dinette bench keeps coming loose

[DaCosta]

I own a 22 ft international 2007. the back bench keep ripping from the floor. every time i go on a trip my back bench is setting on its side. i have used plastic and lead anchor. nothing seems to work please help. thank you

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by DaCosta

I own a 22 ft international 2007. the back bench keep ripping from the floor. every time i go on a trip my back bench is setting on its side. i have used plastic and lead anchor. nothing seems to work please help. thank you

Have you tried balancing the running gear?

How heavy duty is the tow vehicle and/or the hitch torsion bars?

Andy

[LLB21]

You should be able to fix that with some L brackets and molly bolts. I have heard of that hapening to other newer Airstreams.

[DaCosta]

hi Andy the hitch is a hanson hitch i"m towing the airstream with and f 150 8 cyl. i don't keep anything in the trailer while towing it. i'm not sure what you mean by running gear.

[DaCosta]

Hi Louie if i drill molly bolts threw the floor of the airstream will they go to the holding tanks. i am worried about drill threw the floor of the trailer. thank you what do you thing

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by DaCosta

hi Andy the hitch is a hanson hitch i"m towing the airstream with and f 150 8 cyl. i don't keep anything in the trailer while towing it. i'm not sure what you mean by running gear.

Tire, wheel, hub and drum, as an assembly.

Andy

[mjayjensen]

Our 2004 22' CCD had the same problem. I used winged bolts and self tapping screws to solve the problem. The bolts have to be placed through the seat prior to instalation. The threads on the end of the bolt need to be jimmied to prevent unscrewing. [This will permit retightening.]

When drilling for the wing bolts steel was encountered. At these points I used a self-tapping screw

I checked with AS before doing this. They assured me that I would not drill into the tanks. In any case control of the drill seemed like a good idea

[DaCosta]

thank you i thought i was the only one in the world having this problem. when using the wing bolts did you drill threw the bottom of your AS again thank you

[mjayjensen]

Hi,
After being on some very rough roads, the dinette seating would not stay attached to the floor. The screws were striped out of the wood. I tried larger screws and that helped for awhile but the problem kept coming back.
I called Airstream and they recommended the wing bolts. I moved the seats to get to the holes. I drilled (I believe they were 1/2". the size is determined by the area needed to pass the wings through. Try it out on scrap piece of wood first.) 4 holes for each bench. I too was also concerned about penetrating the tanks and controlled the drill to go through but no farther. There was fiberglass under the floor
I cut the bolts to length. Long enough to go through but not excessive.(again concerned about hitting something) I put the bolts with a washer through the seat supports, added the wings, and pinched the ends of the bolts with aside cutters.
Having the ends of the bolts so that the wings will not vibrate off when the tension is removed has allowed me to re-tighten a number of times.
Some of the holes had steel under them. On these I drilled a small pilot hole and after the bench was down put in self tapping screws of the right length.
The electrical box had to be removed to get access to the rear bench support.
I hope this is helpful.
M. Jay Jensen

[Foiled Again]

OSB - The earlier 22's apparently have multiple problems. I sold mine without knowing about either. First was that the frames break on the 02, 03 & 04's - perhaps some on the later ones too. Also many were apparently made with OSB floors (oriented strand board) rather than plywood.

Of course since OSB isn't as strong or as resiliant following minor water damage AND doesn't stand up as well to vibration that might contribute to putting extra stress on the frame. And vibration will strip screws out of OSB in a heartbeat.

Inland Andy's advice on running gear holds particularly true for vintage units. Newer units wheel balance - Centramatics seem to be the golden cure. USE SEARCH for many many many threads.

Paula

[arcamedies]

I'm a little surprised that there isn't a factory fix-it kit for so new a trailer. Keep in mind all RV's on the road are experiencing a minor earthquake while moving. I went 2,000 miles to Florida and around and had no problem but a trip of 300 miles to Pennsylvania traveling scenic back roads sheared the end table rivets and the door fell off. I know I need to replace the shocks kinda old ;O)