Trailer hitch attaching bolt recall

[go6car]

Forest River Inc. is recalling 3,043 model year 2011-2016 Coachmen Pursuit, Mirada, and Encounter motorhomes manufactured from March 1, 2011, through Sept. 11, 2015.

The trailer hitch attaching bolts and nuts may not have been properly tightened, allowing the hitch to detach during use. Forest River will notify owners, and dealers will install a new fastener kit, free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin on Nov. 12, 2015. Owners West of the Mississippi River may contact Forest River customer service at 1-574-825-8317. Owners East of the Mississippi River may contact Forest River customer service at 1-574-825-8305. Forest River’s campaign number for this recall is 310-09112015-0086.

[Roll]

Originally Posted by go6car

Forest River Inc. is recalling 3,043 model year 2011-2016 Coachmen Pursuit, Mirada, and Encounter motorhomes manufactured from March 1, 2011, through Sept. 11, 2015.

The trailer hitch attaching bolts and nuts may not have been properly tightened, allowing the hitch to detach during use. Forest River will notify owners, and dealers will install a new fastener kit, free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin on Nov. 12, 2015. Owners West of the Mississippi River may contact Forest River customer service at 1-574-825-8317. Owners East of the Mississippi River may contact Forest River customer service at 1-574-825-8305. Forest River’s campaign number for this recall is 310-09112015-0086.

That's interesting. We bought our Encounter on March 21, 2011. I wonder if we are in that group. The coach is in storage now but when I am in the area I'll stop by and check the mfg date. I have checked the bolts for the hitch. Did that when I installed a long stone guard on the back of the coach, (long mud flap really). They seemed fine at the time.

To Go6car, Were you in the Smoky Mountains area in late Sept/early Oct this year? I thought we saw you, (coach anyway).

Gary

[WDW]

picked up our new Mirada 35BH and told the dealer about this. They called Coachmen and were "surprised" that word was out on this topic. The power of focus media....

Thank you for the OP on the topi!

[go6car]

WDW: Glad to help (I think someone else posted this too before me - my eyes aren't what they used to be, LOL!)

Roll - I wish that was me! We have stayed fairly local this year, with no longer trips. I'd love to go, though! Definitely on our bucket list. This thing called "work" keeps getting in the way of my traveling!

[LLVanB]

Originally Posted by go6car

Forest River Inc. is recalling 3,043 model year 2011-2016 Coachmen Pursuit, Mirada, and Encounter motorhomes manufactured from March 1, 2011, through Sept. 11, 2015.

The trailer hitch attaching bolts and nuts may not have been properly tightened, allowing the hitch to detach during use. Forest River will notify owners, and dealers will install a new fastener kit, free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin on Nov. 12, 2015. Owners West of the Mississippi River may contact Forest River customer service at 1-574-825-8317. Owners East of the Mississippi River may contact Forest River customer service at 1-574-825-8305. Forest River’s campaign number for this recall is 310-09112015-0086.

I got a SamAlert email on this on October 12 and posted here on the 13th.

I made an attempt to get Nate Hedges to send me the bolt kit. No luck - he insisted that they needed to have a dealer install for tracking purposes. I was not interested in driving the coach 200 miles round trip to a dealer that I don't trust. I removed one of the bolts (there are 4 1/2-13 x 2" hex head Grade 5) and discovered that the nut tightens on the unthreaded portion of the shank and may not provide proper clamping force for the hitch receiver to frame connection. So, I purchased 4 Grade 8 1/2-13 x 1.5" flange head bolts and flange nuts at Tractor Supply and installed them myself. Proper torque for these is 110 ft-lbs.

If I ever get back to the factory I will have Bob Jewell check them out and have our unit marked as "recall completed". If possible I do my own RV maintenance, repair and modification stunts!!

[go6car]

Interesting that I didn't get a Sam Alert. I found this online. Will have to call the recall number to see what's up.

[ResQfrog]

I was in Middlebury this last week and stopped by and was told the same thing, that the coach has to go to the dealer and be inspected, then bolts ordered. There is a snow balls chance in hell I will take it back to the local dealer. Every thing they touched has had to be redone. Heck they would most likely us a torch to remove the old ones.

[Roll]

The recall has been done on our Encounter. I learned it wasn't that the bolts are loose, rather it's a case of bolt hardening or strength. The bolts used initially are being replaced by number 5 strength or hardened bolts (three dash marks on the head of the bolt). I didn't see the original bolts but suspect they were number 2s (no dash marks on head of bolt).

I actually replaced two of the original bolts with eye bolts to hold a rear mudflap. They left the eye bolts in and gave me the extra two recall bolts. I have ordered hardened (at least number 5) eye bolts and will replace the other, older eye bolts, in the spring.

Torque on the new bolts is 75 ft lbs for you DIYers. The new bolts look like hardened chrome.

Roll

[go6car]

We have our bolts on order with a dealer, so (weather permitting) we'll have it done in a month or so.

[Roll]

Originally Posted by LLVanB

I removed one of the bolts (there are 4 1/2-13 x 2" hex head Grade 5) and discovered that the nut tightens on the unthreaded portion of the shank and may not provide proper clamping force for the hitch receiver to frame connection. So, I purchased 4 Grade 8 1/2-13 x 1.5" flange head bolts and flange nuts at Tractor Supply and installed them myself. Proper torque for these is 110 ft-lbs.

