Help! Metal sheered off our hitch/pin box? (pic included!)

[zactayaus]

Please forgive me as I don't know all the terms and parts of my 5th wheel despite owning it for 7 years.

On Friday as we were pulling our camper (2007? Wildcat) to our favorite campground where we have a site booked till the middle of August we noticed that the camper was getting closer and closer to the bed of our truck (F350 dually). When we finally pulled into our site our camper was actually rubbing on the truck and we have a nice big gouge in the rubber of our bed protector. We got it all set and unhitched and OMG! what we found was horrifying! Keep in mind we had our 3 children (ages 4, 10, and 15 and our 2 dogs) with us. I am so glad we are all here alive and well as this could have been bad.

Without further ado here's the pic (someone will have to help me out with terminology) of the hitch box?:


You can see the metal has sheered right off. Now what? Who is responsible for this? We can't even pull this out of our site now. I will contact Forest River tomorrow (Monday) and pray that they can help us.

[AJ 72]

Wow! Glad you didn't lose the trailer or get hurt.

[Tbonnett65]

That is really scary. I'm going to look at those welds periodically-would have never thought of that happening.
Glad you are all Ok and coach is not in a heap somewhere.

[garbonz]

Originally Posted by zactayaus

Please forgive me as I don't know all the terms and parts of my 5th wheel despite owning it for 7 years.

On Friday as we were pulling our camper (2007? Wildcat) to our favorite campground where we have a site booked till the middle of August we noticed that the camper was getting closer and closer to the bed of our truck (F350 dually). When we finally pulled into our site our camper was actually rubbing on the truck and we have a nice big gouge in the rubber of our bed protector. We got it all set and unhitched and OMG! what we found was horrifying! Keep in mind we had our 3 children (ages 4, 10, and 15 and our 2 dogs) with us. I am so glad we are all here alive and well as this could have been bad.

Without further ado here's the pic (someone will have to help me out with terminology) of the hitch box?:


You can see the metal has sheered right off. Now what? Who is responsible for this? We can't even pull this out of our site now. I will contact Forest River tomorrow (Monday) and pray that they can help us.

I can't imagine a warranty on a 2007 camper, despite the criticality of the issue. You will probably have to disassemble the area and get a mobile welder out to do a repair, maybe.

Be carefull out there

[zactayaus]

Here's some more pics:

Hitch tilted up (should be parallel to the ground:


Close ups of the metal:



Damage to the truck (thank god that's it!):

[Cajun Po-Boy]

I got to say...you got off LIGHT with your damages considering the horror that could have happened if things got loose on the highway...good luck with factory on this & keep us posted!

[Rocky Mountain Traveller]

I just saw your post along with mine,as well as this one. This just plain scares the **** out of me. You were very lucky. This is what I am hopefully trying to avoid. Glad you are all right.

[bakken]

Unfortunately, this is clear proof of how poorly the frames on the newer campers are now constructed. This type of failure should never happen, and is the direct result of negligent engineering.
Sadly, you are far from being alone with this issue.
Sadder yet, you will need to get a mobile repair dude out, as you definitely cannot move it, as you have already concluded.
And the manufacturer will do absolutely nothing for you, so no use wasting your time there.
Yet another wakeup call for everyone to keep an eye on their pinbox frames. With the roads as rough as they are, this failure will only get more and more common.
Good luck.

[rattleNsmoke]

Wow. Your frame is prolly manufactured by LCI (Lippert Industries Inc.) They are notorious in having frame\weld failures on fifth wheel trailers. Do a search and you'll be astonished the results. Forest River will doubtfully be of any help. LCI MIGHT if you address your conversation with them in a firm and legal tone making mention more than once of personal safety involved and the catastrophic failure. Email pics. I have a gut feeling tho that due to the age of the unit, you might be on the hook for the majority of the repair bill. It's worth asking if they will goodwill some of the cost. Good luck.

[bikendan]

your issue is with the frame manufacturer at this point.
i know my HTT's frame had at least a 5 year warranty, maybe 6.
not sure what 5th wheels have.

but if you're not the original owner, you got nothing!

[zactayaus]

Originally Posted by bikendan

your issue is with the frame manufacturer at this point.
i know my HTT's frame had at least a 5 year warranty, maybe 6.
not sure what 5th wheels have.

but if you're not the original owner, you got nothing!

We are the original owners.

Does anyone know how to contact the frame manufacturer? I'm going to do a google search now but if anyone knows off hand that would be great.

[garbonz]

Contact Lippert Components
Lippert Components/Kinro Corporate Offices
574-535-1125
LCI-Kinro Service and Warranty
(574)-537-8900
warranty@lci1.com
E-Commerce Inquiries
574-312-6850
ecommerce@lci1.com
Seating Technologies, Michiana Mattress &
National Tent & Awning: Customer Service
(P) 574-312-7361
(F) 574-538-4343
warranty@seat-tech.com

[SYE]

As far as I was told my new 2013 only has a 1 tear warranty on the frame. My last 5er had a similar problem so I got rid of it.

[zactayaus]

I have spoken to someone from Lippert this morning and have sent a detailed email with pics to them. Hoping for a quick response but well I'm not going to hold my breath. I will keep everyone updated once I hear back from them.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by zactayaus

I have spoken to someone from Lippert this morning and have sent a detailed email with pics to them. Hoping for a quick response but well I'm not going to hold my breath. I will keep everyone updated once I hear back from them.

Call the mobile welder and move on.

[bakken]

Originally Posted by bikendan

i know my HTT's frame had at least a 5 year warranty, maybe 6.

I find that very hard to believe.

[bodzcampers]

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

Call the mobile welder and move on.

Good thing you have that option at this time. As others pointed out, you, your children or some other family on the road may have been gravely hurt. Your sharing this with the forum and the mfgr. might help someone else avoid a tragedy.

[bakken]

The really sad thing is that the pictures only show the result of a much more catastrophic failure. The main support beam at the very front of the camper has failed. That is what supports all of the weight from the pinbox, and it has buckled under the load.
We have seen far too many of these incidents, and it is crystal clear that the frame manufacturer did not design that structure properly. It should never fail, and yet does so repeatedly.
If all of the owners with this problem got together, they would have the basis for a class-action lawsuit.
Unfortunately for the OP, this is going to be a big, expensive repair job, especially considering it has to be done far from a shop.
I wish it was better news.

[DDC]

This is the type of failure that should also be brought to the attention of the DOT because they can force recalls if ever-one whom this happens to reports it, the unit must be able to perform the purpose that it was built for and be safe and this certainly is not safe, good luck and I am glad you and you're family were not physically harmed by this.

[KyDan]

Originally Posted by bakken

The main support beam at the very front of the camper has failed. That is what supports all of the weight from the pinbox, and it has buckled under the load......
Unfortunately for the OP, this is going to be a big, expensive repair job, especially considering it has to be done far from a shop.

Bakken, I'm not sure how you can be so sure of that main beam failure
from the photos provided.
I agree with f1100turbo, call a mobile welder and let them have a look.
It's a scary failure but you are not hurt, the truck has cosmetic
damage and your trailer is 7 years old.
I hope lippert will help with repair cost but a good welder and a day and
maybe some extra metal scabbed in there to beef it up should do it.

No one was hurt. It's not the end of the world. Fix it and enjoy your
summer!!
My 2¢