Broken Hold Down Eyelet

S

Shadyapex

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2013
Messages
203
Location
Bishop, CA
Hi all, I've just broken the front left hold down eyelet on my 2010 Eagle, I've replaced these before but not the front left one and am having trouble figuring out how to access the thing. Seems like I'm going to have to disassemble the water tank cabinetry or something. Anybody know the best way to get at this?
 
All right then, since nobody responded I'll assume that nobody knew the answer so I'll post what I discovered here in case it's helpful to the next guy who breaks the front left hold down eyelet on their Eagle.
There's a thin bit of fascia just left of the "settee" that's held in place by 2 phillips screws, remove these and a vertical screw in the gap between the cabinet and the front bulkhead and you now have access that any smaller than average 9 year old can make good use of. The gap is 1 3/4" high and, fortunately, my wife was able to reach in and replace the threaded portion that the eyelet fastens to. I was able to get my hand in up until just past the base of the thumb.
But we're good to go now and headed to Death Valley tomorrow. Keep on good terms with the neighborhood kids in case you need to replace this bit. Cheers,,,,,,,
 
I'd have reposted my repairs but I figured a 2010 wouldn't be the same. I think I was right. Glad you got it done.
 
Thanks guys. It is fixed and we got off in good order. Currently "camped" in the Amargosa Valley just outside Death Valley Nat. Park on the Daylight Pass Road. Off to Titus Canyon and Thimble Peak in the morning.
 
Shadyapex said:
All right then, since nobody responded I'll assume that nobody knew the answer so I'll post what I discovered here in case it's helpful to the next guy who breaks the front left hold down eyelet on their Eagle.
There's a thin bit of fascia just left of the "settee" that's held in place by 2 phillips screws, remove these and a vertical screw in the gap between the cabinet and the front bulkhead and you now have access that any smaller than average 9 year old can make good use of. The gap is 1 3/4" high and, fortunately, my wife was able to reach in and replace the threaded portion that the eyelet fastens to. I was able to get my hand in up until just past the base of the thumb.
But we're good to go now and headed to Death Valley tomorrow. Keep on good terms with the neighborhood kids in case you need to replace this bit. Cheers,,,,,,,
Click to expand...
full


Just went through this in my Eagle. Once you get the 1 3/4" fascia board removed you can remove the four screws that secure the board covering the water tank. Once that board is removed there's plenty of room to reach in and remove/replace the broken carriage bolt.
 
The "original" or older camper attachment for the turnbuckles was a simple eye bolt/washer which had two different failure mechanisms:
1. Bending the eye bolt which would be a sign of too low a grade or too small a size.
2. Pulling the eye bolt and wood apart which was seen as too much force applied to too small an area of wood.

The current camper attachment for the turnbuckles on our camper is a bracket with two bolts going through the wood and so the load is distributed to more wood and the bracket is sized much larger than the old eye bolt.

Camper attachment and turnbuckle loading/forces can be extremely high under some dynamic situations. If the truck frame flexes while traversing uneven terrain at high speed then the entire truck flex force goes to the camper tie down system since the lower camper is shaped like a wood box plus the tie down system has the camper forces applied (i.e. the tie down system needs to keep the camper on the truck while the truck frame flexes while going over uneven terrain at speed). Slower speeds allow more of the flex force to be managed by the truck suspension system. What is too fast? Every truck and terrain are different and so no easy answer. Shimming the truck camper at the wheel wells and having good positive contact between the camper and the front of the truck bed help reduce the load on the camper tie down system as does slowing down. Spring loaded tie down systems are another option but they need to be adjusted to the correct tension for the conditions.
 
BobD said:
Just went through this in my Eagle. Once you get the 1 3/4" fascia board removed you can remove the four screws that secure the board covering the water tank. Once that board is removed there's plenty of room to reach in and remove/replace the broken carriage bolt.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip, so this allow one with normal/large hands to access the bolt?
I did replace the eyelet with the new style of bracket from FWC that used a larger plate and 3 bolts to secure a piece of aluminum angle and am told that they basically don't fail. It looks far more confidence inspiring than the eyelet so I'm hoping to not have any more trouble. Thanks for the info, though. Steve,,,,,
 
Shadyapex said:
Thanks for the tip, so this allow one with normal/large hands to access the bolt?
I did replace the eyelet with the new style of bracket from FWC that used a larger plate and 3 bolts to secure a piece of aluminum angle and am told that they basically don't fail. It looks far more confidence inspiring than the eyelet so I'm hoping to not have any more trouble. Thanks for the info, though. Steve,,,,,
Click to expand...
Steve,

