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

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.

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.

If you make sure that the dealer checks the crossbars and makes sure there are no gaps or bent screws, you probably will have no problems. I added the bolts because I did see gaps and bent screws. This happened, and I took it to the dealer before anything could happen. I was not happy with the dealer just tightening the screws, especially when one of them was stripped and the service person just drilled another hole and put the same type screw in. That is when I decided to go ahead and drill all the way through and put in stainless steel bolts, washers, and locknuts. The dealer will not do that as screws are, apparently, an industry standard way of mounting tanks. It is one thing I would check if purchase another trailer, regardless of brand. Anyone having such a mishap should report it to the NHTSA so that the problem can be documented and, hopefully, get a change so that this will not happen to anyone else.

I used 5/16" bolts, and also drilled through the lower holes at the center of the frame. I used a cordless drill and Harbor Freight bits. I about wore out two of them drilling through the steel of the frame. I have a little sharpener that helped.