Ford F350 Cracked Frame

I had a cracked frame, passenger side broken into two pieces near front of bed. Welded up and holding so far..

No pics of the repair. Welded, but not plated. The frame shop indicated that plating was not considered necessary due to the location of the crack and that it only went from the bottom of the frame up to the lowest hole. There is however a LOT of weld on the inside of the frame.

I have added the Stableloads to eliminate much of the load on the bags. I had been running them 10 years at 90+ lbs pressure and finally had a problem. I am hoping the stableloads will allow much decreased pressure in the bags - and no future problems.

Dale

Good deal. Pics of the weld repair? I hope they fish plated it...

Thanks for the update.

My frame has been welded up, the bag mount straightened and remounted and I installed the Stableloads. The forward ends of the helper springs contact the stableload block at normal rest without the camper. The rear is about an inch off. The rear of the truck is a couple inches higher. I was concerned that the ride would real rough, but a short test drive empty didn't seem much different.

Now we just need to load up the camper and give things a good test. We have a couple of trips planned in the next few months, so it should get a good workout.

Dale

I have an appointment with a frame shop in the next couple of days to get the frame repaired. They are also going to straighten the bag mounting bracket that bent when the bolt broke.

My Stableloads arrived Friday and I will mount them shortly. This week is pretty much filled up.

I thing the Stableloads will take a lot of load off the bags and help prevent future frame problems.


Dale

Very common in that vintage of Ford. Weld it up and fishplate it. In the future after you install the upper StableLoads don't run over 40psi in the bags and it will be fine.

Tamnative wrote:
I had air bags on my previous truck a 97 F-250 and had no problems BUT,with that year truck you had to drill the frame to install. That is the 1st. problem. The second problem is that they support the load in an area that is not designed for it so you don't want to rely on them to do anything but "level" the load. If you put too much pressure in them they will place the weight were it was not engineered to hold. The weight of the load should be supported at each end of the leaf spring.
I know I may get some flak about what I am going to say so be it. Air bags have a purpose. And it is to level the load,no more no less. And it should not take 80 or 120 lbs. to do so. If it does than there is a problem or there will be. I don't use them any more,my personal choice and find no need for them. I Think that camper dealers push them to sell heavy campers to people that have trucks that aren't enough to handle them, mine tried. I think tour truck should be more than enough truck to handle a Lance 1121. I think that the holes that were drilled to install the airbags along with the added air pressure for lift is what cracked the frame. Be careful when you have it repaired as some "shops" may do more damage than good. Chose wisely and do some further research.

To an extent I agree...

level is all... Do not exceed the weight capacity of the rear axle and springs for load.

If it makes any difference, 18 wheeler air ride trailers for big stuff have been around since the 70's, maybe longer.
Don't exceed axle weight..

I have Air Lift bags , and they have been on 2 trucks with my camper.. Both f250's, 89 and 04. 180,000+ miles including a recent trip to AK, all the way to Prudhoe bay....
Nearly 2K miles of rough crap! I rarely run over 40 psi.... Camper fully loaded is <>4000lbs. I also have Bilstein shocks. That is all the suspension items I have ever had except 19.5 rims and tires.



Jim

I had air bags on my previous truck a 97 F-250 and had no problems BUT,with that year truck you had to drill the frame to install. That is the 1st. problem. The second problem is that they support the load in an area that is not designed for it so you don't want to rely on them to do anything but "level" the load. If you put too much pressure in them they will place the weight were it was not engineered to hold. The weight of the load should be supported at each end of the leaf spring.
I know I may get some flak about what I am going to say so be it. Air bags have a purpose. And it is to level the load,no more no less. And it should not take 80 or 120 lbs. to do so. If it does than there is a problem or there will be. I don't use them any more,my personal choice and find no need for them. I Think that camper dealers push them to sell heavy campers to people that have trucks that aren't enough to handle them, mine tried. I think tour truck should be more than enough truck to handle a Lance 1121. I think that the holes that were drilled to install the airbags along with the added air pressure for lift is what cracked the frame. Be careful when you have it repaired as some "shops" may do more damage than good. Chose wisely and do some further research.

The repair is not that difficult, but you need to make sure that they bevel the crack and make sure they get full penetration when they weld it. They will probably use 7018 rod for the repair.