2010 5th Wheel with a broken frame at Pin Box

[millsi]

The welds have broken away from the frame and the steel has torn on either side of the pin box.

My trailer is a 2010 Keystone Cougar XL-Lite 27SAB Fifth Wheel. I am the original owner.

We were planning on going camping this weekend. I noticed the trailer was sitting a little funny when I hitched up at our storage yard.

I thought maybe it was just the way it was sitting in the gravel lot. Towed it home. For some reason I decided to look around the pin box of my 5th wheel. Thankfully, I did.

Scary what I saw as we have just recently return from Myrtle Beach as 16 hour drive from our home in Canada. We had made 4 trips to SC and 2 to Walt Disney in Orlando. We are usually out 40+ nights a year. I know this is not going to be a cheap repair but we love camping. If it can not be repaired. We will likely sell it to someone for a seasonal lot and not be able to afford a new one. Up until now, the only repairs/maintenance, we have done is swap out the water heater this year and tires and lube the axles.

For now it is sitting in my driveway and not going anywhere.

I have contacted a few RV dealers but since I just noticed this on Thursday evening and this being a holiday weekend. I will have to wait until Tuesday to see what to do.

2 of the RV dealers near me are suggested I take it to a trailer manufacturer/welding shop (cattle/equipment trailers).

Anyone else have a similiar experience and would like to share their advice.

Insurance? I assume not likely since it is a failure/wear and tear.
Lippert? Going to send an email/call but not likely since it is 10 years old but worth a try.
Keystone? Same as Lippert.

Video descriptions my problem exactly from a 2009 Cougar:

2009 Keystone Cougar

I will upload photos once I figure it out.

[laknox]

millsi wrote:
The welds have broken away from the frame and the steel has torn on either side of the pin box.

My trailer is a 2010 Keystone Cougar XL-Lite 27SAB Fifth Wheel. I am the original owner.

We were planning on going camping this weekend. I noticed the trailer was sitting a little funny when I hitched up at our storage yard.

I thought maybe it was just the way it was sitting in the gravel lot. Towed it home. For some reason I decided to look around the pin box of my 5th wheel. Thankfully, I did.

Scary what I saw as we have just recently return from Myrtle Beach as 16 hour drive from our home in Canada. We had made 4 trips to SC and 2 to Walt Disney in Orlando. We are usually out 40+ nights a year. I know this is not going to be a cheap repair but we love camping. If it can not be repaired. We will likely sell it to someone for a seasonal lot and not be able to afford a new one. Up until now, the only repairs/maintenance, we have done is swap out the water heater this year and tires and lube the axles.

For now it is sitting in my driveway and not going anywhere.

I have contacted a few RV dealers but since I just noticed this on Thursday evening and this being a holiday weekend. I will have to wait until Tuesday to see what to do.

2 of the RV dealers near me are suggested I take it to a trailer manufacturer/welding shop (cattle/equipment trailers).

Anyone else have a similiar experience and would like to share their advice.

Insurance? I assume not likely since it is a failure/wear and tear.
Lippert? Going to send an email/call but not likely since it is 10 years old but worth a try.
Keystone? Same as Lippert.

Video descriptions my problem exactly from a 2009 Cougar:

2009 Keystone Cougar

I will upload photos once I figure it out.

Junk build by Lippert and zero QC inspection at the Keystone factory, made this a real issue. Check with insurance, but they'll likely call it a design defect and not cover it. LCI and Keystone will likely just laugh at you, mumbling "sucker" under their collective breaths. There are any number of broken frame issues posted here, but you're likely to have to search in the "archives". Things =have= gotten better, as I haven't seen a broken frame post in a while.

What some people have done is work both with a dealer =and= a 3rd party welder. Dealer does the "exterior" work, removing the skin and any interior stuff, then the welder comes in, fixes the breaks/beefs the frame up, then the dealer replaces the "exterior". Was an excellent thread last year, IIRC, of a guy and some family members doing their own fix. Lots of pics and good descriptions.

Lyle

[millsi]

Thanks to all of you for your advice. I have emailed a trailer manufacturer/fabricator (they are minstry of transport certified) a few kms away but will have to wait until Tuesday to speak to them as it is a holiday weekend. I would feel comfortable taking apart the filon but not comfortable just finding a mobile welder off the web. Now that it has been a few days, we are committed to repairing as the rest of the trailer is in great shape. Have a good rest of the weekend. I will keep you posted. I have spent 10 years lurking on this forum and never really contributed much but have learned a lot.

