Tongue flexing / bending when weight put on it

[waterman7474]

I have a 2006 Thor 182dt (with a WD hitch).

- I noticed a few years ago, when I walked back to the car from afar at a gas station, that the front of the frame was flexing and/or bending up when weighted on the ball. I have towed boats my whole life but this is the first RV with a WD hitch so I thought maybe it was just the force on the front of the trailer frame from the WD hitch.
- A year or so ago, I noticed the front panel of the trailer separating from the side panel a little toward the bottom where it meets the trailer and figured that since I take it off-road often, that it might just be the whole thing flexing on dirt roads and didn't think much of it. I don't overload the trailer and especially don't put all the weight all in the front.
- The other weekend I went on a trip and was particularly loaded out (still well within limits) but had a lot of stuff in the back of the truck and thought I would adjust the WD hitch one more link up on the chain (mine have chains on the end of the bars) and this time I notice that the front of the frame was flexing a LOT, a very noticeable bend in the front (from the front of the trailer to the ball) and thought it was the extra pull on the WD hitch.

- This last weekend I was getting ready to move it around the property and where I keep it is very flat so I keep it on the levelers and the hitch stand when I know I'm not going to use it for a while to take some/most of the weight off the tires (I have 4 heavy scissor jacks) and as I went to lift the front and put weight on the tongue, the frame bending up was rather noticeable. I even noticed the bottom diamond plate rock strip start to bow noticeably, (hence the aforementioned front separating from the sides...). Total flex distance from weightless to on the jack-stand is probably 2 inches at least (i can measure it if that helps).

The frame is an enclosed box (rectangular tube, not a c-channel) and I don't see any visible cracks or damage. It goes back to flat when the weight is off the tongue.

This isn't normal is it??

Could it just be getting "tired" and starting to bend with age?

Can I reinforce it? Possibly by welding plates to each side of the frame tube?

[Old-Biscuit]

waterman7474 wrote:
Noted and probably agree. I just need to find someone in Vegas that is qualified to asses the situation and not some yahoo at camping/world/mart/super/dealership

Just goggle 'las vegas trailer repairs'

Several independent shops ...pick one

[waterman7474]

Noted and probably agree. I just need to find someone in Vegas that is qualified to asses the situation and not some yahoo at camping/world/mart/super/dealership

[myredracer]

waterman7474 wrote:
I measured the flex and it is only an inch from tongue weight to off.

Are you saying when you drop the trailer's coupler onto the ball on your tow vehicle it sags 1" vertically from where it would be if not on the tow vehicle's ball? If so, that is a lot and not acceptable. Every time you hit a bump in the road, the A-frame would flex/bend even more. Not good. This could be a serious safety issue so this is where it'd be best to get an expert to look at it (and a qualified expert too).

[Old-Biscuit]

Types of trailer tongues


Reinforcement methods

[GrandpaKip]

I seriously doubt that "only an inch" of flex in the front cross-member is normal. I know it has not been in any of my campers. As suggested, it would be a good idea to get a frame specialist involved, to at least give you an idea of any safety problem.
As an aside, have you ever measured the tongue weight?

[waterman7474]

Just got home and checked it. The A-frame goes through the cross member. The A-frame, welds to the frame and the frame are all in really great shape. It maybe looks like the cross-member is going up or sort of "twisting" more the A-frame is bending now.

The original owner before me who had it before I had it really took care of it, plus being in Vegas, it doesn't get wet much. I measured the flex and it is only an inch from tongue weight to off.

[myredracer]

Agree, have a frame & axle shop inspect it. Doesn't sound good by your description and I don't know if you should even tow it off your property the way it is. There are a number of things that could cause this, including some that can be hard to see at first glance, esp. if you're not familiar with TTs. I seem to recall a forum member posting some photos of their A-frame that came clear off and he fabricated a new one, better than the original. Lippert's welding can be substandard too.

[dodge_guy]

That's around the year the frame manufacturers were using rectangular tubing that was too thin resulting the failure you're seeing. There was a member here that had a major failure and it was repaired in his driveway by a mobile welder/RV tech.

Do a little research and I'm sure you'll come across a lot more failures of the A-frames of that vintage.

[westend]

I'd suggest to take the trailer to a frame shop and have them investigate. It sounds like you have a tongue of poor construction.

[Oasisbob]

Do you notice any frame paint cracking, bubbling or missing? As previously suggested inspect where A frame is connected to main frame.

[GrandpaKip]

Can you see where the A-frame connects to the front cross-member? Does the A-frame go under the cross-member, or through it?
Sounds like that connection has been compromised.
I would be very concerned, until I knew exactly what is going on.
Good luck.