Possible Lashing Point Failure?

[MotoPL]

Has anyone had any problems with the lashing points on the floor of their van?

We have a TransK9 dog crate in the back of ours, held in place by a ratchet strap across the back, and another across the front of the crate, as its designed to be.

Few days ago, I had to do an emergency stop and heard a loud metallic bang from the back. On inspection it looks like one of the lashing points nearest the tailgate might have failed. The metal hoop seems a bit looser, and the plastic surround is pulling partially out of the floor.

Haven't got the right tool to unbolt it to have a proper look yet.

Anyone had any similar issues?

 

[DaveyB]

I have the kombi bed bolted through mine, and had no issues. You need a spline bit to take the bolt out of the floor.

 

[mark]

FWIW - The lashing ring on Kombi's is single bolt and has a quite a low rating whereas Panel vans have two bolts and hence a much higher rating , might be worth looking to add that second bolt ( if possible ) just for piece of mind.

 

[MotoPL]

Bearing in mind it's a T32, I'd have thought the points would have rated to prevent a tonne weight moving around.
The weight of an empty dog cage is significantly less than that :/ But yes, it is only one bolt.

Will get some spline bits for my socket set and investigate and report back.

 

[Bryn23]

The tie down point should be fine, the shackle is tied down through the plastic, then through a metal spacer and held with a M10 Spline bolt from memory, which is hard against the plastic and floor.

The plastic may have failed, but unless something is seriously wrong, the point should be all good.

(I replaced mine with longer high tensile Allen key head bolts after i sound deadened, insulated and vinyl'd the floor.)

 

[MotoPL]

So, removed the 2 lashing points at the back today. The pictures show what I found.

1st picture is the "Good" side, 2nd picture is the "Bad" side.

Looks like the metalwork has buckled, but no idea what the structure is beneath it that pulling up and causing the buckle, so no idea if its something i should be worrying about.
Definitely seems to be more flex on the bad side when i tension up the ratchet strap.

Does that seem normal?

(interesting that the good side seems to have a lot more body colour spray on the structure underneath, than the bad side which seems to be just bare metal)

 

[Mooncat]

Can you take a photo of the underside of the two buckles as I suspect one will have a spacer or washer missing.

 

[Fish]

Interesting post this @MotoPL keep us updated with any VW inspection and their opinions

 

[MotoPL]

Further pictures as requested of the points dismantled and the components (good side first) - looks identical to me.

 

[Mooncat]

Everything is present and correct then. It's the deformation that had my interest and those spacers look like the ID (internal diameter) could be too large (it looks it from the photo) which is why the top layer of steel has been deformed. If you can get spacers with the same OD (outside diameter) and thickness but an ID that is just large enough to fit over the bolt threads, it would be a far better joint. Does the threaded part in the floor move around slightly? Mine started life as a panel van so I can't really compare.

The lack of paint in the threads would suggest this was used to mount something during the paint process and the deformation could have happened then too. If that was the case, it could have been assembled so that the spacer was sat partially on the raised section and the noise you heard was everything moving when it dropped down around the raised section........if fact looking at the photo again, there are witness marks to suggest the spacer was sat at an angle on the lip of the raised section.

 

[MotoPL]

The spacers are identical on both sides and fit the bolts ok, imho. I'm not an expert but the fit is on a par with spacers I've come across before.

Its not just lack of paint on the threads though. The whole lump of threaded metal underneath the painted metal floor is unpainted. Whereas on the the other side it is.
To me, it looks like on one side (the good side) , the bolt goes through part of the actual integral structure of the van, whereas on the other (bad) side it goes through the thin floor and a separate piece of metal is being used to secure it beneath. Looking from directly above, the hole in the unpainted metal and the hole in the floor don't actually line up very well, which is consistent with something having broken/moved. But I can't get it to move just using my fingers.

Guessing there must be someway of accessing it from underneath?

There's definite flex there now when i add tension to the bracket, consistent with the thin floor flexing. I tried videoing it but sadly doesn't really show very well.

Trip the dealer I guess for them to have a look, and maybe compare it with one of their vans.

 

[Devon_SB_T6]

Did you have any joy with the dealer? We are having the same issue.

 

[Paynewright]

There isnt much to them underneath. PITA to get to but if you need a proper sturdy fixing I’d stick a big washer and a nyloc nut underneath.

I had to re-instate one of mine after the dealer bodged it with a rubber well nut. The bodge probably took longer than actually repairing it properly ie running a tap through it!

bottom pic is how I found it.

 

[DXX]

I’d say that the lashing point is designed to slop loads sliding about, they definitely will not secure larger loads in a serious collision.
A 500Kg load decelerating from 60MPH to 0 MPH over a distance of 10m will create a force close to 18000Kg, way more than that steel eye will hold.
Something you may want to consider if you are transporting motor cycles etc.

 

[Paynewright]

I’d say that the lashing point is designed to slop loads sliding about, they definitely will not secure larger loads in a serious collision.
A 500Kg load decelerating from 60MPH to 0 MPH over a distance of 10m will create a force close to 18000Kg, way more than that steel eye will hold.
Something you may want to consider if you are transporting motor cycles etc.

So what would you suggest?

 

[Ads_Essex]

So what would you suggest?

Bungee cord it off the sliding door handle, mate.

 

[DXX]

So what would you suggest?

Not sure what are securing but an off the shelf collared eyebolt would be stronger than the OEM D ring, Fitting a threaded doubler plate under the floor with a bigger thread would also make it stronger and allow a bigger eyebolt to be used.