Uh Oh! [Stirrup bracket pulling out]

Hiram123 · 03-19-2015, 07:15 AM

Brought my new TM home last week, finally got around to opening it up this week. Everything works, and it's oh so nice, I don't have to go outside to light the water heater, fridge is really a fridge not like our popup.

But, it rained on my parade when we first opened it up, the cleat on the rear half door side was hanging by one bolt and I mean hanging (see pic). The threads are completely pulled out, putting bigger lag bolt in can't work as it has to fit int the slots of the bracket. It appears there is a boxed aluminum section inside but the stripped out runs thru the top part also.

The only things I could come up with was to fill it with silicone, drill and tap it for a machine screw, they sell what they call Rivet nuts you driil a hole put in the nut receptacle and with a tool it mushrooms on the back side.

It looks like above the aluminum it just goes into the foam wall as far as I can tell so there's no way to get to the top side for a nut bolt fix. Anyone else ever have this problem, any suggestions or advice.

tentcamper · 03-19-2015, 07:37 AM

I like the idea of the Rivet nut.

**Lesherp** · 03-19-2015, 08:54 AM

I have used rivet nuts a number of times on my TM and have found them effective.

**Bill** · 03-19-2015, 11:06 AM

Hiram123 -

This used to be a fairly common problem, and we still hear of it occasionally. The factory fix was to put a metal strap, maybe 6 inches long, through the base of the bracket, and put four bolts through the strap and up into the aluminum frame member, rather than the original two bolts through the base of the bracket. You'll find photos in various posts, and perhaps someone will find one and link it for you.

Beyond that, there have been a number of discussions about how to fix it. One of the earliest is here

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...read.php?t=537

The fix described there is not hard, but it is fairly time consuming. Fortunately, it sounds like you are handy.

You can probably find other discussions by using the Search tool on the word "stirrup". This seems to be the word that the board members have informally adopted to describe the cleat or bracket in your picture.

Good luck.

Bill

rvcycleguy · 03-19-2015, 12:12 PM

Hiram123, I have repaired all 4 of my stirrup brackets with what Bill has suggested. That was back in 2012 and I've had not any issues since. The bounce of the roofs while towing on the highway can be a contributing factor to that cleat pulling out as you are referring to.

I first noticed one side pulling out while towing home for AZ. Tried to put larger lag screws in to get home and that did not work too long. The TM repair strap as described by Bill can be a solution for you. I don't have my TM home with me today. I will be camping in it this weekend and can photo what the repair looks like. The other issue are the hold down clamps on each corner. They will also tend to pull out if you adjust too much downward pull. They are not meant to pull down and hold, just a firm grip. What does happen by some owners is they forget to release the 4 corners prior to releasing the spring bar clamps first. I had to repair 2 so far and drilled through the side wall and replaced the lag screw with machine thread and backing washer and nut on the inside. Both of the clamps, the 4 corners and the 4 cleats as you call them can be adjusted. The spring clamp with handle that the cleat fits into can be adjusted. The corner clamps have a swivel action that is adjustable. They are adjustable for many reasons. It's a process to learn these and many other aspects of such a unique camper.

**commodor47** · 03-19-2015, 06:48 PM

Hiram 123,

Here are two thumbnail photos of the strap used on my stirrup latches.

Dick

Padgett · 03-19-2015, 08:27 PM

Commod:

What size are he four screws please ?

**B_and_D** · 03-20-2015, 06:55 AM

That's what we put on the passenger side on the front. The hardest thing to do is to get the holes drilled just right so that both of the screws go through the metal tubing inside the shell. I can't remember what size they were but I made sure that there was enough room so that they would be "head to head" right next to each other.

03-20-2015, 09:09 AM

Hiram,
Is this a new or new to you TM? If you bought from a dealer that is in relatively close proximity take it back to them to do the repairs for you.
Good luck either way.

Hiram123 · 03-20-2015, 09:53 AM

Ok got everything ready for the repair, I went to Harbor freight and bought a nut rivet gun it came with rivets luckily the largest size was what I needed. After reading another post I decided to take off the trim piece to get down to the boxed aluminum piece. Only screws and a little time to remove the trim piece.

After I got home I decided to test out the tool. I took a piece of aluminum stock and a piece of steel (the alum piece is half the thickness of TM piece. Did a nut rivet in the alum piece threaded a stainless steel screw in it to see if it would turn, 75lbs torque no turning. fastened the steel piece to the alum and tightened the bolt to 75 again, no turn. I put the alum piece in the vise and tried to tear the rivet nut out, no go.

Sun's shining so out I go to do the repair, below are some pics that are self explanatory after reading this