Lift panel rivet repair ‘03 Eagle

[firsttracksbmax]

Has anyone done any repairs / fully replaced their lift panel, specifically the one over the bed?

I bought my ‘03 Eagle and it has almost half of the rivets on the bottom that have torn through the luan wood. I am worried that with the added weight I have on the roof (100-130lbs) that this will be an issue before I am able to install some gas struts. Of course I can take that weight off but I’d like to fix this before it gets worse. I’m in the northeast and a long way from any dealer to do the repairs.

How much pain is it to totally replace the luan? Surely seems like one, especially because I don’t have a speaker stand jack. Im considering just removing the failed rivets and placing a strip of 1/8” or /4” thick aluminum over where the luan ripped out and just riveting through it again. Hopefully that will bandaid the situation for awhile until I make a trek out west and decide to fully replace it with the canvas potentially. Thanks for any insight.

 

[kmcintyre]

There a ton of articles/posts on how to do it. You might consider doing the vinyl at the same time if it's even in marginal condition. Also, the newer composite panels are a lot stronger IMHO.

 

[Vic Harder]

I've not seen that kind of damage before. Instead of a speaker lift, you can just cut 2x4's to the right length to hold up the roof. I have pulled off the lift panels before, it isn't too difficult. Hardest part was dealing with the springs to get them tensioned. I imagine that if you added a reinforcement layer, it would be thick enough to really mess with the springs. OTOH, i've heard that you can safely ignore the springs (?)