[B_O__Plenty]

Can't imagine many if any RV dealers employ a genuine certified welder. I would take it apart myself and have a mobile welder fabricator come out and fix it right up. Once you get it apart down to what needs to be repaired I can't imagine it would take more than a few hours of their time to fix it right.
B.O.

[valhalla360]

Check with your insurance company.

Normal wear & tear doesn't break the frame.

[Retired_JSO]

I had 2 welds broken in the overhang of a 2004 Sandpiper back about 2009. I took it to my nephew, a welder and he rewelded the broken braces but added some c channel to re-enforce what was weak. Took about 3 hours to repair which included removing and re install the Filon under panel..

[Endricken]

Yup, mobile welder. Assuming you can remove the front cap, etc. yourself...
That said since a bad pothole on I-10) was to blame for our front frame/pinbox failure, Insurance covered but we had to go through a body shop in TX that also repaired RVs and they subbed it out to a Mobile RV Repair that removed the front cap and fiberglass around the Pinbox. Mobile Welder built a new pinbox "ladder frame" out of thicker steel and welded it in. We spent 3 weeks just east of Dallas TX to complete that effort. Insurance paid us and we paid the Body Shop. $10K repair cost us about $1800 out of pocket extra due to $1K deductable and my buying my own heavier duty pinbox and Star performance Adapter.

[camperfamily]

Had something similar with our 2011 Cougar. Ours was at the connection of the sidewalls over the front section. Welds gave out and the walls dropped down when hitched, pulling the interior apart.

Look up some qualified welders. If your willing to take down the underside of that area it won't take long. A RV dealer won't touch it. We happened to have a family member who could do the job. Look around, you'll find someone.

Not worth replacing the rig over this IMHO.

[azdryheat]

RV dealer will just farm out the repair and charge you double.

[bobsallyh]

What Old Biscuit said!

[Big_Dog2]

I know the feeling. I had a similar issue with my 2007 Colorado 5th. I discovered the issue in Manitoba and live near Edmonton. A local welder came on site and reinforced the hitch. He advised me to keep a close eye on it and I did. In several hundred kms I "thought" the issue may be recurring and took it to a welding shop in Dauphin where additional reinforcement was added. The shop advised me that this was the fifth time (over the years) they had repaired a hitch issue on a 5th wheel RV.

I made it home with no issues. The RV shops would not touch the repair because there was structural welding involved and their staff were not qualified for that type of welding. The welding shops did not want to take the nose cone off the trailer to properly access the problem area. Eventually I found a welding shop that claimed to have a staff member who had done that type of repair and were willing to take on the job. They advised me that the repairs that were done on the road were well done and would have stood up. Regardless, I had the reinforcements removed and the problem area replaced and strengthened.

Some RV facilities said they would remove the nose cone and bring a welder in for the welding portion of the repair. That would have worked for me because my trailer was movable. In your case all work will have to be done at your home either by yourself or a hired individual.

In my case, the cost of repair was significantly less than any type of replacement and like you, I was not about to "unload" an unsafe trailer on another (one RV dealership suggested selling it as is at an auction). My choices were to either have the trailer properly repaired or sell it with full disclosure.

I feel your pain. Good Luck.

[Tyler0215]

X2 on finding a welding shop. They will do a better job aligning,reinforcing, and welding than an RV dealer.

[Old-Biscuit]

A Mobile Welder, A weld Shop, Trailer SHop that does welding/fabrication

NO RV DEALERS, NO RV REPAIR SHOPS>>>>>>>>>>>NO

Lippert.....NOPE

Insurance.....NOPE


Mobile Welder, A Weld Shop, Trailer Shop that does welding/fabrication

Broken welds can be redone
Torn metal can be Stitch welded
Add in some extra cross supports
Add in needed bracing
Good to go (better then before)

[chiefneon]

Howdy!

I can recommend someone to fix it but they are in Goshen, Indiana, Affinity RV Group. I’m there now have delamination on a sidewall and a slideout repaired. They are well up to the task as I’ve watch the work they are doing while here.

“Happy Trails”
Chiefneon