Crooked Atwood Jacks, repair/replace ?
Ok, I bought this 2008 Host Everest about 2 weeks ago. One of the things I noticed was the front jacks are slightly off angle and a few of the bolts were loose. I finally got around to taking it to ...
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The brackets that attach directly to the camper don't really look like they've moved to me, judging by the way the caulk looks around the edges. The one bolt you refer to with the enlarged hole behind it looks to me like the first bolt they used snapped off, leaving part of it in the camper. They might have run a second one in next to it, resulting in the head being slightly offset from where the first one was. Or, maybe they ran this bolt in at an angle first, then backed it out and ran it in straight, stripping the hole out in the process. Do the brackets appear to move to you?
I don't understand the suggestion of putting silicone in the bolt holes. Silicone isn't going to improve the grip at all. If any of the holes are stripped out so that the bolt can't be tightened, they should be fixed but not with silicone. Is this a wood or aluminum frame camper? A stripped out hole in wood is pretty easy to fix, really. Drill the stripped hole out to the size of a hardwood dowel, fill the hole with glue, pound your dowel into the hole until it bottoms, cut it off flush, let it dry and then drill a new hole for the bolt.
Two of those bolt heads look like carriage bolts, and are probably through-bolted with a nut and lock-washer. They may not need to come out if they're tight and it's just the lag bolts that are loose.
There's enough play in the bolt holes of the swing-out brackets that could account for the jacks not looking straight. Have you tried loosening them, moving the jack, then re-tightening them?
:):)
I don't understand the suggestion of putting silicone in the bolt holes. Silicone isn't going to improve the grip at all. If any of the holes are stripped out so that the bolt can't be tightened, they should be fixed but not with silicone. Is this a wood or aluminum frame camper? A stripped out hole in wood is pretty easy to fix, really. Drill the stripped hole out to the size of a hardwood dowel, fill the hole with glue, pound your dowel into the hole until it bottoms, cut it off flush, let it dry and then drill a new hole for the bolt.
Two of those bolt heads look like carriage bolts, and are probably through-bolted with a nut and lock-washer. They may not need to come out if they're tight and it's just the lag bolts that are loose.
There's enough play in the bolt holes of the swing-out brackets that could account for the jacks not looking straight. Have you tried loosening them, moving the jack, then re-tightening them?
:):)