I didn't realize FWC had changed from the Elevator (Eye Bolts) to a newer bracket. Did you upgrade all four or just the front two? Did you install the new brackets or have them do it? What did they charge for them if you don't mind my asking? I've had both front bolts break so that's why I'm asking. Thanks, Bob
 
BobD said:
Steve,

I didn't realize FWC had changed from the Elevator (Eye Bolts) to a newer bracket. Did you upgrade all four or just the front two? Did you install the new brackets or have them do it? What did they charge for them if you don't mind my asking? I've had both front bolts break so that's why I'm asking. Thanks, Bob
Click to expand...
Hi Bob, I broke 3 front eye bolts in an annoyingly short period of time so when I called FWC for yet more replacements I naturally asked what might be done to remedy the problem. That's when they told me about the new hardware. They didn't know what would be required to retrofit but I was sick of breaking things so I ordered the new stuff.
I just did the front 2 as I've never broken one of the rears. The right one was easy and only required some very miner grinding to make the top plate fit. The left one required that the mount point mover forward about a half inch or so.
I don't remember what the cost was but while it was more than I had imagined it would be it wasn't exorbitant, well, not too exorbitant anyway. Give Shaw a call if you're interested in upgrading. It looks like I'm done replacing that ****.
 
Bob, some further thoughts.
I initially had the Eagle mounted on my '97 Taco and had no problems. The broken hardware issue reared its head when I upgraded to a 2014 Taco. I think the problem was exacerbated be the location of the anchor points mandated by the composite bed on the new truck. The angle of incidence of the turnbuckles was much further from vertical and I think that produced a much larger lateral load on the pickup points on the camper. Also on the "97 the front turn buckles ascended to the rear and the rear turn buckles ascended to the front so they opposed each other. On the '14 both ascended to the rear but I think that only really lead to more loosening issues.
When I first started breaking eye bolts the "engineer" at FWC suggested that the problem could be solved by adding a quick link at the end of each turnbuckle as this would "soften" the load. This sounded ridiculous to me and I basically ignored it. Adding a piece of hardware to the link between truck and camper does nothing to change the load or angle of the turnbuckle. I think the problem is now solved with the stronger pick up points on the camper. I think the front camper pick up points experience a greater load than the rears because the distance between the truck and camper points are much greater than those at the rear and the lateral load is therefore larger, being further from vertical. The old eye bolts are plenty strong when you pull straight down on them, not so much when the load is to the side. Hope I've expressed that well.
 
Steve, thanks for the update, great explanation. I agree that the angle on the front turnbuckle is definitely putting the bolt in shear. I'll probably end up giving FWC a call and upgrading the front mounts for peace of mind. Once guilty, always suspect...
 
I fixed this issue on my older camper by getting rid of the the eyebolts that were on it and using rock climbing bolt hangers and aluminum plates on both sides of the floor pack wood. I also used the bolt hangers in my truck bed with grade 8 bolts all the way around. The low profile of the bolt hanger seems to handle the torque from the turnbuckles much better than an eye bolt that sticks out too far and is pulled out by leverage. I'm not sure what the new mounts are, but I think you can purchase bolts hangers for a few bucks a piece and mine have held up great on many a rough road for several years now. If I was better at posting pictures I'd include a picture, but a quick google search of bolt hangers should suffice.
 
WyoIDI said:
I fixed this issue on my older camper by getting rid of the the eyebolts that were on it and using rock climbing bolt hangers and aluminum plates on both sides of the floor pack wood. I also used the bolt hangers in my truck bed with grade 8 bolts all the way around. The low profile of the bolt hanger seems to handle the torque from the turnbuckles much better than an eye bolt that sticks out too far and is pulled out by leverage. I'm not sure what the new mounts are, but I think you can purchase bolts hangers for a few bucks a piece and mine have held up great on many a rough road for several years now. If I was better at posting pictures I'd include a picture, but a quick google search of bolt hangers should suffice.
Click to expand...
That's a great idea, wish I had thought of it before I spent a fair amount of coin updating the anchor points. I've got a few bolt hangars still lurking around and I'll bet they would have worked just as well as you suggest. I should have thought of it as I've used hangars for various hold down chores in different camper rigs over the years. The new anchor points are a bit of solid looking aluminum angle with 3 bolts to secure them through the large aluminum plates. Pretty confidence inspiring so I guess I'm OK with it now.
 
SargeBSA said:
Thanks for the info looks like I have a project ahead of me tomorrow. Currently camped out in a Lowes parking lot waiting for them to open in the morning.
Click to expand...
Problem solved back on the road after 2hrs in Lowes parking lot replacing each one with stronger hardware.
 
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