Les Izmore
Junior Ranger
Something those of you with 2012 & later teardrop-style door hinges might want to add to your 300 night maintenance chores is tightening the door hinge bolts (and screws, if needed).
We've passed the 600 night mark and recently found that the hinges on one side of the camper were very loose; to the point where the lower pat of one of the doors was starting to scrape against the frame. I tried to tighten the screws with limited success: some of the screws closest to the gap between the door and the door opening would not tighten. And I also couldn't loosen them in order to remedy the problem. I notified Cary, and he replied back that the two sets of screws on either side of that door gap are not screws, but bolts. And the issue was that the bolt on the inside was slipping, so that the outside bolt could not be tightened or loosened.
I've always heard this sort of bolt being referred to as a post bolt, but he referred to the female side of the arrangement as a sex nut. Whatever the terminology, the female end of this arrangement is found inside the cabin or door, on the side opposing the outer screws (bolts) that I am referring to. So if you have trouble tightening the hinge bolts from the outside, simply keep the "sex nut" steady on the inside while tightening the bolt from the outside. For the lower hinges it may be helpful to have some assist you with this.
So - after 600+ nights and 50,000+ miles, the only door maintenance that we have needed is lubing the hinges and tightening the bolts! I wonder how many owners of other campers by now might have watched in horror as their trailer door fell off and bounced down the road behind them?
Good Job to Cary & Craig! Especially after we discovered this issue several hundred miles down the Baja Peninsula! It's great to have a quick, easy and painless fix!! This is yet another testament to their commitment to ferret out minor flaws in a superior design, and to find permanent fixes to eliminate minor issues. We have always known they are awesome, but we understand that more and more the longer we live on the road is our incredible teardrop camper!
We've passed the 600 night mark and recently found that the hinges on one side of the camper were very loose; to the point where the lower pat of one of the doors was starting to scrape against the frame. I tried to tighten the screws with limited success: some of the screws closest to the gap between the door and the door opening would not tighten. And I also couldn't loosen them in order to remedy the problem. I notified Cary, and he replied back that the two sets of screws on either side of that door gap are not screws, but bolts. And the issue was that the bolt on the inside was slipping, so that the outside bolt could not be tightened or loosened.
I've always heard this sort of bolt being referred to as a post bolt, but he referred to the female side of the arrangement as a sex nut. Whatever the terminology, the female end of this arrangement is found inside the cabin or door, on the side opposing the outer screws (bolts) that I am referring to. So if you have trouble tightening the hinge bolts from the outside, simply keep the "sex nut" steady on the inside while tightening the bolt from the outside. For the lower hinges it may be helpful to have some assist you with this.
So - after 600+ nights and 50,000+ miles, the only door maintenance that we have needed is lubing the hinges and tightening the bolts! I wonder how many owners of other campers by now might have watched in horror as their trailer door fell off and bounced down the road behind them?
Good Job to Cary & Craig! Especially after we discovered this issue several hundred miles down the Baja Peninsula! It's great to have a quick, easy and painless fix!! This is yet another testament to their commitment to ferret out minor flaws in a superior design, and to find permanent fixes to eliminate minor issues. We have always known they are awesome, but we understand that more and more the longer we live on the road is our incredible teardrop camper!
