Lippert frame damage

Question

This is a long RV damage story so I'll try to make it short. We have a 04 Starcraft Homestead 5'er that we bought used 2 years ago. No problems at all until returning home from a camping trip. We were going through a small town when we experienced a huge jolt from the 5th wheel. We thought we hit a giant pothole and we may have although we don't know for sure. The rest of the trip was uneventful. When we got home we realized there was major damage. The slide works fine but there is daylight around the top opening and there is a gap between the rear wall and floor. The battery doesn't work either. We have GMAC insurance so we took it to the repair place they recommend. The RV repair shop says there is damage to our Lippert frame since one side tilts. GMAC wants us to send the unit to a frame shop for their examination. But it will be at our expense if they decide it's from wear and tear rather than an accident. My questions: will they have to tear the unit apart to examine the damage, and is it cost effective to repair the frame of a 5'er that is almost 10 years old?

splashers3 · Answer

Sorry for your situation.Concerning cost to repair...it depends on how you feel about your trailer and what is the estimate to repair - it may cost more to buy a new (Used) one - and you still would have to get rid of your damaged one.Only you know the shape of your trailer.

bandaid · Answer

If your trailer does not have an enclosed belly, all of the frame would be visible. If the shop has a level floor, it is as simple as taking a tape measure and measuring from the floor to each frame rail.

From the description you gave, it sounds to me as though one of the main I beams has cracked, probably near, or at one of the spring perches.

One other possibility is the screws holding the trailer box to the frame have rusted through and the box has shifted.

What you may need to do is determine if, as you say, you hit something, such as a huge pot hole, or curbing, which could have caused an extreme stress to the unit, maybe you will get lucky , as I did and have the insurance company cover it. I had an aluminum frame member break inside the wall of a camper, around a slide. The outer skin had to be removed and the weld repaired and the wall framing re-enforced. The shop also found the left side I beam had lost its upward camber, causing the rear of the unit to hang a little lower on the side where the weld failed. It was covered under comprehensive as an undetermined road hazard collision! All I paid was the deductible. The rest of the bill was 18 K! Might be, your insurance company would prefer to total your trailer and give you a check for the value, which in M. O. O. might be the best thing to accept with a ten year old trailer.

Bandaid

jim_and_barb · Answer

I would think they would rather total it and cut a check. If the rig was 10 yrs old sounds like time to upgrade.

jloucks · Answer

Jim and Barb wrote:I would think they would rather total it and cut a check. If the rig was 10 yrs old sounds like time to upgrade.... Or weasel out of coverage altogether.  My money is on that.

0rion · Answer

good ole insurance company......isn't it exactly things like this that you buy insurance for? I would think really hard and see if you can't remember that pot hole a little better.

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Lippert frame damage

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