Help!!! Frame broke

[ERnurse16]

My husband and I were hauling our trailer. It was loaded with water but not overloaded. As we were slowing to turn, the actual welds on the trailer broke,slamming the front end into the highway. Now the company is saying we were overloaded because we had water in the tank. If we didn't have extra weight from other supplies, what are the chances that we were overloaded? Shouldn't we have been able to haul water? Just looking for thoughts. The trailer is a 2017 and is just out of warranty.

Thanks

[ppine]

Find a welder good at fabrication. Get it fixed. Make sure it is much stronger this time. It is easy to get upset about a situation like this. Better to just fix it and move on.

Sorry this happened.

[Huntindog]

You guys do realize that this is an old thread?

The OP has in all likelyhood come to a resolution on this.

However he has not been back.

Unless the OP comes back with an update, there is nothing more to say.

[hvac]

This is a pitiful story. I have traversed this country in 3 years 7 times, all carrying 100 gallons of water. OP, if the RV industry could feel real competition, your situation would not exist. They can build junk because they can. No outside pressure to excel. Sad.

[Grit_dog]

Since this thread got resurrected, be cool to hear how/if it was resolved.

Do frames or structural components generally have a longer warranty period than the typical outta sight RV warranty?

If not, I suspect the dealer mfg said, sorry, would you like a quote to repair it?

I don't buy much expensive stuff that has a warranty left, but I'd think the OP would know what the warranty is considering I believe they bought it new.

If out of warranty, and you get stuffed by the mfg, insurance and bad press are your best options.

[falconbrother]

ERnurse16, So sorry you are dealing with this. Are you saying the coupler broke off of the trailer? That's scary. I figured those things would be overbuilt. How hard can it be to beef it up ever so slightly? Geeze Louise..

[aboatrguy]

DOT / NHTSA can be contacted at (888)327-4236 reference #11267716 and tell them you also have a similar failure with an LCI frame. Add your failure to the list and we can get results from an investigation.
My 27' toy hauler has I beam crack 9' on both sides, which allowed the axles to move around under trailer while traveling thru the mountains with my family. The CHP said they woul have been picking us up in pieces if we had continued to the next set of turns. I had LCI and Eclipse RV Manufacturing pay the bill to weld up and get us on the road home, but the next time we went to use it, the A-frame broke apart and was ready to completely fail, which would have been catastrophic. LCI sent an employee in an LCI truck to my business to weld that up too. This caused a lot of other damages to the trailer that they both said they would take care of after they got a dealer estimate, but nothing but crickets since!!!
They need to be taken down to the woodshed and taught a lesson, so lets get as many people to get on board with this to make things right!

[aboatrguy]

DOT / NHTSA can be contacted at (888)327-4236 reference #11267716 and tell them you also have a similar failure with an LCI frame. Add your failure to the list and we can get results from an investigation.
My 27' toy hauler has I beam crack 9' on both sides, which allowed the axles to move around under trailer while traveling thru the mountains with my family. The CHP said they woul have been picking us up in pieces if we had continued to the next set of turns. I had LCI and Eclipse RV Manufacturing pay the bill to weld up and get us on the road home, but the next time we went to use it, the A-frame broke apart and was ready to completely fail, which would have been catastrophic. LCI sent an employee in an LCI truck to my business to weld that up too. This caused a lot of other damages to the trailer that they both said they would take care of after they got a dealer estimate, but nothing but crickets since!!!
They need to be taken down to the woodshed and taught a lesson, so lets get as many people to get on board with this to make things right!

[Hannibal]

ERnurse16 wrote:

Hannibal wrote:
What model truck are you towing it with? And what model hitch? Too much truck will stress a lightweight trailer’s A frame to the point it will break. WD puts a lot of stress on it as well. Something will give. Especially if traveling on buckboard concrete highways and the like.
We can blame Lippert, but the RV manufacturer specifies the chassis they buy from Lippert for each model trailer. Cheaper is better.

We were towing with a 2015 Yukon XL with tow capacity of 8000#. Off the top of my head I dont remember the hitch model. We bought the hitch from the RV company when we bought the trailer so it was based on their recommendation. We were also using sway bars/stabilizer bars per the dealer recommendation.

Ok. I think “too much truck” can be ruled out. Probably rule out too much hitch as well if the dealer didn’t over do it. WD works by torquing “down” on the A frame with a lot of force in the same direction as tongue weight itself. The more WD, the more stress is put on the A frame to chassis welds. I try to go as easy as I can on WD for this reason.
Hopefully one of the manufacturers involved will come through for you.

