So on the way home, I exited our town exit for the highway. The next turn I here a clunk and look in the rear view to see my 30lb propane tanks being dragged on the ground. I stopped right away and the only damage was some scratches to the tank cover and tanks. I am sure it could have been worse. I have a checklist of things to go over before leaving for a trip and leaving for home. I added that to the list tonight....

It sounds like you were fortunate to avoid what could have been a very bad day. I don't want to think about what could happen if your tank(s) had come loose, gotten run over, etc.I should at least check the wing nut occasionally when I have the cover open to turn on/off the gas.Great reminder.

The rod is threaded down thru a sheet metal base. I place a large fender washer next to the sheet metal and then use a locking nut there.

Tighten my propane, check. And don't call me 'wingnut' :DI've found wiggling the tank a little while tightening helps get everything a bit more solid. The bracket can get in a bind or be on an angle (dual tanks) and the nut will be tight, but the bracket/tank is not.

That's scary. Good job propane is not flamable.

I wonder why the wingnut was loose in the first place? What was the root cause of this problem?

Tighten you propane tank wing nut | Good Sam Community

30 Replies

opnspaces
Navigator III
May 28, 2015
knocking on wood mine has never been loose. But I guarantee you I will be checking the next time I go to pick up the trailer.

As far as not sitting square on the mount, I can kind of see how they might loosen. But it seems like this would be a problem fairly quickly and only come up after you disturb the whole setup by removing the wingnut.

I may not check before every trip. But I think it would be wise anytime you loosen the wingnut that you check the tightness after the first drive or maybe after the first hour of driving. After that I imagine they have settled and are not likely to get any looser.
SoundGuy
Explorer
May 28, 2015
samhain7 wrote:
So on the way home, I exited our town exit for the highway. The next turn I here a clunk and look in the rear view to see my 30lb propane tanks being dragged on the ground.

Fortunately this has never happened to me but I also have the tanks secured with a cable lock running through both tank collars and around the A frame which I'm sure would trap the tanks and prevent them from ever flinging loose in an unlikely event such as you describe. Same for the battery, which isn't going anywhere. :B
69_Avion
Explorer
May 28, 2015
Having a lock nut will not help anything if you tank is not square and you tighten it up. Once the tanks "settle in" they will again be loose. I have a rack around mine and I put a cable lock through them so they don't get stolen. Even if they came loose, they could fall because of the lock system.
As stated above, make sure the tanks are square to the base and properly located before tighting the wing nut.
jimw606
Explorer
May 27, 2015
Francesca Knowles wrote:
That wing nut on the little trailer always worried me...and so did the possibility that someone might walk off with my tank!

Solved both problems by scrounging around in the shop 'til I found a nice stout piece of flat steel bent into a squared-off u-shape. It even had a couple of holes in it! It fits perfectly over the tightened/lined up wingnut "wing" and the bar that holds the tanks on.

A long shaft padlock completes the set...keeps the wingnut in place AND deters theft, at least temporarily.

I did the same.
myredracer
Explorer II
Apr 11, 2015
That would be scary seeing your tanks dragging along the pavement.

I just had our tanks and tray off while working on the WDH. I added a jamb nut at the bottom of the threaded rod (standard 1/2" nut) and now the rod is nice and solid. I also lowered the regulator a few inches on the rod and it now sits independent of the wing nut and is locked in place with a pair of 1/2" nuts - no longer have to fiddle with the regulator when removing and re-installing the tanks.

I would also check how the tray is fastened to the A-frame. There should be 4 screws (self-tapping) and should be tight. They should be as far apart as possible and if too close, relocate them. This will help reduce flex in the tray. When they ram screws in at the factories sometimes they are stripped, loose and/or driven at an angle. The screws should be an adequate size (#10 IIRC).
Hannibal
Explorer
Apr 10, 2015
I like the locknut idear. If one of those tanks had exploded... Dixie Linen wouldn't have been able to clean them britches.
Huntindog
Explorer
Apr 10, 2015
There is another reason why they may loosen.
Every TT I have had uses a long piece of all thread At the top is a wingnut, at the bottom, it is simply threaded into a nut. It can come loose on the bottom on rough roads. A spot weld or some loctite will fix that problem.
samhain7
Explorer
Apr 10, 2015
I just wanted to re-post this as a reminder...
Huntindog
Explorer
Jul 28, 2014
It is easy to get the tanks to appear tight, but often they are not sitting square in the tray. Then some bumps or a washboard road can make them loose as they vibrate to square against the base.
The trick is to spend a little time finding the position that the tanks need to be in, so that the hold down can press the entire package square, and then use a marker to mark the positions of the tank and hold down.
If you are just putting it on straight, then it is unlikely to be square. The tanks usually need to be turned some, and the hold down at an angle using different slots in it against the tanks.

I used to have this loosening of the tanks from time to time. When I picked up my last TT at the dealer, they had the tanks and hold down positioned as I described. It looked weird to me. After talking to the tech and looking it over close.. It is now plain as day what was happening.
PAAK
Explorer
Jul 28, 2014
Wow, that could have been a really bad day. I had a tank leaking at the extra BBQ hook-up, so I removed the tank and got everything fixed. I did notice the tank was not as secure as I thought so whenI replaced the tank, I did twist them and move them to get the bracket more secure. I am going to add that to my pre - move check list as well.

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Tighten you propane tank wing nut

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