Dropping belly pan that covers black and grey tanks?

[casarodante]

92' 25' Excella. The black water valve is leaking liquid (no solids yet). I want to fix it. I have seen the thread(s) about cutting a hole in the pan and doing it that way. However, in looking around under the trailer, there is a rectangular pan that covers both waste tanks. It is held on with about 40 bolts and gooped up pretty good around the edges. Has anyone removed one of these pans? What is the level of effort? I am hoping that once the bolts and goop is removed, it will drop straight down and I will have better access to the valve(s).

Ideas?

Thanks!

[john hd]

roger

cut a hole and save yourself a lot of trouble.

it is not that hard and is suggested in the owners manual.

this is a thread on how i fixed my '92 leaky grey water valve http://www.airforums.com/forum...ead.php?t=4753 the only thing you need to be careful of is not to cut the tank sensor wires when you go at the tank box with the tin snips. there are a lot of them in there.

start slow. once you get going pry down the tin so you can see what you are cutting.

john

[SafeHarbor]

Hi, caadoptees,

I discovered a fluid-only leak in my black water outlet as I was unhooking to go to the Ft. De Soto forum rally in St. Petersburg last week. Fearing what would happen, I waited until I was home to dump the tanks. Then I found out that it had leaked out 1/4 cup of fluid total. It seems that the seal in the the gasket needed to be "slosh" lubricated.

I filled the BW tank today and watched the outlet throughout the morning and afternoon. Not a drop.

I hope that you will be as fortunate as I feel right now. Try putting something in the tank and riding it around for a while. If it works, it's a cheap fix, and if it doesn't work, well, you went somewhere with an Airstream. Isn't that what they're for anyway?

Good luck in this!

Lamar

[casarodante]

Status update here.

Thanks for the words of advice, John. I have printed out that thread numerous times and studied it closely. I had marked an area where I was going to cut but then thought I would give this other option a try. Acutally there are only about 25 bolts and my drill does a good job on them once I break them free. I only have the back row and center support to remove. I have to put the wheels up on some blocks so I can get under there.

Lamar, I have been having this problem for over 6 months now so it has had plenty of opportunities to fix itself. What I have been doing is using a bucket to catch the liquid after I remove the cap. I normally get 1/3 to 1/2 a bucket full. I can then put on the hose. It is just getting real old to have to do that.

Thanks again everyone. I will try to take some photos also.

[Action]

With the bolts there, sounds like a PO has already opened her up at one point.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

[john hd]

Originally Posted by Action

With the bolts there, sounds like a PO has already opened her up at one point.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

action

actually with trailers of our vintage the fresh grey black tanks are contained in an insulated box. it is attached to the underside of the trailer with large self tapping bolts.

he would have had an access panel cut into this box by a p.o. like me if some one else had been in there since it left the factory!

john

[Action]

Oh OK. I don't have a gray water tank. And all of my panels are rivited. I didn't think A/S used any bolts to attach panels.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

[john hd]

i don't believe it is a bad system if you can get in there with an impact gun. tank access would be easy.

however it looks like the factory put 2 whole tubes of vulkem on the seam before installing it. we all know what that means....you could take the bolts out and i'd bet it would stay there....for years!

that is why i used the tin snips and made my own hatch.

on edit, roger if you do get it off please take plenty of pictures and post them!

john

[casarodante]

Boy, there IS a lot of Vulkem. I have all but the center ridge support bolts off. This is an early evening project for me since I work during the day.

I have told myself, if I cannot get the pan off today, I will be cutting a hole. I have to have this ready for the Pismo Rally next Thursday or attack it another time.

I have a small pry bar to coax things free.

[john hd]

roger

before you go whole hog with the pry bar you may want to get a good putty knife (warner) and try to hammer it in around the perimeter to break some of the vulkem free.

i truely belive if airstream glued trailers together with the stuff there would be no need for rivets!

john

[gotair]

the dump valve on my argosy had frozen up and was not working at all ...The only access was a small 6x8 rectangle with rivits and some sealer... I got under and made nice big square from one rail to the other nice and neat around the edges and sealed it up to the frame... The black pvc is now open... exposed... because i dont tow much in the winter but i did keep the piece for the future if i do need to put it back on...I like the easy access in case there is a problem while camping I can repair without any hasle and enjoy my trip...sorry for not staying origional... ''> have fun..
Dan

[gotair]

also check

[casarodante]

OK. I gave up. I cut a hole. The thought of removing all that Vulkem and then putting some back on was too overwhelming. I got the valve out and will look for a replacement tomorrow. I will take some pics. I will probably add them to the original 'John HD' thread for continuity.

[casarodante]

Not successful in finding a valve in stock. I have to order it. I did not take out the adapter that was in the tank. One of the RV shops wanted to see it so I went home and took it out. Well the sucker broke apart when I removed it. Luckily nothing happened to the tank itself. Parts should be here Tuesday.

[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