Cracked Frame

We were planning on leaving for a trip tomorrow, and noticed a huge crack in the frame, right at the welds for the swing-away tongue. This is at least the third instance of this problem noted on this forum. Our last trip was to the Jubilee in Colorado Springs and we did not see any problems at that time, nor did we have any "incidents" on the way home. There's no way we could have made it very far in this condition, so it must have happened very recently (of course, it could have started as a small crack a while ago).

I have called the factory and they are going to get back to me on sending a mobile welding unit to the house, because obviously the trailer cannot be moved in this condition. I'll keep you posted, but if you have a swing-away hitch, check for cracks.

That crack looks a lot like mine did.

Mine has been repaired and we had taken several trips with no problems.

I keep an eye on it.

Maybe swing-away hitches aren't all they're "cracked" up to be.

[Leslie & Nick]

Thanks UtahSue for picture. I had heard about frame cracks, and now I know what to look for. That certainly does not look good, but I'm glad that you found it before going out in trailer again. We have a swing-away hitch on our TM and I will pay closer attention to it from now on. I wonder if the swing away design inherently puts more stress on the frame ???

Nick

Originally Posted by Freedom

Maybe swing-away hitches aren't all they're "cracked" up to be.

I think you're right. And what is really funny is that I don't even need one - I just ordered it for resale value and just in case I moved to a different house where I would need it. I have never even pulled the pins, let alone swung the hitch.

I did some research about the rust because I am wondering how old this crack is and it sounds like pristine, uncoated metal such as this crack can rust within hours - does anyone know if that is right? It has been 100 - 110 degrees with afternoon thunderstorns since we returned form the Jubilee, so there has been plenty of moisture, even though I live in the desert. When I saw the rust I thought the crack had to be older than I thought, but maybe not.

Anyway, we're bummed out because we were supposed to go to Wyoming tomorrow to get out of the heat and now we are stuck here waiting for a repair. We may even go camping in a tent (gasp!) .

I do not have a WD hitch. That was the first thing the engineer at the factory asked me this morning when he saw the photos. He is familiar with this issue, but says that our crack is the worst of all and we are the first who did not have a WD hitch.

[RockyMtnRay]

Thanks for posting this. After reading your post, I just now took a look at mine. There's a full crack along the rear side of the lower bracket and the paint has peeled off the rear side of the upper bracket which would indicate there's been some flexing there as well. The crack on the lower side of the rear bracket has extended partway across the bottom of the frame. The trailer's probably still safely towable across town to a welding shop but sure wouldn't take it any further.

Last time I checked (around a month ago) there were no signs of cracking. I'll be calling TM tomorrow...though since the trailer is now 4 years old I may/may not get much warranty support. I was, repeat was, going camping this weekend. That is definitely not going to happen now.

In case anyone's wondering, I do use a WDH.

[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by Texas_Camper

RockyMtnRay
Could you please post a follow-up about the factory's response? My TM is a 2002 model. I checked the frame today and everything looked good. I will make it a monthly check item....
Thank you, Utah Sue, for the post and the photo...

I will most definitely keep everyone informed.

Ray, sorry to hear that, but I'm also glad that my post may have prevented you from having a worse problem. Even though you may not be under warranty anymore, given that this is probably a safety issue brought about by a poor design, it seems that they should take care of you. It may not hurt to mention that this is being discussed in the forum. I haven't heard back from the factory, so I'll be calling in the morning, too. Good luck!

PM me if you want the names of the guys I am talking to (Ed is out of town) or a place to post photos for them to look at - they already have my photo page bookmarked.

Originally Posted by utahsue

I do not have a WD hitch. That was the first thing the engineer at the factory asked me this morning when he saw the photos. He is familiar with this issue, but says that our crack is the worst of all and we are the first who did not have a WD hitch.

I don't believe this to be accurate. I do not have a WD hitch and my crack was three quarters of the way around the frame. I will admit that your crack seems to have separated more than mine did, therefore being a worse crack, not necessarily a longer crack.

I spoke directly with the TM factory regarding my 2005 TM 2720 earlier this year. See the beginning of this thread for details. I started this thread.

I do not use a WD hitch, and never have. A year ago I was advised directly by the factory that I would not need a WD hitch as my TV is large enough to not require it. They actually recommended against it. It was never off of a paved road, other than dirt roads in the campground loops at low speed. I reported this to the factory in a conversation. Maybe they did not take notes.

My TM was still under warranty. The factory wanted me to locate a local company with a portable welder to come to my house to fix it. After 2 weeks of trying I was unable to find a welding company. It is very tedious to go through the yellow pages calling them one at a time hoping to get lucky and find one. I found one, waited a week, and then they flaked out of it. I had to start all over.

My dealer, Dinuba RV, came to my house, over 100 miles, to take it back to their shop on a transport trailer. I don't know if my dealer ate the cost of transport or if they got reimbursed by the factory. They had a local welding shop that they have used before perform the repair. I towed it home after the repair was complete.

The repair consisted of cleaning out the crack, twisting the frame back to the normal position if necessary and then welding the crack closed. After that a piece of strap is welded on the bottom of the box tubing to add additional strength.

Some engineers at a Navy stress analysis lab looked at my photos and strongly suspect that the crack originated at the weld for the bracket that is the hinge point for the swing tongue. But this was based on looking at the photos, not looking at the actual trailer. My brother in law, a certified welder, suspects that the weld got a little too hot and there was too much penetration. He is now legally blind and was unable to inspect the weld. His opinion is based on my description of the failure.

I was disappointed that the factory was not very interested in having their engineers examine the failure in an attempt to understand the cause. The factory told me that I was the first reported case of a cracked frame at the weld of the swing away tongue.

In my opinion, there ought to be a modification to the current design as 3 failures is too many. This is not a random event. There is an underlying problem that ought to be addressed.

I don't recommend NOT getting the swing away tongue if you have a need for it. However, I check mine every time I stop. I still don't fully trust it. Maybe in a few years I'll feel better.

I check all welds I can get my head in to look at once a year. This requires climbing under the TM with a flashlight. It makes me nervous that there is a significant safety related failure with no known cause, that has now occurred at least 3 times in less than one year. If the factory could determine what the cause was, and correct the problem, then I wouldn't have to perform an annual inspection. Until such time as I am notified that there is an engineering change I'll just get a little dirty crawling around under the TM once a year. I'll sleep better that way.