Sorry to the welder but my 15 year old kid would puke at the sight of those plate welds. Less than mediocre. Find a skilled welder and have plates put on all the brackets. Finally, these funny things called motels are far cheaper than the cost of these huge cardboard boxes that add about 80% to your chance of dying on the hiway. Love travel trailers - permanently parked and used as a vacation rental. No risk, no welding.
Okay sorry it happened to you it happens to everybody that manufacturer that makes those trailers or just use a cheap-ass aphid still that's why but let me give you a little tip cut all the BS out on you videos get right to the point we don't have time to watch all that BS about your personal life
I have seen many videos with this same problem. Appears the frame manufacturer is building a lightweight frame for many brands of trailers. May be time for the authorities and safety people to be involved to protect you the consumer and others on the road.
At times it seems businesses get away with selling messed up stuff, sometimes it is on purpose the evil behind things does this with these types of businesses n other times they didnt mean to do it but they didnt know how to do it right n other times they get messed up stuff to build things with After a business sales a bunch of messed up stuff n closes down, what can you do then? Just part of the cursed hell babylonian business world we got to deal with in this world, so people be thankful when you buy stuff n it is built really good n works real good n lasts a good amount of time
If you would have looked up Lipart frames you would have seen they have hundreds of complaints about this problem and they tell everyone that they have never had these problems.
That's the worst part... OH PROBLEMS WE'VE NEEEEVEEERRRR HEARD OF PEOPLE HAVING PROBLEMS HEY LOOK OVER THERE A SPACESHIP! And when you turn back, they're gone in a cloud of dust.
My 2011 KZ fifth wheel has the axle hangers reinforced by having a v-shaped bracket welded inside the axle hangers. The v-shaped piece is welded to the frame & the axle-hanger. I believe all trailer axle hangers should be installed in this manner.
I have the same model. 2019 374BHS same thing happened to me just last Friday. The shackles were not welded properly. Lippert builds crap and they need to be put out of business.
1. I see a lot of trailers being pulled at 70-100 mph by powerful diesel pickups. There is a reason in many states towing uses a lower linit. 2. Im sure these frames are weak. I am a heavy equipment/trailer mechanic. Most of my work on the big rigs. But you see and repair similar things. If I owned one of these I would gusset and plate a few key areas. 50lbs of steel makes all the difference. There can also be a good reason for buying used older, but clean unit with a few miles. Its been tested by trial.
As the owner of a Lippert frame myself, I've spent the better part of an afternoon watching RU-vid videos of this exact same failure. You are not alone. Those brackets are seriously undersized, and I can't understand how there isn't a class-action suit against Lippert at this point. Perhaps if the NTSB or NHTSA was made aware of the frequency of these failures Lippert would spend the extra $6 in steel and address this. Glad you got out of it without any "major" damage or injury.
In a terrible way, not being alone is good, but dang, so many failures is not reassuring in the least. I've seen a CA-Suit in the state of California for this exact problem.
Its to easy to point the finger at the rv owners, no they should not have so many of these problems, but i can just hete a good attorney they must have hit something and weakend the ????
@@keithvick1432 somewhere on the frame it would be indicated, probably near the front. It may say lippert or LCI. Most of the large scale manufacturers (keystone, grand design, forest River. Etc) use lippert
@@keithvick1432 just google the brand of trailer you have, and ask what frame they use, but to be on the safe side if you dont weld, ask a friend who does or find a welding shop that will reinforce the frame brackets and the hitch where it goes under the box part of trailer
It always amazes me that you have these HUGE trailers and it's all sitting on 8 little 1/4" thick pieces of un-gusseted mild steel, just tag welded to an even THINNER frame. How are they able to sleep at night?
Yes on the cheap spring hangers. Have a 2017 montana high country 310RE and the spring hangers look like the ones on my small utility trailer but,but they pretty much want you to have a Peterbuilt to hold the front end up of the trailer
You might want to consider not getting your tow vehicle and trailer in to much of an angle causing side loading on your axles. Just watch your tires how much they scuff when you turn to tight. If you bend a piece of metal back and forth it will break. Side loading your axles back and forth is going to do damage.
This is not a mechanical failure this is a structural failure. Needs thicker leaf spring hangers all around. I would just have them all replaced with thicker hangers. Clearly lippert should be sent the bill. This needs to be recalled.
