Forum Discussion

prepilot_3ck's avatar
prepilot_3ck
Explorer
Sep 13, 2018

Threaded screw inserts

Fellow Toy Hauler Folks,

I'm interested in installing some threaded screw inserts into the floor of my toy hauler. These will be used for fork mounts for 2 road bicycles. So, nothing heavy or anything.

The idea would be to install 3 or 4 of these into the floor, then screw a board down to those. The board will have my fork mounts on them. That way I can move the fork mounts around without drilling more holes in my floor. Then I can also remove the board when I don't want to have it, just leaving a few threaded holes that I can easily cap when not in use.

Does anyone have an experience doing this with their toy hauler? Any advice?

Brian
  • firemedic1992 wrote:
    Have no experience with your application but sounds like you’re looking for Thread-serts


    Yup. That's what I'm looking at.
  • Dick_B wrote:
    no experience but thinking off the top about the forces exerted on those inserts while underway. Will they hold up? Can the board be larger so the load is spread over more inserts? Just food for thought.


    Totally. I have the same concerns. The board will be much longer than the span of the inserts and I'll do at least 1 insert per foot of board. I'm hoping that will be enough to distribute the weight. I'm also concerned about the floor remaining water proof. If I'm drilling holes through the rubber floor, should I seal around the inserts? Is that even possible? How?
  • I think using several and a large surface area board, and just for a couple road bikes you'd be fine. Nothing larger than bicycles though.
  • I did something similar in my last TH but it was for a Gold Wing so much heavier.

    I drilled through the floor and the outer upper flange of the frame. Then uses speed nuts clipped over the frame so the threaded part was below the flange. I then "mounted" some aluminum angle on top of the floor with eyebolts through the angle and into the speed nuts. This gave me a solid through frame mount for the angle (in your case board) as well as a tie down point. Simple to install/remove using the eyebolts. If you're concerned about the open hole through the floor use some plastic plugs to fill the holes, you can buy white, brown, black Lowes.
  • You would need to know how much 'power' the inserts have. You may need more of them than you think. Also check under floor to be certain you don't drill into something important. You may have thought of this and other things, just the first few that come to my mind. (my gas tank is under the floor)
  • no experience but thinking off the top about the forces exerted on those inserts while underway. Will they hold up? Can the board be larger so the load is spread over more inserts? Just food for thought.