Torsion arm support brackets loose from body

[1bioKAT]

We just picked up a 2922KB (2014) and on our night stop during the ~14hr drive home from the rv dealer (that has no prior experience with TM) we noticed that the difficulty we experienced closing the rear enough to fully lock was due to supports separating from underneath frame. The bolts look rusty and are spinning internally when I rotate them. In a 2014, what sort of structure is on the inside and how do I gain access to this? It looks to be closed off underneath the trailer as well as behind the stove. Given our situation we resorted to using a jack to raise the drooping bracket in order to be able to make it home.

[Shane826]

It’s a 2x4 frame around the perimeter of the floor. I believe in 2014 they were still just using lag bolts to secure the brackets to the floor. Nowadays it’s a whole lot more structurally robust.

The rust concerns me for two reasons. The bolts have either been exposed for quite a while allowing them to rust, or the wood frame in the floor is rotted due to water damage, or both. If it’s a simple matter of the lag bolts pulled out of the wood then this isn’t all that big a deal.

For now, see if you can jack the bracket up against the floor and close the camper with it he bracket jacked into place. Once it’s patched it’ll be fine until you open the camper again.

Long term fix depends on if the wood is still solid. That isn’t a usual spot for rot because water leaks through the roof don’t go down the wall and into the floor like on a traditional camper. When you get home pull a lag bolt out all the way and see if the bolt is rotted and what comes out with the bolt. Dry sawdust is good, mulch is bad.

Either way I’d be in contact with the dealer immediately. Hopefully it’s not Camping World.

[1bioKAT]

Thanks for the reply @Shane826
We are still in route home, so don't have an answer for the "sawdust vs mulch" question on if the wood is rotten or not. I agree with the concerns over it being rusted, and the possibility that this is just lag bolts. I thought I had read that they got rid of the wood and moving towards aluminum spines and supports around 2010 (some time several years before 2014), so am surprised that it is a 2x4 frame. Do you know the steps/access points for being able to get in and reinforce this area (such as putting a metal bracket in place for nut/bolt interaction) and if rotten replacing the wood pieces?

[Shane826]

It’s really not readily accessible, it’s all part of the vacuum bonded floor panel. I’ve had to do repairs where I cut the floor aluminum skin with a Dremel cut off wheel and dug out the foam. Your best bet is gonna be to cut the interior wall aluminum skin, dig out a small pocket, drill up through the existing hole, then run a bolt up through the floor and put a nut & washer inside the wall pocket to tighten the bolt. Do this for each screw that’s backed out. Fill with expanding foam, trim the dried foam, and cover with a piece of aluminum or something along those lines. This should all be inside the cabinet so it won’t be visible but it’ll be tight quarters.

Now if you pull the hardware out and they are BOLTS, then there should be a threaded T-nut in the wood framing. Clean up the rusted bolt, jack the bracket into place against the floor, red Loctite on the end of the bolt threads, and you should be able to re-fasten it in place.

As for the aluminum framing, that’s for the upper frames. But even they still have wood framing on the open ends to this day. And the bottom box has always been, and still is, framed in wood.