3160EL Light Assembly/Wood Trim In Slide Coming Down

[Debdoodles]

John,

Your description is exactly what happened. The screw actually came out as well. See attached photo. It is a 3 inch long screw. I've been thinking about the toggle bolt option but if I drill a larger hole up through to put in a toggle bolt, where/what would the head attach to?

I certainly appreciate you comments and suggestions. We still have a while before we head back home, but want to have some sort of fix in place before we leave. We're spending the winter in Port Aransas, Texas and have 1700 miles to get home. I'm concerned that with one loose corner, more will loosen up with the bouncing from travel. The assembly is 8 feet long with 4 lights attached. It's probably quite heavy.

Thanks again,

Rick Dixon

 

[donr827]

When I run into such a problem I will go to a HD and cruise the hardwear section looking for a problem solver.

 

[NP_Chief]

View attachment 63688

I need this in my garage!

 

[Flick]

Rick, hope y’all are enjoying Port Aransas. That ferry ride to get there is a lot of fun. They do accommodate the large vehicles well.
There is only one way to fix your problem. You will have to take the fixture completely down and create a template of it. Then create an exact cutout from a 3/4” piece of ply board. Attach that piece of ply board first with construction adhesive and screws. Be sure to first with a small drill bit figure out where the support in the ceiling is. Put multiple screws there. Install the board and then reinstall light fixture assembly to the board. Trim the edges of the ply board with stained trim. It will never come down again. It is a rather time consuming fix but just screwing it back up will have you looking up there every time you walk in. It would eventually come down again.

 

[CoveredWagon]

John,

Your description is exactly what happened. The screw actually came out as well. See attached photo. It is a 3 inch long screw. I've been thinking about the toggle bolt option but if I drill a larger hole up through to put in a toggle bolt, where/what would the head attach to?

I certainly appreciate you comments and suggestions. We still have a while before we head back home, but want to have some sort of fix in place before we leave. We're spending the winter in Port Aransas, Texas and have 1700 miles to get home. I'm concerned that with one loose corner, more will loosen up with the bouncing from travel. The assembly is 8 feet long with 4 lights attached. It's probably quite heavy.

Thanks again,


Rick Dixon

Google toggle bolts. One picture will explain how they work. Look at the ones with wings.

 

[JohnDar]

Do a little probing of the screw holes and see if there is a solid panel as the first surface. My guess it’s a panel of Filon. Get the toggle above that enough to open the wings and it should be secure. Add a thin bead of construction adhesive to the top edge of the fixture.

A more radical fix (if all else fails) would have you coming in from above the slide, through the roof. That would require long stainless steel stove bolts, washers, nuts and sealant. I can envision it, but would only use it as a last resort.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SDFiver]

Debdoodles - We've got the very same 99 inch lighting monstrosity in our curbside slide also. Our rig is a 2019 Bighorn 3760EL. It hasn't started to fall yet. Fingers crossed. Looks like yours has better miters in the corners than ours does. Ours has 1/4 inch gaps in the corner joints. Quality work, not!!

 

[Debdoodles]

Well, I'm happy to report that we believe our problem has been resolved. We had a local RV repair company look at it. They used a stud finder that did show studs in the roof of the slide. To confirm, they took some more of the screws out of the end that has dropped so they could see up inside. Everything that they removed was fortunately screwed into a stud, however the end corner that had dropped was not screwed into a stud. The factory had missed the stud by an inch. The repair service put the corner screw back in at an angle that hit the stud and it tightened down nicely.

They don't believe we will have any other problems, but we have to figure out what to do about the ceiling wallpaper that tore when the light assembly started coming down. That's the least of our worries and we're very happy to know that there actually are studs in the slide ceiling. We'll be leaving for our 1700 mile trip home in about 3 weeks so hopefully everything is still secure when we arrive home.

Fingers crossed!

Rick and Debbie

 

[Flick]

Well, I'm happy to report that we believe our problem has been resolved. We had a local RV repair company look at it. They used a stud finder that did show studs in the roof of the slide. To confirm, they took some more of the screws out of the end that has dropped so they could see up inside. Everything that they removed was fortunately screwed into a stud, however the end corner that had dropped was not screwed into a stud. The factory had missed the stud by an inch. The repair service put the corner screw back in at an angle that hit the stud and it tightened down nicely.

They don't believe we will have any other problems, but we have to figure out what to do about the ceiling wallpaper that tore when the light assembly started coming down. That's the least of our worries and we're very happy to know that there actually are studs in the slide ceiling. We'll be leaving for our 1700 mile trip home in about 3 weeks so hopefully everything is still secure when we arrive home.

Fingers crossed!

Rick and Debbie

Good deal. Happy trails!

 

[i4110peter]

Good deal. Happy trails!

I just posted my progress on this same issue with pictures. Interested to know if it was the side over the loungers that came loose. It appears that they missed the stud on that end of mine. Work in progress.

 

[i4110peter]

I just posted my progress on this same issue with pictures. Interested to know if it was the side over the loungers that came loose. It appears that they missed the stud on that end of mine. Work in progress.

View attachment 63979View attachment 63980

Done! the fix included 3" X 3" square X 1" thick blocks glued and screwed to ceiling where the original screw holes were. If it comes down now, it will bring down the entire ceiling!

 

[donr827]

Great repair job. Better then new.