Shake, Rattle & Roll

[HDRider]

So far I have had the screws rattle out of the microwave mounting frame (I am questioning if the were installed), the Xantrex faceplate, the outside flip up table and the Dometic cooktop.

 

We have about 6,000 miles on our Ollie. Normal highway miles, very few gravel roads. 
 

Is this normal?

 

I am wondering what less obvious screw, nut or bolt might be waiting to make its absence known.

 

[jd1923]

5 hours ago, HDRider said:

Is this normal?

 

No, what tire pressure are you running?

[Cameron]

I keep a tube of red Locktite handy whenever I'm checking screws.

[routlaw]

After nine years our kitchen cabinet drawers and glides have all but come apart. Am in the process as we speak of rebuilding all of them now but otherwise no can't think of anything coming loose to speak of and make no mistake we have seen our share of rough backcountry gravel roads. As @jd1923 suggested you might want to look into your tire pressure. We run ours at 45 PSI and lower if its rough gravel roads.

More on the kitchen cabinet drawers in a later post. 

Edited August 15 by routlaw

[John Dorrer]

Our interstates are like driving on the Ford test track. We have had hinge screws come loose on the upper cabinets. We put locktite on them and that solved that issue

 We are on our third microwave frame. 2 replaced under warranty and some shoring up by Oliver. Better, but cracking on the corners again. That's the roads. 

 

As owners, checking fasteners, electrical connections, fuse connections, etc. should be on everyone's preventative maintenance list.

[Patriot]

23 hours ago, HDRider said:

Is this normal?

 

It has not been my experience in 4 years of ownership. Annually or often after a really long trip, I go through and check all the fasteners I can find and snug them down as needed. I prefer medium strength blue locktite where applicable. We have always run 55 psi in our tires since the day we took delivery of XPLOR in June of 2020.

Edited August 16 by Patriot

[SeaDawg]

4 hours ago, Cameron said:

I keep a tube of red Locktite handy whenever I'm checking screws.

I use blue, ordinarily. Red is quite permanent.  Blue generally does the job, but you can still remove the fastener, if necessary.

But, Loctite is def your friend.

[SeaDawg]

8 hours ago, jd1923 said:

No, what tire pressure are you running?

A very good question. 

[ADKCamper]

We have had the set screws on the stainless railing between the dinette and the bed work themselves loose early-on.

Also solved by Loc-Tite; hasn't happened since.

We have an LE. I don't believe the LE-II model has that railing... the pantry is there instead.

[jd1923]

11 minutes ago, SeaDawg said:

I use blue, ordinarily. Red is quite permanent.  Blue generally does the job, but you can still remove the fastener, if necessary.

But, Loctite is def your friend.

Agreed, the red is a permanent seal that I do not use. I like the blue stick since, which is like a paste that you can rub on a screw vs. the liquid that will drip.

BTW, Loctite is truly designed for metal automotive bolts. I wonder if the woodworkers out there know of a good thread sealant?

This is what I have on my workbench for automotive maintenance: Amazon.com: LOCTITE 248 Blue Threadlocker Glue Stick: All-Purpose, Medium-Strength, Anaerobic, No Drip, General Purpose, Works on all Metals | Blue, 9 Gram Wax Stick (PN: 37643-506166) : Automotive

[SeaDawg]

If you're not using bolts, washers, and nuts, maybe try petmatex blue/medium strength. It's supposed to bond to plastics , ie frp, ie, fiberglass.

[John Dorrer]

As noted by JD, Sea Dog, and David Austin, tire pressure is a big deal. Prior to 2022 tire pressure out the door was 80 lbs. When we picked up our 2022 they were at 55 lbs. 

 

We run ours under 55 lbs.

 

At 80 lbs. That would be the true definition of "Shake, Rattle, and Roll"😊

Edited August 16 by John Dorrer
Typo

[SNY SD UP]

Tire Pressure and make sure your shocks are in good shape.

I have found that most appliances in the OTT to be 'Metric threading', that is important when buying/replacing lost bolts/nuts.  

B~Out

Edited August 16 by SNY SD UP
added additional info

[SNY SD UP]

21 hours ago, routlaw said:

After nine years our kitchen cabinet drawers and glides have all but come apart. Am in the process as we speak of rebuilding all of them now but otherwise no can't think of anything coming loose to speak of and make no mistake we have seen our share of rough backcountry gravel roads. As @jd1923 suggested you might want to look into your tire pressure. We run ours at 45 PSI and lower if its rough gravel roads.

More on the kitchen cabinet drawers in a later post. 

@routlaw

you mean like this 'on the road repair' of drawer 'Rails & Slides' ??? 
 

A number of '(2) pre-drill holes' however 'with only (1) screw'...  never did find the missing ones.
The screws used should have been 1/4" longer.
 

Not bad for a 76yo 6-5, I was further in before Maggie took the Pic, and of course Willis was right in there with me ‘Supervising’…

[jd1923]

We've not had issues with our drawers. They stay shut during travel without straps or locks. I did have a Blum Locking Device crack/fail and then that particular drawer did open during travel. Given newer hulls use the same, these were correct for ours, very reasonable and I have a backup part now.

Side to Side Adjustable Locking Device for 563/569 Series Blum Tandem Drawer Slide - 2 Pair (4 Pieces) with Installation Screws - Amazon.com

A couple months ago, I had to remove the drawers to fix a kitchen sink leak. I noted the drawer slides only had three tiny screws each! I added 3 more to each slide and used screws a size wider with larger heads. They are not going anywhere now. 

[routlaw]

52 minutes ago, SNY SD UP said:

@routlaw

you mean like this 'on the road repair' of drawer 'Rails & Slides' ??? 
 

