Fifth Wheels
Bunkhouse Fifth Wheel Slide and Body Repair Near Placentia, CA
Bunkhouse fifth wheels are family coaches, and they wear like family coaches. We repair sagging rear bunk room slides, second entry doors whose frames have racked, leaking bunk windows, half-bath plumbing and multiple slide toppers for Placentia owners. Everything is done in-shop in Yorba Linda, about ten minutes from Placentia via Imperial Highway.
Why does the rear bunk room slide give the most trouble?
The bunk room slide sits at the very back of the coach, well behind the axles, in the section that sees the most vertical movement over every dip and driveway transition. It is also frequently the largest opening cut into the rear third of the sidewall.
That combination sags rooms. The floor of the room takes on a downward set, the outer seal stops touching along the top, and rainwater runs into the wall cavity at the upper corners. Owners usually find it as a stain on the bunk mattress before they find it outside.
We pull the room, check the floor structure for delamination and rot, replace failed rails or through-frame rams, and square the opening before the room goes back. On coaches with multiple slides we set the bunk room last so it can be timed against the others.
Slide topper fabric on a bunkhouse works harder than on a single-slide coach because there are three, four or five toppers, all aging at once. When one topper tears the water goes right down the wall. We replace fabric, springs and end caps as sets so they do not fail in sequence.
What does a second entry door do to the sidewall?
A bunkhouse layout adds a second entry door in the rear sidewall so the kids can come and go without walking through the living area. That door is a second large hole in a stressed laminated wall, and over years of towing the frame racks out of square.
Racking shows up as a door that has to be lifted to latch, a strike plate worn oval, and a compression seal that only touches on one side. Left alone the corner of the door frame cracks the sidewall skin and water gets in behind the substrate.
The repair is not a hinge adjustment. We open the wall around the frame, re-square and reinforce the framing, install the door assembly true, and reseal the perimeter in butyl. Where the sidewall skin has already cracked at the corner we replace the panel section rather than filling it.
High occupancy accelerates everything else in the rear of the coach: the half bath sees heavy use, the Thetford toilet flange loosens, the shower pan cracks at the drain, and bunk window frames leak where the fastener line has been worked loose by the flex of the long rear overhang.
How does the long wheelbase and rear overhang cause damage?
Bunkhouse fifth wheels are among the longest coaches on the road, and the bunk room hangs a long way behind the rear axle. That overhang scrapes on driveway transitions, gas station aprons and steep approach angles all over north Orange County.
The result is crushed rear skirting, cracked rear cap fiberglass at the lower radius, damaged bumper and ladder mounts, and sometimes a bent rear frame extension. We straighten or replace the frame extension, repair or replace the cap and blend the finish.
Rear cap ladder mount stress cracks deserve their own mention. The ladder is bolted through the cap into framing that flexes with the overhang, so cracks radiate from the mount holes. We reinforce the backing structure rather than just filling the crack, because a filled crack with no backing change comes back.
What is included
- Rear bunk room slide rebuild, squaring and re-timing
- Slide topper fabric, spring and end cap replacement
- Second entry door frame re-squaring and reinforcement
- Bunk window removal, resealing and frame repair
- Half-bath plumbing, toilet flange and shower pan repair
- Rear cap, skirting and ladder mount crack repair
Questions we get asked
Should I replace all the slide toppers at once?
The second entry door drags and will not latch. Can it be adjusted?
Do you repair water damage in bunk beds and around bunk windows?
We Can Help! Contact Us Today.
Bring it to the shop and we will assess the damage, document it properly for your insurer, and tell you exactly what the repair involves. Serving Placentia and the surrounding area from our 35,000 square foot facility.
All work performed in-shop. We stand behind our work.