Loosening Trim & Hold Down Latch

Larry,

I think the sheen you are seeing in the first photo is the outer skin. I think friction has caused the molding to wear the paint off of the outer skin there.

I'm thinking that I should be able to feel the tubing inside the wall if I were to insert a nail or a toothpick. Does that make sense?

I don't recall seeing tubing when I was looking at when I took the second photo but I didn't really know what to expect when I took it. I'll do some investigating this weekend.

Thanks,

[mjlaupp]

Originally Posted by heyokasni

Larry,

I think the sheen you are seeing in the first photo is the outer skin. I think friction has caused the molding to wear the paint off of the outer skin there.

I'm thinking that I should be able to feel the tubing inside the wall if I were to insert a nail or a toothpick. Does that make sense?

I don't recall seeing tubing when I was looking at when I took the second photo but I didn't really know what to expect when I took it. I'll do some investigating this weekend.

Thanks,

I think the 1988 models had wooden frames for the shells.
Water + time + wood = rot!
It can be repaired, see:
http://members.aol.com/br768/

Mike

Originally Posted by heyokasni

Larry,

I think the sheen you are seeing in the first photo is the outer skin. I think friction has caused the molding to wear the paint off of the outer skin there.

I'm thinking that I should be able to feel the tubing inside the wall if I were to insert a nail or a toothpick. Does that make sense? . . .

Okay, that aluminum sheen may be that of the abraded outer skin. Then all you need to do is remove a few of the screws that attach the cosmetic molding at one end or the other. Remove enough screws so that you can pull down the molding from the wall without putting a permanent kink in it. You will then be able to see either an aluminum tube or wooden piece because it's right there at the bottom edge of the shell.

If you discover that you have wood at the shell's lower edge, you should remove the stirrup and molding (along the entire lower edge) to see if the wood is rotted. If it is rotted, then you might consider replacing the wood with a heavy-walled aluminum tube. Happy Trails describes how he did it in the link the MLaupp provided.

Larry,

Thank you.

I pulled the molding down 1/2 inch or so last night at the point where the stirrup connects and pushed a key up inside the wall and didn't find anything solid that felt either like wood or like aluminum. I'm guessing that the wood has rotted away. I'm probably going to go ahead and do the repair with the square aluminum tubing. I noticed in one of the postings in this string that you mentioned Cherry Q pop rivets. Is that a particular brand? I'm assuming that they must be better than ordinary pop rivets. Where are they sold?

Thanks,

Blake, the wood piece on the lower edge of the shell could not have rotted away completely. If it had, the screws attaching your stirrups would have had nothing left to bite into. After all there is insufficient metal in the molding itself to retain the stirrup's screws. I suggest that you remove the stirrups and the entire length of molding (not a big job) and then look closely at the lower edge of the shell's wall. Even if the wood has rotted, you should be able to detect evidence of some residual wood.

If you decide to insert a heavy-walled, 1" aluminum tube in the lower edge, it will be a fairly time consuming repair. The time consuming part of it may involve repairing or replacing the soft, bag seals on the insides of the shell's walls. These will most likely be badly scuffed or torn and in need of repair in your vintage TM. The easiest way would be to order new seals from the TM Factory (if they have replacement seals for a 1988 TM of this model). I chose to repair the seals and, in retrospect, should have ordered new ones from the Factory. Inside each seal was a long plastic stiffener/spine which was broken in several places. I painstakenly glued all of the pieces together, inserted new pieces of styrofoam and covered everything with the seal fabric I purchased from the Factory. The Cherry Q rivets are solid shank rivets that you may find at fastener stores or some hardware stores with extensive lines of fasteners. Otherwise, you can order them from McMaster-Carr or MSC Supply. At McMaster-Carr's web site, for example, search for "structural blind rivets." I suggest using 3/16" or 1/8" diameter zinc-plated or stainless steel rivets (body and mandrel) with a grip length of 0.125" - 0.250". This will allow for ample head formation if you use 1/8" thick tubing. Let me warn you that while these rivets can be pulled with a manual pop riveter, it will require a lot of strength for the final pulling and breaking effort. A pneumatic pop riveter would make short work of pulling them but I was too cheap to purchase one (a good, light-duty one will cost around $200). I believe that Harbor Freight sells some cheapie pneumatic riveters though. I pulled each 1/8" rivet as much as I could by hand and then made the final squeeze with a parallel jaw woodworking clamp placed on the handles of the manual pop riveter. I'd advise against using regular pop rivets for this repair. Their hollow mandels won't have much shear or tensile strength. And if you're going to put out this much labor, use a rivet that is strong enough to do the job. If you insert a 3/4" x 3/4" square aluminum bar at the stirrups' attachment points, you can be assured that your stirrups will never come off again.

Feel free to email me privately if you have any questions or problems with the repair. I can also send you my phone number if you wish to discuss the repair method.

Hello,

We're currently dry camping with our 1988 Trailmanor 26. I have been waiting for dry weather (finally here!) and some free time (not until after we get back) to do Larry Loo's repair for the loosening trim and hold down stirrup.

In the mean time, I had added several additional screws to the molding that seemed to find something solid to bite into. Unfortunately, the trip out to our current camp site pulled several screws loose and the molding was about 1 1/2 inches below the body when we pulled into camp.

I don't think it would be a good idea to put our TM back on the road in it's current state. I have several ratcheting tie down straps and am pretty sure that I can put a strap around the entire body and under the frame to take the pressure off of the molding and stirrup and get safely home that way.

However, I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas about a short term fix that will get us home without complicating the upcoming repair of adding 1" square aluminum.

I will have limited access to internet and e-mail in for the next couple of weeks but will check from time to time.

I appreciate any ideas you might have.

Thanks,

I think the number one answer will be the ratchet strap idea. We pulled into a destination site a few months ago and the hold down stirrup on the door side was pulled completely out of the shell and dangling in the spring latch. We were 4 hours from home so we pulled out the 20 ft ratchet strap that (thanks to this forum) we carry for emergencies and that stayed on just fine for the trip home. We then ordered the new stronger stirrup kit and did a variation of Larry's modification which is holding fine so far.
If you hook up multiple ratchet straps to get the length you need, beware. The former owner of my unit did that and the vibration of the big black hooks against the shell damaged the finish. Just FYI.
Cheri

Originally Posted by 2bcs1jrt

I think the number one answer will be the ratchet strap idea. We pulled into a destination site a few months ago and the hold down stirrup on the door side was pulled completely out of the shell and dangling in the spring latch. We were 4 hours from home so we pulled out the 20 ft ratchet strap that (thanks to this forum) we carry for emergencies and that stayed on just fine for the trip home. We then ordered the new stronger stirrup kit and did a variation of Larry's modification which is holding fine so far.
If you hook up multiple ratchet straps to get the length you need, beware. The former owner of my unit did that and the vibration of the big black hooks against the shell damaged the finish. Just FYI.
Cheri

Thanks for the feedback. We're packing up to head home. I will need to use multiple straps but I'll put some cardboard under any place that could damage the finish. I wasn't aware of stronger stirrups. I'll order a set of those from TrailManor as part of the repair.