Uh oh, its not just maintenance

[craig333]

I got the camper off today to do maintenance, mostly paint and reseal. I did expect I might need to reinforce the forward driver side tie down but it hasn't gotten any worse since the last time.

The rear driver side is another story. Completely pulled out of the wood. Access to the bolt is underneath the iota. Not sure if I can move it out of the way or not.

Anyone had to repair one this bad? Any ideas before I start ripping and tearing? Good news is a quick inspection shows no rot anywhere on the camper.

 

[craig333]

I don't think its from overtightening. Taking bumps too fast? Certainly a possibility. Could FWC have made these tie downs stronger? Certainly.

 

[craig333]

Leaning towards the metal sandwich but I'll get a few more opinions first. It really pays to check once in a while. Its only the second time the camper has ever been off the truck.

In order to take advantage of the warm weather I went ahead and sanded, even bought a belt sander just for this project. Then I applied the cpes from rot doctor. Nasty stuff, sure glad I was in the driveway. A quart goes a long way. I had enough I did all the wood, even the stuff I hadn't sanded (bottom and everything). I did find a few spots (other than the ones I already knew about) that were weathered enough that failure to seal/paint probably would lead to rot eventually. I also found the rubber bumpers were mounted to pieces of wood that had never been painted. Tomorrow I'll sand and paint and ponder the repair some more. Monday likely will be the day I cover the exposed wood with metal. Got some thin diamond plate from ebay pretty cheap. Headed over to Blue Collar to get some heavy pieces for my likely repair.

 

[idahoron]

Wow that stinks. I will be looking forward to see how you fix it. Good luck. What year of a camper is this one?

 

[bajafshrman]

What a bummer!

I can see this happening pretty easily if you don't see a big dip and you are going fast. I think some custom fab angle plates are going to be your best bet. I might have something made up to prevent this from happening to me - I drive off road a lot.

Seems like the front tie downs are most prone to fail?

Good luck with it, I'm sure you'll get it back on the road soon.

 

[billharr]

Sorry your had the problem, FWC changed the tie down, I do not know when. My 2013 has the new style, see pictures. You could do something like this and use a larger plate top and bottom.


Top plate taken next to my rear side dinette seat. 3 bolts holding it in place.

Under the camper taken through the access hole. large angle cut at an angle with oblong hole in center.

 

[bajafshrman]

How are the new tie downs different from the old type?

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Craig, I would give Brenda a call and get four of the new style tie down brackets and backing plates on order. Replace them all. The eye bolts with a washer backing plate may not have enough surface area to spread the load sufficiently. I guess that's a redundant statement as evidenced by your photo.

Edit: with respect to the broken area. I suspect that epoxy and sufficient clamping should make it as strong or stronger than before the pull out.

 

[craig333]

Looks like they did address the issue on the newer campers. Likely I"ll do something close to the factory fix. Just wish I had some room to work inside.

 

[billharr]

How are the new tie downs different from the old type?

Old eye bolt

New not an eye bold, large angle with oblong hole

 

[Ted]

Craig, I had to buy a 2' by 2' piece of 1/4" aluminum when I built my new spare gas can support. Looks just like the large plate in Bill Harr's photo. Still have plenty of scrap from that for you to build your sandwich. Let me know if you are interested.

 

[camelracer]

Craig,

I had the same problem as shown in your first picture. Luckily I caught it before it tore apart. I built some brackets out of 3x3 angle iron that tie the horizontal and vertical walls together and replaced the elevator bolts with grade 8. Even FWC's new brackets won't strengthen the vertical to horizontal interface which is just stapled.

You might be able to fix the broken section with glue. It won't hurt to try.

 

[bajafshrman]

I like the idea of adding some type of angle iron that will tie the vertical and horizontal sections together. Add a gusset for support and a big backing plate inside and I think you've got it covered. You can drill a hole in the gusset and use that for the turnbuckle.

Thoughts?


It looks like the eyebolts are recessed inside? Anyone know how deep those are?

 

[craig333]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I have an idea now, even better than just sandwiching it together. I may even have the angle laying around.

 

[craig333]

Here's my tentative repair. Used the high lift and a bottle jack to get the wood back in position. The angle holds it in place. I can still use the original eyes with this. The long piece will make it easier to find spots to bolt it in place. Still I won't bolt it up until after the paint dries. Time to think it over and make sure its what I want.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Craig, are you going to glue/epoxy the broken wood? Large backing plate?

 

[PaulT]

Consider your proposed repair from the aspect of stiffening one side, front to back, of your camper versus the other and what impact it might mean to the designed in flexibility of the aluminum frame especially off road. Does it change the forces on the pickup bed on the other end of the turnbuckles to the extent that you cause issues there? Keeping your strengthening of the camper local to the failed area with metal plates could be a better structural fix. Perhaps, a call to the factory for advice could save you some grief later.

Just my $.02.
Paul

 

[PaulT]

I may have mistaken the long gray piece for your proposed repair instead of the short perforated light weight angle iron. If so, never mind, as Roseanne Rosanna Danna might have said.

 

[craig333]

Thats something I hadn't considered. Another reason I like to think about these things first rather than just going whole hog on the repair. I can easily make that two pieces instead of one. Not sure if that would affect the campers flex or not, but it may.

 

[craig333]

Made some backing plates today. I sure with I had more tools, I'm not that fond of hacksaws. Drilled all the holes for the diamond plate and such. I smell too much solvent still so I'm going to wait another day before I paint. Still not sure if I should cut the long piece of angle.

As for gluing/epoxying the broken wood, any suggestions on what to use there?

When I'm all done a serious cleaning will be in order. Well thats been overdue anyway

Tomorrow its paint, reinforce the passenger side which so no signs of stress but I may as well do it now.