Straps holding black and grey tanks...
- Thread starter Carmenh
- Start date
billyjoeraybob
South Carolina Chapter Leaders-Retired
Good question. My Sundance is the same way.
Sandpirate69
Well-known member
Something is really not right. Your tanks should be well supported, not with space under it. I'm no expert, but when I replaced the wood under my tank i really buttoned up the supports on tight. Never seen that. But, maybe someone else on the forum can shed some light. If not, first thing Monday morning call heartland with your vin# and send them those photos. This way an engineer can advise on the set up or lack there of.
Oh that does make sense! I'll definitely call, though, on Monday. Fingers crossed they're ok because I bought the TT 6 hours from home and across the border and now I'm reading about all the issues getting warranty service from dealers other than the one where the unit was purchased!😳
Tank straps should never be loose. Our NT had a 7" sag. I pulled the bottom and the straps were broken. When they fixed it they put in 1/2" plywood to spread out the weight. The straps then supported the ply and the weight. If your tank is supported by metal brackets on the sides what supports the weight in the center of the plastic tank??? Either your metal brackets cross the center of the tank and support the weight of a sagging tank or the straps cross the center and support the weight. If you have metal brackets running across the center then you should not need metal straps. If tanks straps are loose to support the tank when it is filled that means they want it to sag in the middle. That sound like a disaster waiting to happen. I'd put a cross braces to support the sagging weight so it wouldn't sag and stress the rest of the plastic tank.
TeJay
TeJay
Last edited:
porthole
Retired
Fill the tanks and take a look.
I am going to just take a wild guess, but after looking at my straps (similar) I would think it allows the tank to empty a bit better then tanks that are fully supported and flat on the bottom.
If the tank is full and being supported by the straps as it empties it will retain that shape a bit, possibly aiding the flow.
I am going to just take a wild guess, but after looking at my straps (similar) I would think it allows the tank to empty a bit better then tanks that are fully supported and flat on the bottom.
If the tank is full and being supported by the straps as it empties it will retain that shape a bit, possibly aiding the flow.
danemayer
Well-known member
Call Heartland Customer Service at 877-262-8032. Have your VIN # ready.
Ok, I called. The tech was super patient and friendly. He said the gap that I showed in the pic was not the least bit alarming. 3-4 fingers fitting in is totally normal and desirable. What DID concern him was that there wasn't much of a gap on the drain side. He advised that I fill the tanks and have a look at where the straps are when full. I said I was still winterized but he said it was okay to just try the black tank, since theres no ptrap, and because the 2 are set up almost identically, that should tell me if I have a problem. I'll do it when I get home...
So you are going to accept a Techs response that 3-4 fingers of strap gap is OK????? There is no sound reason or common sense approach that would or should allow a 3-5 finger gap between the bottom of the tank and the strap. You fill the tank and it sags until it hit the straps. Why would you want the tank to sag 4-6 inches every time you filled it?? Would that not stress what is actually holding the tank in place???. That's a stretch any way you look at it and it makes no sense. I realize that one tends to accept what you hear from a manufacturers technician but common sense should also come into play. If loose straps are the norm then I wold expect the manual to address that issue so people would not constantly call and ask dealers/manufacturers. Think about this. Two pieces of angle iron across the tank bottom would support and probably not cost any more than those straps. And they would not get warranty calls regarding loose and sagging straps.
JMTCW
TeJay
JMTCW
TeJay
Sounds like a new Ford truck I bought that the bed was 2 inches higher on the right side than it was to the left. The service manager told me it was designed that way for the crown on the road. LOL !!! I told him that sounded nuts and demanded it be corrected, the next guy said there was an error in assembly and that rubber shims had not been correctly placed when the bed was mounted. Not sure if either was correct but my bed was level when it was returned to me.
It just dont sound reasonable to me that the straps would purposely be loose. It sounds like the tech is saying that the tank should expand like a rubber balloon when full. If that was so, you could never dump the tanks because the level of the contents would be below the drain outlet. I ran into this before on an older unit a friend of mine owned. His complaint was that he had a horrid smell that he could not get rid of no matter how long he flushed his tank, after finding that there were no straps on his, we made up our own, and slipped a piece of plywood between the straps and tightened it up so the tank could drain properly. That corrected his problem !!
I would investigate further, or you may end up with a sagging tank that wont drain. Just Sayin !!!
His explanation did make sense to me. The main support for the tanks are channels that run along the long sides. The straps are simply to keep the tanks from expanding so much in the center that it causes the side supports to come out. I will definitely continue looking in to it but it was the tech himself that said he was concerned about the drain-side straps and said that if they were tight, I should get it in to be looked at. I'm leaning towards thinking it is as it should be, simply because if they screwed up, they screwed them both up in an identical fashion! I will keep the thread updated for sure...
Sandpirate69
Well-known member
Im not an engineer but common sense tells me that if the tank expands a little lower than the drain, by an inch, you won't get all the contents out. I don't know if that's your case. I guess the best way to test what you were told is to fill the tank and see if the center drops below the drain vavle.
Please keep us posted on your findings.
Thank you
Ivan
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Please keep us posted on your findings.
Thank you
Ivan
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
