What's that lying under Maggie?
Leaving for work they other day, I noticed a metal bar lying under the driver side of our BH35 (we named her Maggie). It was lying below the propane tank compartment, and I was pretty sure I hadn't misplaced anything. I crawled underneath to take a peek, and surprise! There was a headless self tap sheet metal screw stuck in one of the running board L bracket supports. The About 18" away to the rear was a similar metal bar still in place. As it turns out, it was just barely in place. As soon as I touched it, out it fell. Another headless self tapper fail!
The square tab of the bar inserts into a structural rail, and the tail is supposed to be fastened to the L brackets by two fasteners. Each bar was fastened with one rather anemic sheet metal screw. My diagnosis is that the use of the wrong fastener and the wrong amount of fasteners allowed enough flex to fatigue the thing and break it.
The amazing thing is that we have just returned from a 1500 mile trip, and they managed to hang on until we parked it. It's a warranty issue, but we are scheduled to head out again in two weeks. My history with RV repairs tells me it'll take them at least that long just to look at it. So, I plan to repair it myself and use quality fasteners. I think I'll drill the holes out and use 1/4-20 bolts and locking nuts. While I'm down there I'll be looking to make sure this isn't replicated elsewhere.
If you have a Magnitude or Omni, it's probably worth having a look. I'm betting this isn't an isolated case.
__________________
GB's Fab Shop
----------------
2020 Thor Magnitude BH35 (Maggie!)
2022 Jeep Sahara EcoDiesel (TOAD!)
2013 Harley FLHCUI
|