Bent Kingpin?

All - Just a quick update.
When I pulled back the fascia I found two things.

First the front "beam" which is about 2x4" bent upwards about 1.5"
I also found that when the beam bent upwards the connections on the back of the kingpin tore away from the back of the box beam.

I Since Covid has been around, it's been difficult to get to the Rig down in santa fe - and interestingly enough, many of the welders weren't interested in meeting with me just to look at it.

move forward and I finally found someone who is was willing to meet with me (along with a couple of other welders).

The one I spoke to and communicated the best wanted to spend some time really looking at what was involved - and he told me he was interested - but his experience with frame welding has been primarily with hitches and such. He told me he wasn't competent to remove the fascia to do the work and for that reason wasn't interested in doing the work. Welding, he felt he could do well, but the disassembly of the rig wasn't something he was comfortable doing.

So I told him I was capable of disassembling the nose and removing the fascia to expose the steel carriage - but since I've never seen someone assemble it, I'm a bit concerned on how ot remove the nose.

I Removed the screws and was able to cut the silicone away from the fibreglass - but when I tried to pull it up and away it was fighting me.

Does anybody have a video or a link of how the nose is assembled?

Thanks in advance!

JOsh

Edd505 wrote:
Thread started 12/1/19 ....................

And was updated by OP 4/24...............

Thread started 12/1/19 ....................

jodeb720 wrote:
Lyle,

I've got about 1-1/2" clearance from the bottom of the 5er to the top of the bed. I'm looking into finding a way to get another few inches between the bed and the truck - possibly replacing the king pin assembly in the damaged pinbox.

I may have to go that route, but if I do that, I'll probably haul it up to denver (where is where I live). I've met a few guys who know welding and they can 'hook' me up.

in a perfect world I find a guy who knows what he's doing and he's in santa fe - but if that doesn't pan out, I'll be looking into a replacement King Pin assembly and dragging it up to denver.

It will only break more and more if you try to tow it that far. Either have it fixed there or flat bedded to Denver.

Lyle,

it's a good suggestion! I just don't have the clearance to fool around.

jodeb720 wrote:
Lyle,

I've got about 1-1/2" clearance from the bottom of the 5er to the top of the bed. I'm looking into finding a way to get another few inches between the bed and the truck - possibly replacing the king pin assembly in the damaged pinbox.

I may have to go that route, but if I do that, I'll probably haul it up to denver (where is where I live). I've met a few guys who know welding and they can 'hook' me up.

in a perfect world I find a guy who knows what he's doing and he's in santa fe - but if that doesn't pan out, I'll be looking into a replacement King Pin assembly and dragging it up to denver.

Wow! Hadn't realized it was that bad. Forget my suggestion! :B

Lyle

Lyle,

I've got about 1-1/2" clearance from the bottom of the 5er to the top of the bed. I'm looking into finding a way to get another few inches between the bed and the truck - possibly replacing the king pin assembly in the damaged pinbox.

I may have to go that route, but if I do that, I'll probably haul it up to denver (where is where I live). I've met a few guys who know welding and they can 'hook' me up.

in a perfect world I find a guy who knows what he's doing and he's in santa fe - but if that doesn't pan out, I'll be looking into a replacement King Pin assembly and dragging it up to denver.

jodeb720 wrote:
My brother in law (who works for an insurance company) told me I'd have been better off if the trailer come down on bed of the truck and damaged it. Then the Tow Vehicle Insurance would have covered the repairs of the truck and trailer.

Unfortunately, I saw the problem and stopped driving before it did any real damage.

I was hoping someone had a welder that they could recommend - but it's looking like I need to start looking online for a welder - and go from there. Once I have that, then I can figure out the logistics of getting it fixed. Hopefully it's not more than the 5er is worth.

Can you get it safely down to ABQ? Might have better luck down there.

Lyle

jodeb720 wrote:
Sorry for the long lapse between updates, but between the weather between Denver and Santa Fe, NM and covad, it's been a challenge getting back.

I went back the beginning of March, and peeled back the front and found the damage. It's pretty extensive. The pictures I took are not very good.

On another board, I found a similar failure so I'll be reaching out to the 800 number that Aboatrguy posted above.

As best I can figure it out, on highway 40 where the road goes up and down (whipping) it must have caused the pinbox area welds to fail. I think the perimeter welds in the corners (drivers and passenger) failed first (I think they were the weakest welds) and then everying else just collapsed in.

What I didn't see was the welds internally fail - just the perimeter welds. The welds close to the pinbox were solid and it was metal failure not poor welding that was the root cause.

I'm now starting to look for a welder in Santa Fe - so if anybody can recommend one, that would be very helpful. I know i'm going to have to peel everying back outside, but what's not clear is how much I need to remove on the inside to give the welder access from above to really weld this correctly so it doesn't fail, again.

If I was going to try and place blame, I would think the following combination:
1. My new truck (F350) has a stiffer suspension than my 2003 chevy 250.
2. there was more weight than we've had in teh past on the pin - meaning, we had a bunch of pictures and other breakables around the bed over the pin. In the past, we just have the normal clothing and blankets but not 'extras'.
3. The highway had serious drop outs or as we call them on dirt bikes Whoops that you really can't see until you feel them. I'm thinking one of them in NM somewhere before santa fe was the one that did it in.

the good news is once I do this, it'll be better than OEM. Now to find the welder.

Suggestions?

Thanks
Josh

You forgot the "zero" causes, and that was the mfr spec'ing a lousy frame and LCI for building it. Any frame should be able to withstand the full cargo load, the tow vehicle and the roads, within reason. Yeah, you don't fill the nose full of tools and lead, but with extra "breakables" stored there, how much could you have had? 100-200 lbs, at most? Given the stiffer suspension of your truck, the weight should have made the truck actually ride a bit better, with less bounce. Roads you can't do anything except slow down, and I =have= had to do that a couple times, but shouldn't have had to.

Lyle

My brother in law (who works for an insurance company) told me I'd have been better off if the trailer come down on bed of the truck and damaged it. Then the Tow Vehicle Insurance would have covered the repairs of the truck and trailer.

Unfortunately, I saw the problem and stopped driving before it did any real damage.

I was hoping someone had a welder that they could recommend - but it's looking like I need to start looking online for a welder - and go from there. Once I have that, then I can figure out the logistics of getting it fixed. Hopefully it's not more than the 5er is worth.