"Shear" Trouble

[SunMan]

Back on this post as well as this one: http://www.wanderthe...0/page__hl__Eye

Things weren't all hunky dory in Baja...I heard some unusual noises coming from my camper one day and having put wing nuts and lock washers on my turnbuckles I didn't think it was possible that one had rattled off. What it could be?....turns out I snapped another elevator bolt (the right front one this time).

Since I was on the road i figured I would repair it in camp later that night (Fortunately I bought a spare when the other one broke last month). Well, the road turned NASTY, serious deep moondust stretches and some serious wheeling ensued, when I got to camp I discovered that I had ripped the right rear one completely out of the camper frame. I repaired the front bolt and used some rope to secure the back one just to be safe.

Anyway, Stan has since sent me some metal plates they have been reinforcing their newer rigs with so things should be good as new. I haven't made the repair yet but thought I'd post this as a heads up. I'm quite certain the rear would have never ripped out had the front bolt not been broke off and unattached. Pics of the repair job in the field attached.

 

[SunMan]

Thanks for the parts and assistance on the repair Stan!

 

[Alex]

Wow, that is scary!! Glad you made it back safely.

Our truck frames are designed to flex to a certain degree. If the mounting point of the camper gets reinforced the next weak link in the system will break. Take a look at Unimog campers, the camper and the frame are designed to move somewhat independently so one don't stressed the other too much is tough terrain. my 2% still is use a spring loaded type of tie down so there is some give when there is sudden load in the tie down.

 

[Kokopelli]

Anyway, Stan has since sent me some metal plates they have been reinforcing their newer rigs with so things should be good as new.


Stan, does this mean that we should all get the metal plates and reinforce the bolts?

 

[Tomas Tierra]

Stan, does this mean that we should all get the metal plates and reinforce the bolts?



The can is officially opened..

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

Hello Kokopelli

There is a good chance your camper already has the aluminum reinforcement plates on the eye nuts.

Let me try and find out for sure.

If you want to send me a quick e-mail to ... stan@fourwh.com we can walk through it and find out for you (if you are concerned about it).

We started doing this to ALL of our campers starting early 2008.

99% of our customers don’t have any problems with this.

But if your turn buckles are loose and you are doing alot of off road, it can be create that potential problem.

Or if the customer over tightens the turnbuckles, the eye nuts on the older campers can start to come through the wood over time (rare occasion).

If you are not having any problems, I would not worry about or hassling with changing out the eye nuts.

If you eye nuts are pulling through or breaking off, then yes, it might be a good idea to look at them, reinforce them, or have our service shop take a quick look at them.

If you can look in the truck bed, or take the camper off the truck and inspect the eye nuts from the outside of the camper, you can usually see if you are going to have a problem in the near future.

If the eye nuts on the outside of the camper base are pulling the wood down, or the eye nuts are bent and at an angle, then you might want to consider reinforcing them, or changing them.

If they look good and are straight, you should be A-OK to keep on trucking for a long time.

Hope this helps.


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Stan, does this mean that we should all get the metal plates and reinforce the bolts?