# Removed 31fqbhs Underbelly



## 04SUPERDUTY (Jul 3, 2006)

well i removed the underbelly to just bascially take a look at things and secure all the wires and water lines. bascially nothing is secured, all the wires and water lines are run through holes in the frame and thats about it. another reason to drop the underbelly was to see if their was any room for another water tank, which their is but i am still not sure if i will do it. 
so, anyone have any questions about what theirs looks like? i probably should take pics now while i can.


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## z-family (Oct 2, 2004)




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## 04SUPERDUTY (Jul 3, 2006)

yep the whole enchilada. was a huge pain that i may regret. i had to cut the thing into 2 pieces. right in the middle the galley drain drops down right in the middle of the trailer. i am on the fence weather i should replace the underbelly with a better quality material or reuse the stock ones.


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## jetjane (Feb 8, 2007)

Did you happen to notice how the underbelly is heated? Is there a special 2" duct like the Cougars have or is the underbelly just heated with whatever leaks/radiates off of the ductwork meant for heating the living quarters? I would also be interested in seeing those pics.


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

jetjane said:


> Did you happen to notice how the underbelly is heated? Is there a special 2" duct like the Cougars have or is the underbelly just heated with whatever leaks/radiates off of the ductwork meant for heating the living quarters?


No special heating. As you mention, it's whatever leaks/radiates off the ductwork.

Ed


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## Dark Green Dmax (Aug 2, 2005)

How to describe the exposed underbelly of my outback?....Like a bomb went off under our 5er. Either that or a blind keystone employee ran all the plumbing & electrical wiring....Or how bout HELTER SKELTER!!!


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

Dark Green Dmax said:


> How to describe the exposed underbelly of my outback?....Like a bomb went off under our 5er. Either that or a blind keystone employee ran all the plumbing & electrical wiring....Or how bout HELTER SKELTER!!!


Yep, it's worrisome when things are built like that because the smell is not one of quallity. It makes you wonder what other shortcuts were made that will result in big problem(s) down the road.







Considering that there are only a small number of water lines and electrical wires in the underbelly, proper routing and attachment with zip ties and a few brackets would only add about one hour additional labor, if that. I, for one, would be willing to pay an extra $50 for that job to be done in a professional manner.

Bill


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## Crawfish (Sep 14, 2005)

04SUPERDUTY said:


> i am on the fence weather i should replace the underbelly with a better quality material or reuse the stock ones.


I was looking at a Cardinal 5th wheel a couple of weeks ago and they are using aluminum sheets for the underbelly. Kinda looks like tin roofing. But the smart thing about it is if you need to get to a certain part of the underbelly all you have to do is take off one or two sheets and not half or all of the plastic thing we have. It might be worth looking into. I know I am.

Leon


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

So you took the belly off..... I say why'd you do that for.... ?.............. lol

Now you have opened the can of worms......... Literally!

Bout all I can say, is good luck and have fun!

I'm leaving mine be, till she fries a wire and burns to the ground!

Carey


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## fspieg (Jul 31, 2006)

Colorado~DirtBikers said:


> So you took the belly off..... I say why'd you do that for.... ?.............. lol
> 
> Now you have opened the can of worms......... Literally!
> 
> ...


And hopefully you and the the rest of the family are not in it when this happens. This is not just a lack of workmanship issue it's a safety issue. Hard to believe this is in compliance with RV electrical codes.


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## aplvlykat (Jan 25, 2004)

I have to agree that the wiring and water line routing really sucks. I swore next time I take the bottom off that I was going to cut it into four parts. Then I was going to have some sheet metal bent into S type butt joints with about a 2-3 inch lip. I am going to pop rivet one side to a cross member so it is secure and do this to four cross members. Then all I have to do is slide in/out a smaller panel if I want to gain access to the under side. This will also help support the saggin bottom as well. I may do it yet because I also would like to add a extra fresh water tank. Kirk


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## 04SUPERDUTY (Jul 3, 2006)

Colorado~DirtBikers said:


> So you took the belly off..... I say why'd you do that for.... ?.............. lol
> 
> Now you have opened the can of worms......... Literally!
> 
> Carey


i asked myself the same thing about half way through. i am currently waiting for it to cool of alittle before i go and take pics and tie everything up. 92 in the shade is too hot for me.