If someone doesnt take these crooks to court for selling junk this will continue its not a one off ,scroll through here and read or listen to these issues.
I Would until Grand design can get u in they will tires & Make sure the tires R Aligned & Balanced for the RV. U may have to wait Longer but at Least they not u going somewhere where’s else.
I’m curious, if you’re sooo concerned about your frame, why not have lippert be the first to examine the failure, instead of having a ‘welder’ patch the break. I’ll be very transparent here, I’ve owned in excess of 30 rv’s, yes over 30, fifth wheels, bumper tows and park models, I’ve never had a tire failure, axel or shackle issue, never. Pity that you won’t get a clean bill of health as to why the shackle broke, though I have my own opinion. Obtw right now I have a 44 ft 5th wheel tow hauler and a 32 ft bumper tow for short trips. Happy Travels,
This is what you get with cheap Chinese steel. Another reason this would fracture.....too much weight. You probably packed your trailer beyond its weight limits.
The fact that this monstrosity has no shock absorbers, means that failure is assured, even if the material it was made from, was fit for purpose................
Kudos to the quick mobile repair person. I would have all of the spring-hangers re-inforced that way. I think it's past time for Lippert to redesign their spring hangers. Inplausable denieing isn't making it better. Something needs to be done to better handle the stresses created when turning.
Many of the leaf hangers these days have an extra angle welded within the bracket to help prevent this. In addition, I welded a cross member across the trailer to each hanger to prevent side to side bending of the hanger
Seems like the welders at Lippert are not skilled and likely not alcohol free. Skill set of the USA population is going down. Just walk through any Walmart and look at all the whales without necks waddling around or riding the electric carts. Walrus-Mart.
Nobody gets this! This is NOT lipperts fault! They only build to the Manufacturers Specifications!! If the Manufacturer orders a frame that can’t handle the weight, then it’s on the manufacturer! When I was a tech, I worked at a Fleetwood dealer. A few times a year, I’d drive to the closest plant, and pick up a “special order” trailer. I walked the travel trailer assembly line many times. Fleetwood ( in that time) built their own frames, and the quality control was phenomenal! Never had a frame failure on that Manufacturer, in 20 years of my career!
I have read that the trailer manufacturers order frames to a certain spec. I have a question because I have no clue how it works. Do Jayco, Forest River, highland ridge, etc have the engineers on staff then to perform the GVWR limit calculations and determinations? I just always assumed that the frame manufacturer had that responsibility.
Definitely felt gratitude for where it happened, as well as all the helpers that got us back on the road! The men that did all the work took a fair amount of stress out of the whole experience!
We bought a trailer with a Lippert frame and the first time I crawled under it I noticed some of the welds weren't on the seam. So I decided not to drag it across country until I get time to rebuild it properly. Luckily I have a slide in camper.
@@Inlinetodie Did Trump send you to test his wall it was supposed to be huuuuge . What happened to it ? He took millions off the military to build it and nothing . Surely he should have got a wall built , what happened , a man with with your connections should have the inside story . Why did Trump fail to build a 20 ft high wall ?
They are made that flimsy for weight savings. The camper body is what actually makes the frame stronger. If you ever saw a camper frame bare you would never want to buy a camper
@@bmwlane8834 These things are just a consumer trap. Like give us all your money and heres a pos thats going to fall apart in 5k miles. If people would just say go screw yourself they would have to make them better.
I know nothing about metallurgy or materials science, so I went with his advice. I did later add the MorRyde X-factor crossmembers, so additional material would have made that job more difficult: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TLPwgLJkBD4.html
Glad your safe and also happy to see your at 392 subs now. I don't understand why you don't have more subs with the amount and quality of the content you post. Keep up the good work and best of luck on the repairs.
A real shame you had these problems.. Good people came to your aid. Thank the Lord for them and sorry you had to endure the expense and stress of this . God Bless you
We are super grateful to have found the gentlemen that helped us in our time of need. I can't say enough for the extra effort especially that Jon put in to help get us back on the road ASAP!
I just watched this video and the one where you replaced all 5 tires. The thing that caught my eye, were the little fender liners above the wheels. They are a half round fender that appear to be welded to the frame? Are they OEM, or did you add them in afterwards? Thanks
The fender liners are OEM on our rig. I imagine they help with road debris, rocks, etc from damaging the underside, but are so lightweight that they would do nothing for catastrophic tire failure.
