Upgrades to reduce wear on washboard roads.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by IanC

I use a window latch for cupboard doors. Works great.

hmm, all the window latches I can find, both the latch and the fixed piece are mounted on the same plane, like this... and its designed to hold it for the opposite direction of travel. What did you use for the 'striker' piece thats on the edge of the cabinet door ?

[JeffinBC]

I look forward to seeing if the OP can tell us where he got those but looking at the photo above, I’m wondering if they still might work if mounted the same way. Maybe a small amount of grinding needed?

[richm]

Originally Posted by Wunfiddy

What is the go to solution for keeping cupboard doors closed on washboard roads?
This is the minimum upgrade I want to do this year. I'm sure plenty of people have done something to this effect and I'd be interested in seeing some solutions.
The higher the cupboard, the lighter the items in it, so not every door needs the heaviest duty latching option.

I plan to install push button cabinet latches. I'm researching parts such as this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255001755468



However, I'm searching for an all-metal push button cabinet latch. I've postponed the install because all I've found are latches that seem to be mostly plastic.

[Civilguy]

Originally Posted by richm

I plan to install push button cabinet latches. I'm researching parts such as this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255001755468

However, I'm searching for an all-metal push button cabinet latch. I've postponed the install because all I've found are latches that seem to be mostly plastic.

Casitas came with that style latch and they caused a lot of grief. Once you drill for the installation, you are committed.

Personally, I was headed toward the magnets in order to get away from the issues folks had with those latches, but we sold the trailer before I installed them.

Maybe the Casita forums have some guidance about a brand that was more reliable.

[John in Santa Cruz]

there was(is?) an upgrade for the Casita locks they were using circa 2008, same design, look, but they required the big hole be drilled out about 1/16th of an inch bigger its still a part plastic click, in, click out kind of design, but its beefier, and the cam plate inside is metal instead of plastic, thats what breaks. they also work better if you put a thin spacer behind the striker plate as the casita cabinets are a bit thinner than what the latches were designed for. I had replaced about half of ours before I upgraded to the Escape.

[Ian and Sue]

Originally Posted by Wunfiddy

I've read several pages here in this subforum, but haven't seen any titles leaning this direction.

We have a 2021 Escape 19.

What is the go to solution for keeping cupboard doors closed on washboard roads?
This is the minimum upgrade I want to do this year. I'm sure plenty of people have done something to this effect and I'd be interested in seeing some solutions.
The higher the cupboard, the lighter the items in it, so not every door needs the heaviest duty latching option.
The fridge has stayed firmly closed, so I just have to choose some different interior arrangements for items in that.
The stove/lid has come loose as well, but I think so thread lock on a bunch of the mounting screws should do the trick there, or maybe I'll take the glass cover off for extended travel or replace it with something else.

As a much longer term upgrade, has anyone replaced the torsion axles with something with increased dampening?

I have seen on various sailboats drawers with a pull hole in the drawer front, inside the hole was a spring loaded catch. You stick your finger in the hole and pull the little latch and release the drawer. The other method on sailboats is that you have to lift the front of the drawer to clear a lip...this would not work with the drawer slides we have though. Check in boat supply catalogs like Defender Marine or Boat US.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Wunfiddy

....As a much longer term upgrade, has anyone replaced the torsion axles with something with increased dampening?

for the single axle Casita trailers, someone sold a kit that added shocks to the torflex... I would imagine something could be engineered with a pair of shocks for each side for our dual axle escapes, but the market is small, so non-recoverable engineering costs would be high.

here's an article about those casita kits.
Shock Absorbers – The Handy Camper
however the vendor is NLA.

they were being contract manufactured by these guys,
Buy Something We Build - Orbital Machine Works

[Wunfiddy]

Hmmm I've never looked close to see if the counter extension was bouncing around.
So far it's been the cupboard above the fridge that opens pretty well all of the time.
I like the ideas of the window latches as they would only be used when ready to travel. The spear latches from factory work fine so far for daily use.
I'm not doing 100kph on washboard roads, but even at 60-70 it can shake the thing apart.
Thanks for the leads for adding the shocks folks, I'm going to look into that as well and see what kind of difference it would make. Just finally got it out of storage this Friday so have to de winterize and repack it.

[Ron in BC]

I'm not sure how adding shock absorbers in addition to the existing torflex makes the ride softer. Wouldn't that make the ride stiffer?

