Potential leak on all toy haulers

bgassie

Member
Attention all toy hauler owners, your camper may have a leak that you may not find until it’s too late. If you look at the back of your trailer there are 3 torque head bolts on the bottom of each side of the ramp door framing that most likely leak. My toy hauler is 1.5 years old and never noticed the water until I purchased a piece of carpet for the garage. This past weekend it was raining and the carpet allowed the water to wick up the dove tail floor section in the rear of the garage. When I got home I rolled up the carpet and pulled out the water hose and started spraying water everywhere to try to find the leak. It took me 3 days to finally discover the leak. I remove the plastic threshold that is between the rubber flooring and bottom metal door framing and could see the plywood was soaked in both corners of the garage. I sprayed the water once again and could not see water coming into the camper. I then removed the vertical carpet covered wood pieces from the inside rear sides of the camper. These pieces cover the metal framing, screws, and wires going to the tail lights of the camper. Then I sprayed the water again and finally found the leak.
I was amazed at how much water was pouring into the camper from those 6 bolts that attach the door framing. It appears that the bolts are installed from the factory with no caulking or gasket to prevent water leaks. Apparently the factory thought a bolt head to metal framing would create a water tight seal.
The bad thing is nobody would ever see the leak until the floor rooted out because everything is concealed out of sight. The floor slopes up in that area, the bolts are hidden, and the rubber flooring does not absorb water. This allows the water to travel under the rubber flooring and absorbed into the plywood. By the time the floor is rooted the camper would definitely be out of warranty.
This is an issue that the factory needs to address.
 

bgassie

Member
Yesterday evening I had time to remove one of thebolts and I believe I have found the problem. The bolts are 3/8” diameter but the hole in the framing measures about 9/16”;therefore, the head of the bolt is just slightly larger than the hole. Ifthe bolts are not installed dead center of the hole it would never seal. My bolts were installed off center which made the edge of the bolthead right at the edge of the hole; therefore, water could easily seep into thecamper.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
bgassie,

I have reported this to AJ, the Toyhauler Brand Manager. He is taking it up with the plant to see if we can make "going forward" improvements in this area.

Thanks for pointing it out and sorry you're having an issue.
 

bgassie

Member
Can you post pic's of what you found and where etc...

If you stand at the back of the camper, you should see 3 button head bolts on each side of the ramp door towards the bottom that is in the camper metal framing. These are the six bolts I am talking about. I tried to upload a photo but can not get it to work.
 

NWILSON

Kentucky Chapter Leaders - retired
Here is the picture of the hole he is talking about
 

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  • Ramp Bolt.jpg
    Ramp Bolt.jpg
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Lou_and_Bette

Well-known member
I can see the blt heads but do they just unscrew or is there a bolt behind them which I can't figure out how to get to
 

bgassie

Member
You have to removed the vertical carpet covered wood pieces from the inside rear sides of the camper to get to the bolt nuts. My carpet covered wood pieces were attached with 3 screws. It was easy to remove. I purchased some 1/2" bolts and will replace them today and seal everything up.
 

Omegas

Member
I'm having trouble getting to the nut on the back side, any help with that or would siliconing the nut head be good enough?
 
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