Modification To Make Your TV Mount More Secure

[HobbyTalk]

Reprinted from my blog.

After each trip I almost always check out the trailer closely to see if any problems have cropped up. One thing I noticed a couple of trips ago was the television mount. It is a swing arm mount that has a pin in it to keep the arm in place while traveling. While it keeps the arm in place I always thought that the TV just wiggled a lot more then it should.

Closer inspection showed that metal inserts in the TV that the mount screws to were pulling out of the TV. I figured I'd keep an eye on it to see if that is the way it was when new or if it got worse. After last weeks trip it appeared that the metal inserts were pulled out even more. It was time to figure out how to solve this before I found the TV smashed on the floor after a trip. Here is what I did.

As you can see below, the TV mount is no longer flush with the back of the TV. While the picture is a bit blurry you can see the metal inserts have pulled out about a 1/4".




I had a couple of old tie down straps from on old RV that was used to secure the old tube type TV. They have metal brackets on the end with a straps attached. I drilled holes into the metal TV mount base plate and attached the straps. Problem was the latches on the end were in such a place that I couldn't easily snap the latches. I cut off the old straps and used another tie strap I had laying around. I strung the strap through the metal brackets and was able to adjust the placement of the latch so I could easily secure the TV.





Below you can see the strap in place around the front of the TV ready for travel. The new strap holds the TV tight to the wall and now there is very little wiggle. Hopefully this idea will help others from running into a problem with their TV swing arm mount.

[Ray,IN]

Thanks, Better mounting points in the TV is a major concern from your pictures. I'll keep that in mind when TV shopping for the RV. Guess that is why there are RV specific TV's sold.

[ayotte]

I am getting ready to attempt this refit. My question is, has anyone tried to mount the articulating arm on the bottom of the cabinet to take advantage of being able to lower it when viewing? My 26" flat screen will not fit into the existing hole and will need to be movable in order to open the cabinets next to it.

Louise

[alvinc]

This illustrates one of the issues that arise when we use Home flat screen TV's in RV's. The mounting systems for home TV's are not designed for the shaking and movement that occurs in RV's. I'm surprised that there have not been more reports of flat screen TV damage or of them falling off of their mounts.

In some other posts there were questions about the Jensen TV's and the fact that they are more expensive that those at Costco, Sam's, Wal-Mart, etc. Part of the response was that the Jensen TV's are designed for the motion, and all will run powered by 12 volts.

[HobbyTalk]

This TV came with the RV.