Precept Wheel Well Issue

chasfenwick · 04-03-2017, 10:51 AM

Driving down a very smooth interstate in our 2017 Precept 31UL, all of sudden there is an incredibly loud BANG!! Investigation revealed that there had been a major failure of the forward steel panel that forms the right rear wheel well.

This panel is a sheet steel assembly that is 23" wide, across the dual tires, and 30.5" high. It is attached with four skinny, self-tapping screws: Two at the top, screwed into steel, one at inner edge several inches below the top, and one at the bottom outboard corner.

What I believe happened is this: With normal vibrations, the screw at the bottom jiggled loose and ultimately fell out. This left the entire panel swinging from the top pair of screws. The back-and-forth swinging motion broke off those crews, resulting in the entire panel hanging at an angle from the one remaining screw.

The bottom 6 inches or so of the panel was severely abraided by the adjacent tire. If that one remaining screw had broken, we could have had some serious damage from the panel slamming into its surroundings! It is not a lightweight panel.

In my judgment, the bottom screw was too short and too skinny to obtain adequate "purchase" within the fiberglass blob to which it was "attached." I performed a temporary fix by screwing in a self tapping screw that is longer and larger diameter. It seems to tighten up against "something" buried inside the outer surround of the wheelwell. The other 3 screws go into steel that you can actually see.

The moral to the story is that you should check to see if your wheel well panel is securely attached.

nma33 · 04-03-2017, 12:33 PM

Mine looks exactly like that! Luckily I have an appointment at the Factory Service Center next week, Mine the bottom two screw either came out broke, I didn't discover it until I was de-winterizing my coach for the trip next week to IN. I have no idea when this happened, or how. there was no loud noise, no rubbing sound, nothing, I sent pictures to the Factory Service Center.

chasfenwick · 04-03-2017, 12:58 PM

Interesting. Mine is designed for only one screw on the bottom. Should it break off or pull out, you've got 30 inches of sheet steel flapping in the breeze, attached only at the top and, on the inboard side, not far from the top. So the panel will flap against the wheels for sure if the top two screws proceed to break off which, in our case, they did, leaving one spindly screw hanging the whole thing. We feel like we've dodged a bullet!

nma33 · 04-03-2017, 01:04 PM

My wheel well seems to be made of a rubber type of material. It's not sheet metal as far as I can tell.

nma33 · 04-03-2017, 01:05 PM

My wheel well material seems to be of a rubber type, not a sheet metal product. interesting, I will look at it closer when I get home.

chasfenwick · 04-03-2017, 01:15 PM

I suppose rubber could be preferable, reduce the consequential damage, should the thing let loose when you are at cruising speed on the highway!

rahawk · 04-06-2017, 08:40 PM

This happened to our 35s, with 7000 miles, but on the drivers side. Im going to check the pass side as soon it quits snowing. Grrrrrrr

adaigle · 05-02-2017, 06:28 PM

Thanks for the heads up. Looked at mine and sure enough, both panels are loose. Bottom screws loose and missing.

Keetters · 05-29-2017, 05:35 PM

Thanks also for the heads up. I checked mine and found the passenger side loose. Replaced the screw with a #12 and some washers for spacers.

2017 Precept 31UL

gowestwardho · 06-21-2018, 03:08 PM

Those itty bitty screws holding the hard rubber/plastic mud flap to the metal backing plate are worthless and dangerous. I was shocked to see how it had melted. All we had with us were two little paper binder clips which amazingly held for 400 miles. Eventually I had to cut the damn thing off with a kitchen knife. They all need to be re-installed with large washers as there is an unbelievable amount of wind resistance on those, and any fool could have predicted the screws would pop right through eventually. Lucky for us it didn't simply ignite.

klspahr · 06-21-2018, 04:01 PM

It’s great to get a heads up on these issues! I have an Alante, but I think it is built to the same “standards”. I’ll be checking mine shortly just to make sure...

Dbrown · 06-25-2018, 10:34 AM

I will be checking mine tonight. Thanks!

Vicr · 06-25-2018, 05:47 PM

I heard about this problem last year so I removed the sheet metal screws the factory uses with 1/4-20 stainless steel hardware.

Lillug · 06-28-2018, 12:33 PM

Just bought a used 2015 Jayco Precept 35 UN last night and while driving it home (less than 60 miles), the driver-side wheel-well above rear duals flew off the RV while doing 65-70mph. Thankfully, there was no tire damage.
Now that most everything is gone from the wheel well (except that vertical steel piece), how do we go about fixing it? Is this repair to only be done by a professional?
The original owner had a similar issue with the passenger-side rear wheel-well and caught it in time (used a zip-strip to hold it in place so it couldn't hit the tires).
I want this issue fixed so it never happens again.
Any suggestions would really be appreciated.

Dbrown · 06-28-2018, 03:35 PM

Checked mine today. One lower screw on on each side has pulled through the plastic mud flap. Mine looks like a plastic sheet all the way to the top where it connects to "T" shape angle iron that attachs to the upper square tube frame. Then at the bottom there is another cross bar that attaches the lower portion of the mud flap with 2 screws. The lower on one side has rubbed through like others have posted. The bad thing is it will be diffcult to replace the inner most lower screws because the tire is in the way. I don't see the sheet metal as described by others in this post. Can someone tell me where I would see the sheet metal? I will try to add screws where I can to hold the flap up better.

davecoll · 06-30-2018, 05:55 PM

Same with mine...just purchased a 2016 35un and drove it from Utah back to Winnipeg. Got home and the drivers side wheel well fell off when I was making a turn. Thankfully I was already home. We had to take the mud flap off to get the piece out. Pretty frustrating...I check the passenger side and it was loose.....you would think they could come up with a better design than this....come on Jayco. I realize they bounce a lot on the highway... and especially in Canada but itnshoildnt be rocket science to design and secure properly.

Lillug · 06-30-2018, 06:09 PM

Thanks for posting. Did you correct this issue yourself? Do you think I should only have this fixed by a Jayco dealer? I want it done right.
Hey other Jayco Owners, need your valued opinion here. I care for others on the highway especially those traveling behind my Jayco with parts flying off...

DavidC · 07-01-2018, 08:56 AM

Yup - same thing happened on my 2016 31ul. Found it at 12,000 miles before a failure occurred. Only 1 screw holding it and it had been rubbing the tire. I added 3 more screws and no problems so far... fingers crossed.

DavidC · 07-01-2018, 09:00 AM

If you can reach it, you can fix it yourself. I needed an extension on the drill to reach the top of the wheelwell to put a starter hole for the self-tapping screws. I had a dealer inspect my fix and they signed off on it.

Vicr · 07-01-2018, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidC

If you can reach it, you can fix it yourself. I needed an extension on the drill to reach the top of the wheelwell to put a starter hole for the self-tapping screws. I had a dealer inspect my fix and they signed off on it.

Self tapping screws have very little shear strength and should not be used. They are the reason why the wheel wells are falling onto the tires. They rust and get fatigued then shear off. Grade 5 hardware should be used for a permanent solution to this problem.

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