Alcan and 5th Wheel hitch problem 6/24/2013
The frame holding the hitch on my Montana 5th wheel trailer broke at the end of our trip up the Alcan Hwy. Is this common?
We live in Alaska and spent the winters of 2010/11 and 2012/13 in the lower 48. . We first noticed that the 5th wheel trailer was riding lower on the truck in Dawson Creek but didnโt think it was serious. The obvious clue that there was a serious problem was around Beaver Creek when we noticed the trailer bouncing independently of the truck. We drove carefully to Tok.AK where we had Willardโs Towing and Welding shop look at it. They found the cross member of the frame (a 2โx6โx1/8โ rectangular tubing) in front of the box that holds the 5th wheel hitch (pin) had split. The split started on the top edge of the tubing near a weld and had worked its way down to within an inch of the bottom. A 1โ angle Iron ( 1/8โ x 1โ) that had been welded to the bottom of the rectangular tubing helped hold it together. Therefore we were lucky that we didnโt try to make it the last 330 miles to Anchorage. We could have had a loose 5th on the hwy. They replaced the 1/8โ rectangular tubing with ยผโ rectangular tubing so it should be stronger now. This repair cost $3,500 but I have an appointment for a real RV repair shop to look at it in Anchorage.
The Alcan Hwy is rough in places due to frost heaves but it seemed to be better this year. The Canadians are very good at identifying brakes in the Hwy using small red flags but the US does not mark the rough spots nearly as well. The Alcan was very rough between Destruction Bay, YT and Tok, AK but the worst section was between the Beaver Creek border check point and the US border check point.
This was our 5th time on the Alcan with the 5th wheel which must have had an accumulative effect on the frame but I donโt think it should have failed. This Montana is a 2004 mdl 2955RL with a GVWR of 12,140 lbs. The loaded weight for the 5th on the last trip was 11,940 lbs. and it was loaded the same this time so it was not overloaded. The total weight with my wife and I and Fred the wonder dog was 20,450 lbs. We pull it with a 2007 Dodge 3500 w/6.7L Cummins so it was not overloaded. My wife did most of the driving and she is a careful driver so it was not due to speed. On our two trips out for the winter we drove around 40K miles over frost heaves, breaks in the road and washboard conditions on the Alcan and, in my opinion, this Montana 5th wheel trailer was not built to withstand the Alcan road conditions, but it may be now.
I have pictures but don't know how to attach them.
Jim Mitchell
