A/C Bolts that are loose, many affected

[OkieCamperFisherman]

Glad I saw this thread on the forum. Just pick up my 2011 26BH last week. Checked the A/C bolts yesterday and one of them was about 1/2 an inch shy of even touching the frame. Jayco obviously needs to address this issue. Thanks for the heads up everyone.

 

[maromeo-JAY]

We purchased a 2011 Jay flight 26RLS in November. DH and I just pulled off the A/C cover this morning thanks to this site. 3 bolts were tighter but we could still turn them a few more turns but the 4th the nut was barely on the bolt. DH is glad I do my research. I think Jayco needs to be aware of this. Our Jayco was manufactured in Idaho. I am not sure where everyone else's was manufactured or if that would make any difference.

Mary Anne

 

[Seann45]

We purchased a 2011 Jay flight 26RLS in November. DH and I just pulled off the A/C cover this morning thanks to this site. 3 bolts were tighter but we could still turn them a few more turns but the 4th the nut was barely on the bolt. DH is glad I do my research. I think Jayco needs to be aware of this. Our Jayco was manufactured in Idaho. I am not sure where everyone else's was manufactured or if that would make any difference.

Mary Anne

Some research has shown me that most of this is caused by the foam gasket compressing.. for now I will be checking mine spring and fall.

 

[Denise-JAY]

Some research has shown me that most of this is caused by the foam gasket compressing.. for now I will be checking mine spring and fall.

I think I will feel much better knowing this isn't a QC issue. But Don and I don't remember reading in the paperwork to check for loosen bolts anually (or whenever).... Doesn't mean it isn't in the owner's manual I guess, we may just not remember!

Do you have more info or the url where you learned about the foam gasket so we can understand it better? I'll pass it on to Don then. Thanks Seann

 

[Seann45]

I think I will feel much better knowing this isn't a QC issue. But Don and I don't remember reading in the paperwork to check for loosen bolts anually (or whenever).... Doesn't mean it isn't in the owner's manual I guess, we may just not remember!

Do you have more info or the url where you learned about the foam gasket so we can understand it better? I'll pass it on to Don then. Thanks Seann

I was talking with a retired RV mechanic.. asking him about this...

 

[maromeo-JAY]

I have been reading this issue on other boards also. It is not just Jayco specific. It appears to be hitting other brands across the board. If that is the case, I would think it should be included in the dealer prep or upon us when we do the walk through. Maybe we need to add it to the list when we pick up our new trailers.

Mary Anne

 

[Double Eagle]

After reading this I became concerned about mine; My fifth wheel is currently at the dealer for a few minor service issues. I contacted them to check the bolts and the service man I spoke too stated this is common and should be checked once a month if you pull your trailer on a regular basis. He also stated the bolts should only be tightened a little tighter than hand tight and stated much more than that can damage the gasket and cause the gasket to leak.

On a diffrent note, he also told me if you are camping in an area with high humidity keep the A/C unit on high cool and not low cool; he stated with the A/C on low cool it can cause the A/C unit to freeze and cause a water issue when the ice thaws. Has anyone else heard this?

 

[Thomas G Copeland]

This issue is addressed in the Melbourne owners manual. Don't know about others.

 

[Spike99]

Last weekend, I checked the AC bolts on my 2006 Jayco TT. All 4 bolts were loose. As majority of folks, I hand tightened then "snugged down" using a wrench. No previous leaks but very thankful for this thread. Glad OP posted this warning. re: Check AC bolts on your TT as well theme...

 

[norty1]

Good info I checked both my AC's today and both had at least 2 bolts loose.

Just took out the slack and turned about 1/2 turn more to snug. We had a heavy rain but no leaks even before this. Still I am glad someone made it public.

 

[Albertaguy]

I just brought my 5th wheel home from the farm to clean, wax, and get ready for my next trip. The first thing I did when I got home was to check my AC bolts, but mine were fine.

 

[nylyon]

Check your sinks too. 2 nuts holding my kitchen sink were completely off, and the rest were loose.

