legend 945 left rear tie down pulling out of camper.

[Trouncer]

So I made my first trip out with my camper setup on my gooseneck trailer. When I got to my destination I noticed the left rear mount on the camper is pulling down the camper side area. So much so, it pulled the trim down out of the siding. The heater is in the same area as this tie down as well.

How do you remove the siding and can you remove just one section in the middle? Any ideas how bad this might be?

I would post an image of my camper and it's setup but not sure how to do so on here and I don't have an off site photobucket type account. I can sent them to someone if they would post them up for me.

Thanks

[jefe_4x4]

One way or another, there is too much stress on the tie downs.
This predicament seems like one or more of three things is happening:
1. Tie-downs too tight. Yes, I've been there and had to pull the first layer of siding off to assess the problem. The problem was dry rot on the bottom 1x2 wood framing, and tie-downs too tight. It's just so counter-intuitive. Loosen to save the TC framing?
2. The surface the camper is on is not flat or too slippery and allows the camper to skate to one side or the other. A good, sticky, thin bed matt will give you more friction and resist skating.
3. You don't have camper guides or some way to 'keyway' the bottom of the box to keep it from moving. Don't underrate this woe. Just moving an inch or two to one side loosens one side of the tie-downs but verily tightens the other side. I have seen this over and over again. It's just so counter-intuitive.
jefe, your counter-intuitive TC friend

[Trouncer]

joerg68 wrote:
You start at the bottom and work you way up. The top of the lower panel slides into a channel at the bottom of the next upper panel. If you work carefully, you can reuse the wall panels.

Is there no access from the inside to see what is going on?

Again, read some of the Truck Camper University right here https://forums.trailerlife.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25966285.cfm - scroll down to "Camper Structual: Repairs"

Don't be scared by what you see there, though.

This thread http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/18228847.cfm shows a bit of the wall designs.

Thanks

I read through that but I didn't see anything about the area of my concern on the side.

I have not looked inside to see what I can see in this area yet but will try too

I'm just doing research on it right now before I get into it blindly. I'm not scared to tackle it at all and have the tools to get done whatever I encounter as well.

[joerg68]

You start at the bottom and work you way up. The top of the lower panel slides into a channel at the bottom of the next upper panel. If you work carefully, you can reuse the wall panels.

Is there no access from the inside to see what is going on?

Again, read some of the Truck Camper University right here https://forums.trailerlife.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25966285.cfm - scroll down to "Camper Structual: Repairs"

Don't be scared by what you see there, though.

This thread http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/18228847.cfm shows a bit of the wall designs.

[Trouncer]

joerg68 wrote:
If your camper has the old style aluminum siding on a wooden frame, you can remove it from the lower end upwards. The siding consists of about 1' wide strips running the length of the camper, stapled to the frame. Remove trim and sealant, pull staples, remove siding. You can not remove strips in between.

If your camper has an aluminum frame, composite walls, or any other "more modern" design, things will be different.

Search the Truck Camper University for "rot repair" to get an idea what other folks have done.

You may have just overstressed the mount ... or there may be a structural issue behind 😞

Good luck with the repair,
Joerg

It is aluminum panel siding. Do you start from the top or bottom removing it?

The D ring is pulling the lower body of the camper apart so I don't think that it is a lag screw but think its a eye bolt.

The tie downs I have came with the camper and are adjustable threadall type design. They are camper tie downs. I tightened them down snug by hand then tightened the jamb nuts. I don't really know how it could've been over stressed really. It's setting on a long 20'000# capacity gooseneck so I'm thinking there's less flex with it then a pickup truck bed would have.

[joerg68]

If your camper has the old style aluminum siding on a wooden frame, you can remove it from the lower end upwards. The siding consists of about 1' wide strips running the length of the camper, stapled to the frame. Remove trim and sealant, pull staples, remove siding. You can not remove strips in between.

If your camper has an aluminum frame, composite walls, or any other "more modern" design, things will be different.

Search the Truck Camper University for "rot repair" to get an idea what other folks have done.

You may have just overstressed the mount ... or there may be a structural issue behind 😞

Good luck with the repair,
Joerg

[Super_Dave]

Have you tried unscrewing the tie-down? I'm curious if it is nutted or a lag bolt. If it is a lag, you might have gotten lucky and just stripped the hole. If it won't unscrew, it is likely nutted and you've broken the piece of framing.