mm047 wrote:
For now I'm seeing no bending of the metal. The tank is flexing down a little as it sits now at about 2/3 full. I can see, though, that the welds could be a weak point. I'm going to monitor the setup during my trip next week, and look into strenghtening it. Much better to spend a few bucks and a few hours now.
Lynnmor wrote:
Just to be clear, I should have said it was actually cracks in the frame next to the welds, the weld itself was OK. I added tubing across from spring hanger to spring hanger at all three places to reduce the flex. Imagine the push as you round a turn and the trailer beams tilting under that stress. The water tank supports will have quite a load and aren't up to that job. I made my own parts, but here is one solution: X-Factor
Lippert was my frame maker and they wanted to add vertical angle iron over the cracks in the frame, but I decided to prevent the issue rather than hide it.
Interesting! The frame on my own 2014 Coachmen Freedom Express 192RBS cracked on both sides near the rear wheels. Aware that there was an
NHTSA Recall I thought I'd be covered but it turned out my particular model, though manufactured during the same time period covered under this recall, was not on the recall list. :M After much arguing with Coachmen and Lippert the latter finally agreed to cover the cost to have my dealer's tech repair my trailer. I thought he was going to just weld metal plates over the cracks, on each side of each frame member, but later inspection showed the tech also installed three crossbars just like those shown the the above link. I was impressed with this repair and now that I've seen this X-Factor kit I'd bet that's exactly what was installed ... thanks for that link! :B
