Repair help needed - Broken frame from dragging jack

[coryanderson]

I have a 2005 Eagle Cap 950 camper. I bought it just after Covid hit and took it on a 3 week trip and ended up at the first desert race since covid took a stranglehold of the world. I was trying to get a little further off the beaten path and after taking a long look at an entrance to a wash, I figured I could make it down safely and for some reason it felt like the truck took off in turbo mode and I went down to fast and I caught my right rear jack.

It tore the rear panel (with the door) backward 3-4 inches amongst other things. When I got it home I began to try to engineer a fix for it. I first took all the jack bolts out and then grabbed all of my large clamps and tried to clamp the back into place and then installed big lag bolts through the back panel. It fixed 95% of the issue on the back panel but we had another problem.


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The door area also has a very large drop compared to the floor. When we use the jack it levels out. When we pull the slide out, you can see most of the floor area flexing a little bit when you don't have the jack down.


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The camper has an aluminum frame and I'm sure it's snapped. I tried to build a support system underneath the whole camper but it was no where near strong enough to fix the damage that was done. I know it needs a huge tear down and repair. I have the tools and ability to do so, my main question is how do I even start...?

I don't know how to support it while I take it apart. I want to take the whole belly off and the rear 2 jacks and basically start over. I know I'll probably need to take the slide-out out. I think I'll end up replacing most of the passenger side walls and even perhaps the driver side.

Any advice or help is welcomed. I have gone through most of the rebuilds found on this website, however often times it's hard to tell how they support the camper while working on it, especially if I need to take the whole back of the camper off.

Thanks!

[coryanderson]

Grit dog wrote:
Pics didn't appear to post. But I'm still 99% sure I'd fill the whole thing with epoxy (or whatever makes sense to fill as long as you fill the cross section entirely where the bolts are going through).
Then just drill it when you are ready to install the jacks.

Thanks! I tried to embed them in the post and it didn't work, so I copied the imgr link at the top with the 8 pics. I think I'll go for it this weekend. I'm planning to weld the exterior of the frame as well.

[Grit_dog]

Pics didn't appear to post. But I'm still 99% sure I'd fill the whole thing with epoxy (or whatever makes sense to fill as long as you fill the cross section entirely where the bolts are going through).
Then just drill it when you are ready to install the jacks.

[coryanderson]

https://imgur.com/gallery/lg5RLF1

First 3 pictures are of the back right corner, you can see how far it drops down without it being jacked up into place. 3rd picture is the bracket that holds the jack in place.


In pics 4,5,6, you can see it jacked up into the right spot. That lateral tube is the one I need to fill with the epoxy to get some internal strength back.


In pics 7 and 8, you can see the front and what needs to be done after I get the rear done.

Thanks!
Cory

[Grit_dog]

Imo you could do it either way but if you are planning on intentionally removing the bolts later then don’t glue them in.
Good way to have a stripped out hole again.
I’d pilot drill or drill and tap the epoxy after it cured , IMO.
Based on your description anyway.

[coryanderson]

Grit dog wrote:
If you can truly fill the tubing with epoxy then yes most epoxies have a high enough shear strength to make good “threads” in. That is a good idea.
I don’t totally understand your pics and don’t know about that particular epoxy but I would get some that is liquid/self leveling to ensure you get it “full”.
I’ve repaired stripped out lag screw holes in boat hulls with epoxy or 3m 5200 on high stress areas like engine mounts and swim platforms.
Your plan is solid. No pun intended lol

Thanks!

Have you ever backed those lag bolts out and back in? Do they grab well? The reason why I'm struggling, is the lag bolts hold my jack brackets in place and I'm not ready for them to be mounted, but I think I need to get the lag bolts into the epoxy before it dries. At least with the epoxy I posted above. It looks strong as heck, but I don't know if the epoxy is designed to have lag bolts put in after it dries.

[Grit_dog]

If you can truly fill the tubing with epoxy then yes most epoxies have a high enough shear strength to make good “threads” in. That is a good idea.
I don’t totally understand your pics and don’t know about that particular epoxy but I would get some that is liquid/self leveling to ensure you get it “full”.
I’ve repaired stripped out lag screw holes in boat hulls with epoxy or 3m 5200 on high stress areas like engine mounts and swim platforms.
Your plan is solid. No pun intended lol

[coryanderson]

JoeChiOhki wrote:

coryanderson wrote:
Need some help with what compound/epoxy I should use in this situation. This is the back corner where I dragged the jack. I plan to weld this area together, but 2 lag bolts come through this area to hold the jack in place. I would like to put something inside of the tubing that would act as wood so when I put lag bolts through they have something to grab onto.

