Dropping belly pan that covers black and grey tanks?

[john hd]

roger

so you had basicly the same problem i did.

john

[casarodante]

To give the short version of this problem. IT IS FIXED! No leaks, yet.

Here is the long version with pics (I hope).

As mentioned before, I had to go the cut the pan plan due to ease and time problems. The cutting went well but I DID cut a few wires. It happened on the first few blind cuts.

Here is the hole.

[casarodante]

I got out the old parts, got the new parts and the underside looked pretty empty. However when I go the new Thetford flange for the tank, it was a female connector, just like the TANK! I find out later that I didn't need the thread-on or bond-on connector but the glass-on.

What to do? I didn't want to glue anything to the tank for future repairs. I made a male-male connector to get the females together. This worked well but the bend of the 90 then did not match the output pipe. I found a vent 90 angle pipe that was a shorter and sharper piece. It fit well. I may have a problem with a tighter angle out of the black tank but we will see.

Here are some more photos.

[casarodante]

I dry assembled the parts and test fit them about 10 times. I glued the male-male piece to the flange and gooped it with Vulkem and used the same clamp that was there to attach to the tank. I then glued the 90 to the valve and attached it to the flange. It was tough getting the four screws tight. I then attached the rubber fitting between the 90 and the output. Here is how it looks done.

[casarodante]

To add insult to injury, since I had to add that little piece of pipe, that pushed the valve about 1 inch to the front of the trailer. That means that my valve shaft would no longer work where it was, it would have been to bound. I had to relocate that.

With that done, everthing seemed good. I tried the mechanism, worked good. Filled the black tank about 1/3 to 1/2 full with the hose, no initial leaks. Checked the next day, no leaks. I decided to button it up. We are now at Pismo Coast Village and I have not seen a leak yet.

The cost was around $80 for parts and my time.

Would I do it again, probably, especially now I have easy access.

[john hd]

looks good roger!

that part that failed looks exactly like mine did, different solution same end result.

no leaks!!!

john

[James Schmidt]

I'll wager that your drip or leak was coming from the slip flange or adapater as you called it. I had 3 to break since I've had my 93 trailer. They seem to crack near the bottom of the flange and will cause a small drip when there is sufficient wanter in the holding tank. Rebuilding the dump valve is not a bad idea while you have it out but look closely to see if it really was the culprit.This is a Thetford part and was made of white plastic. Now they are making them of black plastic--hopefully they will last longer.

Good luck with the project.