased by Thor Industries in 1992 .

What plant builds Challengers?

 

[Beau388]

What plant builds Challengers?

Plant 850 bills all REDs , class A Outlaws, Challenger, Miramar, and the Mega Cs (Inception and Pasadena). Plant 850 the old Damon plant which Thor Industries bought from Navastar. It is in Wakarusa, IN along with plant 450, the Thor MC Service center and the paint shop. The class Bs are built over in Bristol, IN in plants 240 and 250.

 

[Bonecat]

I h

I have a 2018 Thor 29M Hurricane - the "armrest" to the left of the driver seat fell off the wall (this has the self leveling control panel, emergency start button, mirror electronic controls, and a cup holder). The wall is water damaged behind the armrest, but only in that horizontal strip about 4" wide the length of the arm rest. Is the interior wall construction made of a wood product or is this wood behind the arm rest (in the wall) some kind of blocking used in the wall for attachment of the arm rest to the wall?

I have the same problem. When we bought ours, we notice cuddling behind the driver's seat. They said they sealed the window but I've been dealing with for a few years. Now it's at the point where the armrest is acting up and falling off the wall. I also noticed the wall is starting to peel like a banana. I tried getting a quote on repairs and they want over $3k+ for this small area. No way I'm going to pay that much for it so I think I just need to figure out where I can get the replacement lauan board with the same wallpaper do it myself.

 

[16ACE27]

we notice cuddling behind the driver's seat.

Who was doing the cuddling?

 

[Beau388]

After a good rain storm in 2016, I found water on top of the jacks controller and the cab was electricity was missing. I found I had no power to the Bussmann Board. A quick call to Thor CS and I received an email with the circuitry for the board that showed the 100 amp circuit breaker by the chassis battery supplying power to the board. Sure enough, it was tripped.

It seamed the water leak was from the plastic filler strip in between the wall, front cap and the roof. The plastic was bowed out allowing the rain to blow in and drip down from the ceiling. I sealed the end with calk. I have kept a eye on the strip and last summer I noted it has lost is flex and was becoming detached. I filled the cavity with butyl rubber in order to hold the plastic strip in place. This also cured one of the leaks into the basement compartments. Water can travel a long way for the source of the leak to the puddle.

 

[Bonecat]

Who was doing the cuddling?

Lol!! Puddling