How do you remove the front bezel on a 1973 Ramada?

How to remove a front bezel... Short answer: Carefully. (sorry about that, couldn't resist) Longer answer: You'll need to remove the front bed to get to the bezel. In my '79 Yuma (may be different than your '73), I did that by removing the two bed end stops at the front end of the roller channel. Each stop is held in with one screw, and I had to fight the stops a bit to get them out of the channels. A squirt of silicone spray helped the process along. I set up saw horsed a few feet in front of the trailer, and my friend and I simply slid the bed end out of the camper, sidestepped a few feet, and set the whole unit down on the saw horses. Under the bed end is an aluminum piece that is held on by screws to the interior paneling and by rivets to the sidewalls of the camper. Remove the screws and rivets. I used a 3/16 inch bit to drill out the rivets, and that seemed to work fine. With the screws and rivets removed, GENTLY (!!!) lift up the aluminum piece, and the bezel will come with it. Once you have the bezel raised a few inches you'll be able to GENTLY (!!!) finesse the bezel out of the side channels. You'll have to GENTLY (!!!) remove the aluminum piece from the bezel if you want to lay the bezel flat for repair. Pay attention to how the pieces come apart. I didn't, and it hurt my poor little brain trying to figure out how to get the pieces back together. Digital pictures would have helped at this point. The bezel goes back in by reversing the process. Again, this is how I did the job on my '79 Yuma. Your camper may be different. Someone else may have a better way to do this. When I was putting mine back together I wondered if I could have removed the bed end corners and slid the bed end further into the camper so it cleared the front bezel and aluminum retainer. Since I already had commited to the other method I didnt' explore that option any further, but it might work. If it does, you might be able to do the job yourself, but having someone to help would be best. If there is any wind at all, carrying a bezel can be a challenge. Bezels are just large kites waiting to be ripped from your hands by even a small breeze. Hang on tight, and work out of the wind if you can.

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