Fresh Water Tank Fell Out

[RedLionCookie]

I have a 2016 Cedar Creek 33IK. I have season tickets for Penn State Football. To save money on fuel I store the camper just outside of State College during football season. I have water and electric at the storage spot. On a normal weekend, I pick the camper up Friday night, fill it with water and take off. I'm in and out in 15 minutes. On Sunday when I return I dump, return the camper to its site, plug it back in and away I go. This has been working great all season.

Friday night I arrived and started my usual process, move stuff from the bed of the truck to the camper, fill the fresh tank with water, pull the slides in, hook up and go.

The slides were completely in, the truck was hooked up and 5 of the 6 jacks were raised. The 6th jack (rear jack on the drivers side) had raised approximately 6 inches when I heard a loud bang.

Upon inspection I found my fresh water tank had dropped 6 to 7 inches and it appeared that the only thing holding it up was the plastic panels used to seal off the belly of the camper, and of course it was raining.

At that point the jacks wouldn't go up or down, slides wouldn't go in or out and the water tank was hanging. Talk about a helpless feeling.

I couldn't unhook the truck because I couldn't get the jacks down. I couldn't move the camper because the jack was hanging to low to travel. The slides wouldn't move so I really couldn't get back inside, and did I mention it was raining?

Fortunately I had a buddy of mine with me and between the two of us we came up the a plan. We pulled the 6 bolts holding the jack in place and turned the jack 90 degrees and bolted it back onto the bracket. We tied it up the a piece of rope for extra security. We emptied the water tank and ran a strap from side to side under the tank to keep it from falling any further and the ability to move the camper was addressed.

Reluctantly I went on to the stadium to meet our friends and try to make the most of a bad situation. Once I got to the stadium parking area I did some more searching and discovered the "Short Stop" breakers for each of the systems (Slides and Jacks) had tripped. (Those little suckers are hard to find.) Once I reset those we were able to bolt the jack back on properly, push the slides out and level up. We used the camper the rest of the weekend without water.

Yesterday we moved into a parking lot where I could get under it without getting completely dirty. I put a jack under the tank and raised it back fairly close to where it belongs and put two heavy duty ratchet straps under it to hold in in place. I've got one game left and then I'll take the camper home and address the tank issue.

I don't want to completely fill the tank but I do think I can get away with putting 15-20 gallons in the tank to get us through the last game.

Has anyone else had experience with a tank dropping like this? It looks to me like it is designed to sit on two pieces of L bracket, one in the front and one in the back. I also think there might be a strap or two like they use on a fuel tank for a car but I'm not sure. This camper is new to me in April but it is a 2016. I talked with the previous owner and he never had a problem like this. It's well out of warranty so I'm sure the manufacturer will be of no help. I'm surprised and wondering why this would have happened on such a new camper.


Any thoughts or advice are welcomed.

[Ralph_Cramden]

Braces wrote:
LIPPERT probably put in what Cedar Creek designed and required of them. How do you know to blame Lippert?

If you are referring to my post and you would of taken the time to read it and clicked the link, you would of seen the water tank frames that are a standard Lippert part made in different widths to fit different tank sizes.

Cedar Creek may have specified something different or they may have installed supports themselves. Typically though when a manufacturer uses Lippert frames, chances are they came with the Lippert supports already installed by Lippert. The same goes for the spreaders that the black and grey tanks hang from.

This is what happens to the Lippert support trays. Eventually the angles from frame rail to frame rail would of deflected enough until the tabs that the bottom cross ties fit into would of popped out, then out drops the tank.







Hanger I fabbed on left, Lippert on right.



Replaced with real angles

[mooky_stinks]

I bolted 2 pieces of channel to my frame under my water tank for preventive measures.

[2edgesword]

Never had it happen but kudos to you and your friend for your ingenuity.

[Halmfamily]

Lost our freshwater tank on our 2015 FR Sierra in 2016 while pulling onto our main road. My son and I were able to remove the tank and continue on to camp. FR replaced the tank, rebuilt and welded in a new frame and repkaced the coroplast. They said it was a know problem.

