Lock down latches

Not sure if I used the correct term or not, but these are the latches that are in the middle of the TM that initally lock the front and rear shells.

Anyway we just got back from our initial shake down run from Foley Alabama to Vicksburg Mississippi, (actually this was a forced shakedown run we had to evacuate from the wrath of hurricane Ivan) took us 14 hours to get to get to Vicksburg. Any way when we got to Vicksburg I was checking the TM over and I noticed that the bolts and nuts on the street side by the door for the front shell lock down had vibrated loose, and I am unsure as to which way they should be adjusted.

I checked the TM manual and could not find any info on what to do or how to do it? Has anyone encountered this situation, if so could you please try to enlighten me as to how to do the proper adjustment?

I noticed when I closed the shell that there was a gap in the seal of about one inch on the street side as a result of the loose nuts and bolts.

I had to pull this gap out before I could latch the lockdown latches.

My other question is, is this and ongoing situation, if so would I be wise to use some type of thread locking compound on these?

The only other problem I had was the grate on the stove burners kept bouncing off as the locking rings were too loose on the pegs of the rack, any one have a solution for this.

When we got home we found the south roof pretty torn up and several trees on my storage building and one through the middle of the carport right where I was storing the TM, I am glad we left because we got hit badly. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach were the worst even had condo topple over and many are uninhabitable. We were Fortunate thank the Lord.

God Bless

Rev Mr Billl

revmrbill, if, as I believe, the "latch" that came loose was the upper half of your shell's latching mechanism, we've been calling that the "stirrup" because it resembles a stirrup that's turned upside down.

In my opinion the method by which the stirrups are attached to the lower edges of both shells is a poor one. Each stirrup is attached by 2 screws driven into the 1" square aluminum tubing that makes up the bottom edges of both shells. The 1/16" thick walls of the tubing are simply too thin to retain screws well. The jarring of the shells up and down when a TM is towed tends to pull the screws out of the thin wall aluminum tubing. A temporary fix may be to use larger diameter screws to hold the stirrup in place. These, however, also may eventually loosen or pull out in time. Loctite will not solve the problem because there simply are an insufficient number of threads in the thin, lower and upper walls of the tubes.

I believe that the TM factory is aware of this problem. They have tried some fixes. The latest is reported to be the insertion of a short length of steel bar inside the 1" square tubing and driving the screws through this bar also. This method, which a member of this forum devised (Bill?), does increase the holding power of the screws. Unfortunately, it may ultimately result in pulling a section of the tube down below the shell's wall because the tubes themselves are not attached firmly to the inner and outer aluminum panels of a shell's wall.

There have been many discussions about this problem over the past few years. Unfortunately, most of these past threads cannot be retrieved. You can, however, read the most recent one at:
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...hell+holddowns

[G-V_Driver]

Kate Unruh (Car Show in Colorado Springs) advises new owners to put one of the small throw pillows from the sofa on the cooktop for travel, assuming the surface is clean.

Apparently the little friction clips that hold the grill in place can loosen, especially on bumpy roads, and the grill can come loose and cause substantial damage to cabinets and other components. The pillow on top is held in place by the roof shell when the trailer is closed and prevents the pins from coming out of the holes if the retainers fall off. We didn't have the problem (yet) but took her advice in order to prevent it. So far so good.

Based on my calculations, 275 miles (call it 280) in 14 hours is approximately 20 miles per hour. Did you get good gas mileage?

If you are referring to the latch itself rather than the stirrup, look to see if you can see the mark on either surface where it was originally fastened, and adjust back to that mark. If not, just guess at it and secure the shell, then take it to a dealer for an adjustment unless you are really handy with tools and stuff. If so, Denny posted a good adjustment treatise a while back and you can see from his pictures how the system works. If your latches are either too tight or too loose (which would be logical if they aren't exactly right) you can see what must be done to fix it, then decide whether to tackle it yourself or have a dealer do it.

As I recall, your unit is almost new and probably still covered by warranty.

[wesslvm]

Originally Posted by revmrbill

Not sure if I used the correct term or not, but these are the latches that are in the middle of the TM that initally lock the front and rear shells.

I checked the TM manual and could not find any info on what to do or how to do it? Has anyone encountered this situation, if so could you please try to enlighten me as to how to do the proper adjustment?

I noticed when I closed the shell that there was a gap in the seal of about one inch on the street side as a result of the loose nuts and bolts.

I had to pull this gap out before I could latch the lockdown latches.

My other question is, is this and ongoing situation, if so would I be wise to use some type of thread locking compound on these?

The only other problem I had was the grate on the stove burners kept bouncing off as the locking rings were too loose on the pegs of the rack, any one have a solution for this.

When we got home we found the south roof pretty torn up and several trees on my storage building and one through the middle of the carport right where I was storing the TM, I am glad we left because we got hit badly. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach were the worst even had condo topple over and many are uninhabitable. We were Fortunate thank the Lord.

God Bless

Rev Mr Billl

Hi,

I have had the same problems with my 04 2720SL. My curbside hardware for my lower latch mechanism (where the rubber covered, spring assisted handle is) came loose on and rounded out the slot where the bolts pass through. I am waiting on replacement parts. Meanwhile, I've changed hardware using star washers and it seems better.