[ERnurse16]

trail-explorer wrote:

ERnurse16 wrote:
Getting it weighed now is a moot point as we can't even move it since the frame is broke and it had to be hauled on a flat bed just to get it away from the accident scene.

Wait, what?

This is the first we've heard about it being in an accident.

My apologies. We were headed out camping and had slowed to turn into a gas station. The frame broke and slammed into the highway. We ended up having to drag it off the highway into lot of the gas station. I call it an accident because that's what I consider it. It was called in to law enforcement and have an actual accident report.

[trail-explorer]

ERnurse16 wrote:
Getting it weighed now is a moot point as we can't even move it since the frame is broke and it had to be hauled on a flat bed just to get it away from the accident scene.

Wait, what?

This is the first we've heard about it being in an accident.

[SidecarFlip]

BillyBob Jim wrote:

Hannibal wrote:

We can blame Lippert, but the RV manufacturer specifies the chassis they buy from Lippert for each model trailer. Cheaper is better.

You're 100% correct we can blame Lippert. The RV manufacturer specifies the frame, but Lippert does the engineering and fabrication, and the WELDING.

The RV manufacturer ducks out of the picture when something goes wrong by using this verbiage.

"As indicated in the paragraph above, entitled ‘Exclusions From This Warranty’, certain items that are not covered by this Warranty may be warranted separately by their manufacturers or suppliers. In order to validate those warranties, you may also be required to complete and return to the appropriate manufacturer the warranty forms included with the information package. See these warranties with respect to their terms and conditions. These other warranties may cover such items as chassis, tires, tubes, batteries, optional generators, and appliances, which are not covered by this Limited Warranty."

Lippert will attempt to duck out any way they can. You have had to have the pleasure of going to war with Lippert over frame issues to know what I am talking about. The only time Lippert is accommodating is when they are pushed into the corner, such as the Grand Design Lippert axle fiasco. Grand Design held their feet to the fire.

Yes, they did and it was all over shoddy workmanship.

[BillyBob_Jim]

Hannibal wrote:

We can blame Lippert, but the RV manufacturer specifies the chassis they buy from Lippert for each model trailer. Cheaper is better.

You're 100% correct we can blame Lippert. The RV manufacturer specifies the frame, but Lippert does the engineering and fabrication, and the WELDING.

The RV manufacturer ducks out of the picture when something goes wrong by using this verbiage.

"As indicated in the paragraph above, entitled ‘Exclusions From This Warranty’, certain items that are not covered by this Warranty may be warranted separately by their manufacturers or suppliers. In order to validate those warranties, you may also be required to complete and return to the appropriate manufacturer the warranty forms included with the information package. See these warranties with respect to their terms and conditions. These other warranties may cover such items as chassis, tires, tubes, batteries, optional generators, and appliances, which are not covered by this Limited Warranty."

Lippert will attempt to duck out any way they can. You have had to have the pleasure of going to war with Lippert over frame issues to know what I am talking about. The only time Lippert is accommodating is when they are pushed into the corner, such as the Grand Design Lippert axle fiasco. Grand Design held their feet to the fire.

[ERnurse16]

Hannibal wrote:
What model truck are you towing it with? And what model hitch? Too much truck will stress a lightweight trailer’s A frame to the point it will break. WD puts a lot of stress on it as well. Something will give. Especially if traveling on buckboard concrete highways and the like.
We can blame Lippert, but the RV manufacturer specifies the chassis they buy from Lippert for each model trailer. Cheaper is better.

We were towing with a 2015 Yukon XL with tow capacity of 8000#. Off the top of my head I dont remember the hitch model. We bought the hitch from the RV company when we bought the trailer so it was based on their recommendation. We were also using sway bars/stabilizer bars per the dealer recommendation.

[ERnurse16]

BillyBob Jim wrote:

troubledwaters wrote:

ERnurse16 wrote:
Getting it weighed now is a moot point as we can't even move it since the frame is broke and it had to be hauled on a flat bed just to get it away from the accident scene. As I mentioned, we only had a few kitchen supplies in the camper as we were only going for a weekend trip. The remaining supplies were in our tow vehicle.

So if I opened up all the cupboards, pass through storage, underbed storage, closets, etc. in your camper - the only thing i would find is " a few kitchen supplies"; the rest would be empty. BulllShiiit.

You sound like a Lippert rep lol.

Thank you BillyBob Jim. That seemed like an exceedingly condescending and rude answer.