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howardwheeler's avatar
Oct 02, 2018

My Alpenlite frame broke on the road

Pictures will follow, but I was dismayed to discover the whole front closet on my fifth wheel jammed up against the ceiling. Checking around all I could conclude was my frame had broken. I was somewhere in British Columbia heading back down to Idaho where my daughter and son-in-law live. I was not unhooked from the truck when I made the discovery. Upon putting legs down, the front went back down to close to normal. I went outside and raised and lowered the legs, putting the load on and off the pin box, and sure enough the pin box went up and down 2 inches at least. No one could fix it where I was, so I elected to try to make it to Idaho. I indeed made it and discovered two of my grandsons, aged 22 and 18, were visiting their aunt and uncle, so I had man power. The next morning we tore into the camper trying to expose the pin box, which I expected had broken loose. We figured out how the closet came apart and finally found the pin box frame beneath the closet floor. All was perfect! That meant the frame going backward had to be shot. We started dismantling things above and below, when I heard the shout from my son-in-law from inside the bedroom, “I’m onto something! Oh, I found it!!” All of us ran inside, and a flashlight shining on the 2x6 square metal tube that runs horizontally from the main chassis frame to the pin box frame was cracked 4/5ths of the way through. It turned out on the drivers side, right where the passenger side had cracked, a heavy metal beam that supports the bed slide was welded keeping that side from breaking. The break was indeed at what I believe is the weakest link: immediately passed a triangulated brace the stabilized the beam with the vertical beam going up from the main lower beam. It’s like the front of a goose neck. Anyway, other brothers in our church here were certified welders and machinists. The next day we had welded the crack and placed another beam on top of the old one, welded it all the way down making that beam twice as thick as before, then welded 1/4” plate to the side. The weak link is now the strongest. My grandsons put everything back together and all is well. If I can get the pictures to load they will follow.
  • Fixed it for real.
    I remember an old utility trailer I had for moving a long time ago. One day the tongue broke right where it was welded to the frame with the box. I took it to a welding shop. I came back and the guy made it look like it did before.

    I asked him if it will break again. He said "Probably." So my response was "how about fixing it so this won't happen again?" He then added some additional angle iron on top of the welds. Fixed for real.
  • Wow, quite the repair. Disturbing it broke in the first place.
  • buc1980 wrote:
    That is a Lippert frame for sure.Lippert is well know for the frame problems.
    not a lippert frame. In house frame from alpenlite factory. Chevman
  • We were prepared to add plates to the opposite side, but when I cut a hole under the bed to get to that spot we discovered why it didn’t break. It has, in the exact spot where the other side broke, a full 2x6 beam welded perpendicular to the beam that goes to the pin box. It showed no signs of a break and was welded solid all around. And Larry is correct; this is an in house Western RV frame, noted for strength. This was the weak link in the whole structure and I guess after 15 years of bumps it finally gave out.
  • We installed our air hitch for the thinking softer is a better idea for the towing a fifth. Chevman
  • We have an Airborne hitch for that reason as well, but it’s just been to many hard knocks. There have been a few that made me grimace over the years. By the way, Larry, being an Alpenlite owner, do you know how the nose section (the whole part that is the step up in the bedroom) of the walls and floor attach to the steel frame? We got a very close look with everything torn apart, and the very front appears to float. We could find no broken attachments or snapped screws or bolts or anything right up front. It made us wonder if they didn’t allow for a little flex right up near the pin box. The walls and floor seem absolutely solid. Also I noticed that right up front next to the horizontal beam the outside wall section has the fiberglass on the outside but is backed up by double 3/4” plywood rather than the expected aluminum studs and foam. I could see it through the hole where the wiring for the running lights go. Interesting.
  • Ken, you might try checking your browser preferences in advanced, to show all images.