Trailer hitch damage

[fiwelsh]

I am looking for help from the sandpiper owners to assist a friend with severe damage to his trailer.
It seems that the hitch has just buckled and the trailer is useless I don't know very much about the vehicle other than a 2004 2 slides about 32 feet long and the propane tank cover is hitting the bulkhead of the trailer.
His insurance will not cover any damage since it's "not an accident"
And after calling I think the manufacturer they tell him "we never heard of anything like that happening" well it did and lets help the guy out.
We have a saying that firefighters are all brothers so I am calling on campers and firefighters alike.
Thanks
Mike

[crunchman12001]

Hi,
You will need to provide alot more information for us to help you.
Your buddies hitch did not buckle sitting in his driveway?
What lead up tp this?
Did he have a severe sway issue?
Was he towing at the time and what was he towing with?
Can you post pictures of the damage?
crunchman

[fiwelsh]

Owner has a 2013 F 250 diesel.He was in tow on the way home and he thought he had no problem when a motorist flagged him down about 5 miles from home and told him his hitch was broke. He pulled over at the next opening and saw the damage and got the unit home at a slow speed. The male has a class B license driving trucks and trailers for his job and the guy keeps all his equipment washed waxed and serviced.I will attempt a picture when the wife gets home. I saw the damage today it looks like 6" rectangular tube steel and it bent right at the 1st crossover member.

[fiwelsh]

Here are 2 pictures of the damage

[crunchman12001]

I would like to see some pics...
Thinking out loud, there must have been something that was installed or holes drilled at breaking point ect.
Sounds like a major failure, not sure if a truck frame shop could weld a new A frame to the front of his trailer?
crunchman

[Ford Idaho]

From my point of view he was seriously overloaded on the nose or there is some underlying cause.
A rough road or off road.

Do you know the area where he was at?

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by crunchman12001

I would like to see some pics...
Thinking out loud, there must have been something that was installed or holes drilled at breaking point ect.
Sounds like a major failure, not sure if a truck frame shop could weld a new A frame to the front of his trailer?
crunchman

The A frame can be cut off and a new heavier wall A frame built and installed. Not a major undertaking. Would guess a competent welding shop could do it in less than 8 hours.

[DDC]

Probably find that started out as a crack that never got noticed, like OC says still fixable.

[Todouble]

I'm gonna go with too much tourque the ford is laying down just twist them frames right up.

Jk but in all seriousness I believe you can weld on a new a frame. Definitely looks like rough roads and a whole lot if chucking up and down to wrinkle it like that.


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[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by DDC

Probably find that started out as a crack that never got noticed, like OC says still fixable.

Doesn't appear to be cracked on either side, but can't really tell. I believe they were riding in a bucking horse when it happened tho. Could not have been pleasant. I believe I'd get some structural C channel and built a new one with at least 2 cross members.

[supercab79]

Chief engineer Worcester Fire Dept 10yrs member for 21. Sorry to hear about your mishap but a lot of factors here in my opinion. Everything in today's market is built to minimum spec not max. That's fueled by price point. Second size is the next problem we a want max living space but super lite weight too. Third is the de industrialization of the US now I'm not 100% sure but that's probably 6" box tube bought from the lowest bidder (probably china) junk steel. Forth is and we all do it is he was probably a little over weigh on the tongue and because
"the economy is bad" so that means no money to fix the roads and they suck, just adds 1 more factor to the point of failure bucket. Bottom line poor quality materials very low engineering specifications and rough use = premature failure add that to unaccountable manufactures and loop hole loving insurance companies and you have the owner/consumer holding the bag. However if you had to have a failure that's not to bad of a failure to have, its easily repairable and highly upgrade able at the time of repair. If he's in PA I could do the job for him.

Good luck and Thank him for his yrs of service,
Marc

[golfmedik]

X2 on Marc's comment above. I'm an 18 year firefighter, 27 year medic. Glad to see you here. Not under these conditions of course. Any reputable fabrication person/business should be able to repair it, and do it correctly, so that will never happen again. Thank God no one was hurt.

Monty

[iceblaze580]

Looks to me like he may have taken a bump pretty hard


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[bob34787]

in the pictures is the RV hitched to the truck? just curious because it looks like it was and the truck would have been substantially higher than the A frame, also is the truck lifted and how much drop was on the ball mount?

[Cypressloser]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

The A frame can be cut off and a new heavier wall A frame built and installed. Not a major undertaking. Would guess a competent welding shop could do it in less than 8 hours.

X2