The belly of the beast. The Good - and the wastefull - pun intended

[Yoda]

Ill have pictures tomorrow, but after getting my reverse lights wired up. I decided to undo the remaining 4 belly bolts and drop the colorplast (sp) to the first axle. I had a bulge at the water tank I cold not figure out. Turned out to be a large block of spray foam that was intended to hold a heater duct in position. It had broken loose, collapsing the duct in the process.

Wiring mess - I know its not plumbing but if GD just sat down and determined a wiring plan and created a simple loom system they could save thousands on wire. On the foil I also found 6 unused crimp connectors, one cigarette butt, and 10 lbs of wood saw dust (I exaggerate). Foil wrap was bunched and stuffed everywhere. I will straighten that out later. Whats astounding is the power cables from the battery to the disconnect switch ar probably 3x longer than they need to be. I need to secure them some way as they are laying on the belly free to move around.

Plumbing I found the tanks sitting in a very secure strong cradle, but they are loose. You can move the tanks up and down at will. I am thinking of using my good GD foam that sticks to everything to hold / glue then in place. THOUGHTS? The tank movement put stress on the plumbing that is nor supported. One surprise is the the primary fitting into the black and gray tank is not glued a- its plumbers putty with i screw clamp. It could be the butyle material they use elsewhere (gray in color). I also think I need to secure the pipe run to the side of the trailer. I can hand move it and see the tank flex at the fitting connection.

Dump valve cables Cate&Rob Rob - how bad can I mess up your Zerk install? They are making 90 degree cable bends where if they turned it around could be a straight shot to the the side of the trailer. Yes I know it would not be in the convenience panel. Is there an easy way to lube the cables while I have this open up. I wanted to pull the inner cable out of the outer sheath.

More tomorrow when I can take pictures.

[steve&renee]

I decided to undo the remaining 4 belly bolts and drop the colorplast (sp) to the first axle.

Please take pics and document what you do/did to button it all back up. I know some have struggled with the re-do.

Thanks.

-Steve

[Yoda]

Please take pics and document what you do/did to button it all back up. I know some have struggled with the re-do.

Thanks.

-Steve

Ill do this out of order to help folks understand how to button it up.


Step one is lay out everything and secure the foil layer. I used double sided tape squares along the edge - just inside the frame contact.

Next you will need some rope, clamps, a 2x4, scrap 2x4 blocking, and cribbing and jack.


Clamps along the front edge tied forward.


Ropes tied to front . The intent is to get the fabric pulled forward. I do not have a lot of tension on this, just enough that as the 2x4 is moved forward, the slack is taken up.


This is the real trick and I borrowed it from someone else that posted it. I took this picture before adding additional blocking in the middle to push the belly up (2x4 scraps. Once you do this the edges are easy to align. I used a big pair of vice grips and with some pressure got the holes to line up. I did 2 on one side - then 2 on the other, then reset the 2x4.


All I have left now is the very front. There is a piece of aluminum that goes here and I straightened it up and have double sided tape on it to hold in place on the belly as I line up fasteners. Ill get some pictures as I do that.

Now for what I found in the belly. In most cases I had already zip tied a bunch of stuff, to just get out of the way.

[TucsonJim]

That approach will make it a one person job. Another approach I've seen is to cut the 2x4 to length, and then just clamp it to the frame. No cribbing or jack needed.

Jim

[Yoda]

That approach will make it a one person job. Another approach I've seen is to cut the 2x4 to length, and then just clamp it to the frame. No cribbing or jack needed.

Jim

That would work too, but the propane lines might get in the way.

[Dave27]

That approach will make it a one person job. Another approach I've seen is to cut the 2x4 to length, and then just clamp it to the frame. No cribbing or jack needed.

Jim

I tried another way that worked for me. I used a three step stepladder and placed it in the middle. I could work from each side and line up the material, and put in a few screws to hold it in place. Then I moved forward and did the same thing. Once it was up I went back and finished putting in all the screws. I was pleased with how easy and quick it was. It is interesting to see the different ideas people can come up with solving this problem.
Dave

[Yoda]

Well it raining outside
So I will finish up wit what was discovered in the belly - the wasteful

When I dropped the chloroplast the first thing the dropped down were the main 12V power cables (center of photo) There is probably 3 feet of extra line here. They could have been tucked up in front of the tanks where I routed my side lights cabling.


12V cables could have been placed here.



