Belly Pan Mounting Bracket

scott14

We have a 2022 T@B 320 S.  We took delivery in December of 2021.  To date, we have logged about 3,000 miles of travel with the trailer.  We could not be happier about the camper, the experiences we have had, and the nuCamp company.... however, I noticed something last night during a routine inspection of the trailer.  These pictures are of the passenger side belly pan, near the rear of the trailer, behind the axle.  At least two of the mounting screws have rusted and the heads fell off when I pushed the trim piece back into place.  The trim piece holding the corrugated belly pan is now not fastened and the belly pan unsupported.  Has anyone else experienced this?  What can be done to remove the shaft of the machine screw from the frame so I can put new machine screws in?

 

Thank you for your help!

Scott

manyman297

Extremely common problem. I had several screws that broke and I ended up taking all of the factory ones out and replacing them with higher quality screws. It was a huge pain removing them. I had to back them out with pliers from the backside of the frame. Took forever. In hindsight I would've used a precision grinder with a pointed tip to drill out the screw shaft from the underside...way easier. You can find grinders pretty cheap...wish I would've thought of it beforehand.

The good news is you can have a fair amount break and that belly pan will stay up...but I didn't want to risk it. 

But yes, a common problem probably caused by over-tightening using an impact drill to install them. None of mine were really that corroded.

Denny16

Yes, the break on the screw shown appears to be a stress break (caused by over driving the screw per manyman’s comment above).  The corrosion appears to be on the surface only, and is normal for plated steel screws exposed to any significant moisture, like the u deride of the trailer is.  

Cheers 

scott14

Thank you for the information!

MarkAl

Thinking of getting a box from McMaster-Carr (McMaster-Carr) is there one size used for this and thinking Stainless Steel? This maybe considered preventive maintenance also been avoiding taking that off for some inspections....

Denny16

Stainless fasteners would be the way to go.  Just be careful about driving them in, they are easier to over torque and break.  I think our local TaB dealer shop replaced the bottom underbelly screws on our TaB400 with stainless when they had the bottom cover off.  Check the stainless compound being used, not stainless fasteners have the sam corrosion resistance or shear strength.  Marine grsde stainless fasteners are best.
 Cheers 

MarkAl

After all that @Denny16 do you know the size? Is there only one size? We had probably 1000 screws for access panels on our plane and the significantly easier time w/ corrosion was worth the softer head (easier to strip). 88 on the cowling alone which got removed a lot.

Denny16

@MarkAl That is a lot of screws Mark!  The p,and I worked on was a Navy WWII single engine bomber trainer, had a dual cockpit, and everything, I mean everything was riveted on.  Taxing that beast on the ground was like driving a small house around.  

I am not sure on the size, I haven’t pulled one yet, but my guess is nüCamp used either a no 8 or no 10 by 1/2 or 3/4 inch screw.  You should pull one and match it if the holes are in good kit, or get the next wire size larger.  There is not any weight on this, just some wind buffering.  The dealer’s shop dropped mine when we had the floor done.
 Cheers