Danger of shells popping up while in motion?

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by EAKlebe

In the "reference area" of this forum, there is a pdf copy of the owners' manual which also has some lists of things to always carry on each trip. One of the items mentions is "Emergency shell hold-down strap (in case of latch breaking)".
Have there been incidents of this happening? The previous owner of my 3023 had a large ratchet strap over the rear shell which he said he had there "out of an abundance of caution". It seemed like excessive caution to me since, but now I begin to wonder. Have the shells EVER popped up while the trailer is in motion?

The shells are held down by latches on each side of the front and rear shell, fore and aft. That's a total of 8 latches.

Each latch is a mechanical device that has a certain amount of stress and shock loading as you travel down the highway. It is reasonable to assume that any one of these latches could fail at any time (as any other mechanical device could).

Having said all that, my trailer is 12-years-old and to my knowledge the latches are the originals. I have never seen anything posted on this site about lathes breaking (that's not to say there haven't been any).

I had the exact same concern and have considered carrying a spare latch. Although, there is a left, right upper and lower roof latch and they are all different. That would mean carrying 4 latches. The better idea would be an emergency strap because the incidents are so uncommon as to not be worth the expense of spare latches.

If a latch were to fail while you were on the road, I doubt you would even notice it until you stopped somewhere. It's not like the roof could suddenly open or anything. Therefore, an emergency strap seems like a reasonable precaution.

Sounds like the previous owner may have been a tad "Obsessive compulsive" .

Originally Posted by harveyrv

The shells are held down by latches on each side of the front and rear shell, fore and aft. That's a total of 8 latches.

Each latch is a mechanical device that has a certain amount of stress and shock loading as you travel down the highway. It is reasonable to assume that any one of these latches could fail at any time (as any other mechanical device could).

Having said all that, my trailer is 12-years-old and to my knowledge the latches are the originals. I have never seen anything posted on this site about lathes breaking (that's not to say there haven't been any).

I had the exact same concern and have considered carrying a spare latch. Although, there is a left, right upper and lower roof latch and they are all different. That would mean carrying 4 latches. The better idea would be an emergency strap because the incidents are so uncommon as to not be worth the expense of spare latches.

If a latch were to fail while you were on the road, I doubt you would even notice it until you stopped somewhere. It's not like the roof could suddenly open or anything. Therefore, an emergency strap seems like a reasonable precaution.

Sounds like the previous owner may have been a tad "Obsessive compulsive" .

That's what I thought also. Since the front goes over the back shell, the only way anything bad could happen seems to me to be if one were backing up at a highly unlikely speed.

In order to preclude any possibility of this unfortunate outcome, I remove all 8 torsion bar bolts prior to towing and then reinstall them once I stop. Doesn't everybody do this? I admit it is kind of a pain at gas stations and roadside eateries but you can't be too safe

Originally Posted by M&M Hokie

In order to preclude any possibility of this unfortunate outcome, I remove all 8 torsion bar bolts prior to towing and then reinstall them once I stop. Doesn't everybody do this? I admit it is kind of a pain at gas stations and roadside eateries but you can't be too safe

Seriously?

I have had a corner latch disengage enroute, and I found it flapping around at my next stop. I now use keyed alike Master locks on the four corners, keeps the latches engaged, and prevents someone screwing around with them when I am away from the trailer. Only takes a second to lock it up. I use the Masters with the black plastic cover on them, the metals ones will leave scratch marks from moving around.

[BrucePerens]

Originally Posted by M&M Hokie

In order to preclude any possibility of this unfortunate outcome, I remove all 8 torsion bar bolts prior to towing and then reinstall them once I stop. Doesn't everybody do this? I admit it is kind of a pain at gas stations and roadside eateries but you can't be too safe

Not while the shells are down, you don't :-) There's quite a lot of energy stored in there.

Is it even safe to remove these bolts while the shells are up and locked? I would like to work on the rectangular bars, one of which has one of the holes for the latch broken out. The latch that you step in the stirrup to engage, not the corner latch.

[wbmiller3]

I am pretty sure this was a joke about overreacting to a perceived danger of little actual moment.

It was also posted 5 years ago.

[BrucePerens]

Originally Posted by wbmiller3

It was also posted 5 years ago.

Of course I'm a new TM owner so everything old is new :-)

I'd still like to know if I can work on those rectangular bars while the shell is up, and while I support the shell with something temporary, or if there is still a lot of force stored in the torsion bar even when the shell is up.

I vaguely recall a sticker saying to latch the door side first. Maybe next time. I used to have to sort of jump on it (the foot stirrup) to get it down.

[LoveToCamp]

shebantam, you did not mention (or I missed it) if you were attempting to close the last latch when you had problems.

I was having trouble latching the door-side front shell when it was the last latch to close. Had the wife pull on the latch to get it to close. I subsequently tried closing it before I closed the street-side latch, and it worked great. I now latch the door- (curb-) side first, then latch the street-side.