JDLEE1979
Salt Lake City, Utah
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Joined: 07/28/2008
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I have an '04 prowler 250 RKS. I bought it new off the lot. I've already had to have the ceiling panels replaced which entailed removing the entire roof, wiring, trusses etc to get to them.
Last weekend I thought i noticed it was pulling very loose, when we reached our destination I noticed the tires on the passenger side were very close together, thought i may just be how I was parked that the dual axles had flipped over. I thought once I towed it a bit they would flop back in line. We left for home and stopped on main street of Lava Hot Springs, about 4 miles from where we were camped. The axles had not straightened so I started looking closer and found that the rear axle connection had completely broken loose and took a chunk of the frame with it. The weld was great but the frame this thing is built on is so week it tore it apart.
I'm going to try to link to pictures I hope it works.
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JDLEE1979
Salt Lake City, Utah
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Moderator edit to fix broken links and to resize images to forum limit of 640px maximum.
* This post was
edited 08/10/08 07:07am by an administrator/moderator *
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Mr Bojangles
Hamburg, PA. 19526
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Joined: 12/03/2005
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WOW!
That's scary......!
Of course it can be fixed, BUT, makes one think.
I can not even begin to tell ya why it happened, not an expert. It does look(?) like a twisting or rotating motion occured to form "stress" cracks in that corner. Like maybe hitting a high curb, but should the metal in that beam have failed?
For me..... I would feel much better if I had hit a curb, and this damaged occured. Then I would have some sense that trailer, and beam are normal and will not fail on other side without an incident.
Good luck with repair...
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nny12972
NY
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Joined: 10/25/2006
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My dealer has mentioned seeing similar failures on different brands with tandem axles---frame, shackles, idlers, and even a few broken springs....he said their best guess after detailed questioning of the owners, is that the owners are repeatedly stressing the frame/suspension components while making hard 90-degree turns while parking on pavement---mostly getting into the drive at home....and I've seen parked Ts with obviously under-inflated tires dang near pulled of the rims....have even seen a couple of broken rims....
I was at a park in Bar Harbor, ME last June....a WW parked next to me---space was tight, and about 10 minutes after he'd parked, we heard a loud noise from the rear of his T----his street-side rear spring shackle had just broken the welds and was loose from the frame.
I've also witnessed many "hard-turn-parked" T's front ends(tongue jacks) move to the side---as much as 8"-10"----as soon as the coupler was raised off the ball....the tire sidewall flex from the hard turn can be withstood for just so long....
Food for thought...
J
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Hornet28BHDS
Parker, PA
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Joined: 01/29/2007
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Ouch! What does Fleetwood think?
2006 Hornet 28BHDS-Bunk House, Dual Slides
2006 Dodge Ram 2500 HD
5.7L Hemi, Factory Towing Package
Reese Brake Controller, WD Hitch and Sway Bar
Life is short, why not spend it in an RV!
SPRING HAS SPRUNG!
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tom_kat
way upstate new york/lake george area
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with the rust in the cracks its been cracking for a while not something that just happened it been getting worst till it just let go.they keep trying to lighten every thing to save weight useing a lighter made frame doesnt work theres old rvs running around with no frame problems at all after 20 years .cutting cost and weight should not be done when it comes to frames.
1985 Class A Holiday Rambler Imperial 33 +1979 Class C Holiday Rambler Statesman 1000 = 24 ft
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SoCalDesertRider
SanDiego, CA, USA
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Cheaply built, like most things now days...
92F350 CrewCab 4x4 351/C6
LoadNGo service body
69Bronco ATC250R CR500
20' BigTex flatbed carhauler
B&W TurnoverBall g-neck Curt Magnum rr DrawTite ft
HD springs Rancho9000s Bilsteins poly sway bushings
285/75-16E BFG AT on 16x8 Stocktons
4.56's & Lock-Rite rear
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The_Vintagers
Georgia USA
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Joined: 06/22/2008
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so, maybe it is a good thing Prowler is going away?
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JDLEE1979
Salt Lake City, Utah
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Yeah looking at the rust and impact scars on the steel I figured I had pulled it atleast all the way up to our destination like that. So I pulled it back to my shop top speed about 55 anytime a big rig passed us or we hit a bump we'd get a good sway going. I had a friend follow me and he said it was pulling crooked like when you see a car with a real bad alignment, it was also sagging to the right. Once we got back I jacked up the back right corner and welded the piece back in place, then put a 1/4" X 4 X 8" patch along side over the frame. Melted some of the plastic water barrier along the bottom when welding there was just no way around that. Now it tows like a dream though. After my last experience with the dealer here I didn't even want to bother with trying to get it repaired or warrantied. I had them flip the axles over when I bought it at the dealer and I would guarantee they would point to that modification but like you say theres no excuse for that even with ramming a curb or something which I can't ever recall having any hard impacts like that other then the occasion Utah Pothole, or sagged cattle guard
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Perrysburg Dodgeboy
Perrysburg, Ohio USA
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Joined: 12/06/2003
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You guys really don’t think this couldn’t happen to any brand RV do you? Sorry hope this doesn’t anger the OP but this was do to lack of maintenance plain and simple.
Now before everyone goes off half cocked here, I will say that if the frame companies did a better job with their under coating this might not have happened. Look at the pictures and you can plainly see that the frame has been rusted for a very long, long time and this is up to you to maintain.
You are supposed to examine your frame every year and remove any rust you find. Read you frame warranty it clearly states this, or it does in mine. The same thing pretends to your TV, I had a Nova that the rear leaf spring came right threw the trunk and I had friend who had a Dotson B-210 have the same thing happen to her.
Sorry but this really is not Fleetwood’s problem, IMP
Don
* This post was
edited 08/11/08 07:46am by an administrator/moderator *
Perrysburg Dodgeboy
2004 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab SLT Cummins HO
2005 Keystone Cougar 304 BHS
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