FYI - How it's made - AF990 Tank supports

[Joe417]

Since a few on here want to know how it's made, I drew a sketch of my 05' AF990 tank supports and thought I'd share.



I didn't write down all the measurements when I had it apart, so it doesn't have all the dimensions.

I added the wooden supports at 23.5 and 42 inches to support the fresh water tank better. Polyethylene thickness allows it to sag ~2 inches between the factory support frames. The black and grey tanks are thicker and narrower and don't seem to sag much.

Of course, can't be sure how close this is to an 04' or 06' model.

[kerry4951]

Possilian wrote:
When I had my '13 990 apart it was different. I did measure it out but never did a cad drawing of it like you did. Nice

Yours being different is a good indication that AF has addressed the earlier problem. All TC manufacturers have had issues. The important thing is that they address the issues and make the necessary improvements. A 2005 AF or any other TC cannot be compared to a newer one unless it can be shown that no improvements or changes have been made. AF also had delamination issues early on but thats also been addressed and corrected. Lance had issues with the rear wings rotting but that too has been addressed. They all have had problems...its how the correct them that matters.

[bigfootford]

Good job Joe. You are correct for being concerned about failure of the AF bottom bracing...
Here is one to ponder:



From the thread named "Well the bottom just fell out of my 05 AF 1140"

The rear cross frame under the black/gray came loose/ bent..
The good is although the camper was out of warranty by a year AF/Northwind offered to fix it... But V6toy4X fixed it himself.

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/21247815/srt/pa/pging/1/page/2.cfm

A couple of pictures from the above thread:





The good is that v6toy4x fixed it himself... There is no thread of him doing it, bummer.

Jim

[Joe417]

Billyray,

I didn't have to add the supports for the tank. I just wanted to so when I drain the tank I didn't have 3 or 4 gallons still in the tank due to the polyethylene sagging / stretching from weight.

And Yes, you can put water in the tank with it off the truck. I did have some of the frames with cracked welds (previous post last year) but it's an 05' and don't know how many miles were on it.

I've got about 8K miles on it with no issues except a frig fan and those darn bugs on the front.


Bobndot,

Yes, you can buy a TC that has a problem due to mfg defect. But It's a machine that goes down the road. Things can deteriorate if maintenance isn't done. I read the posts you attached, but what I noted was that the OP had his TC 5 years and didn't mention maintenance. After the first year you have to take care of it or pay for it which ever suits the owner.

All but 1 RV that I've bought had issues. I look at the unit and assess what it needs and offer what I think it's worth. I've bought 2 knowing they had roof leaks. Even if it is new, I go over the unit and rework it to my standards.

I've replaced roofs, front caps, floors, framing, aluminum, and fiberglass. If I get to the point I can't take care of my toys I'll change hobbies.

So far, I only squeal and grunt when getting up off the floor.

The glass needs to be half full when you deal with RV. If it breaks, I whine about it to the wife, but in the end it's just another opportunity to excel.

[bobndot]

I too was shocked at the build . After taking mine back 3x to the Virginia AF plant, I decided to try to become a mechanic myself.

Things were leaking everywhere from cracked tanks trying to escape from this camper and leaking roofs etc.
When I took my 05 AF apart , I should have been wearing a hard hat when I crawled under that unit . Plumbing straps held it place by small screws tapped into soft pine and very thin cheap wood strips holding 300# tanks in place.

In addition to the well done illustration of the OP , you can view pics of early units like the one the OP posted ,
Look at the below 'Seymour Wrought' post . Its an interesting well done read.

AF repair job w/pics.

[billyray50]

I still cant get over having an owner having to add more support to the arctic foxes freshwater tank. Why has Arctic Fox not addressed this issue? Am I correct with the arctic foxes owners cannot have water in the tank with camper off the truck? Thought I read that somewhere?

[Possilian]

When I had my '13 990 apart it was different. I did measure it out but never did a cad drawing of it like you did. Nice

[jimh406]

Nice job. Thanks for sharing.