Does this frame cross-member break matter?
Yes, I suppose it matters. I was chasing a plumbing issue and discovered this when I opened up the underbelly of the rig. At first I thought it was one of the black tank supports but on closer ins...
Forum Discussion
joebedford wrote:
For the little I've seen, there's nothing I've seen that's holding the floor other than the frame rails.
I think you will find that there are floor "joists" that run in a fore/aft direction that are supported by the cross beams/joists. In our TT, the fore/aft joists are 2x2 thinwall aluminum tubing on 16" centers or thereabouts. Our TT also has open web crossbeams like in the OP's photo, as I encountered one when pushing a 4" furnace duct through it, blind from above. You can't possibly have the OSB or plywood floor supported only on the I-beams and crossbeams. There will also be a layer of Darco fabric on the underside of the floor. In our TT, when the factory needed a hole for the duct through the floor, they just hacked out one of the alum. joists with a sawzall - and it's in a area of higher floor loading.
There is precious little info. or photos out there on how Lippert's frames are built and what the design(s) look like.
I would guess that the web's rods in the photo (perhaps call it a "crossbeam" for clarification) underwent a lot of stress from parallelogram action of the bottoms of the I-beams flexing left/right relative to the top of them plus you'd also have the weight on the fore/aft joists bearing down on top of the crossbeam causing deflection in it. If you have something heavy above like a kitchen, it would add more stresses to the joists and crossbeams, esp. from motion when travelling.
The floor (plywood or OSB) would act as a diaphragm (in eng. parlance) and create a stiffer connection of the tops of the I-beams in a horiz. plane all around the trailer's frame while the bottom flanges of the I-beams could have more freedom to move. Perhaps the upper and lower flanges of the crossbeam had different amounts and directions of force applied to them relative to each other as a result. There is also the possibility of sub-standard welds contributing to the failure. Dunno, just thinking out loud...
Would be interesting to put a camcorder down there and see what happens as you tow it around but I would get repairs done asap. Look forward to hearing about any remedial work and seeing more photos. I would really recommend having a reputable frame shop look at it unless you are well-versed in working on these frames. We had a detailed insp. done on a previous TT for $200 and was was well worth it.