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## map guy (Jan 11, 2007)

aplvlykat said:


> I have to agree that the wiring and water line routing really sucks. I swore next time I take the bottom off that I was going to cut it into four parts. Then I was going to have some sheet metal bent into S type butt joints with about a 2-3 inch lip. I am going to pop rivet one side to a cross member so it is secure and do this to four cross members. Then all I have to do is slide in/out a smaller panel if I want to gain access to the under side. This will also help support the saggin bottom as well. I may do it yet because I also would like to add a extra fresh water tank. Kirk


You can get Z-bend metal at Home Depot-usually used for splicing Plywood sheating on sidewalls to keep water from intruding - might be good for this too.... It is in the section were flashing and gutter stuff is located.

Map Guy


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## Swany (Mar 2, 2006)

You need to be careful with this topic. It made me a bad guy in some eyes and a good guy in others. I need to learn not to call a spade a spade. I'll go with shovel next time. Anyway, mine is back together. Used FRP panels under it. I cleaned up the wiring. It was awful, just awful. I pulled wires out that went nowhere. There were wires routed under one cross member, over the next and then through the next. Wires were routed under the tanks (between the tanks and the under belly). The brakes were wired in in 12 ga wire and a look at the brake mfg. web site said they should be 10 ga. So I changed them out. There were wires that where hot that just stopped in mid air. They are all sanitized now. I ended up pulling the two main water lines (hot and cold) out. They were both of the coil pex type of material. No way were they going to lay down to provide a low point drain. Replaced them with the ridged pex and exited them out the back under the bumper. Put a sealed junct box in behind the tougue with split bolt connectors instead of wire nuts. I had every wire under the thing undone. Put it all back together and wonder of wonders, it worked! Anyway now it has panels that come off easily. Already had one back off to fix a leaky &*^%mn quickie flush (another story of poor quality). All in all, keystone did a p-poor job under my TT. For those that take offence to that, sorry.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

fspieg said:


> So you took the belly off..... I say why'd you do that for.... ?.............. lol
> 
> Now you have opened the can of worms......... Literally!
> 
> ...


And hopefully you and the the rest of the family are not in it when this happens. This is not just a lack of workmanship issue it's a safety issue. Hard to believe this is in compliance with RV electrical codes.
[/quote]

If there are safety codes, they dont apply to underbellies...

Yea after thinkin about it, I think I will put a smoke detector under there.. lol

Carey


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## beachbum (Nov 27, 2006)

Swany said:


> Anyway, mine is back together. Used FRP panels under it.


What are FRP panels and where do you get them?
david )


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## Swany (Mar 2, 2006)

beachbum said:


> Anyway, mine is back together. Used FRP panels under it.


What are FRP panels and where do you get them?
david )
[/quote]FRP =s fiberglass reinforced plastic. Home Depot, 4x8 sheets $30 ea


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## beachbum (Nov 27, 2006)

Thanks!! Probably go on my list of "to do" things.
david


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## 04SUPERDUTY (Jul 3, 2006)

My Webpage well finally got around to resizing and posting the pics. it was very hard to take decent shots of the underbelly. there were to many things in the way.


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## mountainlady56 (Feb 13, 2006)

Thanks for posting the pictures. It kinda makes me wants barf when I think about how much quality and consideration is put into the product we all own. 
As for Swany, I think it's all in how you word your post, but I do think people were a little harsh on him. The fact that people on the "other site" that is well known posted something about how long it had been since he "p/o'd" people on this site doesn't help matters at all. The "other site" is, in no way, in my opinion, a bad thing, and people are free to go where they want to on the internet. I'm a member of about 5 forums, some of them related to CMT (which my first husband died from and my oldest son inherited) and some related to autistism spectrum disorders, which my youngest son has. 
I, for one, have made a post or two that I regretted, and I think that applies to all of us. Glad this post was accepted better than Swany's, and was done in a more constructive manner.
Darlene


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## 04SUPERDUTY (Jul 3, 2006)

I added one more pic to my gallery in the link above. the picture shows the new water filter, pre pump screen ( which i found out after the fact when upgrading to the SS 5.7. you are apparently suppose to include the screen.) , a 2 gallon acumulator tank from lowes with a shutoff valve, and where i extended the city water hook up so it has to go through the water filter. the city water hookup use to tie into the cold water below the galley sink. 
i used the same residential water filter that i have at my house, the filter cost $10 for 2 and so far at home i have been real happy. 
I also added 2 flexible lines before and after the pump. the pump cubby is now a mess with lines running all over the place.


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