Another wrecked egg!

[Donna D.]

These pictures come from my Facebook timeline. I'm posting these here to remind people of older trailers, to double-check the fasteners to the frame. This trailer body was literally ripped off the frame when a semi passed the trailer. All the fasteners were rusted out of the frame.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.

This is a 1990 16' Casita.

[Jon in AZ]

Wow, Donna, and 1990 isn't all that old by molded fiberglass standards!

[kdhanso]

Thanks Donna for sharing this.

By crawling around under my trailer I've seen where several screws that connect the floor to the frame are protruding from the frame cross members. It has occurred to me that seeing screw tips doesn't necessarily mean that the screws are intact between the screw head and the frame.

To the greater group:
Beyond a visual inspection how would one go about checking fasteners to the frame?




Ken

[aceman]

Being new to this site: are the body/frame fastening bolts{?} easily accessible for replacement?

[mary and bob]

I don't know about accessibility to the bolts in a Casita. But with our Uhaul, and as has been proven typical of them, the body to frame bolts rust away where they pass through the floor. No way to visually inspect them. Since the Uhauls are a fairly simple trailer, many of the bolts are easily accessible in the storage areas. Now I'm wondering about what Casita used and how to access them.

[stude]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

These pictures come from my Facebook timeline. I'm posting these here to remind people of older trailers, to double-check the fasteners to the frame. This trailer body was literally ripped off the frame when a semi passed the trailer. All the fasteners were rusted out of the frame.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.

This is a 1990 16' Casita.

: I get that checked every year on our MH because we sit inside it when driving or typing notes to Donna D and others. It is our home one wheels when on the road and when not on the road the Little Kar does the rest.
Stude

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by kdhanso

...By crawling around under my trailer I've seen where several screws that connect the floor to the frame are protruding from the frame cross members. It has occurred to me that seeing screw tips doesn't necessarily mean that the screws are intact between the screw head and the frame...Beyond a visual inspection how would one go about checking fasteners to the frame?

Originally Posted by aceman

Being new to this site: are the body/frame fastening bolts{?} easily accessible for replacement?

It varies among manufacturers. Some use bolts, some screws.

Scamp uses a lot of somewhat randomly placed screws through the subfloor and frame, and Ken, you've nailed the problem- a visual inspection from below doesn't tell you much. Many of the heads are hidden under finish flooring, but some are accessible inside benches and cabinets. Cautious probing might give an indication of their soundness. I'm guessing if the trailer is more than a few years old (especially in a wet or humid climate) they'll be rusted tightly to the frame. But if a moderate twist doesn't rip the head off or turn loosely in the hole, you're probably good. I'm curious if others have any better ideas…

[Johnny M]

Donna,
With our purchase of our '71 Boler we found during our body off frame restoration that the only thing holding the body to the frame was a couple dozen 2" sheet metal screws through the wood floor and into the frame. All of them were severely rusted most to the point the heads were broken off of broke off when trying to remove them. Needless to say it is now attached to the frame with all new plywood floors glassed to the perimeter of the shell and 6 6" bolts (4 in the rear upper floor and 2 in the front upper floor) completely through the floor and goes through both the top and bottom of the frame with double lock nut on each one...The lower floor is screwed to the frame members with sheet metal screws but the lower floor does not offer substantial securing of the trailer to the frame as there is only a lip of the angle iron frame around the perimeter of the lower floor. For that fact alone I am glad we did the body off restoration or I would have likely never discovered all the rusted out screws and I hate to think what could have happened to all our hard work!

[Bruce Thomas]

If you're already working on them, you could buy stainless. On most campers it wouldn't be hard to add a few more either.
That said, I've never heard of what happened here happening before. I'd guess they were down to one or two from years of wear etc. couldn't have been much more or it woulda tried to flip the trailer.

[bb4029]

Just my thoughts on stainless steel bolts. If you are going to use stainless then make sure they are grade 8 or at least grade 5 hardness. The ones you get at a typical hardware store are not. They may not rust but they will twist off, break or strip very easily. A good alternative to stainless is hot dipped galvanized. Last much longer than regular bolts and do not break like the stainless.

