2018 Alpine Toy Hauler Ramp coming apart...

[miaoreo]

2018 Keystone Alpine Toy hauler with side loading ramp. We noticed this trip, total of 8 trips this year, that the "SCREWS" holding the 2nd part of the fold down ramp were loose and stripping out. These are just short screws thru the metal hinge into the plywood ramp.


We do NOT load excessively heavy vehicles only carts of products for shows. So this is not an issue where we overloaded the ramp. I DO NOT want to take it back to the dealer, Warranty takes forever, and all they would do is replace the ramp in exactly the same fashion. The problem is they used short screws into the END of the plywood ramp and it will never hold. :banghead:


So what I am asking is has anyone else had this issue and come up with a reasonable solution?https://www.dropbox.com/preview/Camera%20Uploads/IMG_4867.JPG

[miaoreo]

trying to post photos.. but it's not happening.


http://www.keystoneforums.com/forums/album.php?albumid=1042


album works...

[K_N_L]

Our ramp is different but my thought is that on assembly they might have torqued it a bit too much and thus caused the issue. Might consider removing all the screws and filling in the holes with a epoxy, once it sets up hard use a bit larger screw in the same holes on the hinge to keep it looking factory. Tighten by hand to avoid stripping. If that fails might have to through bolt it securely. Someone else might have some other options. Seems fast and quick assembly is common on screwguns and the air brad nailers on all Keystone units.

[Dan53]

I had the same problem with my 2018 Cougar 326SRX. Ramp door in the rear, but it looks to be the same 2-piece setup as yours. My ramp buckled at the hinge, popping out some of the screws, the first time I loaded a 600# motorcycle.

The first thing I did was to replace the 1/2” factory screws with #8 2” washer head screws. Carefully drilled pilot holes first to prevent the screws from “wandering” since they are going into the edge of the plywood.

The real cause of this problem was that the arms that extend from the legs supporting the lower ramp did not make contact with the upper ramp. In my case there was a gap of 1-1/4”. This puts all the weight on the hinge and it’s never going to hold any weight.

To fill that gap between the support arms and the upper part of the ramp, I made up a glue-up of 1/2” and 3/4” plywood approximately 2” x 36”. I insert that strip into the gap and the 36” length spans the distance between the arms and supports the upper part of the ramp.

This setup has worked well since April and I have had the bike on and off dozens of times.

Feel free to PM me with any questions.

Dan

[Mike-GA]

We just traded in a 2021 Keystone Outback for a 2018 Alpine with the side ramp. I'll keep a close watch on it. Thanks for the tips.