2011 Sundance 3300CK, WARNING TO ALL

Pay attention underneath your rigs!!

Well did my good pre trip, initial inspection of my Sundance 3300CK tonight. Noticed the underbody cover really sagging just in front of the front axle. So I cut the underbody all the way across in front of the fresh water tank, and removed the rear 3/4 of it. Any guesses?? Rear brace of the fresh water tank severely bowed. Look like somebody put flat iron between the 2 braces under the tank with plywood between them and the tank.


But under further investigation, when the brace was screwed into the I-beam with self tappers, one side was forgetten from the factory originally. Causing the angle iron brace to pull away from the I-beam and buckle. So the previous fix, whoever did it was a band-aid. It also caused the top rear of the fresh water tank to buckle and flex. You may ask how I know the factory forgot to attach one side of the brace/bracket...

Number 1, no signs of any self-tapper or bolt head rubbing paint off the brace. Number 2, not a single hole in the I-beam or broken self tapper in the I-beam to be found. No signs of grinding of old ones or anything.

Oh and then on removal of the fresh water tank and bracing, we find a kitchen/living floor brace that had broken all the self tappers on one side and was just hanging by the 2 of the other side. Let's hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
Pictures to follow at a later time.

Not to be unsympathetic but you are speaking of a 9 year old unit; if it's otherwise lasted this long then I'd fault the prior owners.

Not looking for sympathy. Just wanting to warn others to take the time to look underneath now and then. I don't think this issue would've even occurred though if THE FACTORY would've screwed the other side in instead of just one side. Then the brace wouldn't have been able to bend in the first place.

We built a heavier rear brace and added a middle brace.

KWfarmer said:

Not looking for sympathy. Just wanting to warn others to take the time to look underneath now and then. I don't think this issue would've even occurred though if THE FACTORY would've screwed the other side in instead of just one side. Then the brace wouldn't have been able to bend in the first place.

We built a heavier rear brace and added a middle brace.

Click to expand...

Factory would not have used plywood, shade tree mechanic there; looks like you were lucky to catch that. Shame someone didn't disclose it to you when you purchased. Looks like you are fixing it right though.

I know the factory wouldnt have used plywood. What Im trying to say is the rear brace was never attached on one side from the factory. Then whoever tried to fix it just added the plywood and 2 flat iron straps (you could see these were added because they were rusty) underneath without fully finding out the complete issue of the rear brace not being attached on one side.

Yup it is a shame it wasnt disclosed but thats what happens sometimes buying used sadly. At least now I know it's fixed right!