Loose Carriage Mounting Bolts

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
wincom6

wincom6

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 10, 2009
Posts
312
Location
Robinson Township,Pittsburgh, PA
I have several loose bolts, the head is out of reach.  They appear to be carriage-mounting bolts that hold the motorhome on the frame. They just spin when I try to tighten them with a socket set from the bottom.
The nut size is a 15/16 SAE. There are 2,  one is to the front of the rear tires and one is to the rear.
The motorhome is a 2004 Meridian G36.  Has anyone had a similar problem?



Edit by John:  changed message icon to Topic Solved

 

Attachments

  • IMG_9144.JPG
    IMG_9144.JPG
    185 KB · Views: 115
That's a new one for the Winnebago board  :eek:. 

When my buddy and I removed the co-pilot chair to bring the new residential fridge in the front door, to our dismay I discovered the pedestal mounting nuts underneath (and way inside the front tire) were not captured so what could have an easy one-person job to unscrew the pedestal bolts turned into a two-person hassle.  You might have a similar situation.
 
Id you can get a prybar on the head to hold a bit of pressure and go on the nut with an impact gun and give quick repeated  attempts with short jabs it may move enough and tighten up.
 
Is there enough thread to put two more nuts on and jam them to allow holding the bolt while you tighten the nut?
 
Thanks John H. Good idea.  I will try if I can find several thin bolts.  That may work on one of them.  The other has very little threads showing and I?m certain  it would not work.
 
How's the clearance for getting a dremel tool in to cut a slot in the end of the bolt and then use a large screwdriver with a wrench on the shaft for leverage to hold the bolt while you tighten the nut?

Ken
 
Aw heck just get a pair of vice grips clamp onto the threads and use an end wrench to tighten the nut down.
 
donn said:
Aw heck just get a pair of vice grips clamp onto the threads and use an end wrench to tighten the nut down.
Click to expand...

I have used this approach several times, you just might have to cut the bolt if you ever want to remove it
 
Drill a hole in the end of it to fit the largest "easy out" that will fit......tap the easy out in with a hammer, should give you something to hold.
 
wincom6 said:
I have several loose bolts, the head is out of reach.  They appear to be carriage-mounting bolts that hold the motorhome on the frame. They just spin when I try to tighten them with a socket set from the bottom.
The nut size is a 15/16 SAE. There are 2,  one is to the front of the rear tires and one is to the rear.
The motorhome is a 2004 Meridian G36.  Has anyone had a similar problem?
Click to expand...

I also have  a 2004 36G.  How did you discover these bolts were loose?  Did you just happen upon them or was there a problem you was trying to solve?  I'll have to get under there and check mine.



Edit by John:  fix quotation
 
Some of you may have come up with a workable idea, I have already tried the vise grips and they would not hold it tight.  I may try the double nut or I may just spot weld a nut to the bottom of the stud.  The stud should have been welded at the top place during the building process.  One of the bolts was found loose during the PA state inspection, after he found one loose it started me looking and I found the 2 that I?m having problems with.  The one found by the inspector tightened up without slipping I?m calling Winnebago today and see what kind of answer they can give me.
 
I didn't find a loose one but I did find one nut totaly gone. Still need to check the rest and replace the missing one.
 
Wincom6, I experienced the same thing with my 1998 Vectra Grand Tour and was given a Winnebago drawing that showed a captured bolt. There was no way to secure it, so since I didn't intend to remove the coach body  ;) I held the end of the bolt with vice-grips and retorqued the nut. It was still tight when I traded up in 2003.

 
Eric, from Winnebago returned my call and stated that there is no way to get a wrench on the top of  the bolt. I was already thinking this way.  His answer is to spot weld another nut to the bottom of the bolt and hold it with one wrench while you tightens it with another.  I?m thinking that the thread may be battered and I need to remove the nut and use 2 flat washers to take up the space. Or put a shim between the bolt and the frame.  All 4 of the rear nuts were loose (2 on each side) but 3 of them did not slip when tightened. I guess it does not hurt to get down and take a look once in a while.
 
You might try spraying some PB Blaster or Teflon Spray (using the straw) up between the nut and frame so that it will run down the threads and into the nut threads. Spray a few times over the coarse of a day and let it sit 24 hours, then try and spin it up with an impact wrench...usually works on shocks.
 
Final Fix,  I  used  an impact wrench  and it made all the difference.  Just to make sure I  put another nut on and jammed them together.  I?m sure that they will stay tight now.  Thank you for all your help.  Paul
 

Attachments

  • Finish.JPG
    Finish.JPG
    19.7 KB · Views: 62
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,056 (members: 30, guests: 1,026)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,929
Posts
1,387,691
Members
137,677
Latest member
automedicmobile
Back
Top Bottom