Fisherguy wrote: Exactly, if Lippert knew what they were doing they would be making such a crappy product to begin with.
Google Lippert frame cracks, or failures, people with 5th wheels are having their pin box fall off, people with standard trailers are having the A-FRAME fall off, pretty bad.
Dodge Guy, what's with the Ford in your sig pic?
Used to be a tech at a Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealer. also used to have a Dodge conv. van as a TV for our smaller TT. I have the X because Dodge doesn`t make a 3/4-1 ton SUV. so I went with the only alternative there is!
Wife Kim
Son Brandon 11yrs
Daughter Marissa 10yrs
Dog Shadow
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A bad day of camping is
better than a good day at work!
Many of my post seem to create controversy on here and why should this one be any different... and this post is not directed to anyone in particular…
The I beams used on most RV chassis are not structural grade and lack the webbing needed for strength… also the modern frame rails are so light duty that they need to be cambered just to hold the weight of the camper without sagging…
secondly to further lighten them they use cross members that are about half the height of the beam offering no support to the lower flange…
I have posted including pictures and been criticized many times for warning about cracking of frames often caused by things we do but refuse to accept…
Things like rear overloading with bikes or generators and believing it is only the bumpers that are not up to the job…
Blindly changing tires to get away from the ST tire, and going to a LT tire that has straight sidewalls, maybe from 50 PSI to 80 PSI to achieve the necessary load rating, or deep more aggressive that don’t scrub well…
While any one of these things might not be the direct cause of frame rail failure, they in combination with the normal stress load can…
We often blame things on the mfg, not that they don’t deserve some of it, but we to often don’t and won’t consider our own share of responsibility from our own actions contributed to these problems… but they do…
We really need to be more willing to accept responsibility for what we do to ourselves sometimes…
SkipJ
That might place sever limitations on you choices, and understand most of the chassis are to the trailer mfg specifications…
Love my mass produced, entry level, built by Lazy American Workers, Hornet
Thanks BB, JB.
I got rid of the 15" D rated (Chinese) Mission tires last year, wanted a tire with more weight carrying capacity and since I often drive faster than the 65mph the ST's are rated for I went with E Rated 16" Commercial TA's this time. I had Maxxis ST's on my old trailer without any problems though.
I noticed the cracks a couple years ago, this year I wanted to do something about it so the tires were not the cause of it. The cracks were only over the middle hangers when we did it, W-A-Y stronger now than before.
I'd like to make a receiver for the frame for a couple mtn bikes, but nothing like 300 pounds some people hang off the back of these things.
Skip, sadly Lippert makes the frames for 75% of the trailers made today as I understand it. If shopping new the dealer should be able to tell you what kinda frame they have, if used you need to do some research, but if it has a weak looking "I-beam" frame there's a good chance it's a lippert.
I know Arctic Fox/Nash make their own frames.
Will
06 Dodge Ram 3500 Cummins 6 spd std with a few goodies.
Not to be smart but I have been welding for 30+ years and also am a certified welding inspector through the American Welding Society so welding is not new to me. The biggest problem with welding the patch all the way around is the square corner of the patch. If you radius the corner of the patch before welding it in place, you eliminate what is known as a stress riser and would be better to weld the patch all the way around. Also, I would not have cut the "window" in the patch to accomodate the repaired crack. I would have ground the weld smooth so the patch would fit tight and flush leaving the weld reinforcement on the opposite side. Many think the bigger the weld the stronger it is. This is simply not true. Excessive reinforcement leads to the same condition as the square corner of the patch and causes a stress riser. A weld with excessive reinforcement will often crack at the toe (edge)of the weld. A fillet weld generally should be no larger than 1 1/2 times the thickness of the thinner plate.
The more I think about this thread and its user applied "patch", the more I think about my BIL and his own welding business. Last year, he had a customer bring a little trailer with bent frame into his shop, and asked him to fix it properly. Instead of patching, my BIL simply created a new frame - from scatch. Installed stronger axles / wheels under this new frame and simply slide this new frame "under" his trailer. Then, bolted together at proper connect points. Instead of patching / making existing stronger, he simply created a new frame under it - vision trailer on a proper frame. For example: - Click Here -
If your TT's weak factory frame cracks again, perhaps next upgrade is "do it right". Simply design /create a properly engineered steel frame and place the trailer box ontop of it. Especially if you plan to keep your Lippert frame trailer for many more years... The more I think about it, the more i would have created a Frame under Frame upgrade - instead of patching existing...
tmprkswyo wrote: Not to be smart but I have been welding for 30+ years and also am a certified welding inspector through the American Welding Society so welding is not new to me. The biggest problem with welding the patch all the way around is the square corner of the patch. If you radius the corner of the patch before welding it in place, you eliminate what is known as a stress riser and would be better to weld the patch all the way around. Also, I would not have cut the "window" in the patch to accomodate the repaired crack. I would have ground the weld smooth so the patch would fit tight and flush leaving the weld reinforcement on the opposite side. Many think the bigger the weld the stronger it is. This is simply not true. Excessive reinforcement leads to the same condition as the square corner of the patch and causes a stress riser. A weld with excessive reinforcement will often crack at the toe (edge)of the weld. A fillet weld generally should be no larger than 1 1/2 times the thickness of the thinner plate.
We cut the hole in the fish plates then welded that cut section to the frame around the welded up crack.
I may not have your esteemed approval but I think it's a lot stronger now than it was before.
spike99 wrote: .
The more I think about this thread and its user applied "patch", the more I think about my BIL and his own welding business. Last year, he had a customer bring a little trailer with bent frame into his shop, and asked him to fix it properly. Instead of patching, my BIL simply created a new frame - from scatch. Installed stronger axles / wheels under this new frame and simply slide this new frame "under" his trailer. Then, bolted together at proper connect points. Instead of patching / making existing stronger, he simply created a new frame under it - vision trailer on a proper frame. For example: - Click Here -
If your TT's weak factory frame cracks again, perhaps next upgrade is "do it right". Simply design /create a properly engineered steel frame and place the trailer box ontop of it. Especially if you plan to keep your Lippert frame trailer for many more years... The more I think about it, the more i would have created a Frame under Frame upgrade - instead of patching existing...
.
You musta missed the part where said the newer Lipperts have the little gusset from the bottom of the 'I-beam' to the web and they're not cracking, but rather than just beefing things up a little bit I should "do it right" by "simply designing /creating a properly engineered steel frame", right, pretty simple to build a whole new 29 ft frame complete with 2 slide!¿ Ya, okay....
* This post was
edited 06/05/12 09:22am by Fisherguy *
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