King dome satellite safety inspection

[rgatijnet1]

On my Class A I have the King dome satellite antenna on the rear of the coach. I also have a Winegard Traveler on the front end.
I was up on the roof today doing a roof inspection and I noticed that the King dome looked a little crooked.
Upon closer inspection I noticed that it was loose and only had one of the four brackets still attached to the dome.
The dome has four aluminum brackets that are attached to the PLASTIC bottom of the dome. The aluminum brackets were all intact and still attached firmly to the roof of the coach but the two screws per bracket that were attached to the plastic bottom of the dome had come loose. With only one bracket holding the dome, I figured it was only a matter of time before it departed and ended up in the middle of the highway.
Since I very seldom used the King dome, I just removed the remaining bracket and took the dome down.
This was unexpected but after 80,000+ miles on some pretty rough roads I guess I should not be too surprised.
This is only a notice to others to occasionally inspect your dome to see if it is still firmly attached to your roof.
Each of the four aluminum brackets is attached with two small bolts that go up through the bottom of the dome. The dome is delivered from the factory with these brackets already installed. Unless you remove the top of the dome itself, from the base, you have no way of tightening or checking these bolts. During an inspection all you have to do is lift on the base of the dome and see if it is loose. If it is, then the next step is to take the dome cover off and tighten those bolts.

[msmith1199]

WILDEBILL308 wrote:

msmith1199 wrote:
You see RV air conditioner covers on the side of the freeway all the time.

The ac covers tend to get brittle as they age. That and being drug through the tree branches doesn't do them any good.
I think checking your Kingdome and ac cover should be part of your annual at the minimum.
Bill

And the exact same thing happens to the Kingdome.

[rgatijnet1]

Screws up from the bottom in to a plastic base just does not seem like a good way to anchor something subjected to a lot of wind.
At least on the AC covers the strain on the screws is on the sides in shear. The plastic deteriorates but the screws usually hold.
On the King dome you can't see any deterioration on the bottom of the assembly and, once installed, you cannot see the screws that came loose. Oh well, another learning experience. :B

[WILDEBILL308]

msmith1199 wrote:
You see RV air conditioner covers on the side of the freeway all the time.

The ac covers tend to get brittle as they age. That and being drug through the tree branches doesn't do them any good.
I think checking your Kingdome and ac cover should be part of your annual at the minimum.
Bill

[msmith1199]

You see RV air conditioner covers on the side of the freeway all the time.

[RayChez]

Now that you mentioned it, I did see a King dome cover on the side of the freeway I-15 coming from Las Vegas to California about a month ago.

Thanks for the info. I will check mine.