I have used about a dozen zip ties before I too this photo, but all the wires were just hanging down. One thing I don't understand is why GD ran the water lines below the sewer drain where they are in direct contact with the belly and no insulation, There is plenty of room to go above, Also note the connection with the gray tank - it is sealed with a soft/flexible sealant and a band clamp to hold it in place. Also not the U-turn on the gate valve cable.


Black tank connection is also band clamped with soft sealant. I found a lot of flex in the cross piping to the drain end, so used some zip ties to snug it up to remove and play. It might alsoimprove fully draining the line.


If you really want to know what your tank sizes are, they are stamped on the tank. This is the black tank. I discovered GD slightly understates them by a few gallons in their specifications

[Yoda]

Just before reinstalling the chloroplast, I used some of my 3M stick squares and tied, in this case the running light wires, up along the black tank bottom.


Did the same with the 12V cables

I also discovered the 110V and 12V were grounded together. Question for the electricians here? Why ground the 110V to the frame where everything goes back to the junction box and is then grounded through the power cord. Would not grounding to the frame prevent the hot trailer hazard where folks get shocked due to a faulty neutral/ground cross? Trying to learn here. Also not that GD did not use a grommet or any protection for the through frame wires (green and white wires in background). Ill haft to remember to fix this from the outside.


Found the black tank flush nozzle connection - it sprays toward the back of the tank. You can also see the floor structure - foam bonded to 2 thin layer of plywood. I am sure the aluminum frame is somewhere.


Closer shot of the floor.

[Country Campers]

Keith

Does the black tank sprayer spray from the front of the tank to the back where the exit pipe is? And , Is the exit towards the front or back of the trailer?

Brian

[Yoda]

When I first opened it up I found the heating duct laying loose with big spray foam chunks attached to it. The duct work had pulled loose and the big bulge I had by the water tank was due to one of the foam blocks. There is probably 3 extra feet of ducting.

So it tied it up and straightened it out. I found it partially collapsed at one bend. It originally was laying loose on top of the sewer piping, There is just a bit of spray foam visible where they tried to glue it to the sewer pipe.

Well that's about it.

It was good to get under there and find out what I have and clean it up a bit.

To GD - I don't know what your paying for wire prices, but from what I found you probably have 30 extra feet or more of wiring. You might want to consider mocking up some simple looms. Could save you in the long run. Same goes for water lines and fittings.

If there are any questions folks let me know

@Cate&Rob In your PDF of repairing/replacing the gate valve, how did you get the extension that the cable runs through off the valve assembly. I looked for screws, but could not find any. I just left it alone for now.

Thanks Folks
Keith

[howson]

Yoda (Keith)--I find the foil you're having to mess with interesting. I did not have that issue with my 315RLTS--it was "just" the coroplast. Amazing how different the construction is on trailers from the same OEM!

Did you ever get a chance to look in the holes (like where the kitchen plumbing goes through the floor) to see if there was foam sandwiched between the floor layers? Very curious to know how your 150 Series 5vr is constructed.

[Yoda]

One last picture - GD had glued this bunch of 110V wiring to the foil barrier. I cleaned this up, but wiring was all twisted up and a pain to get to lay flat in a neat bundle. Also notice how the foil barrier is all folded up too. I was able to pull it out and straighten it up. This area had a lot of foam to seal the belly against the suspension cut out. I have cleaned a lot up and will do more cleaning before resealing.

[Yoda]

Yoda (Keith)--I find the foil you're having to mess with interesting. I did not have that issue with my 315RLTS--it was "just" the coroplast. Amazing how different the construction is on trailers from the same OEM!

Did you ever get a chance to look in the holes (like where the kitchen plumbing goes through the floor) to see if there was foam sandwiched between the floor layers? Very curious to know how your 150 Series 5vr is constructed.

Yes
Post #8 above - last picture is typical of what I found. Its about 1" of foam

[Yoda]

Keith

Does the black tank sprayer spray from the front of the tank to the back where the exit pipe is? And , Is the exit towards the front or back of the trailer?

Brian

Brian the spray direction is apposite of the drain. In the first picture of post #10 you can see it above the drain fitting. Its up high and sprays to the back of the tank, then the water would run forward to the drain. In post #7 you can see how the tank steps down to the drain. Spray nozzle is above out of the picture. I at first thought it should be reversed and spray towards the outlet, but the way GD has it it sprays the tank above the drain hits the back wall and would then splash forward and along with the side down wash, would do the cleaning.

Hope this helps
Keith

[Canyonlight]

Keith Yoda - thank you, for sharing the narrative and pictures of your trip into the belly of the beast ! This is all helpful information for those wishing to learn and possibly trouble shoot issues. Good stuff !

Dan