wdk450
Well-known member
Gang:
I thought it my obligation to report what MAY be a trend in non-accident frame damage to the group. Both I beams of my frame in the axles area are bent sideways towards the Off Door Side, with the ODS rear spring hangar completely broken off and sitting beside the frame member, the other 5 spring hangars about 30 degrees from vertical, both axles shifted to the ODS, a crack and lateral S bend in one of the I beams. All of this came from no accident or hard impact that I know of. I was simply travelling down U.S. 101 from Central Oregon to Northern California. The first day, after about 3 hours travel, at a campground overnight stop, I noticed that the hangars weren't quite vertical, but I had another 3 hours to go to my group campout in Fortuna. I was in a pretty small Southern Oregon town (Gold Beach) with no RV servicers. So I continued the next segment of the trip to Fortuna, Ca, not noticing any problems while towing. Somehow I forgot to reinspect the suspension before I pulled out of Fortuna for the Thousand Trails in Cloverdale (near Santa Rosa), but again, towing seemed normal, I towed for another 3 hours on US 101, circled around the campground to find a spot, and only noticed that my tires/axles were out of line after backing into a parking space. Then I discovered all the damage noted above.
I asked around here for the best business to repair this type of damage, and was directed to Fletcher Fabrication Shop in Cloverdale. When I went into his shop to visit Roger Fletcher, he very much impressed me with his knowledge, experience, and good-guy appearances. He was working on a couple of semi truck frames when I was there. Roger came out to the campground, inspected my rig, gave me a low and high estimate, and said he could fix the rig. One MAJOR issue we discussed was adding bracing between the two I beams to keep them vertically aligned and true. This isn't done on our frames, but MorRyde has recognized the problem and sells their X factor crossbeam as a remedy. I believe MorRyde also welds in crossbeam tubing when installing their independent suspension upgrade. Right now I am waiting for Roger's workload to clear to get into his shop.
I talked to Progressive Insurance, and their local adjuster. He made a curious comment over the phone before coming out to my rig that "this type of damage (bent frame members around the axles) is more common than you would think". I still haven't heard if they will cover this, and don't have my hopes too high. A curious thing is that the welder (Fletcher Fabrication) has another job exactly like mine with a non-Heartland (but Lippert frame) 5th wheel he is presently working on.
To put this all together, I want people to remember back in the 2005 - 2010 period when we had all of the bad springs breaking and going flat. The problems with the springs were attributed by many to being due to poor quality Chinese steel, and the rampant corruption in China at that time relating to the quality of manufactured goods. It dawned on me that if Lippert was using poor quality Chinese steel for the springs, they may just as well could have been using poor quality Chinese steel for the frame, and maybe that is at least one reason these events are happening. So I want everyone to:
Pay close attention to their spring hangars vertical alignment every time they are down near the tires.
Consider STRONGLY having crossbrace tubes welded onto the chassis with triangular gussets to the frame I beams. These should be at every suspension spring hangar point. This really shouldn't cost much, and will add so much to the strength of your trailer frame.
I made a photo album of all the damage and saved it to a folder on my Google drive. Here is the link: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bw3atuhfb0GMNlNrR3ZhM2I4dG8&usp=sharing
I have nothing else to do, and can stay at this Thousand Trails for about another month. The welder will set me up behind his shop building once we get the trailer moved there. I am not mad at Heartland or Lippert, just disappointed. I kick myself for not getting the Independent Suspension upgrade along with my disk brakes at MorRyde in Elkhart last year.
Keep safe, and enjoy RVing!!!
I thought it my obligation to report what MAY be a trend in non-accident frame damage to the group. Both I beams of my frame in the axles area are bent sideways towards the Off Door Side, with the ODS rear spring hangar completely broken off and sitting beside the frame member, the other 5 spring hangars about 30 degrees from vertical, both axles shifted to the ODS, a crack and lateral S bend in one of the I beams. All of this came from no accident or hard impact that I know of. I was simply travelling down U.S. 101 from Central Oregon to Northern California. The first day, after about 3 hours travel, at a campground overnight stop, I noticed that the hangars weren't quite vertical, but I had another 3 hours to go to my group campout in Fortuna. I was in a pretty small Southern Oregon town (Gold Beach) with no RV servicers. So I continued the next segment of the trip to Fortuna, Ca, not noticing any problems while towing. Somehow I forgot to reinspect the suspension before I pulled out of Fortuna for the Thousand Trails in Cloverdale (near Santa Rosa), but again, towing seemed normal, I towed for another 3 hours on US 101, circled around the campground to find a spot, and only noticed that my tires/axles were out of line after backing into a parking space. Then I discovered all the damage noted above.
I asked around here for the best business to repair this type of damage, and was directed to Fletcher Fabrication Shop in Cloverdale. When I went into his shop to visit Roger Fletcher, he very much impressed me with his knowledge, experience, and good-guy appearances. He was working on a couple of semi truck frames when I was there. Roger came out to the campground, inspected my rig, gave me a low and high estimate, and said he could fix the rig. One MAJOR issue we discussed was adding bracing between the two I beams to keep them vertically aligned and true. This isn't done on our frames, but MorRyde has recognized the problem and sells their X factor crossbeam as a remedy. I believe MorRyde also welds in crossbeam tubing when installing their independent suspension upgrade. Right now I am waiting for Roger's workload to clear to get into his shop.
I talked to Progressive Insurance, and their local adjuster. He made a curious comment over the phone before coming out to my rig that "this type of damage (bent frame members around the axles) is more common than you would think". I still haven't heard if they will cover this, and don't have my hopes too high. A curious thing is that the welder (Fletcher Fabrication) has another job exactly like mine with a non-Heartland (but Lippert frame) 5th wheel he is presently working on.
To put this all together, I want people to remember back in the 2005 - 2010 period when we had all of the bad springs breaking and going flat. The problems with the springs were attributed by many to being due to poor quality Chinese steel, and the rampant corruption in China at that time relating to the quality of manufactured goods. It dawned on me that if Lippert was using poor quality Chinese steel for the springs, they may just as well could have been using poor quality Chinese steel for the frame, and maybe that is at least one reason these events are happening. So I want everyone to:
Pay close attention to their spring hangars vertical alignment every time they are down near the tires.
Consider STRONGLY having crossbrace tubes welded onto the chassis with triangular gussets to the frame I beams. These should be at every suspension spring hangar point. This really shouldn't cost much, and will add so much to the strength of your trailer frame.
I made a photo album of all the damage and saved it to a folder on my Google drive. Here is the link: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bw3atuhfb0GMNlNrR3ZhM2I4dG8&usp=sharing
I have nothing else to do, and can stay at this Thousand Trails for about another month. The welder will set me up behind his shop building once we get the trailer moved there. I am not mad at Heartland or Lippert, just disappointed. I kick myself for not getting the Independent Suspension upgrade along with my disk brakes at MorRyde in Elkhart last year.
Keep safe, and enjoy RVing!!!