The replacements are grade 5 though grade 8 would naturally be better.

Wow 110 ft-lbs is a lot for a half inch bolt. The Dealer looked up the torque for me and said it was 75 ft-lbs.

Where did you get your info, maybe the Dealer was wrong.

Roll

[Duckogram]

A table for Bolt Torque Specifications (dry) from our friends in Pender, NE
Torque in Foot-Pounds for Inch Bolts
Bolt Size then Grade 5 then Grade 8
1/4”
10
14

5/16”
19
29

3/8”
33
47

7/16”
54
78

1/2”
78
119

5/8”
154
230

3/4”
257
380

Manufacturer torque specs may differ as they are application specific.

[Roll]

Thanks Duck. These torque specs are max torque based on the strength of the material. Is that correct? Similar to the max pressure you might see posted on the side of a tire?


A manufacturer might specify less depending on what the bolt was being used for but should not specify a higher rating than what is shown on the chart?


So what effect does the length of the bolt and number of threads have on the torque specs?


I'm just sorting this out in my head and my fingers happen to be typing at the same time. A defect in my DNA causes this.


Roll

[LLVanB]

Originally Posted by Roll

The replacements are grade 5 though grade 8 would naturally be better.

Wow 110 ft-lbs is a lot for a half inch bolt. The Dealer looked up the torque for me and said it was 75 ft-lbs.

Where did you get your info, maybe the Dealer was wrong.

Roll

Roll,
Here is the source for the 110 ft-lbs that I used: https://www.fastenal.com/en/83/torque-calculator
Their calculator actually indicates 106.4 ft-lbs for a Grade 8 1/2 inch coarse thread dry. I rounded up to 110. This is within the accuracy of my torque wrench. Also, the flange bolts + flange nuts might take a little more torque to reach the recommended bolt tension.

[Duckogram]

Interesting discussion but without getting too far into the weeds and off topic, basically the application has everything to do with bolt size and torque specs. Fine threads do have slightly higher tensil strength because of the wider cross section but they are easy to crossthread and are usually only used in precision applications in the sizes we are talking about. The chart I posted is from BlueOx. Their products are similiar to the application in question so it is a reasonable comparitive. The length is not considered as the tensil strength is the same.

Edit: BTW, LLVanB's 110 ft lb number is a good # and easy to set on the T-wrench.

[Roll]

Dup entry, sorry....

[Roll]

Originally Posted by Duckogram

Interesting discussion but without getting too far into the weeds and off topic, basically the application has everything to do with bolt size and torque specs. Fine threads do have slightly higher tensil strength because of the wider cross section but they are easy to crossthread and are usually only used in precision applications in the sizes we are talking about. The chart I posted is from BlueOx. Their products are similiar to the application in question so it is a reasonable comparitive. The length is not considered as the tensil strength is the same.

Edit: BTW, LLVanB's 110 ft lb number is a good # and easy to set on the T-wrench.

I'm most interested on your post because you said you got the infor from BluOx. I replaced the bolts and plastic washers in my towbar last year. I got the replacement "kit" from BluOx but when I asked about torque specs for the bolts in the tow bar they told me they don't set torque specs for it.

I found that almost unbelievable. I pressed it but they didn't budge and wouldn't provide any specific torque recommendations.

Anyone else run into this?

Gary and just to be clear, I am always interested in your posts Duck.

[nomad297]

Where is the threshold of fine and coarse when it comes to bolts? When holding a bolt in your hand and looking at it, how do you decide whether it has fine threads or coarse threads?

Bruce

[A32Deuce]

Lug nuts are course. Not a lot of threads. Fine threads would be something screwing into a soft material, Plastic, aluminum. Many lose together threads. Go to a hardware store and a clerk to show you what they look like!

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by A32Deuce

Lug nuts are course. Not a lot of threads. Fine threads would be something screwing into a soft material, Plastic, aluminum. Many lose together threads. Go to a hardware store and a clerk to show you what they look like!

I understand this much, but what I am more interested in is at what TPI a bolt goes from being a coarse thread to a fine thread. It seems like there must be a gray area and the difference is mainly left to one's opinion.

Bruce

[Duckogram]

Originally Posted by Roll

I'm most interested on your post because you said you got the infor from BluOx. I replaced the bolts and plastic washers in my towbar last year. I got the replacement "kit" from BluOx but when I asked about torque specs for the bolts in the tow bar they told me they don't set torque specs for it.

I found that almost unbelievable. I pressed it but they didn't budge and wouldn't provide any specific torque recommendations.

Anyone else run into this?

Gary and just to be clear, I am always interested in your posts Duck.

I'm not surprised as the answer you received is correct based on how you asked the question. I did a test fitment for a blueox bedsaver on the Ford/Reese Elite 25k hitch after Ford offered them as OEM. The instructions for the basic unit did not have specific specs so I used their basic table. The patient lived.
Next was the Blue Ox Tiger Track for my F53. Again, there are no torque specs for each bolt however, they did publish the generic specs for their applications on the instruction sheet. Here is a link to that reference.
http://blueox.com/wp-content/uploads...01/TT24002.pdf

In order to set specific torque specs you would have to test each bolt on the specific application. I think there is a machine for that but I will venture a guess that using the bolt manufacturers specs lessen corporate liability.