Bent Kingpin?

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