Had the exact same thing happen in 2oo5 what a pain 35 ft wildwood and cost a bunch the berring had to be replaced also.we we're coming back from Washington DC.
KERRY MARTIN TRUNEWS It bothers me a lot that manufactures get away with using such tinny parts in a critical area of safety and the DOT screws with the people on safety but not manufacturers.
The way they build these campers today is sickning! I just purchased a new Winibago Mini plus hoping I don't have any issues going across the country. They build them as Cheap as possible assembly is like they highered Taz the Tasmanian Devil to do the work as fast as possible. If I had a little more money I would have had a Fire/EMT apparatus manufacture build a RV for me with no worries it would fall apart.
I will say this. I have Good Sam insurance. Cost me about $300 and they cover EVERYTHING 24x7 with no co-pays. Probably the best stress relief service.
I didn't watch the entire video and catch every detail, but I assume that after you had the frame fixed and new tires put on, you had the alignment checked. When I had our TT frame inspected last year, MorRyde stabilizers installed as well as wet bolts and upgraded shackle straps, I had them check the alignment so I would not ruin my new Goodyear Endurance tires. Alignment was spot on!
You could just use a rope and pull the rear axle back away from the other tire... Edit okay now I watched enough to see that's exactly what you did basically...
My Lippert frame and Axle failed the first year of operation I'm now on my third axle and the frame has been completely wrapped in real steel... I've had axles fail, Wheels pass me on the freeway and frame bending.
Hello sir my question is what year is the trailer?? I'm working on compiling information that has only to do with frames from what years to what years were most of the problems. And can you approximate what part of the country do you drive in the most and are you a boondocker or mostly a trailer Parker and how many miles approximately does the trailer have I don't need anything concrete just approximations are fine. Thanks in advance all the best to you and your trailer and God willing nothing else ever happens except smiles 🙏😃
This is a 2018. We don't have a "most traveled" area but we've been all over. 33 states we've slept in I think but our starting point is always Colorado. We have never been boondocking.. mostly interstate miles and paved campgrounds for us. At the time of failure we had about 11000 miles logged. I hope this helps and thanks for the well wishes! Have a great day!
Hopefully you looked at all of your attachments . The main problem is making sharp turns with your trailer pulling into tight areas or backing into tight areas with sharp turns .. If you watch your trailer tires leaning when backing in , those spring hangers are under heavy tortional pressures as is the Frame . One axle is twisting your trailer mainframe in one direction while the other axle is trying to twist it in another direction . The Frame crossmembers try to hold the main I beam straight , but that member is welded to the vertical web if the Ibeam and the web will crack eventually. Look on the main trailer frame I beams above the spring hangers and you probably will find cracks about 2 inches above the flange at the frame crossmembers attach points . Avoid sharp turns . The cracking and popping is you frame cracking !
Wrong,,,,this has nothing to do with making sharp turns, Look under any Forest River RV product line and see how thin the frame is. The RV manufacturers are using metal that is too thin, so once the frame starts to rust, you quickly get metal fatigue failures
Who did all the yellow parts...is that factory? I know my brandnew lippert chassis i welded plates and boxed hangers but it has torsion suspension. Hope you lined it up before welding...
Lippert has poor designs and their frames crack regularly. Buyers should beware and take preemptive action by having gussets and supports welded on. They also do not paint behind their welds so corrosion eats framed from in between welds. Congress should pass protective laws for trailer and RV owners like the lemon laws we have on cars and the industry would then correct itself once they could no longer escape liability.
I feel that Lippert and the RV industry as a whole should be making sure the frames are fully sufficient to be road worthy. They did help us out with the financial aspect, but the stress it added to our trip is unaccounted for :-/
Those spring hangers really need to be reinforced , especially on large fifth wheels. Alliance RV is the only RV manufacturer I know of that does that on all their RV’s.
more are being spec'ed with additional support, however it's not a hard and fast rule yet. Even BTBRV had to have the V-brace reinforcements installed after delivery. On his custom rig. This is something that should not be up to the consumer.
