I developed a vibration while driving down the highway. I parked and my toad driver said the entire rear side panel of the coach was "flapping". This is the equivalent of the rear quarter panel of a car. Crawling underneath, I found the bolts that secure the side panel frames had pulled through the underfloor of the coach. The bolts are ~2" lags and appear to have been screwed into the plywood/foam subfloor of the interior cabin flooring(basement ceiling). There is nothing solid to attach them into. I'm considering packing the holes with J-B Weld Steel Stik, drilling the epoxy and running a fresh set(non-corroded) of lags back into the JB. I checked and all of the lags have either pulled out or are stripped and will soon pull out.
Any thoughts/guidance is greatly appreciated.
How re-anchor side panels?
How re-anchor side panels?
Stay safe
--JoeyD
'95 Safari Sahara 3530
Cummins 5.9
Conifer, CO.
--JoeyD
'95 Safari Sahara 3530
Cummins 5.9
Conifer, CO.
Re: How re-anchor side panels?
Those screws pulled out on my coach too. Three inch lag screws worked for me, so maybe give that a try...
John
'95 Serengeti, Cummins C8.3-300
Allison 6spd.
'95 Serengeti, Cummins C8.3-300
Allison 6spd.
Re: How re-anchor side panels?
Tnx, John. Did you go with the same diameter, thread pitch, and increased length, or just increased length? Did gou reinforce the material with any type of cyanoacrylic to solidify the fibers? I'm finding some of the holes have gotten "soft", butna couplenof drops of cyanoacrylic instantly hardens them. Wait until the glue has hardened before inserting any threaded component into the hole.
Stay safe
--JoeyD
'95 Safari Sahara 3530
Cummins 5.9
Conifer, CO.
--JoeyD
'95 Safari Sahara 3530
Cummins 5.9
Conifer, CO.
Re: How re-anchor side panels?
Do to physical limitations, I am not able to crawl under the coach, so a friend of mine found similar screws in his stash that were 3 inches long. He drove them in and they bit hard, and are still holding. He did not use any epoxy or hardener, just drove the screws in. He is a busy man, and does not have time to fuss around with epoxy and such, I was thankful for the help I could get. If I am not mistaken, there is two inches of foam on that floor, one inch on the bottom and one inch on the top, right below the sub floor, so a three inch screw seems to make sense. I don't think the original screws held well at all, too short.
John
'95 Serengeti, Cummins C8.3-300
Allison 6spd.
'95 Serengeti, Cummins C8.3-300
Allison 6spd.
Re: How re-anchor side panels?
Tnx, John. I tried 2.5" lags and they're too short. I'll give the 3" a go. You're correct on the laminated construction. My concern was driving a screw into a blind space and coming up through the living space flooring. I did go ahead and fill the stripped holes with Steelstik...a long and tedious process. The putty has a short(5 minute) working time. It takes me a few minutes to knead the putty and another few minutes to work the putty into the ~0.250" diameter hole and preforming interior of the putty with a 0.125" drill blank. Tnx agn for taking the time to respond.
Stay safe
--JoeyD
'95 Safari Sahara 3530
Cummins 5.9
Conifer, CO.
--JoeyD
'95 Safari Sahara 3530
Cummins 5.9
Conifer, CO.