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Topic ClosedWater Tank Beam
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Craneman View Drop Down
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Joined: 12 May 2013
Location: Tokeland,wa
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Posts: 387 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Water Tank Beam
    Posted: 29 Jul 2014 at 12:18pm
Mine must not be a Friday or Monday pod. I checked the bolts on our 2010. Rp174 and all was well no gaps and all but two bold were tight. Just a full turn on the loose ones

         Moe
Jo and Gary, 2010-174,2011 F150

Jo and Gary
2010 174
2011 Ford 150



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barbanjoe View Drop Down
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Posts: 126 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jul 2014 at 11:08am
Curious, is the problem with Indiana and Oregon built or only the west coast ones?
BarbanJoe
010 Rpod 171
02 Jeep 4x4
12 Ram 1500
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wildfire305 View Drop Down
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Posts: 85 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jul 2014 at 11:00am
Spoke with my dealer about the QC issues. Bear in mind that I am still satisfied overall with the 179, and the sale. They apologized for the issue, and said that QC issues to some degrees are prevalent on most new trailers and they would be more than willing to fix anything else that I find at no charge. My dealer is only 30 minutes from my house, so it wouldn't be that terrible to take it to them if I found something else. They said they would share my findings with their Forest River Representative.
2005 Dodge Durango 4.7 V8
OLD Tow Vehicle 2004 Honda Odyssey
2015 RP179 "73b"
OLD 2005 Viking Saga 2480ST popup
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fwunder View Drop Down
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Posts: 1676 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jul 2014 at 9:19am
Although mine is pretty snug on both sides, I do wonder how many failures does it take to initiate a recall. This problem does not appear specific to the rPod:


fred
2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6
Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks!
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CharlieM View Drop Down
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Posts: 1797 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jul 2014 at 8:43am
Originally posted by wildfire305

Here is the fix should help to prevent the shearing. Thanks CharlieM



Wildfire,

Thanks for the pix. I hope this helps and avoids problems for you and others.
Charlie
Northern Colorado
OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD
PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD
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CharlieM View Drop Down
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Posts: 1797 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jul 2014 at 8:39am
Originally posted by wildfire305

Checked mine yesterday to find all three tanks' brackets were short. Fresh water was nearly 1/2" gap. I added flat washers to fill the gap. Thanks OP for the tip.


This picture should be hung on FR's Wall of Shame in their QA Dept. I hope someone from FR stumbles across this thread and takes some action in the factory. This is a three point serial failure:

Engineering should have allowed for tolerances and expansion/contraction.

Manufacturing should have maintained specified tolerances and flagged assembly problems.

Quality assurance should have caught the problem and rejected it.

 
Charlie
Northern Colorado
OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD
PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD
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wildfire305 View Drop Down
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Joined: 22 Jul 2014
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Posts: 85 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jul 2014 at 8:14am
Here is the fix should help to prevent the shearing. Thanks CharlieM

2005 Dodge Durango 4.7 V8
OLD Tow Vehicle 2004 Honda Odyssey
2015 RP179 "73b"
OLD 2005 Viking Saga 2480ST popup
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wildfire305 View Drop Down
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Joined: 22 Jul 2014
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Posts: 85 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jul 2014 at 5:09am
Checked mine yesterday to find all three tanks' brackets were short. Fresh water was nearly 1/2" gap. I added flat washers to fill the gap. Thanks OP for the tip.
2005 Dodge Durango 4.7 V8
OLD Tow Vehicle 2004 Honda Odyssey
2015 RP179 "73b"
OLD 2005 Viking Saga 2480ST popup
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techntrek View Drop Down
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Joined: 29 Jul 2009
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Posts: 9059 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jul 2014 at 9:53pm
Just to offer a counter-point, my pod now has over 15,000 miles on it, with many of those miles hard and bumpy.  I usually travel with the fresh tank full, and many times with full waste tanks (and almost always at least partly full), without a failure.  I haven't checked how many bolts/screws are installed but I'll be working on other things on the pod tomorrow so I'll take a look.
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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CharlieM View Drop Down
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Posts: 1797 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jul 2014 at 3:49pm
Hey Guys,

I'm really disappointed this problem exists. I didn't notice it on my Pod, but it may well have been there. I don't have my Pod anymore, but I'll add a few thoughts:

Drilling extra holes in the Al frame should not be detrimental if they are well away from the top and bottom edges. From Budward's pix it looks like they would be. A hole in the center of the beam will have almost no effect. A hole right on the bottom edge could induce tearing, bad. An inch or so in from the edge should be OK. Stick with 1/4 inch and it should be fine.

The bigger problem I see is the gap. Such a gap imparts a bending moment to the screws. Screws don't deal well with bending. Mild steel screws will bend and break, stainless screws are brittle and snap with no warning. The gaps need to be filled to limit the bending moment. Screws with their threads are  strongest in shear, less so in tension or compression, and weakest in bending. If you use 1/4 screws try to fill the gaps under the screws with big 1/4 inch washers. Fender washers, 1/4" hole with larger outside diameter,  would be good if you can find them and if they will fill. IMO it would be better to have no gaps and a tight stackup between screw head, bracket, and frame, even if this leaves a gap between bracket and frame, than to have a gap in the screw/bracket/frame stackup that allows the screw to bend. I hope this is clear as mud Smile
Charlie
Northern Colorado
OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD
PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD
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