Frame Broken not Welds

We have a 2009 3670RL that has three (3) areas in the frame broken under the bed room. Dealer contacted heartland there resopnse was not under warrenty no help. Anyone else have this issue. Going over tomorrow and look at it myself really need to know if anyone else had had the frame material break. Thanks Rex

Rex, even if your BH was new, Lippert warranties the frame not HL. Call Lippert and talk to them. They made the frame. A broken frame member is a little different than a broken weld. JMHO

Wow, I would love to see pictures of the failed frame member - this is highly unusual. Previous failures have been due to welds or heat affected zomes (HAZ). Please keep us posted, there may be learnings/things to watch for the rest of us.

Take care,
Brian

Just curious about the broken welds, what did you notice first that caused you to think there was a problem?

Update, Heartland response to dealer was if customer wants HL to cover he has to bring it to Elkheart and pick up when repairs are complete. Usually takes 10 days and no expenses are covered. Dealer is puting it back ot gather for the trip. Stormy weather here in Texas prevented a good visual inspection of the failed areas. From what I could see looking through the gaps where skin was sagging they are no where near the heat affected zones of the frame welds. Said that they could get it in on the 23. When they remove the skin in Elkheat I hope to get a good visul of all accessible welds and the failed areas.
Lipperts response this morning was there warranty was good for one year after purchas date.
Skin under the bed room was sagging and kept poping out at the corner on the passangers side, never even thougth that there was a problem with the frame. Camping World poped it back in, put another door catch on and caulked it after the shake down run. Lasted a little while and popped out again so I poped in and caulked it; began to notice that the whole skin was sagging down now. poped out again so I duck taped it like it hung till we got back home.

Rex

Rex,

So sorry to hear this. Can you take pics of the areas you noticed the sagging so we know what to look for? Where in Texas are you located and where did you purchase from?

Sorry for the delay in updating; we have removed every thing from the bedroom area and lower storage areas and are now in Hinton, Mo. pulling up to heartlands shop in Elkheart, In. Need to get it in the shop before my next job starts first of June in Port Arthur. These Pics were taken by the tech in Bryan, Texas. Home base is 5 miles out of Hempstead, Texas; Purchased from Camping World in Katy, Texas. Heartland did said that no work out side of their shop would be covered so that is why we are headed their now. Rex
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Looks like you have a problem. When you get to Port Arthur where will you be staying. We have a job starting June 1 in Port Arthur also. We will be staying at a new RV Park called Port Arthur RV Resort on Hwy 365. We will be working on their park guide. It is a nice park if you don't have a place to stay. Here is their site http://www.portarthurrv.com/. Heartland fixed our frame in March at the factory also. They do great work. Good luck.

Anyone else have broken frames or welds on the frames break ? Also, are you occasional RV users or full time road warriors ? Just wondering if this is something to expect or just bad luck.

RollingHome said:

Anyone else have broken frames or welds on the frames break ? Also, are you occasional RV users or full time road warriors ? Just wondering if this is something to expect or just bad luck.

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Tom, actual metal fatigue/breaks such as this are very rare on Heartland products. This is maybe the second or third time I have seen it like this and last year, I saw it in an I-beam on an early model Landmark. I'm sure it's happened a few more times than this. That said, when taken in the context of the number of units produced (well in excess of 50,000), I'd say this is a rare occurrence and seriously doubt it's anything you should expect to see ever on your unit.

Jim

Hi ourtinhouse,

Thanks for posting the pictures. Pretty rare failure in my opinion. Give us an update when you get it all apart at the factory and take some more pictures (before, during and after?)

I am not an expert but I suspect the failure is due to contaminants and/or heat treatment when the steel i-beam was formed at the foundry - certainly not something that would be evident when the trailer frame was welded up (Lippert) or when Heartland assembled the unit.

There is a fair amount of corrosion at the edges of the failure so it has not just happened. May have been soon after initial loads were put on this area.

Thanks again for sharing.

Take care,
Brian

If those are spots that a frame member was welded to...then maybe there was TOO much heat applied. Almost looks like it was burnt thru when welded. It might have made the metal brittle. JMHO

RollingHome said:

Anyone else have broken frames or welds on the frames break ? Also, are you occasional RV users or full time road warriors ? Just wondering if this is something to expect or just bad luck.

Click to expand...

Yes, I had the same thing happen on my 2009 Bighorn. Broken frame and welds both. I camp only about 6 weeks out of the year and had the front overhang start pulling away during the first year of use. Was into the second year before actually found out what the problem was. Like many others, I thought it was just the weight of the fiberglass pulling loose from the sides since there is no real support holding the fiberglass panel up under the pinbox area. After removing the front, I was sick when I saw what had happen inside where you could not see before. There was no way I could take time off to carry my Bighorn to Elkheart so I had to repair it myself on my dime. Makes me wonder just how many have this problem but do not realize it yet. I know there are many who have commented concerning the overhang pulling loose around the pinbox and under the bedroom area on Heartland's Bighorns, and not just on this forum but on others also.

I'm sure it prob. is a rare occurance. Lippert or any other company that builds frames for over the road vehicles should warranty them for a few years. One year is rediculous in my opinion. When something like this happens they should be standing behind it, no excuses.

Thank You Jim, One less thing to worry about Tom

DMitch said:

I'm sure it prob. is a rare occurance. Lippert or any other company that builds frames for over the road vehicles should warranty them for a few years. One year is rediculous in my opinion. When something like this happens they should be standing behind it, no excuses.

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Agreed! I'd be super p.o. and would explode. For the money we spend on these trailers,somethinglike this shouldn'd even be in questioned.

I question as to why there is such a limited warranty on these RV's in the first place. And I am not just talking Heartland. This one or two year warranty is beyond ridiculous as far as I am concerned. But then again if they can get away with it (which they are) then it will continue. Sad to see things like this happen at the cost to the customer when they really have no control over it.

But all in all, I love the 2011 3670 Bighorn I have and Heartland has done a great job to date as far as taking care of us. Now the dealership..........well lets just say they leave a lot to be desired. I could go into detail but thats another thread.

Good luck on your frame repair!! I hope it doesn't get to expensive and lenghty in time.

Dave

Well the welding was compleated to day. Joe Shunimen called this morning for me to have look at it, as I had requested that I would like to see it after disassembly. The call was after welding was compleated though; their dime and no slow down for them due to inspection. Asked if any NDE was conduceted; none was done or even thought about I suspect. Visually all was acceptable. Two (2) new gussets were added at each side and stiffining pads were welded to the frame in the failed areas using 6013 electrodes. That is all I can report for now. We use our rv to live in while I am working; about 9 to 10 months a year. Rex