Gas Struts

[rickst29]

I have not yet opened the TM to put push the bigger "through the floor" bolts up into the interior. It needs to be opened up to set the washers and nuts on bolt ends sticking out of the floor, and I'll need a friend with a wrench (underneath) to keep the bolt heads from turning when I tighten down the nuts from inside. I'm also still waiting for delivery on the big stainless washers for the lift arm strut mounting bolts. (The are each 2" wide, 1/8" thick.)

The 5/16 strut mount bolt goes through the arm sideways from "outside" into the TM. The the big washers let me add some smaller bolts and nuts through the washers at about 3/16 distance from the large bolt hole.

The additional holes and small bolts provide contact more area between bolts and the thin sheet metal of the two lift arm "wide" sides. That will help to prevent the strut post bolt from cutting and bending the sheet metal under load. (Al the bolts would have to start cutting together, in order for the washers to move at all.)
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If I were doing this again, I would cut the holes containing deck screws about 1/8" further from the inner bend of the the L bar. TM placed their own larger screws further inward from the floor edge than I did (one of those screws is present in photo 'Inside L Bar Corner Detail'.)

Photo #1 is curb-side, looking towards the front end (with TM hitch not visible at this angle). The angled and heavy "countertop support" is 12" long before a 90-degree bend, then 6" after.

In photos #2 and #3, the 12" long end of countertop support descends from the L bar at an angle, held at that angle by two bolts 1" which go through both bars. (I think that it's strong enough - but if one or both bolts were to shear off, I could re-cut the holes to larger diameter (bigger bolts). I could also add a 3rd bolt between these two.)

photo #2 is taken from the floor underneath the trailer. You see nearly all of my deck screws, they're all going up through curb-side edge of the floor, and into bottom of the wall. (They're not straight up, they're slightly angled from each other - the same way carpenters nail 2x4 and 2x6 framing pieces together.) Closer to the top of the photo, you see 1/4" holes pre-drilled for additional bolts into the floor, not the wall. These will come up into the front bench bench storage areas, bolted into interior nuts and washers on the floor. Coming down outside the assembly lift bar itself. Above that, also outside, you see the front shell's side edge and stapled-on bag seal going "up".

I drilled those 1/4" curb side holes at greater distances from the row of deck screw holes. I hope that the resulting "holes in the floor" will be slightly away from the curb-side seat support "bottom strip" lumber segment which is present along the corner between the wall and floor. TM is closed up, I don't remember how wide (from the wall) that piece of wood actually is, but it would save work if my bolt holes all come up inside of that seat supporting segment, by at least the 1/2 the width of my 1" washers..

On the street side, my "area of floor" is almost immediately disrupted by the water tank. I except to use either smaller washers or a thin strip of 1/8" aluminum, glued to the floor and replacing a very thin strip of molding which I see in Shane's photo (previous page). I hope to have maybe 1" of width before outside edge of the the water tank. My bolt holes are all cut to be barely 1/2" in from the inside wall vertical face.