What is the life expectancy of the 5th wheel

I had a Skyline " Fun Time" 26 ft Tt made in Nov of 87 bought it new in Jan88. Never had a problem with it. Wife and 2 kids! Sold it in 2008 for 5k. Used it every summer for weeks at a time! Very simple, no tv. Loved it!

Bruce.

I think I will be having a discussion with my ins agent real soon. Ours is ten years old and we plan at least another ten years. Although it is just the dw and I so we don't have the extra wear from kids like we saw when they were still at home

I should have added that we have an airhitch plus the trailair center point suspension. This should add to the life of any fifth.
chevman

Find a welder and pay to get it fixed. No biggie. Give up on the manufacturer, and the insurance company. They will not help you. Forget the hassle and get it fixed. You'll be much happier.

Camper0414 wrote:
Very interesting people are asking about potholes! Yes we did and that is what started this, we hit a huge one just north of the OHIO line so we stopped at the truck stop to inspect because it raddled our teeth! That is when we saw the cracks! According tot the insurance the cracks are not from a sudden hit and Keystone say it is failure not defect.

Unless you can lock the insuance adjuster and the manufacture in a room and they don't come out until someone takes responsibility, you got yourself a catch 22.

Failure vs Defect
Insurance sudden vs overtime

Very interesting people are asking about potholes! Yes we did and that is what started this, we hit a huge one just north of the OHIO line so we stopped at the truck stop to inspect because it raddled our teeth! That is when we saw the cracks! According tot the insurance the cracks are not from a sudden hit and Keystone say it is failure not defect.

Tough question. We have at least 700 nights & 50,000 miles on our 07 Alpenlite. Lots of time. Many miles. On the other hand it spends 7 months a year indoor storage, gets waxed twice a year, gets constantly maintained & various system upgrades. Besides some carpet wear you would never know. It looks that good.

I would say it is what the new trailers are coming out with that makes the old trailer old. My 10 year old unit still seems fairly modern to me but I think another 4 or 5 years will make quite a difference to me. Just because a trailer is old doesn't necessarily make it useless but part of the pleasure for me comes from having a relatively modern unit.

Boy if I was you that would seal my decision never to buy another Keystone product ever again.
Welds don't "WEAR OUT" They break from fatigue due to overuse, abuse, under engineered, or just plain poor quality.
Are you sure you did not hit that monster pothole on the I75 that swallows up Smart Car's. That I75 is the worst freeway I have found yet for massive potholes. I hit a pothole of broken concrete a full lane wide by about 4 feet long and almost 3-4 inches deep some years ago towing a fifthwheel and almost lost control of my unit.
I would not have been at all surprised if I had suffered frame damage.