2109S Fresh Water Tank Brackets (Bent?)

[GearHd6]

I noticed while filling my tank that once it gets about half full it would shoot water out the vent hole beside the fill hole. By that time the tank is full of air and can not vent fast enough due to the vent line being smaller than the fill line. Most household faucets put out 40 psi, that is more than most car tires hold and those hold up a 4000 lbs car. Imagine what that pressure can do to a plastic tank.

And Electricians fix was posted a few posts up. He just put some U shaped electrical track under the bent bracket. My fix will be to put a 2x2 piece of angle iron under the bent bracket. To me, that will look more factory.

[mkillora]

And do you plan on straightening them with hydraulic jacks first?

[GearHd6]

I tried that before the last trip I went on but you can only jack it so far before you're against the water tank and then the bars just spring back. The camper is currently at the dealer for this issue and a water leak. I'll see how the dealer handles it before I make a plan. I think I'll get it as close as I can with the jack and then put the angle iron against it. That will hold the existing brackets straight with no problems.

[GearHd6]

Well the verdict is in. We dropped the camper off about 3 weeks ago to have this issue and a few others resolved. The dealer contacted Forest River about the issue and sent them a few pictures. Forest River tried telling them that it's in the owners manual not to travel with over 1/3 of a tank of water. The dealer (and I) proceeded to look in the manual and nowhere in there does it state that. All it says is to be sure to factor in the weight of the water when loading the camper.

So.., Forest River okay-ed the dealer to beef up the water tank brackets. The dealer then installed 2 pieces of 2"x2"x1/4" pieces of angle iron (frame rail to frame rail) and then attached it at each end of the old brackets with grade 8 bolts 3/8" in diameter. It looks like they routed the vent line closer to the camper floor as well, it's still not tight against the floor but it's better than it was. It now looks like you could haul a small car on top of the water tank brackets.

As of now, I'm happy with the outcome.

[Murphie]

I just read an article about a guy on this forum who lost his tank. Also on the Jayco forum. Your tanks are held up from the bottom which is different from the other two guys who had their tank flanges come away from the angle iron holding it from the top. Looks like both products are under engineered. I like the unistrut fix. That's the route I would go with. It's strong any easy to work with and very adaptable.

[GearHd6]

The unistrut works fine but to me it doesn't look very good when you look under there. The angle iron fix looks like it could be factory. And you're not going to bend 1/4" thick angle iron.

[electrician549]

The reason I used Unistrut was that there are the two tabs from the cross members under the tank that stick down below the piece that was bent. I was able to cut slots in the Unistrut without weakening it.

[wbdvt]

I checked my brackets and there is no bending. The only traveling I do with a full water tank is at the state campgrounds. I fill up with water inside the cg at the potable water station.

[Prothos]

I just picked up a 2014. the Tank was 3/4 full from the dealer. they filled the tank up to test it and Wanted me to run it out of all the lines. said they put some tank cleaner in it to sanitize the tanks. I had to tow it about 75 to 80 miles home. guess i need to check.

[GlacierGus]

Because of this thread, I also checked my water tank supports. I do not show any problems and I usually travel with at least half full tanks. My thanks to the OP for raising this problem. I will continue to monitor my tank supports.

While I am at it, I would also like to thank the person that raised the issue of the slide out fuse being under the trailer, behind the batteries. I did not know it was there. I looked and sure enough there it sits.

This is why I continully follow this forum. Such a wealth of knowledge and answers. Thanks everyone!

[Prothos]

I checked my brackets and no issue yet. they look to be made a bit stronger in the 2014 but i could be wrong. only done so far about 50 miles with 3/4 tank though. I did find a couple of other issue. when the slide is in i can see light through the top back seal. and when the slide is out i can see light through the front botton seal. any easy fixes or do i need to take my week old rv back to the dealer and let them keep it for a month.

[mkillora]

Wow! Can't believe this one! Informed the dealer about the bent tank brackets some time ago, as well as forwarding the pics from the original poster. That wasn't good enough for FR and they wanted actual pics from my trailer. Did as they wanted and today the dealer informed me that FR wants the dealer to provide a cost estimate of the repair and then they will decide whether it's covered under warranty or not. What kind of logic is that? Doesn't say much for the warranty coverage or FR. Also, especially considering that previous posts have mentioned that FR covered the warranty work in their cases. Has me fuming and also considering that I'm a 2 hour drive to the dealer.

[GearHd6]

We are about 1.5 hours from our dealer but they repaired our brackets under warranty. The repair they did I would guess all totaled was a 1.5 hour job.

I know sometimes dealers don't like doing warranty work because they only get paid a smaller flat rate labor fee. You might want to check with Forest River to make sure you're getting the true story.

[wbdvt]

I would talk to FR direct and see what they say. Keep us posted and maybe from FR is monitoring this thread.

[Nick1122]

I can't believe I found this thread. The same thing happened to my 2013 2109s fresh water tank. First time I used it I was filling up at the campground and boooommm. I looked under the trailer and the brackets holding my water tank up had fallen off and one side of the steel holding the tank up was bent. I was expecting water to come out of the air vent hole when it was full but it never did.

So, I went back to the dealer and they just bent it back up and said it was fine. So the next time I went camping it worked fine. Then the third time when I was filling it with water it bent again in the same spot as before. Now I don't know what to do. The dealer is 2 1/2 hours away and will only do work on a weekday. Ugh!

This is a definate problem with this model.

[GearHd6]

The vent line needs to be rerouted up tight to the floor of the camper. Then add 2"x2" angle iron piggybacked to the original brackets.

[mkillora]

Well, hopefully the saga with the bent brackets has finally come to an end. FR agreed to cover the warranty work and I brought it to the dealer (Travel-Mor, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), last week. The repair was awesome, (I'll forward pics in the near future) and they told me that the factory brackets were toast. They re-engineered the bracket set-up using beefier angle iron and a slightly different configuration. Also tried, as best they could, to adjust the vent line. Also told me that the repair time was longer than they had been allocated, however they persevered and did a quality repair. They did caution to fill the tank as slow as could be in future, but I believe that their fix will certainly do the trick.
Everyone that has a 2109s should have a look at these brackets(!).

[Nick1122]

Do you have a pic?

[GearHd6]

What would you like a picture of Nick, his bent brackets or the dealers repair? I can take a picture of my reinforced brackets that Forest River paid for if you'd like.

[Nick1122]

I'd like to see how they repaired it.