front corner/door side separation

Has anyone had any trouble with your upper front corner coming apart? We have and don't know how to fix it. Was hoping someone has some ideas how we can put it together again. We so want to go camping but scared the camper will fall apart pulling it.

There is a piece of metal that the aluminum outside slides behind on our camper that has separated from that sometimes it is as far as 2 inches apart. We can push it back together but it will pop out again. We looked at a new TM and they changed the design in the corners.

Our Tm is a 1997 3326. We have had nothing but problems since we got it. 1st the frame broke (we bought it used from a non TM dealer). We got it fixed by our welder and now the front corner is shot. We went to our local dealer and he had NO idea what to do. We definitely wouldn't recommend a TM to anyone. We want to fix it and get a regular hardsided camper.

Did you ask the folks at Trailmanor they are super helpful I would bet Ed can hook you up with a solution.

[B_and_D]

Pictures would help. It's hard to see what's wrong without a picture.

We tore a corner out of our 1970's cabover camper and DH replaced the wood in the corner to fix it. It worked fine after that, we could jack it up and down without problem.

It sounds like your TM may have been used fairly roughly to have these things happen. We have the same year as yours and ours is still very structurally sound.

[Mr. Adventure]

Originally Posted by mamabear

Has anyone had any trouble with your upper front corner coming apart? We have and don't know how to fix it. Was hoping someone has some ideas how we can put it together again. We so want to go camping but scared the camper will fall apart pulling it.

There is a piece of metal that the aluminum outside slides behind on our camper that has separated from that sometimes it is as far as 2 inches apart. We can push it back together but it will pop out again. We looked at a new TM and they changed the design in the corners.

Our Tm is a 1997 3326. We have had nothing but problems since we got it. 1st the frame broke (we bought it used from a non TM dealer). We got it fixed by our welder and now the front corner is shot. We went to our local dealer and he had NO idea what to do. We definitely wouldn't recommend a TM to anyone. We want to fix it and get a regular hardsided camper.

Sorry to hear about your problem. One of the biggest things people need to look for in used RV's is moisture damage to structural wood, which could easily be your problem here. This is a very common problem in camper shells, travel trailers and motorhomes, but especially in older ones that have been stored uncovered outside in a humid climate. It's definitely the sort of thing that a proper presale inspection should find (and an ethical dealer should disclose, IMO).

A post in this forum recently suggested that an easy way to test for this is to see if the screws are tight, and if they just spin freely it probably means that the wood has gone soft underneath. Because it is a common problem, there are good RV dealers that can make a repair. I might start with a call to the factory to get their suggestions, too.

More recent TrailManors have aluminum tubing instead of wood in the structure of the sides and shells (at least for the last 5 years or so). And, of course, all of the RV's with aluminum structures are more expensive, which is why so many of the manufacturers are still building them with wood.

[Bill]

Mamabear wrote

Has anyone had any trouble with your upper front corner coming apart? We have and don't know how to fix it. Was hoping someone has some ideas how we can put it together again. We definitely wouldn't recommend a TM to anyone.

Well wait a minute here. You're telling us that you bought an 11-year-old camper, and had a problem that a good inspection should have uncovered. And on that basis, you are willing to condemn all TMs and the factory that built them? That seems a bit extreme.

One of the purposes of this board is to help with things like this - both before and after the sale. So if you are looking for help, that's fine, and we can provide a lot of it as described above by Mr Adventure. Based on your description, I suspect that he is right - the wood in the frame of this unit was allowed (by a previous owner) to get wet. Hard to blame the factory for that. The wet wood rotted, and now it won't hold screws. There are a number of threads on this board about the rotted wood problem in older TMs (newer ones have aluminum instead of wood). The fix is straightforward, but not easy. Several years ago, a member who signed himself as Happytrails (not the same as the current member by that name) described what he went through. His problem was a lot worse than yours, and he fixed it - but it was a chore. I think you can still see it at http://members.aol.com/br768

Bill

Husband took aluminum bought at a local hardware store and got it put back together again. Now he is caulking the whole camper too. We are just fed up with trying to keep it together since we owned this trailmanor. It just seems something goes wrong every season we own it. My husband just can't see how a camper made out of styrofoam,wood and aluminum can last. We only bought a trailmanor because I thought they were cool and would be easy for me to go camping by myself with the kids. I can't set up this camper myself. It takes 2 of us to set up this camper especially with the front shell. I love the room in my trailmanor, the king bed, and the bathroom. We are hoping to sell this trailmanor and buy a older hardsided camper so I can go camping while my husband is working all the time. Nothing against the company but it would be nice if the local dealers could help you with repairs instead of having to go thru the company hundreds of miles away. We were going to get it fixed by the local dealer and he didn't want anything to do with our camper. I don't think that is right. Just because it isn't new doesn't mean you can't fix and service it. Sorry if I defended anybody on the forum. I just don't want anyone to get burnt.

[Mr. Adventure]

Originally Posted by mamabear

... It just seems something goes wrong every season we own it. My husband just can't see how a camper made out of styrofoam,wood and aluminum can last.

All RVs require maintenance. Most RVs that are 10 years+ require a lot of maintenance. Many 10 year old RVs are in poor condition. RVs are made with wood structures because it's so much more expensive to build with aluminum structures like the newer TMs. If you have a wood structure in an RV, you need moisture control, constant vigilance, and sometimes those hardware store aluminum skills to keep it going. Frankly, I'm very impressed with how well the older TMs hold up in their senior years compared to the rest of the industry, and this is borne out in the resale values.

Many RV dealers don't do body work or work on wood RV structure because it requires specialized people and facilities. If your TM dealer wasn't able to handle it, be glad they have the integrity to tell you that instead of just doing a botched job at your insistence.