LOOKING IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES

[TRUENORTH60]

I am currently trying to find the metal frame that supports the walls of my 2008 Greyhawk. My spare tire is mounted on a four foot piece of 2" square tube welded to the back bumper. Of course this is like a huge inverted pendulum and the tire rocks back and forth as we are driving down the road.

THE GOOD PART - The site of a big tire rocking back and forth on the back bumper does tend to keep people from tail-gating!!

THE BAD PART - Sooner or later it will fatigue the metal bumper and fall off. It will probably fall onto the car hood of someone who is a really good lawyer . . . . . .

SO I want to attach the upper part of the 2" tube to something substantial in the rear wall. I know. I know. Looking for something substantial in a motorhome wall is probably a fool's errand. But I do remember seeing pictures of a frame made of square steel tube that supports the walls of our motorhomes but cannot find it in mine.

Does anyone have any ideas about where I could get a diagramme of this frame? I have tried scanning with an I.R. imager looking for cool lines indicating the steel tube. I have tried stud sensors. I have drilled pilot holes. I have made sacrifices (burned hotdogs on the grill) and have resorted to some silly weak cursing.:h

All to no avail.

Please send ideas, hope or cash!!;)

[pnichols]

TRUENORTH60 wrote:
I am currently trying to find the metal frame that supports the walls of my 2008 Greyhawk. My spare tire is mounted on a four foot piece of 2" square tube welded to the back bumper. Of course this is like a huge inverted pendulum and the tire rocks back and forth as we are driving down the road.

THE GOOD PART - The site of a big tire rocking back and forth on the back bumper does tend to keep people from tail-gating!!

THE BAD PART - Sooner or later it will fatigue the metal bumper and fall off. It will probably fall onto the car hood of someone who is a really good lawyer . . . . . .

SO I want to attach the upper part of the 2" tube to something substantial in the rear wall. I know. I know. Looking for something substantial in a motorhome wall is probably a fool's errand. But I do remember seeing pictures of a frame made of square steel tube that supports the walls of our motorhomes but cannot find it in mine.

Does anyone have any ideas about where I could get a diagramme of this frame? I have tried scanning with an I.R. imager looking for cool lines indicating the steel tube. I have tried stud sensors. I have drilled pilot holes. I have made sacrifices (burned hotdogs on the grill) and have resorted to some silly weak cursing.:h

All to no avail.

Please send ideas, hope or cash!!;)

Is your Greyhawk built on a Ford E450 chassis?

If so, perhaps you could have a tire holding rack mounted up under the chassis in the rear in between the frame rails after the fuel tank - just like it is in many pickup trucks.

Thanks where my Class C motorhome's mounted spare tire is on it's E450 chassis.

[TRUENORTH60]

Looks strong enough to tow the "Queen Mary"!!

The big thinkers at Jayco thought that it would be a good idea to weld my carrier (looks like yours) to the flimsy bumper. It appears as though the bumper was made of rejected tin cans so it didn't take long to wobble back and forth, fatiguing the alleged metal.

As I have been unable to find anything substantial in or under the back wall I will have to come up with "Plan B" !!

[Harvey51]

When I needed a hitch to pull a utility trailer to carry 3 kayaks I went to a local welding shop. The welder asked how strong I wanted the hitch to be. I said it would be nice if strong enough to pull the MH out of a ditch. His take on it was that I might want to tow a river boat. I added that I heard the spare wheel mount on motorhome’s rear bumper aren’t strong enough ... how about welding the mount and rear bumper together with the hitch? He did that, claiming that nothing he welded ever broke. Sure enough, no trouble with the spare wheel mount in 16 years.

[Hank85713]

when I had my TT I wanted a place to haul my generator. I got 2 of the bumper bolt on receivers and about 6 ft of 2inch tubing. Bolted the receiver to the frame and then bolted the tubes thru the bumper/sewer hose carrier to the tubes Was very solid. You could do same thing and bolt to the receiver hitch for the secondary bolts. Run some tube down to the 2 inch tubing and weld/bolt together rather then try and bolt to unknown strength material in a wall. Remember that they are using LIGHT materials in walls and the walls are generally luan wood covered with a layer of fiberglass!

[garyhaupt]

Try putting some heat inside the RV on a cold-ish day. That might/should show a condensation line on the exterior. Mine is aluminum framed too, I and framing shows up easily under those conditions.

Gary Haupt

[wolfe10]

I don't know if your wall beams are steel or aluminum.

If steel, a magnet will quickly identify their location.

With either, assuming the outer skin is in contact with the beams as it should be, on a cool morning, the dew should outline the beams.

[pauldub]

Maybe the manufacturer can provide some drawings of the structure. I know that my son-in-law got some structural information from Jayco for his little trailer, so maybe they will do the same for you.