 

[Albertaguy]

Check your sinks too. 2 nuts holding my kitchen sink were completely off, and the rest were loose.

I will do that, thanks!!!

 

[RVhiker]

I think there are two issues with the 4 hold down bolts on AC's.
1) Perhaps they loosen over time as the gasket compresses. I would caution that it is very easy to tighten these bolts, even when they are tight enough, as the gasket is spongy and easy to compress. Be easy.
2) Sloppy assembly at the factory - or perhaps some QC personnel think that two bolts tightened properly are OK if they are diagonally opposite one another.

With respect to apparent sloppy assembly at the factory, this thread lists new or almost new Jayco's with this issue: 2011 Starcraft, 2011 30.5BHLT, 2011 26BH, 2010 365BHS, 2011 New Jayco (unspecified), 2011 28.5RLS, 2011 33RLDS, 2011 26BH, 2011 26RLS.

I finally got a response from Jayco customer service, after two contacts from me. Here's my question and the response. This was my second contact, and I had replied to the confirmation e-mail I got from Jayco (but had not got an answer to):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My question: So far, I have not received a reply. My question had to do with the four mounting bolts that hold the AC to the roof of my 2011 Eagle Superlite 28.5RLS trailer. Two of the bolts were completely loose, not even touching the flange that they tighten against. The dealer corrected this -after I reported it to them upon learning of the problem in this thread: http://www.jaycoowners.com/showthread.php?t=2880. But why was the AC installed like this in the first place?

The Jayco response: Thank you for taking the time to contact us here at Jayco. I'm sorry to hear your A/C bolts were loose. There was an issue a couple of years ago in the Jay Feather product. There is no issue in regards to the Eagle series. Basically this was simply an isolated issue of production error. We build these units with human hands and inspect them with human eyes. We certainly do make mistakes. We are not perfect. This is why we have the 2 year warranty in place so such issues can be taken care of by Jayco after the unit is owned.
Thanks again for contacting us and I wish you many years of trouble free camping.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the reports in this thread, I don't think they've got the original problem fixed.

 

[scalemaster-JAY]

I checked mine. Three bolts OK, one threaded out 1 inch. No signs of leaks, will check yearly from now on.

 

[NACSKINS]

checked mine and all 4 were a little loose. Snugged them all up a bit. Adding to maintenance spreadsheet. Maybe a little loctite.

 

[Seann45]

checked mine and all 4 were a little loose. Snugged them all up a bit. Adding to maintenance spreadsheet. Maybe a little loctite.

I am not sure about using loctite. much of the loosening can be from the gasket getting compressed loctite will just make it harder to tighten them down again....

 

[bordercity]

I checked mine on my 2010 23K a couple weeks back. One was very loose, two were finger tight, and the other was tight. I can see how the gasket would compress over time, especially by the material its composed off (just looks like spray foam to me). Something to check on a regular basis.

Thanks all for the heads up on this.

 

[NACSKINS]

I am not sure about using loctite. much of the loosening can be from the gasket getting compressed loctite will just make it harder to tighten them down again....

Good point, Thanks.

 

[Larry2C-JAY]

I started a new thread on this subject and the moderator closed it and pointed me here so I thought I'd just add my comments into this thread (below). I read through all of this thread and I guess my original hope was that Jayco reps monitor the forums. From the sounds of the posts and the lack of a Jayco response, I guess that isn't the case. Too bad, they could lear a lot from their customers...

I'm new to the forum but have owned our 2010 19H HTT for almost two years now. On another RV forum I came across a thread talking about loose A/C mounting bolts. I opened up the cover on the inside of our A/C unit and found all four bolts loose with two of them backed out to the point where they were touching the plastic housing.

I did a few searches and there are a number of threads on that forum about this problem and at least a dozen people have found the same thing. I don't live close to my Jayco dealer so I thought I would post the questions here.

What's with the loose bolts? once they have been as loose as mine got, has my roof seal been compromised? As I mentioned, it is a long way to my dealer so I'd like to know what I am supposed to do (I have applied blue lok-tite and tightened the bolts to a snug condition).