I tried something similar when I rallying an old British car with bouncy suspension. One of my attachment points wasn't up to the job and it fatigued the mounting point at one end and it failed. No danger of that with the ones featured in the link.

Ron

[DT6]

We just use the mini bungie cords and wrap them around the cabinet handles. We can do this for most of the doors in our trailer, except a few where there is only a single door and nothing adjacent. Most of our early "learning experiences" taught us that the drawers and the cabinet below the sink where the most likely in our trailer (a 19 currently) to open when on a rough road.

The mini bugies seem to add just enough tension, especially with the drawers, to keep them closed and we have been over a few rough roads since with good results. It's a cheap alternative to consider, and I'm totally going to use the suggestion previously posted to strap down the counter extension - great idea.

[IanC]

Originally Posted by JeffinBC

I look forward to seeing if the OP can tell us where he got those but looking at the photo above, I’m wondering if they still might work if mounted the same way. Maybe a small amount of grinding needed?

Sorry, I forgot about the catch side of the window latch solution. I think I bought a hinge or some other metal piece with the same finish and used a dremel tool to cut it down to make a catch. One word of caution, avoid the very poorly made window catches, as some of them will fall apart when pulled rather than pushed, since they are really designed for downward pressure. I used a somewhat higher quality catch and it holds well. No more auto-dumps out of the compartment over the fridge.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by IanC

Sorry, I forgot about the catch side of the window latch solution. I think I bought a hinge or some other metal piece with the same finish and used a dremel tool to cut it down to make a catch. One word of caution, avoid the very poorly made window catches, as some of them will fall apart when pulled rather than pushed, since they are really designed for downward pressure. I used a somewhat higher quality catch and it holds well. No more auto-dumps out of the compartment over the fridge.

hmm, ok. what me and my crew used to call 'kit bashing'. taking stuff, and hacking it for things the designers never thought of it all started when we took several plastic model kits and built something seriously demented

I used to be a pretty good kit basher, although I've gotten lazy about 'making' of late. but I have everything I need, files, dremel, angle grinders, drill press, etc, and I do know how to use them. I'll figure something out and report back but it might take me a few months.

[Rockhead]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

hmm, ok. what me and my crew used to call 'kit bashing'. taking stuff, and hacking it for things the designers never thought of it all started when we took several plastic model kits and built something seriously demented

I used to be a pretty good kit basher, although I've gotten lazy about 'making' of late. but I have everything I need, files, dremel, angle grinders, drill press, etc, and I do know how to use them. I'll figure something out and report back but it might take me a few months.

Mmmm flying helicopter tanks were what I was good at in them days lol

[bborzell]

These have performed quite well for us.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J4PYV7N...PJJRZGFWXHXYYP

[Civilguy]

Given that the focus seems to be on the cabinet latches more than the suspension, here’s another approach to consider.

We prevent the contents from pressing on the cabinet doors in the first place by using pieces of wood across the openings, and cardboard boxes to contain things.

It works great as we’ve never had a spill. It’s also cheap and readily adaptable if you decide to change how you carry and organize things.

Maybe it’s not so elegant but, hey, two out of three, right?…

[sofmerc]

Originally Posted by Ian and Sue

I have seen on various sailboats drawers with a pull hole in the drawer front, inside the hole was a spring loaded catch. You stick your finger in the hole and pull the little latch and release the drawer. The other method on sailboats is that you have to lift the front of the drawer to clear a lip...this would not work with the drawer slides we have though. Check in boat supply catalogs like Defender Marine or Boat US.

Those types of latches were the devils invention aboard boats...Not so much aboard Our little trailers , I would imagine..

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

I'm not sure how adding shock absorbers in addition to the existing torflex makes the ride softer. Wouldn't that make the ride stiffer?

No, although this can be counter-intuitive. A car without shocks wallows around, but in the trailer that means hitting the end of the minimal suspension travel. In either case, a lack of damping means continued bouncing, instead of being controlled and damped out. Over-damping, of course, is also bad.

[Zu!]

What about airing down the tires? Doesn’t take a lot to give significantly softer ride.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Zu!

What about airing down the tires? Doesn’t take a lot to give significantly softer ride.

yeah, just gotta remember to air back up before you hit the highway again.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

yeah, just gotta remember to air back up before you hit the highway again.

my son's 5 ton 6x6 army truck is a M935A1, they later had an A2 version which had automatic inflation, so you punched a button for sand or dirt or gravel or pavement, and it adjusted all 6 tires to suit. apparently these automatic inflator systems are NOT desirable because they are prone to failure.