Broken Frame on a RAM 3500

“ I'd like to know what else was in the camper at the rear of it. I don't think the balance point should be that far back on a normal TC.”

Well, the basement alone on the 1165 could easily hold several people and nowadays who knows, after all this all happened south of the border - lol :B

3 tons

The torklift application for that truck is ZERO drilling required. As are the vast majority of torklift apps. No speculation needed there. Unless the owner had some custom tie down mounts made, the truck frame wasn’t drilled.

I'd like to know what else was in the camper at the rear of it. I don't think the balance point should be that far back on a normal TC. In other words, even if the frame broke it should sit nearly level. The other wild card is the leverage of the bike on the hitch.

It also almost looks like it's short bed, but that could an optical illusion.

One more thought is I wonder where the holding tanks are and if they were in the rear behind the axle, were they full or nearly full?

I read the article as sent to me this morning from another news source. I have not been around for quite some time since selling the TC… but, I knew that this would be a topic here, hence me dropping back in to at least say hi. Good to see some of the regular good folks with sage comments still around here…

Yes, we are all respectfully speculating on this mishap and the comments seem quite logical. I will add this:

He could have been under the max payload number, but if that load (force)is hanging X distance behind the rear axle it could have resulted in a broken frame- nothing too complex to understand, it is the basic physics of levers. If placed far enough away then the uplift force (right at the front tie- downs) and the weight of the diesel up front will react at the weakest point. All of those forces working together will find that weakest point.

3 tons wrote:
~…The camper dealer didn’t follow my instructions and used the drill-thru mount… ~3 tons

WOW! I would have been rip-feces PO'd in a big way if a dealer did that even within acceptable location range!:M

~…the clamp on unit negates any drilling or welding…~

Yep, that is why I went with the bolt-in TL's on mine. Kind of a PIA to install within the HF frame. I have mine still in place... not sure if I can get inside to remove the hardware in order to take them off.

Anyway- hope y'all had a Merry Christmas... and Happy New Year to everyone.

otrfun wrote:
If this guy had taken the time to visit a scale, odds are he would have quickly discovered he was grossly overloaded. But, more to my point, he would have discovered his front axle was being off-loaded many, many hundreds of pounds indicating a COG that was way behind the rear axle.

Pretty much this. The truck owner read somewhere that the max payload for a Ram 3500 DRW truck was 7800 lbs., and it didn't occur to him that this doesn't apply for all models, just the 2WD regular cab gas version.

JIMNLIN wrote:
Lots of assumptions as usual. Did the frame actually break or collapse at the point where the drilled holes were.
Was their actually drilled holes ?
Also was the drilling done per Rams Body guidelines.

Yep, lots of brainstorming here, yet it’s a fact that Torklift makes a drill-thru AND a no-drill thru clamp on version…Though we have no way to know which mount was used, this fact ought not be so readily dismissed, and it’s entirely possible the installer was unaware of this difference - you might be curious how I know, as it happened to me on my previous RAM…The camper dealer didn’t follow my instructions and used the drill-thru mount…Fortunately (possibly due to smaller camper with more forward CG…) I didn't have a catastrophic failure…Either way, the clamp on unit negates any drilling or welding…

3 tons

The comments under the article "On the article page that was posted by the op" are very close to the discussion we are having here... In my very limited knowledge of metal there are two things that could do this and they are weight and rust. If a bridge over a stream rusts it falls apart over a very long period of time. Another point is with my unloading of every single possible pound of weight I got the weight of my 1181 down to 4300 lbs from well over 5000 lbs and it still feels like the front end is driving up in the air. JM2C Great discussion though and you are all correct about your points.

wnjj wrote:
. . . after 25k miles it broke after driving 55 on roads that according to the owner were “kind of back and forth, and there's dips and stuff”. A cracked frame is likely due to oscillation of the whole load, working the frame until the crack formed . . . A bunch of weight sitting over the rear axle does not stress the frame where it broke unless there’s an unholy motion . . .

Good point. Totally agree.

Oscillation and the location of the load's Center-of-Gravity over the rear axle is a key point. An oscillating, downward force (i.e., COG) directly over or in front of the rear axle should not have pushed the frame upward as shown in the pic. IMO, a failure (with a proper COG) would have resulted in the frame being pushed downward.

If this guy had taken the time to visit a scale, odds are he would have quickly discovered he was grossly overloaded. But, more to my point, he would have discovered his front axle was being off-loaded many, many hundreds of pounds indicating a COG that was way behind the rear axle.

Lots of assumptions as usual. Did the frame actually break or collapse at the point where the drilled holes were.
Was their actually drilled holes ?
Also was the drilling done per Rams Body guidelines ??

Behind the cab/front of the bed bent/broken frame rails happen especially with wood haulers trucks (all brands and frame rail designs) due to overloading after lots of duty cycles and abuse.

3 tons wrote:
“ Dodge/Rams Body Builder guide allows drilling/welding the main frame rails on '03 and up Dodge/Ram hydroformed frame rails.”

Maybe so (I donno??), but how might this factoid be associated with installation of a Torklift ‘drill thru the frame’ tie-down mount?

3 tons

I suspect you’re on to something here.

Also consider that after 25k miles it broke after driving 55 on roads that according to the owner were “kind of back and forth, and there's dips and stuff”. A cracked frame is likely due to oscillation of the whole load, working the frame until the crack formed. It’s most likely to form at a place like a drilled mount. A bunch of weight sitting over the rear axle does not stress the frame where it broke unless there’s an unholy motion.

My guess is that it could have eventually happened even with a lighter camper on board though you can’t blame Mopar for denying the warranty with an overload truck as I’m sure it contributed.