Water Tank Beam |
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David and Danette
podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 24 Nov 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1216 |
Topic: Water Tank Beam Posted: 27 Jul 2014 at 4:41am |
I looked under the Vibe and it's the same as the r-pod two 3/16" screws on each side of the front rail holding the fresh water tank. I don't know the strength of the screws but you would think that they should be a larger screw or bolt. My question is if you drill into the frame will you affect the strength of the frame enough to be concerned about? I am thinking of using a 1/4" bolt and attaching a bracket under the support rail on each side. That would require drilling two 1/4" holes through the frame. This is the first time ever heard of someone having a holding tank come lose on a r-pod so wandering if the risk is that great.
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2018 Vista Cruiser 19BFD (2018-
2012 Vibe 6503 (2014-2019) 2009 r-pod 171 (2009-2014) Middle Tn 2014 Ram 1500 Quad cab |
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Budward
Senior Member Joined: 21 Apr 2014 Location: SC/NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 438 |
Posted: 27 Jul 2014 at 7:43am |
Personally I avoid drilling holes into frames, as they do reduce the strength. Is it significant? I don't know, depends on how much the frame is over engineered.
A single hole on one side reduces the strength less than a through hole in the same spot on both sides. Of course the smaller the hole the better. However- sometimes there is just no practical way to get around it. |
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2014 179
Towed by a 2015 Ford Transit Diesel Supervised by a German/Aussie mix and a Labradoodle! |
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Budward
Senior Member Joined: 21 Apr 2014 Location: SC/NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 438 |
Posted: 27 Jul 2014 at 9:19am |
Just shot the missing screws in on mine- were yours really 3/16? Mine were #14 which is close to 1/4", take a 3/8 socket to drive them in. The 3/16 (#12) take a 5/16" socket. If yours were indeed #12 I'd pull them all out and replace with #14. One other thing- unlike J-Cats pics mine only had the bottom 2 screws in, the top was skipped on mine. The top hole was partially welded over, IOW it was too close to the edge of the frame and because of the weld not leaving a flat surface for the screw to tighten down- I drilled new holes about 1/4 to 3/8" down. |
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2014 179
Towed by a 2015 Ford Transit Diesel Supervised by a German/Aussie mix and a Labradoodle! |
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cody91
Senior Member Joined: 12 Feb 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 184 |
Posted: 27 Jul 2014 at 2:28pm |
I posted about this topic back in March 2014 shortly after I took delivery of my Rpod 178.
http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2283&KW=water+tank+brackets&PID=44164&title=sagging-fresh-water-tank#44164 I didn't get a lot of responses at the time. I mentioned the problem to Forest River and all they offered was to send me a few extra bracket screws to help hold up the tank. So far I haven't done anything to the pod except tighten the screws a little. I have yet to travel with full tanks but this build quality does not give me confidence. Cody91 |
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David and Danette
podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 24 Nov 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1216 |
Posted: 27 Jul 2014 at 2:59pm |
Sorry I was wrong. Budward, you are right 1/4" not 3/16". Still deciding if I want to drill holes in the frame or not but I can't think of any other way to strengthen the rail that holds the tank except for drilling holes in frame. I forget the frame size on the r-pods on the Vibe it is a 4" by 2" box frame.
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2018 Vista Cruiser 19BFD (2018-
2012 Vibe 6503 (2014-2019) 2009 r-pod 171 (2009-2014) Middle Tn 2014 Ram 1500 Quad cab |
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CharlieM
Senior Member Joined: 23 Nov 2012 Location: N. Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 1797 |
Posted: 27 Jul 2014 at 3:49pm |
Hey Guys,
I'm really disappointed this problem exists. I didn't notice it on my Pod, but it may well have been there. I don't have my Pod anymore, but I'll add a few thoughts: Drilling extra holes in the Al frame should not be detrimental if they are well away from the top and bottom edges. From Budward's pix it looks like they would be. A hole in the center of the beam will have almost no effect. A hole right on the bottom edge could induce tearing, bad. An inch or so in from the edge should be OK. Stick with 1/4 inch and it should be fine. The bigger problem I see is the gap. Such a gap imparts a bending moment to the screws. Screws don't deal well with bending. Mild steel screws will bend and break, stainless screws are brittle and snap with no warning. The gaps need to be filled to limit the bending moment. Screws with their threads are strongest in shear, less so in tension or compression, and weakest in bending. If you use 1/4 screws try to fill the gaps under the screws with big 1/4 inch washers. Fender washers, 1/4" hole with larger outside diameter, would be good if you can find them and if they will fill. IMO it would be better to have no gaps and a tight stackup between screw head, bracket, and frame, even if this leaves a gap between bracket and frame, than to have a gap in the screw/bracket/frame stackup that allows the screw to bend. I hope this is clear as mud |
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Charlie
Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
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techntrek
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9059 |
Posted: 28 Jul 2014 at 9:53pm |
Just to offer a counter-point, my pod now has over 15,000 miles on it, with many of those miles hard and bumpy. I usually travel with the fresh tank full, and many times with full waste tanks (and almost always at least partly full), without a failure. I haven't checked how many bolts/screws are installed but I'll be working on other things on the pod tomorrow so I'll take a look.
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Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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wildfire305
Groupie Joined: 22 Jul 2014 Location: Erlanger, KY Online Status: Offline Posts: 85 |
Posted: 29 Jul 2014 at 5:09am |
Checked mine yesterday to find all three tanks' brackets were short. Fresh water was nearly 1/2" gap. I added flat washers to fill the gap. Thanks OP for the tip.
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2005 Dodge Durango 4.7 V8
OLD Tow Vehicle 2004 Honda Odyssey 2015 RP179 "73b" OLD 2005 Viking Saga 2480ST popup |
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wildfire305
Groupie Joined: 22 Jul 2014 Location: Erlanger, KY Online Status: Offline Posts: 85 |
Posted: 29 Jul 2014 at 8:14am |
Here is the fix should help to prevent the shearing. Thanks CharlieM
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2005 Dodge Durango 4.7 V8
OLD Tow Vehicle 2004 Honda Odyssey 2015 RP179 "73b" OLD 2005 Viking Saga 2480ST popup |
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CharlieM
Senior Member Joined: 23 Nov 2012 Location: N. Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 1797 |
Posted: 29 Jul 2014 at 8:39am |
This picture should be hung on FR's Wall of Shame in their QA Dept. I hope someone from FR stumbles across this thread and takes some action in the factory. This is a three point serial failure: Engineering should have allowed for tolerances and expansion/contraction. Manufacturing should have maintained specified tolerances and flagged assembly problems. Quality assurance should have caught the problem and rejected it. |
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Charlie
Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
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