Good Sam Club Open Roads Forum: Heki 2 Skylight Inner Frame Failure


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HMS Beagle

Napa, California

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Posted: 11/02/21 09:26am

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I believe the Heki is molded from ASA, which is similar to ABS plastic. I'd use West Systems GFlex, after flame treating it (instructions can be found on the WestSystem.com website). That only takes a second and greatly improves adhesion in many plastics. If you use rivets, be sure to use large backing washers, or you risk further cracking due to concentrating the stresses.

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Mikell

Gainesville, FL

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Posted: 11/02/21 11:22am

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Here’s what I plan on doing after the fix so I don’t have to depend solely upon these sorry latches which also keep breaking.
https://youtu.be/bl2I3a4N2xU
The manual I have for the HEKI 3 Deluxe says it is “suitable for max. speeds of 100 km/hr” (or 62 mph). I usually drive around 60 mph, but occasionally faster. Perhaps speed as well as poor quality are contributors to failure. I didn’t see this speed factor in the manual until just recently.

Grit dog

Black Diamond, WA

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Posted: 11/02/21 11:46am

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Mikell wrote:

What a joke! Kinda like the mag mount strobe light that got ripped off the roof of my truck with a gust of wind last week. Reading the fine print, it says not recommended for >50mph....seriously? It's designed and marketed to go on top of an on road vehicle. It held up to 90+mph for a few days, then 80mph with a strong wind gust out of the canyon flipped it.

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Mikell

Gainesville, FL

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Posted: 11/02/21 03:23pm

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Regarding the YouTube “fix”, since the HEKI 2 does not have a gap above the latch mount for the angle to slide into, I will need to install some spacers at the 4 points where the mounting screws attach the clear lid to the brackets.This should create the necessary gap

Mikell

Gainesville, FL

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Posted: 04/30/22 01:35pm

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Well, it’s been a few months since I’ve had the time to attempt to implement my fix. I finally finished it today. I sandwiched the broken section between two slats of aluminum, attached with JB Weld and rivets. It doesn’t look pretty, but it’s not noticeable unless you are looking for it. I was also going to try the YouTube fix I referenced earlier in the thread with the locking bar to provide additional protection; however, my Heki must be a little different than his because the bar would not go straight across the bottom of the skylight bottom (apparently it bows downward slightly. So, I came up with my own version which are just two locking clips. I think this should solve the problem. If you want to try it, you just have to notch the clips to fit. I did place a flat washer in two places on each side at the ends near the clips the same thickness of the aluminum angle used for the clips so I could slip the clip between the HEKI latch and the skylight.