Any ideas that would work the best for this situation?

Steel backing plate and bolting through instead of lag bolts.

That won't work. These pictures are from the side, the bolts are actually going from left to right in these pictures. I meant to take more last night and forgot.

I bought this stuff, but I think I need to insert the lag bolts before it dries. Has anyone used this stuff before?
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Quikrete-8-6-oz-Fast-Setting-Anchoring-Epoxy-862030/203604177?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&&mtc=Shopping-BF-F_D22-G-D22-022_009_CONCRETE-NA-NA-NA-SMART-NA-NA-New_Engen&cm_mmc=Shopping-BF-F_D22-G-D22-022_009_CONCRETE-NA-NA-NA-SMART-NA-NA-New_Engen-71700000082416240-58700006970241162-92700062772249734&gclid=CjwKCAjwp7eUBhBeEiwAZbHwkY9R7b9tCEjAhHIW8XJaaZ2JM0KPOdqsNpVEOXnQCC8WYbEbpn3obxoCwr4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[JoeChiOhki]

coryanderson wrote:
Need some help with what compound/epoxy I should use in this situation. This is the back corner where I dragged the jack. I plan to weld this area together, but 2 lag bolts come through this area to hold the jack in place. I would like to put something inside of the tubing that would act as wood so when I put lag bolts through they have something to grab onto.

Any ideas that would work the best for this situation?

Steel backing plate and bolting through instead of lag bolts.

[coryanderson]

Need some help with what compound/epoxy I should use in this situation. This is the back corner where I dragged the jack. I plan to weld this area together, but 2 lag bolts come through this area to hold the jack in place. I would like to put something inside of the tubing that would act as wood so when I put lag bolts through they have something to grab onto.

Any ideas that would work the best for this situation?

[coryanderson]

I think my current plan is to build a camper dolly that will support the entire camper safely take apart the rear part of the camper and see what I find and go from there. I found these images from 2 others that built a dolly several years ago online.






Apparently I lost the knowhow to upload pictures to this forum, they are down below.

https://imgur.com/a/9w14PMD

I plan to build a combo of both of these. I like the taller one so I can store camp stuff underneath but I also like the wider stance, so I think I'm going to build those wings, but instead of wheels under the wings, I'll incorporate a screw jack of sorts that will add ample stability but still have the wheels under the vertical supports, like in the taller one.

[coryanderson]

notsobigjoe wrote:
Correct! And I would give Ron a call below. 🙂

Thanks!

I just got off the phone with him.

[notsobigjoe]

coryanderson wrote:

notsobigjoe wrote:

That is the stable lift that I was talking about that did all the damage to my rig and before you ask, I would recommend it highly to someone with a very small rig. 1.5 tons at the most nothing bigger.

Ah...I have seen those before now that you mention it.

I assume these are great if you take your camper off your truck and camp in it often? I don't understand the utility too much. Our camper stays on our truck 98% of the time and never when we are camping, but that's mostly because it's a pain in the a** and is probably the most dangerous thing I do, which is maybe why you are recommending them (for light weight campers).


So...because your camper was too heavy, it put stress on parts that weren't designed to support the weight? is that right?

Correct! And I would give Ron a call below. 🙂

[Big_Rig_1]

Hi Cory,

My brother and have fixed a few body and frame damage campers in the past. We use a tripod pipe stand with a boat cable winch to raise and lower the camper. Very safe setup. If would like to call me (208-290-4002) North Idaho (no texts) I could talk with you and explain a little more. Left San Diego 18 years ago!!!!!!

Ron

[coryanderson]

notsobigjoe wrote:

That is the stable lift that I was talking about that did all the damage to my rig and before you ask, I would recommend it highly to someone with a very small rig. 1.5 tons at the most nothing bigger.

Ah...I have seen those before now that you mention it.

I assume these are great if you take your camper off your truck and camp in it often? I don't understand the utility too much. Our camper stays on our truck 98% of the time and never comes off* when we are camping, but that's mostly because it's a pain in the a** and is probably the most dangerous thing I do, which is maybe why you are recommending them (for light weight campers).

So...because your camper was too heavy, it put stress on parts that weren't designed to support the weight? is that right?