Idiot Mistake: Bent rock guard on front window

[medora]

ONE of us -- who knows whether it was Husband or Wife -- apparently didn't lock down the rock guard on our last trip, as it got a bit bent on the top hinge and now won't seat correctly over the front window. We removed the guard to take a look and it seems like it just a bit of the rail just needs to be bent back into shape -- BUT when we checked in with Dustin at Escape Service today, he indicated that these can be harder than you think to fix, and that many owners have ended up having to get an entirely new front window with the guard attached.

This seems like overkill to me. We're going to take this to our Magic Fix It guy next week and see what he can do, but in the meantime I'm curious if anyone has ever make this idiot mistake and lived to tell the story WITHOUT buying/installing an entirely new front window assembly.

Thx, Elizabeth
(I have some photos but the bend is so slight that they don't show much, so ...??)

[Chotch]

How about posting a pic of the bent hinge? Might get some ideas here.😁

[medora]

I’d post a photo ASAP if I could remember how to host them. But truthfully it doesn’t show much. I’ll check when I’m on my desktop for photo posting specs.

[tukwilma]

Originally Posted by medora

ONE of us -- who knows whether it was Husband or Wife -- apparently didn't lock down the rock guard on our last trip,

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say "neither of us" locked it down!

Sorry that happened to you. The rock guard is one that I worry about.

We've had 2 trips so far, 8 departures (from home or campground) and have had 3 things we've missed. Nothing that caused damage, caught very quickly. Now we each do the walk-around and check. Maybe with more experience we won't have to do that, but for now, we'll take the extra time rather than having a problem.

[arniesea]

Bummer on the rock guard! We have had a few close calls due to missing something. But now we have two departure check lists: inside and outside. Paula does the inside, I do the outside. Inside things like close windows and vents, get a visual confirmation on the outside list. Then we both do a final walk around just before leaving. We used to switch off but found that it worked better for us to have set routines and assignments.

Also, after any rest stops, etc. the “copilot” will ask the driver just before leaving; “BLT? This means check the Brakes, Lights, Tow / haul mode.

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by arniesea

Bummer on the rock guard! We have had a few close calls due to missing something. But now we have two departure check lists: inside and outside. Paula does the inside, I do the outside. Inside things like close windows and vents, get a visual confirmation on the outside list. Then we both do a final walk around just before leaving. We used to switch off but found that it worked better for us to have set routines and assignments.

Also, after any rest stops, etc. the “copilot” will ask the driver just before leaving; “BLT? This means check the Brakes, Lights, Tow / haul mode.

Like you, we both have our routines and are like a well-oiled machine. Before we leave we check each others routines and kid each other when we find something not completed. It helps to have good humor. It's been years since we've had any damage.

Once we're ready to go we pull out 40' or so and both get out to recheck the area. Amazing what we've found.

Everyone needs to establish a routine.

Enjoy,

Perry

[medora]

Without further ado - the photos - which show little or nothing really. If anyone has a trick for figuring out how to get this realigned we're all ears, because whatever's happened here seems so slight that it's amazing the thing won't close properly now.

And to be clear - we think what happened is that we locked it down BUT did not actually check to make sure that the latches were ALL THE WAY locked, if you get the gist ... in other words, "half-assed" Thus it was loose on one side during a drive, and we didn't notice it until a gas stop. We were able to close it, but have since had trouble with it getting stuck when we close (can't reopen) and it clearly needs to be fixed. Sigh.