[Braces]

LIPPERT probably put in what Cedar Creek designed and required of them. How do you know to blame Lippert?

[SidecarFlip]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

RedLionCookie wrote:


Has anyone else had experience with a tank dropping like this?

Oh yea....lots of folks.

Most likely you have the Lippert standard tank supports which are total garbage. The cross ties underneath just fit in slots in the main angles. Those angles are light gauge bent plate and they often have slots punched in both legs which weaken them. The main angles deflect and the cross ties pop loose, allowing the main angles to deflect further until the tank falls between them.

It look like THIS.

Get some 2x2x1/4" cold rolled angles and make new supports. The Lippert angles are just about capable of being used for tomatoe stakes or fence posts for a really lightweight fence.

Ralph, you are so demure...

t least rhe frame welds didn't break too... Lippert junk.

[Wills6_4_Hemi]

My buddy's did this going down 95 to Florida. We used ratchet straps to put it back up 6 years ago. Same straps still holding it but it's now on a permanent site lol

[Ralph_Cramden]

kfp673 wrote:

Happytraveler wrote:
My brother in-law lost his water tank in his 38 ft. motorhome because he forgot to turn off the water hose. He was filling the tank with water and got sidetrack. Also when the tank fell his kitchen floor collapsed. He said it was a mess.

Just curious about this. Anytime I use my water tank I fill it until it starts spitting. What would leaving the hose on have to do with it? These should be able to hold a full tank of water. I have never traveled with more that 1/4 tank so not sure if it is designed to travel full??

With a poly tank, if you stuff the hose in a gravity fill or have a direct connection, and have sufficient pressure and volume to overload the vent, the tank can swell. If the manufacturer has the tank tight between its supports on the bottom and the floor, it can balloon out and bend the supports. The problem is the cheap mounting methods almost all manufacturers use. Enclosed underbellies are great for hiding the weak supports along with sloppy wiring, plumbing, and usually some trash from the assembly line.

Forest River and others have been known to tell people their trailer was not designed to be moved with full tanks when they had a tank issue, despite no mention of it in any of the documentation.

If your not supposed to move an RV with full tanks, what good is it?

[kfp673]

Happytraveler wrote:
My brother in-law lost his water tank in his 38 ft. motorhome because he forgot to turn off the water hose. He was filling the tank with water and got sidetrack. Also when the tank fell his kitchen floor collapsed. He said it was a mess.

Just curious about this. Anytime I use my water tank I fill it until it starts spitting. What would leaving the hose on have to do with it? These should be able to hold a full tank of water. I have never traveled with more that 1/4 tank so not sure if it is designed to travel full??

[Lwiddis]

Heard about this happening but I have never seen one...don’t want to see one.

[Happytraveler]

My brother in-law lost his water tank in his 38 ft. motorhome because he forgot to turn off the water hose. He was filling the tank with water and got sidetrack. Also when the tank fell his kitchen floor collapsed. He said it was a mess.

[Ralph_Cramden]

RedLionCookie wrote:


Has anyone else had experience with a tank dropping like this?

Oh yea....lots of folks.

Most likely you have the Lippert standard tank supports which are total garbage. The cross ties underneath just fit in slots in the main angles. Those angles are light gauge bent plate and they often have slots punched in both legs which weaken them. The main angles deflect and the cross ties pop loose, allowing the main angles to deflect further until the tank falls between them.

It look like THIS.

Get some 2x2x1/4" cold rolled angles and make new supports. The Lippert angles are just about capable of being used for tomatoe stakes or fence posts for a really lightweight fence.

[BFL13]

Fresh water tank fell part way down on the 5er we had when it was still new.

The two L beams going across that hold it up --one is fixed and the other is bolted. Ours had the bolted one too far away from the fixed one so the tank was just barely on there and it slipped down at that end.

I was able to get enough of the underbelly out of the way to see and get at the ends to move the bolted L beam up snug to the tank. I inserted several washers on the bolts at each end that hold it to brackets on the frame. That got the tank sitting on the full ledge of the L.