Bumper just broke going down the freeway!

[amijab]

Has anyone had their bumper storage brake going down
The freeway before? Somehow are bumper broke and everything inside went flying down the freeway. Sad day. Not even sure where to get if fixed and how much this will be.
Anyone else had this amazing experience before?

[Bill]

If I understand the pictures correctly, what is broken is not the bumper, but just the sheet metal pan hanging beneath the bumper, extending fully side-to-side, and forward about a foot under the rear storage compartment. This pan is not intended to carry heavy stuff. It is made of rather light sheet metal, and is attached to the underside of the frame with about a dozen sheet metal screws, each going into a hole drilled in a frame member. The screws are rather small, there are not very many of them, and worst of all, they rust because they are exposed to all the crud on the road. All of this means that the pan is not very sturdy, and becomes less so with age. Again, it is intended to carry only lightweight stuff. Mine carried sewer hoses (two lengths) and the crank for the in the wide center part. In the left bay, the coiled up power cord. And on the right, a set of jumper cables, a long ratchet strap, and a box of latex gloves. As I say, lightweight stuff.

If you have been carrying heavy stuff, or exposed the pan to a lot of road salt, this is what caused the pan attachment to fail. The good news is that you still have the pan - you don't have to replace it. What you should do is extract all the screws that are rusted or broken or whose holes are questionable. Take one of the best screws to a hardware store, and buy a couple dozen just like it. Get yourself a corded electric drill and a high quality drill bit of the size appropriate to the screws - remember you will be screwing into steel. Prop the pan up into place on a bunch of cardboard boxes or whatever. Drill a bunch of holes though the pan and the frame above it, and screw the pan back into place. Rather than using a hand-driven screwdriver, a screwdriver bit for your drill will help a lot.

Suggestion - don't try to reuse the existing screws. They are too buggered up to trust. And don't try to reuse the old holes in the pan and the frame unless they are really clean. You can put the new holes near the existing ones, and I would suggest that you add a new hole midway between each pair of existing ones. Stainless screws would be a good idea.

Yes, I have done this. No, I didn't enjoy it. You will be lying on your back, working upward, with rust and dirt falling in your face (wear goggles). It will take two or three hours, but will cost only a couple bucks for the new screws. When you are done, and still remembering how much you disliked doing it, clear the heavy stuff out of the pan.

Bill

[eddugo]

I am wondering, looking at the pic of the left side, if the rear of the trailer dragged on the road coming out of a gas station or driveway? The plastic is scraped and the sheet metal looks torn. maybe it hooked something like a storm sewer??

[tentcamper]

Im think its the pan to from what I see. Just this year I was looking under my camper and found that about 70% of my screws holding the pan and 2 end sections had falling out or pulled free. I installed new screws and added about 8 new additional ones figuring the the aluminum holes had failed and I need new and additional holes for the screws.

Im with Bill dont put a lot of weight in the bumper. Maybe a total of 30-40 lbs in the 3 sections

[eddugo]

I'm wondering if aluminum "pop rivets" would be a better way to hold up the pan??

[wrenchami]

I was thinking of some preventative attention to the bumper pan after reading this thread. I like the idea of pop rivets. Steel rivets might be a better choice than aluminum because it avoids the dissimilar metals issue.

[smithdarrell345]

How much the bumper going for

[Kidkraz]

What model/year of TM do you have. Can you clarify what exactly is needed, or post a picture of the broken part/items. These parts are listed on page 21 of the 2013 parts book.

15020 Bumper Pan Rear
15021 Bumper Pan Front DS
15022 Bumper Pan Front ODS
15023 Bumper Lid (75080)

[Wavery]

I used to have a 2004 2720SL (years ago). I noticed that a bunch of those screws were missing in that pan. I drilled out the original holes with a 3/16" drill and I replaced all of the screws with 3/16" aluminum pop rivets 5/8" long.

I have a rule that I use on any trailer that I've ever owned. When a sheet metal screw falls out, I always replace it with a pop-rivet instead of a screw (where possible) unless the screw goes into wood, like cabinetry. If the screw goes into wood, I use 1 size up larger screw and use a backing block where possible.

All trailers (not just TrailManors) are subject to a lot of vibration and jarring, especially from the axle to the rear bumper. This is especially true with single axle trailers.

It also looks like you will definitely need to replace your power cord. I found it best to install an inlet where the old plastic access hole is (remove and discard) and use a new detachable cord (listed below). It's so much easier to use and you can store the cord so much easier. Just cut your old power cord off, leaving about 2' sticking out of the hole. Strip the wires on the remaining cord and install the new power inlet (listed below). Then push the old cord and new inlet in the hole and screw the inlet down.

https://www.amazon.com/Kohree-Extens...1zcF9hdGY&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...VMVLAN5UJ&th=1

[Bill]

A lot of folks have a detachable power cord, and they apparently like it. I don't. I dislike it almost as much as I hated the mousehole in my previous TMs.

Why? Imagine that you arrive at your camp site in the dark. To connect electric service, the first thing you need is a flashlight. That leaves you one hand to unload the cord from wherever you store it. Then find the connector at the trailer end of the cable, align the connector pins to the orientation that matches the socket. Then insert it fully into the socket, turn it (it is a twist-lock connector). Then get the threads of the locking ring started without cross-threading it, and screw it down. All with one hand. In the dark. Frustrating.

Now imagine you arrive at your campground in the rain. You can hold an umbrella, but once again, that leaves you only one (wet) hand for those moves. Or you can use two hands and get wet.

Now imagine you arrive at your campsite in the dark, and it's raining. Flashlight and umbrella? You need a third hand.

Another frustration with a detachable cord? Since you need to work with the connectors on both ends of the detachable cord, you have to haul out the entire coil, all 25 or 30 feet, and pick through the coils to grab the connectors - even if you need only 5 or 10 feet. The extra cord always gets tangled, as in AmiJab's photos above.

My suggested alternative?
o If your cord comes out through the mousehole, pull it back into the rear storage compartment. Never use the mousehole again.
o If it is not already done, hard-connect the inner end of the cord to the TM's incoming power cable ends. TM used to connect it this way, but changed in the past few years.
o When the TM is closed down, the cord is carried in the driver's-side rear bumper compartment, coiled neatly, with the campground connector on the top of the coil.

Wait! What about coiling the cord into the compartment? Isn't that a pain? No, it's not. Before you leave home for the first time ever, pull out the entire cord and lay it out straight. Then, starting at the inner end of the cord, pull the cord slowly toward you hand-over-hand, making a loop with each pull. As you make each loop, place it into the compartment on top of the earlier ones. When you finish, the cord is neatly coiled in the compartment and the campground end is on top.

Setting up in the campground? Reach into the compartment, grab the campground end, pull out only the amount you need, and plug it in. Breaking camp? Same thing in reverse. Unplug the campground end, drop it on the ground, then starting at the inner end of the cord, pull the cord in and drop it, coil by coil, onto the existing coil in the compartment. The campground end is again on top of the coil, ready for the next use. Easy-peasy.

For me this is far preferable to the fussiness and inconvenience of the detachable cord.

Bill