BurbMan wrote:
Once the box is off of the frame, the frame is easily welded by a qualified welder and will be completely serviceable. The plate was probably done because you can't really weld a trailer frame right with the box on it without burning it down...
Granted one could have a "qualified welder" correct the issue with the frame once there is no box on said frame, but at that point one needs to ask the question "is it REALLY worth it?"
A "qualified welder around my area can cost north of $100 per hr labor and sticks for the welder are not cheap by any means, plus one will wonder IF that is ALL of the frame issues that need corrected.. Good welds take time, one little patch could end up running 4 hrs or more of labor and perhaps a pound of sticks.. Multiply that by any other "surprises" that shows up after the OP has removed the box..
The frame failed for a reason, high stress point? Poor materials? Poor design? Frame damage from accident?
How much chance is one willing to take that the frame does not have OTHER structural defects that may show up AFTER the OP has put a new box on top?
Used frames are dirt cheap and not all that difficult to find, around my area, see them pop up periodically for under $500 with valid title.
But at that point, the OP is starting from scratch and it is going to cost far more than what it will be worth if the OP does manage to follow this project to completion.
This is a suicide mission, there ARE plenty of used RV trailers for sale at reasonable prices with far less damage..
Heck the one I have I bought the trailer for $700, gutted inside and even replaced the roofing and siding, replaced a lot of rotted framing, rewired, reinsulated, made all new cabinets, altered the layout to my tastes putting around $5K into it and it only took me 9 months to complete. BUT, I had a GOOD FRAME, I had better than 95% GOOD FLOOR, 90% good roof trusses, 85% good wall studs to work with.
The sadest thing however, with all the work and money I put into my trailer, it is worth only $700 (scrap price)since it is a 36 yr old trailer (1984), that is the reality of RVs.
Even then, IF I were ever to do this again, I would DEMO the entire box by cutting the bolts and lifting the box off the frame then building new box from scratch.. Lost a lot of time with demo work, around 3 months of time.. But once again, I HAD A GOOD FRAME AND BOX WAS NOT 75% LOST like the OPs.
I would really highly recommend the OP just scrap and move on to a trailer in much better shape.. They will spend much less time and money demoing and repairing what they have..
It is just too far gone and does not make sense to throw your life and money down the hole.
