Winnebago RV Repair in Yorba Linda

Class A and Class C Winnebago coaches use a welded steel and aluminum superstructure cage with vacuum bonded laminated sidewalls over it. The substrate behind the fiberglass on current production is a composite panel rather than lauan plywood, which changes the repair picture significantly. Composite substrate does not rot when it gets wet, so a leak that would have destroyed a lauan wall in two seasons instead sits there quietly debonding the adhesive.

The chassis under the coach determines almost everything about the collision side of the job. Frontal impact on a Ford F53 is a body on frame repair against a published dimensional specification. The same impact on a Sprinter or ProMaster based Winnebago is a unibody repair with ADAS sensors involved, which is a completely different labor mix and a completely different measuring approach.

• Ford F53 gas chassis on Vista, Sunstar, Adventurer and Intent
• Freightliner XC series diesel chassis on Journey, Forza and Horizon
• Ford E Series cutaway on Minnie Winnie, Spirit and Access
• Mercedes Sprinter cab chassis and van on View, Navion, Revel and Boldt
• RAM ProMaster van on Travato and Solis
• Ford Transit AWD chassis cab on Ekko
• Lippert frame and Dexter running gear on the towable lines

We take Winnebago work across the whole catalogue, current and long discontinued. Model specific parts availability varies enormously between a current Vista and a 2004 Sightseer, and the older the coach the more the job depends on what we can fabricate rather than order.

Itasca badged coaches are included. Itasca was Winnebago built and shares structure, caps and running gear with the Winnebago equivalent, so a Sunova is a Vista and a Suncruiser is an Adventurer for repair purposes.

• Class A gas: Vista, Sunstar, Adventurer, Intent, Vita, Sightseer
• Class A diesel: Journey, Forza, Horizon, Tour, Ellipse
• Class C: Minnie Winnie, Spirit, Access, Outlook, Aspect, Fuse
• Sprinter based: View, Navion, Revel, Boldt, Era
• ProMaster based: Travato, Solis, Solis Pocket
• Transit based: Ekko and Ekko Sprinter
• Towables: Micro Minnie, Minnie, Voyage, Hike, Access travel trailers
• Itasca badged equivalents: Sunova, Suncruiser, Navion, Spirit, Impulse

The front cap seam is the headline problem on Class A and Class C Winnebago coaches. The cap is a moulded fiberglass part bonded and mechanically fastened to the sidewall and the roof, and the joint between them is sealed rather than structural. Sealant has a service life measured in years, the joint moves with every temperature cycle, and water finds it long before the owner does. Once water is behind that seam it tracks along the roof edge and into the top of the sidewall laminate.

The second recurring failure is roof membrane seam separation, most commonly at the air conditioner gasket and at the front radius where the membrane transitions onto the cap. On the towable lines and the smaller Class C coaches, in wall slide mechanisms wear the rail and the drive gear unevenly when the room is run out of sync, which shows up as a room that stops sealing at one corner.

On the van lines the failures are different again. Roof rack and solar mounting penetrations on Travato and Revel conversions are a common water path, and galvanic corrosion at any point where a steel fastener meets an aluminum or composite panel is routine on coastal vehicles in Orange County.

• Front cap to sidewall seam water intrusion, Class A and Class C
• Roof membrane seam failure at the AC gasket and the front radius
• Lower sidewall delamination on Minnie Winnie and Micro Minnie
• In wall slide rail and drive gear wear on towables and small Class C
• Cabover seam leakage on Class C coaches with an overhead bunk
• Roof penetration leaks at solar and rack mounts on van conversions
• Galvanic corrosion at steel fasteners into aluminum van panels

Winnebago runs one of the better parts operations in the industry and current production body parts are generally orderable, though caps and one piece glass are frequently built to order with lead times measured in weeks rather than days. Discontinued coaches are the problem. A front cap for a mid 2000s Adventurer or Sightseer is usually not available at any price, and the honest answer is that it has to be made.

We mould fiberglass cap sections in house from the surviving side of the vehicle or from a pattern taken off a donor coach, and we form aluminum skin panels here as well. That capability is why an older Winnebago is repairable here when a dealer body shop will tell you the coach is a total loss.

On cost, published bands apply. Fiberglass cap repair runs $750 to $12,000 and up at 4 to 60 hours. Full cap replacement runs $4,500 to $25,000 and up at 30 to 120 hours. Delamination repair runs $1,500 to $20,000 and up at 10 to 100 hours. Everything is calculated at our posted body and paint rate of $210 per hour with paint supplies at $55 per paint hour, body supplies at $5 per body hour, and 7.75 percent sales tax on parts and materials only.