Another Black Tank Falls Out of Rig - Inspection, Modifications and Reinforcements?

[Joeyp59]

I just last week got some (2) 6' angle iron from Lowes and attached it underneath the waste tanks by drilling through the angle iron and frame. I used stainless steel bolts and nylock nuts. I attached it this way so that I can remove the supports and the chloroplast if I need to access the underside.
I have not had any issues yet, but have read more than enough tank drops from other GD owners to move me to take pre-emptive action.
I can also say that GD is not going anything different on tank installs from my observations on a plant tour last month while we were at the rally.

Minnow101 - How did you know precisely where the black tank is positioned to enable you to locate where to place the angle iron brace? To my knowledge GD does not have or provide any drawings to show the layout of the tanks? Did you temporarily remove the under-cover?

[TomHaycraft]

You can add Keystone to the list. I recall seeing a couple different posts on the Keystone Owners Forum when I hung out there while owning my previous trailer.

[minnow101]

I removed a few of the fasteners from one side and pulled down the cloroplast to be able to peek up in there to see where the tanks were. I did not add any support to the fresh water tank as we never do dry camping so that tank is never used. On the 27RL, the waste tanks are located in front of the axles. The fresh water tank is located further back, behind the axles.
I also had to notch one end of each angle iron bracket as the gas line runs right along the drivers side of the frame. This allows the angle iron to slide between the frame and the gas line. I used an air powered cut off wheel to notch the Angie iron. One could use a hack saw as well although it would take longer.
All in all, it took a good couple of hours to do it. I cleaned the angle iron first and then used black spray paint first before installing as the metal is rusty even when brand new as it is just bare metal.

[JCR GD]

I also added angle to the belly of mine but primarily to support a sagging belly but it will help in case there is ever a black or gray tank that wants to escape.



Of course they are painted now.

[C&H Conner]

Right after buying the trailer I had the front coroplast off and added bracing to the front tanks on the 380TH. They are held in like any other trailer we have had with a plastic lip overlapping a metal frame. There was one metal cross brace supporting the black and 1 grey tank. I did essentially what minnow and Jim did only on the inside. Matched the channel GD used with a couple thick aluminum channels then screwed the coroplast into those in 4 separate sections. Can remove each section by itself and reach the valves and wiring and avoid dropping all 14' of belly.
Fresh water has not been accessed yet so I am not sure if it supported by a cross bar or not. We only run with 1/3 or less water in it so I don't worry too much about it falling out but you never know.

[jakev383]

I've been following the Facebook post on this topic, so I wanted to post some additional information.
Bill Martin responded to several people on one of the posts and offered some additional information:

Bill Martin: I wanted to follow up with everyone on this post to make sure we were addressing your concerns head on. For the Reflection product, in late July 2015, we enhanced the thickness of the L-brackets holding the tanks, and added support bars underneath all of the holding tanks to further strengthen this area. Additional support bars were also added to the Momentum. We have a very high level of confidence with the units in the field, however if you have an earlier model please feel free to contact our customer service team. There are support bars available that can be installed and our team will be able to assist in the best course of action for your specific coach. Our team can be reached at 574-825-9679.



I personally called Grand Design customer service today since our 323bhs was manufactured in May of 2015. He says units manufactured prior to the July 2015 date need to be inspected to see if they need the additional support or not. I was debating if I was going to fix the black tank burping issue myself, but it sounds like since I need to take it in for a the inspection I'll go ahead and let the dealership deal with the black tank too

[grumpypapa]

Is the black tank the front one on the 303rls

[TucsonJim]

Is the black tank the front one on the 303rls

It should be the tank directly below the toilet.

Jim

[Canyonlight]

Grumpy--took me a while to find this but attached link has 3 good pictures of tank locations from Ben, post #5. He has a 293 but from what I understand the tanks in the 303 mirror this, as well as do many other GDRV products. Black is curb side and grey (shower and BR sink) are street side. You can also see the kitchen sink grey tank clearly in picture #2 mounted running side to side placed further to the rear in the RV frame from the front tanks.

http://www.mygrandrv.com/for...ght=underbelly

Dan

[jbarnes4868]

I've got a 2014 293 with a black water valve that needs replaced. I pulled the underbelly and looked at the tanks. They seem fine to me but I was wondering if anyone has any pictures of what GD did to earlier trailers that had tanks falling out? While I'm in there I was thinking about just taking metal strap around the black tank in two places and screwing that to the center support and edge support braces. I'm kind of surprised that some tanks fell out given what I found. They seem supported better than my previous trailers.
I noticed some have put some angle iron under the the tanks. In my case I noticed wiring and the black flush hose running under the black tank. Putting bracing under the tank could potentially cause a wear spot on the wiring and hose. Maybe its just mine that they insisted on running it under the tank instead of neatly organizing the wiring and plumbing.