Tub Hitting Body of 400 on Road Bumps?

manyman297

Long story short, when we picked up our trailer there was some damage to the trim piece that hides screws along the front of the trailer (where the aluminum skin meets the diamond plating). I figured it happened when the dealer installed the tub (my understanding is they don’t ship the trailers with the tubs attached).  NuCamp sent a replacement trim piece out. Installed it easily and all was fine. 

Took our first trip since replacing the trim. When we got to the campsite I noticed the same gouge in the trim (see pics). The only explanation I can come up with is there’s enough “flex” in the body that speed bumps or immediate stops might cause the body to flex just enough to hit the sharp edge of the tub? It’s about a half inch or so gap between the two. We did hit a speed bump a little too fast which is probably when it happened.

Anybody else have this issue?

NorthIsUp

I have to agree with you. We thought that it was from a trip where we had hail damage to the aluminum skin, since the timing was right. We fixed the trim insert at uCamp21, but it will probably happen again if you're correct. Others at uCamp21 had the same issue and replaced theirs, as well. 

falcon1970

That does seem as though the tub "flexed" enough to hit the body.  The mark is at about the place where it would hit if the tub had pivoted up somewhat.  However, my 2019 tub is farther from the body than just 1/2".  I wonder if the dealer installed the tub a bit too close to the body.  I would expect that there would be at least a small amount if flex between the A-frame and the main body of the frame.
You might do a quick check underneath to see if the A-frame has any cracks near the main body of the frame and is allowing too much flex.  Unlikely on a new trailer, but....

manyman297

NorthIsUp said:

I have to agree with you. We thought that it was from a trip where we had hail damage to the aluminum skin, since the timing was right. We fixed the trim insert at uCamp21, but it will probably happen again if you're correct. Others at uCamp21 had the same issue and replaced theirs, as well. 

Interesting. Your crack occurred in a different spot. Do you think it was caused by the hinge of the tub?

I had my wife move the TV forward and brake moderately hard and you definitely see movement between the tub and the body (tub stays static since it’s connected to the frame but the body flexes just do to its shear size). Not out of the realm of possibility I guess.

manyman297

falcon1970 said:

That does seem as though the tub "flexed" enough to hit the body.  The mark is at about the place where it would hit if the tub had pivoted up somewhat.  However, my 2019 tub is farther from the body than just 1/2".  I wonder if the dealer installed the tub a bit too close to the body.  I would expect that there would be at least a small amount if flex between the A-frame and the main body of the frame.
You might do a quick check underneath to see if the A-frame has any cracks near the main body of the frame and is allowing too much flex.  Unlikely on a new trailer, but....

So it’s not the tub moving but the body of the trailer. The tub stays stationery with the frame but the body flexes (had my wife brake moderately hard and I can see some movement of the body…not close to hitting but I could see how a jarring bump or abrupt stop could cause the body to flex enough to hit the tub. 

The gouge is slight given the size and potential damage that could be caused so they must just barely be kissing each other. Definitely going to see if I can move the tub forward more. My clearances are probably 1/4” closer than yours. You can see below that I have an inch of movement from where that corner of the tub is hitting the trim…decent amount of flex. Amazing how much these bodies twist and shift.

I may just move the rubber trim up enough to cover the corner just in case this happens again (which it will) and put some protective tape over the damaged trim. 

gulfarea

Could you grind a little off the sharp edge to give more clearance? Art

manyman297

gulfarea said:

Could you grind a little off the sharp edge to give more clearance? Art

Yeah. That could work. Probably grind it into a radius curve. 

manyman297

Update. Took @gulfarea advice and ground a 45 degree angle on both corners. The tub has no play in the bolts that hold it down so wherever it's mounted is where it'll end up unless I went through the trouble of widening the existing holes.

This solution probably gives me 3/8" of additional distance which I think should be plenty. I then simply moved the rubber trim up to give some additional protection just in case I REALLY hit a bump hard. 30 minute job.

TABNewbies

@manyman297 - we are seeing the same issue on our 2021 TAB400 BD. Going to alert dealer for our upcoming visit this week. Solutions above look good and I'll ask about the replacement rail also.

manyman297

Oh wow. Your tub looks really close to your body. I was lucky where the gouge is just on the plastic cap trim. Yours gouged the metal trim. 

Warranty is sending me a new plastic cap trim so kudos to them on that. 

Grinding the corners down is easily the quickest remedy.

TABNewbies

So I went out and measured and it is 0.5 inch gap between the tub and and damage point. So perhaps more than just a corner removal is needed in this case and more of a change to the radius of the tub side to the caravan body from 2 inches down say. Will investigate. Thanks. 

manyman297

There might be some play in your mounting points where the tub attaches to the platform (4 bolts). In my case there weren’t so I couldn’t move the tub forward at all. Good luck and let us know how things play out.

johnfconway

I too walked right out to inspect tub and trim! A "made you look" situation if there ever was. Fortunately, no damage.

The flexing of the boondock edition is noteworthy. We bent the heck out of driver's front stabilizer exiting a Forest Road. Forced to turn left into a swale with no room to temper effect by cutting an angle. No other damage. Would have liked to have seen where back of TV was when front of trailer bottomed out.

Like many things RV, no stabilizer replacement available anywhere. Thankfully a friend and his shop got it back to full function and close on looks!

TABNewbies

And a before and after trimming back the side of the tub to run parallel with body of the camper:
Before:


After:


Plenty of room now.

manyman297

Looks good. It appears your tub might even be closer than mine to the body. We just went on a 1700 mile trip with the tub modification and, so far, it has worked.