Awing pulled loose from trailer

[sc_surveyor]

We have a 2011 North Trail 31RESS with a Carefree power awning. The awning frame has pulled away from the trailer. This has happen on one of the supports and is from the top to about half way down. The lag screws have pulled out of the trailer. Has anyone had this happen? What's the best way to fix it?

 

[9-larry]

I had this problem but it was I caught awning post on gate post. the first time I just drilled new holes and put lag bolts in, this failed a few months later. what I did that has been holding through some heavy rains was to go to hardware store and buy some expanding anchors like you use in plasterboard. get the metal ones. they will only have 10-32 screws but if you put one every 3 to 4" apart they will hold the load. you will have to pull post loose from trailer to be able to drill for anchor. I only put two at top . on my trailer there wasn't a stud behind the fiberglass. I tried the glue trick as mentioned above but it came lose. be sure to caulk every thing including the old holes if you make new ones.

 

[Bob&Patty]

You could find a tad bit larger lag bolts....put construction adhesive on the threads. It might be an issue if you ever need to remove the bolts. There should be a block of wood in the walls where the bolts are.

 

[wdk450]

We are all guessing at this, not being there, but here is my idea. I would go with the metal anchor sleeves, set through the wall and into the backing wood with the anchors externally coated in Gorilla Glue just before you set them in the wall stud, then wait a day or two until you finally set the awning in place. It might be good to coat the inside edges of the wood holes with Gorilla Glue, using a popsicle stick, too. The Gorilla glue is urethane-based and expands some like miracle foam before it dries. That should give your anchors a positive grip into the wood.
Be sure to seal all penetrations with caulk, as moisture in the supporting framework is your enemy.

 

[sc_surveyor]

Thanks for all the replies and ideas. Now the hard part, fixing it. Suppose to work on it Sept. 16. Will let you know what we do to fix it.

 

[LaLuna]

Hello, we own a 2006 BigHorn and just had the same thing happen to us. Hoping we will find wood behind the screws when we pull them out this weekend to try wdk450's solution with the gorilla glue. Seems strange to us that the bracket is made in a way that leaves a large portion of the screw exposed as well. Also the bracket only has two screws used but there are clearly two other holes below the two screws that have plastic blanks in them. Not quite sure why all 4 screw holes were not used with 4 screws? Is this because it needs to have some flex? But noticed when we flex the bracket up, the current 2 screws pivot upward as well which looks like it is elongating the holes. Just not sure if we should take advantage of the other 2 holes on each bracket or not. The husband (engineer) will assess this weekend and I will post our decision with pics.

 

[caissiel]

On our 2009 BC I had to secure our awning with the additional screws.
No more beams to support awning.

Sent from my HUAWEI Y300-0151 using Tapatalk

 

[JohnD]

I don't have the electric awning, but on our last campout a couple of weeks ago I noticed that the mounting screws looked loose.

I grabbed a wrench and tightened them up before they got out of hand!

Guess it is something I need to keep an eye on.

 

[LaLuna]

What we found on our engineering assessment this past weekend...
NO metal backer plate found whatsoever under the upper awning brackets of our manual awning. Manufacturer did a straight shot into the RV with the screws and the only thing holding them in is the outside wall of the RV. We found a gap space between the outside wall and the inside wall which was not hit with the length of the screws used. If they used a longer screw it would have at least hit the second wall to add to the stability. The existing screws just pulled out of the RV by hand because stripped which seems like it came from the wind force on the awning all these years. Our plan is to buy bigger and longer screws so they will grab into the outside wall then hit the inside wall (which is hidden by cabinets) to give better strength. Also, we will use the gorilla glue where the screw hits the outside wall since the wood has been stripped in that location. Lastly, seem like the lower arms which attach to the RV do most of the support work with the upper arms stabilizing and keeping the awing itself from pulling out of its tract. The real problem would be is if anyone wanted to attach the awning to a deck, the support would be completely on the upper bracket, and we are not sure they can now be trusted to handle the load. Our BigHorn, although very beautiful on the inside and out, is akin to an old FORD (FIX OR REPAIR DAILY) due to shoddy workmanship in building the RV.