@@sarahann530 you sir are an absolute liar...check my channel, I'm a NDT Inspector, you're trying to tell the man, who tests and inspects the materials of all of Trumps Reality Holdings, after I've listed over 400 discrepancies and administered multiple shutdowns of populated structures, that you, some random on RU-vid, is somehow going to tell me, my job?! Do yourself a small favor, always click somones picture, and look at whom they are, prior to looking a like a typical Gen Z, with a presumptuous comment about a country and structures, you know nothing about...Sorry excuse for your generation
@@Inlinetodie Wow ,you test all of Trumps Chinese steel that's truly amazing 👏. Does he fly you around on his jet to do your testing . How about hookers does he set you up with Stormy and her friends . 😜. It sounds do like you have a sweet gig . . I am so jealous 😩
Sorry to see that you had this disaster. But this is yet another video of problems with Lippert frames. Do a search for problems with RV frames or axles, and it's all Lippert. So glad our RV has a BAL frame and Dexter axles.
I have an old travel trailer that has heavier shackle brackets then that. Seeing Lippert frames that are 1/8 inch thick is almost criminal. The problem is that Lippert frames are made to Manufacturing Specs through out the RV industry. That's no excuse, junk! I would weld up 1/4" plates plates along the frame rails end to end where the shackles are welded & get new heavier Shackle Brackets. Your original Shackles are not heavy enough period! Good luck. Safe travels
Lupperts website clearly states that they "design and develope." If a manufacturer requests a frame with specs that can't be safely produced, it's 100% Lipperts responsibility to say "No, this is what we have to do." There's a Professional Engineer involved somewhere, I think it's time he was introduced to a courtroom.
Maybe if the frame maker didn't make everything so cheap. That happens when the maker of the frames uses the lightest weight stuff they can. I don't get it. Those leaf springs should be swapped for real ones and some shocks to prevent leaf spring fatigue. Go look at a car hauler trailer of same length and load capacity and see what that suspension should look like. Our 5th wheel was light weight junk. We have a goose neck toy hauler with real trailer suspension now. Spring fatigue is a real thing on cheap leaf springs.
I have a buddy who experienced the spring failure you're talking about just 2 months ago. Not a heavy 5'er, but undersized for the TT he has. Unfortunately, I believe many big manufacturers would lose sales if they went any heavier duty, as the price point goes up with more material. Also, CCC would go down, or you'd have to get a bigger tow rig, and many people are undersized on their TV as it is.
Keystone has Lippert build the frames to their specs. I would not buy anything made by Keystone because of the poor quality. The Jayco 31 RLDS we own is better built. Now that Thor Industries owns them time will tell us if Jayco is still good.
Lippert needs to reinforce frames and brackets before leaving factory. Paint those repairs well to prevent rust. Then look once yearly to see if it needs more paint.
I've heard that with newer models Lippert is still only "recommending" an additional V-brace in between the hanger 'arms'; they apparently still allow the manufacturer to decide the final spec
So what i think happened in your case is the brackets flex to much when you make turns, if you can look at your tire on the ground while you are backing up and in a turn you will see the sidewall pushed in or out, this is the force of turning, those brackets have to take the same force, i would suggest you get someone to weld a piece of 1/4 plate on edge to the shackles, and up the frame about 3 inches, this will stop the problem
I've been trying to decide on a more robust fix. I've heard this suggestion as well as spanning the frame with 2" l-bracket and welding that to the frame, as well as the front or back edges of the brackets thanks for your input!
I was thinking about this and i looked at my trailer, 2002 forest river 30 ft 2 slids, 1 a super , i have angle iron welded on the flat of the i beam frame, im going to weld a piece of 3/16 x2" flat strap down the side of the frame and spring hanger, putting a piece between the 2 sides will mot solve this problem, i would also weld a piece of 3/16 about 16 inches long on the hitch center it on the edge of the rv box, make the piece as wide as the hitch
I know this is old, but RU-vid suggested. Common problem you suffered. You could have gone to one of the RV salvage yards - there are 3 in vicinity to Elkhart. They all have brand new trailer tires in regular stock. Safe travels!
Yeap same thing happened to us, my husband always done a walk around every time we filled up, noticed the problem at a gas station, lucky for us a repair shop across the street. Our rug was 20,000 dry weight. Got it fixed , but about 3 months later the same thing, was at a truck stop, and they did it right. Put the same suspension as the big rigs have. No problems after that. Good luck and be safe.
Another keystone trailer problem, they do not wels spring hangers like they should, that's why this problem came into play, the other thing is slide outs bounce out of the tracks going down the highway, keystone trailers are junk