poor frame design on travel trailer

Old-Biscuit wrote:
With that type of A-frame/trailer frame I would be more concerned with 'failure'

I've seen that pic before in another forum and am almost certain was in a post by the actual owner. If it is indeed the same one that happened after an extended trip, over 15K miles, of traveling gravel frost heaved washboard roads in Alaska and the Yukon.

That has little to do with the A frame arrangement and more to do with overloading the trailer beyond the capacity of those tubes. If they would of been installed conventionally through the front apron and connected into the webs of the main frame rails they would most likely still have done the same. Look at the storage compartment. I'd bet dollars to donuts he had that trailer grossly overloaded.

You also do not know what type of abuse the owner threw at it. I have a favorite site at a PA state park that is on a hill overlooking the main entrance road. They have a huge speedbump, I call it a 6" curb lol, with a 10 mph speed limit. You would be surprised at the amount of people that come up that road doing 30+ mph and never give that speedbump a 2nd thought as they go bouncing over it, and you ought to see what a trailer and tow vehicle do when they nail it correctly. I have often thought of making up numbered cards so I can sit around the fore on Fridays sipping hooch and score people on form.

Huntindog wrote:
There is nothing inherently wrong with that A frame design. Indeed many of the heavier units tend to use that design... But,,,, that design usually has the axles under the springs. This allows for greater ground clearance. You did not say, but I bet your axles are on top of the springs. If so, then this is a mismatch.

While reading through this thread the other day I found a pic of the OP's model a year or two older, the axles were underhung below the springs. That being said, I would not be surprised for a manufacturer to do a run of models one way this week, and do a 180 next week because they ran out of A but had B sitting around.

What gives the OP's issue away are the two stair entry steps. Something is mismatched. Most trailers I have seen with a dropped A frame have 3 tread entry steps which is roughly an 8" increase in ride height.