Black tank fell from r-pod - Event Date: 03 Nov 2016

We are new rpodders as well with a new 2016 178 on only our second weekend jaunt. Yesterday as we came through Yellowstone I caught motion in my side mirror as we were traveling at 45 mph near Pelican Creek and watched as the fresh water tank went careening across the oncoming lane of travel coming to rest in the middle of the road. With absolutely no shoulder we proceeded another 150 yards to a pull out and discovered that the cross bar holding the tank in place had come loose and was now dragging underneath the trailer. Thankfully, no traffic was coming at the moment the tank left our rig or it would have been disastrous.  We retrieved the tank and had to take the other side of the bracket off to get it home. Ours too, was only secured with 2 small sheet metal screws which sheared off. Very disappointed that Forest River is allowing such shoddy workmanship and design. We obviously are still under warranty but this is a very serious issue and Forest River should be stepping up and issuing a recall to correct this on all units. I will be scouring this forum to find out what other unpleasant surprises we may be able to correct proactively.  Any advice is welcome.

Originally posted by StephenH timpod, glad you caught it. The dealer did nothing more than take an impact driver and tighten them. I did not trust that after one of the screws stripped and he had to drill and put one between the original two locations. That is why I decided to drill and install stainless steel bolts, washers, and locknuts. I'm pretty sure now that my tanks will stay in their correct locations.

Thanks for the heads up on this one! I just checked my pod and the cross frame supports on all the tanks are too short. There is a 1/4" gap on the end of each support and two screws bridging the gap. An accident waiting to happen. 

OK, I get it now. I imagine it is not easy to maneuver under there.  The only time I went under was to scope out where all the wires run, already planning to install some form of "Reverse Light".

That is my fear, thread stripping during tap or install - I can tend to get a little overenthusiastic during tightening.  Definitely not worried about the shear strength on those bad boys. I have to remember to get under my new 171 to take a look before next Friday.