TrailManor Owner's Forum - View Single Post - Front shell center latch support retrofit, second try

**Bill** · 07-13-2016, 08:14 AM

Bruce -

You have done some really nice work there. I'm not sure that many of us would have attempted it.

Now that the repair is finished, perhaps it is time to ask why the problem happened in the first place. In your first picture, the latch is REALLY mangled. I've never seen anything like that. My first thought is that perhaps the latch was not adjusted tightly enough, so it didn't snug the shell down against the stops. This could let the shell bounce up and down as you traveled, and the latch pin would slam against the latch hook on each bounce. Eventually this would have pounded the thing to death. And your picture looks like that's what happened.

Just my thought - you may have better ideas. But this is worth checking, of course, because you don't want it to happen again.

Bill

07-13-2016, 08:14 AM	#7
Bill Site Team Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: The mountains of Scottsdale, AZ, and the beaches of Maine Posts: 10,105	Bruce - You have done some really nice work there. I'm not sure that many of us would have attempted it. Now that the repair is finished, perhaps it is time to ask why the problem happened in the first place. In your first picture, the latch is REALLY mangled. I've never seen anything like that. My first thought is that perhaps the latch was not adjusted tightly enough, so it didn't snug the shell down against the stops. This could let the shell bounce up and down as you traveled, and the latch pin would slam against the latch hook on each bounce. Eventually this would have pounded the thing to death. And your picture looks like that's what happened. Just my thought - you may have better ideas. But this is worth checking, of course, because you don't want it to happen again. Bill __________________ 2020 2720QS (aka 2720SL) 2014 Ford F-150 4WD 5.0L Bill's Tech Stuff album