A number of '(2) pre-drill holes' however 'with only (1) screw'...  never did find the missing ones.
The screws used should have been 1/4" longer.
 

Not bad for a 76yo 6-5, I was further in before Maggie took the Pic, and of course Willis was right in there with me ‘Supervising’…

If only my repairs were this simple, as difficult as your positioning is in the photo. Nice approach however given your height.

What I am having to do is completely rebuild all drawers, replace all glides. Some of my glides, right side only are rusty, why I don't know as there are no leaks. Effectively the drawers built by Oliver were 1/4 to 5/16ths too narrow for the actual opening of the casings. I'm not making this up or exaggerating. This does not even include the spacers used to half a** make up for the difference which in this case were small washers glued with caulk to the back of the glides. Hoping to do a full report once I have everything built and reassembled which might be as early as today. Just started spraying on my first coat of varnish to the right side drawers a few minutes ago. 

[SNY SD UP]

On 8/15/2024 at 7:22 AM, HDRider said:

So far I have had the screws rattle out of the microwave mounting frame (I am questioning if the were installed), the Xantrex faceplate, the outside flip up table and the Dometic cooktop.

 

We have about 6,000 miles on our Ollie. Normal highway miles, very few gravel roads. 
 

Is this normal?

 

I am wondering what less obvious screw, nut or bolt might be waiting to make its absence known.

 

This is what I found, when the MW stopped working, and I had to remove it.  (not working was another issue). 

We have the High Pointe (see pic) MW, the faceplate has good attachment to the fiberglass/cabinet, no issues there.

However you have to slide the MW out to get access to where the shroud is attached to the sides of the MW.  Shroud has SHARP EDGES...
We had (1) screw on each side of shroud holding it to the MW, (1) on bottom of cabinet, (1) somewhere between OTT assembly and Valdez AK...
IMHO, These (see pic) were not really good screws to attach the shroud to the MW, they were counter-sinks so they would not be snug.  
All were all loose, having worked their way out partway.  The screws on the front of the shroud were basically holding the MW in place.

Opened up MW, Repaired the MW, Closed up MW.

I replaced existing screws with some short panhead sheet metal screws with fatter threads, and some appropriate external tooth washers.  
I should have used regular nuts/bolts/washers & bolted the shroud to the MW but I just wanted to finish and get on with vacation.  We will see.

Getting the MW back into the compartment, and lined up and under that cam attached to the bolt that holds it in place at the rear of the cabinet was not easy,
maybe an hour & half... 

[routlaw]

9 hours ago, John Dorrer said:

As noted by JD, Sea Dog, and David Austin, tire pressure is a big deal. Prior to 2022 tire pressure out the door was 80 lbs. When we picked up our 2022 they were at 55 lbs. 

 

We run ours under 55 lbs.

 

At 80 lbs. That would be the true definition of "Shake, Rattle, and Roll"😊

This is not necessarily true, when we picked up our Oliver E2 March of 2015 (#70) tires were at 50 or perhaps 55 PSI certainly not 80 PSI. For the first few years we ran them also at 50 but in the last 2 to 3 years have kept them at 45 on normal paved roads. I certainly agree though running them at 80 makes for a very hard ride.

[John Dorrer]

2 minutes ago, routlaw said:

This is not necessarily true, when we picked up our Oliver E2 March of 2015 (#70) tires were at 50 or perhaps 55 PSI certainly not 80 PSI. For the first few years we ran them also at 50 but in the last 2 to 3 years have kept them at 45 on normal paved roads. I certainly agree though running them at 80 makes for a very hard ride.

We have been running at 50 since the beginning of the year.👍

[SNY SD UP]

26 minutes ago, routlaw said:

If only my repairs were this simple, as difficult as your positioning is in the photo. Nice approach however given your height.

What I am having to do is completely rebuild all drawers, replace all glides. Some of my glides, right side only are rusty, why I don't know as there are no leaks. Effectively the drawers built by Oliver were 1/4 to 5/16ths too narrow for the actual opening of the casings. I'm not making this up or exaggerating. This does not even include the spacers used to half a** make up for the difference which in this case were small washers glued with caulk to the back of the glides. Hoping to do a full report once I have everything built and reassembled which might be as early as today. Just started spraying on my first coat of varnish to the right side drawers a few minutes ago. 

Yes, we also 'Had those Shims', found some on the floor below cabinets.  Kind of reminded me of paint stir sticks.
I removed ours, not really knowing what they were... I thought maybe temp spacers during assembly, and were left in there. 
I did save them, now I cannot find them, not in TT, must be in garage.
I figured out what they were months later.  However, have not had issues with drawers or slide/glides.  all staying put.
I do see where Metal Slide hdwe, may have some issues in the future, but no issues yet, and we have had travelled some rough roads.

B~Out

Edited August 16 by SNY SD UP

[MAX Burner]

7 hours ago, routlaw said:

For the first few years we ran them also at 50 but in the last 2 to 3 years have kept them at 45 on normal paved roads.

Same here.  We roll at 45psi cold - pressures usually bump up to around 52-54psi after 20-30 minutes this time of year...FYI

[jd1923]

7 hours ago, John Dorrer said:

We have been running at 50 since the beginning of the year.👍

46 PSI here, and God Bless @John E Davies who swore by 42#!

[HDRider]

On 8/15/2024 at 1:53 PM, jd1923 said:

No, what tire pressure are you running?

55 psi 

[HDRider]

I forgot to mention the set screw on the black tank blade valve was missing on our first stop after leaving the factory. 
 

 

[HDRider]

I am planning to start dosing screws with red loctite going forward 

 

thanks all