As for the stove top grill cover... we found it too hard to clean under the grating so I removed the four clips so we could easily lift the grating. Then I had problems with the grill coming loose, so now I remove the grating and store it in my chair storage compartment when I travel. This works well for us.

Living in CT, we rarely experience the kind of hurricane scares you do. Never a dull moment this time of year!

Good luck!

Vince

[mjlaupp]

The dreaded loose latch syndrome strikes again.

I noticed that the front shell latch on the curb side was loose before my last trip. I tightened it and it was loose again at the end of the trip. I have now replaced the bolts on all of the center shell latches with new ones purchased from the place displaying the big orange box. I bought 1/4 x 1/2 inch national fine thread bolts and nuts. I also added stainless washers and lock washers. I found that one of the lock washers was missing on the loose latch. One of the other latches had a broken lock washer under the nut. This may be the cause for the bolts loosining on the latches. The fine thread nuts and bolts should hold better and the stainless washers should resist breaking somewhat better. The flat washers are needed whenever a bolt and nut is used in a slotted hole application like this. I have attached a before and after picture of the latches.

FYI, I noticed that the factory has modified the stirrup attachment on the front shell. They are now adding a metal strap and using 4 bolts to hold the stirrup on. Pictures attached. (Edit: Pictures are from my '03 2720SL - sold.)

MJL

mjlaupp, your reply hit my post right on the head regarding the bolts on the uprights getting loose and your pic's were exactly my same problem, my question is now which direction do we have to move the latches, (up or Down) and should the unit be in the closed position to make the seal fit tight again on the roof??

I will post pic's of my situation after I get home form work tonight.

Yes the 14 hours to Vicksburg were very trying.

Movement was at only 2 to 5 miles an hour for the longest time, but after we got on into Hattiesburg traffic started to move faster.

Everyone on the way was so nice, Richland Ms opened up their park system for all RV's to come and spend the night or a few days, (boondocking) offered meals and public lavatories for our use.

Of course all the Walmart's were full of RV's everywhere we went.

Gas mileage was at 12.5 mpg for the Suburban, under the circumstances that was not bad, my concern was overheating but that did not happen either.

All in all it was a good shake down, even if it was an emergency, because when I got home there was tree through the middle of the carport where I was storing the TM, I will post some Pics of the damages and let you everyone know how good the park was in Vicksburg, the name slips my mind at this time.

I am originally from New Hampshire and have been in the Foley area for 35 years, got flooded out of my home in March of 1979, just got cleaned up and put back together the end of August 1979, then came Hurricane Frederic on September 12, 1979, a tornado spawned by the storm took my house again, so we put that back together and then moved and twenty five years later almost to the date September 16, 2004 here comes Terrible Ivan. Not so much damage lot trees down caved in carport lots of shingles gone from south roof, and now here comes Jeanne, I really feel for the folks in Florida, it is even forcasted to come near us after it gets into the Gulf of Mexico.

I am too long winded I will close now.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO REPLIED ALL OF THE INFORMATION WAS GREAT!!!

[mjlaupp]

Originally Posted by revmrbill

......my question is now which direction do we have to move the latches, (up or Down) and should the unit be in the closed position to make the seal fit tight again on the roof??

The pictures show the curb side latches with the TM in the open position. The left latch in the picture is for the rear shell. The right latch is for the front shell. To adjust the front latch when the TM is open, move the latch to the left to close the gap between the front and rear shells when the shells are lowered. You can also adjust this latch when the TM is closed by first releasing the latch and then adjusting it up or down as needed. If you can't close the gap with this one adjustment, then loosen and raise the rear latch some to close the gap. There are 4 holes drilled in the brackets under the latches to give you better range of adjustment.

I don't think that the hardware (nuts, bolts and lock washers) chosen by the factory are the correct ones for this application. They are grade five but the choice of a national coarse thread, the lack of a flat washer and the poor quality of the lock washers used makes this a weak spot in the system. These latches take a lot af abuse on the road and need all the help they can get. If your latch bolts are loose now, please think about replacing them with new hardware. It cost me about $5 and 1 hour of time.

MJL

MJL,
Thank you so much for this valuable information, not only will it help me but it will also help others who encounter the same situation.

I also had a problem with the screws breaking off on the four latches that hold the four corners down, I took the advice of the factory by replaicing the screws and putting silcone sealer on the threads, but also went a step further and applied silicone sealer to the back of the hold downs to create a shock absorber system for that latch, so far it seems to be working very well, however if it happens again I am going to replace them with stainless screws and do the same thing.

Again thank you for all your help.

God Bless You

Rev Mr Bill

[Harry Womack]

The latches on the front and rear of the trailer are held on with sheet metal screws which are very brittle. You mentioned using stainless steel screws, these are too soft and not as strong as steel heat treated screws
Harry

In reference to Mikes ( mjlaupp ) post and pictures, I noticed that the channel that the stirrups are mounted to are deforming because they are a channel not a solid bar. Has anyone used 1/16th or 1/8th aluminum flat stock to support the latches. I would think a piece long enough to cover the end of the channel mounted under the latch would help a lot in the support of this critical piece.

While on this is the position of the latch correct, it seems to be too close to the end of the latch. Can this latch be repositioned to have more catch.

Woody