[stude]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

It varies among manufacturers. Some use bolts, some screws.

Scamp uses a lot of somewhat randomly placed screws through the subfloor and frame, and Ken, you've nailed the problem- a visual inspection from below doesn't tell you much. Many of the heads are hidden under finish flooring, but some are accessible inside benches and cabinets. Cautious probing might give an indication of their soundness. I'm guessing if the trailer is more than a few years old (especially in a wet or humid climate) they'll be rusted tightly to the frame. But if a moderate twist doesn't rip the head off or turn loosely in the hole, you're probably good. I'm curious if others have any better ideas…

: asked a ton of questions on how this MH was put together to know what to look for and I have looked at 100's of old cars and trucks over the years to know what holds and what does not.
Take a truck box, I Bet you have no idea what hold the box to the frame.
It is 4screws which is not very much when you figure out the loads I have had in our truck boxes over the years and when I had a Trucking business I built most of the flat decks and installed them to the Truck Frame, I got to know what to look for.
Stude

[ddwills]

I bought at local hardware store 2inx4in U-bolts. located the frame and drilled small pilot holes into the storage areas for easy access, and installed the bolts w/ crossplate and nuts w/small amount of liquid teflon so nuts can't back off.Under $10 fix.

[The Minimalist]

Originally Posted by ddwills

w/small amount of liquid teflon so nuts can't back off.

Say WHAT?????

[Mike Magee]

Clif, I'm with you. I've heard of threadlocker, but liquid teflon sounds like something that would make things slip apart easier!

[DaMScampers]

Originally Posted by ddwills

I bought at local hardware store 2inx4in U-bolts. located the frame and drilled small pilot holes into the storage areas for easy access, and installed the bolts w/ crossplate and nuts w/small amount of liquid teflon so nuts can't back off.Under $10 fix.

I was thinking along these lines and am therefore glad to hear this from you.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Fiberglass RV mobile app

[Borrego Dave]

Hopefully it was a typo and was supposed to be a Loctite type product .

[mary and bob]

I would use lock nuts, either the nylock type or the type that has a crimp on it

[bpfick]

On that same FaceBook thread feed, Earl Reed is re-building a Casita of a similar era he pulled from the weeds. The wood floor is completely gone. Thus, there is nothing to hold the thin egg shell to the frame. Once the floor rots out, it's a goner. The screws are likely all still in place. The screws don't necessarily fail, the floor does.


While very glad no one got hurt, I feel bad that these folk just purchased that Casita, now wrecked. Unknowingly??? The wood floor was gone and this is the result. That Casita has a fiberglass bottom is nice, but the vulnerable floor is the ONLY thing that allows the screws/bolts to capture the shell and pin it to the frame.

[bpfick]

Here are a couple of Earl Reed's photos showing that the floor had completely turned to a crumbled pile of mush or dust in his project Casita of that era. This has all been very enlightening to me, personally. Learned a lot.

Note the screws are in good shape, but there's nothing for them to hold. They're still standing proud the thickness (3/4") of the now missing floor, now swept up and now shoveled out.

Again, once the floor has no strength to hold the screws, due to rot, the fiberglass egg is left to just roll or be swept right off the frame. This is the design of FGRV and some awareness and caution is required when purchasing an older unit to better understand the how's and the potential problems.

[DuaneQ]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

These pictures come from my Facebook timeline. I'm posting these here to remind people of older trailers, to double-check the fasteners to the frame. This trailer body was literally ripped off the frame when a semi passed the trailer. All the fasteners were rusted out of the frame.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.

This is a 1990 16' Casita.

Scary looking site Donna!

When I got my Burro last year and looked at the floor I saw all the 1/4-20 bolts heads were sunk into the flooring. The floor is I think 1/2" plywood and that gave the bolts only about 1/4" of material to hold the floor to the frame.

After I removed the body from the frame I used SS bolts with fender washers to replace the old ones. The bolt heads are now on top of the floor but I feel safe that they won't pull thru now. I do use the foam interlocking 2x2 foot mats to cover them though.