Tire rubbing slide bar- frame buckled at axles

[Airdale]

I know this may not be the root of your problem but thought I'd show this picture anyhow. It shows two tires of the same size and manufacturer. One is in full blown tread separation and the other one still retains it's normal size. It's amazing how much they can grow before they throw the tread.

DSCN0114_1_1 - iRV2.com RV Photo Gallery

[btritschler1437]

Call Spring Works, Inc in Santa Rosa, CA 1-800-827-2209 see what they say. Look at their web site, they can do a lot for a sick trailer.

[ependydad]

FRF, thank you for your support. Y'all are there through each of my mental explosions and overreactions. The posts here and via private message are greatly appreciated.

In one, I was sent this link:
https://heartlandowners.org/archive/...p/t-48295.html

It amazingly points to the exact road I just traveled and we both found the problem while at the Thousand Trails in Cloverdale, CA (called Russian River TT). It also verifies that I likely didn't have a major impact to cause the damage.

Lastly, it confirms what youroo said above- the frame is fixable additional support should be added.

Originally Posted by youroo

Frame no Big Deal,removing spring hangers,no Big Deal! Lippert installs "Gussets" along the Frame Rails all the time when installing their "Lift Systems"! Now just ask around and find a "Welding shop/portable welder/or even a Exavation Co" they ALL can "Fix You Up"! There are Trailer Parts places where you can secure the hangers and the gusset material should be readily available also! Hell the Frame needed upgraded anyway! Youroo!!

Amazingly, in my Fulltime Families organization is another family who were also at the Cloverdale TT park. The husband is a diesel mechanic. At his work, he has access to welding equipment and a "porta power" ram to shape the frame back. He feels confident that getting it back into shape and reinforcing it will be a permanent fix. His boss has said we can park along side of the building for a few days while he does the work. I'll have water and sewer. I also have a generator + soft starts for the A/C for power and all of the pieces of a major battery upgrade- so living in it at a shop for a few days should be fine.

The husband came by the RV park that I'm at in Windsor this morning. He drilled out the broken bolt and then had to grind welds on the slide's cross-bar. I'll be able to remove the cross bar for the slide after we get it retracted when we move over to the shop next week.









Oh, and we picked up a cow at Walmart last night.



And Mountain Mike's Pizza was pretty good. Just FYI if you're in Windsor.

[bikendan]

Doug, I can't think of a more friendly area to breakdown in.
You are fortunate that it happened in Sonoma County.
Wonderful and helpful people live there.

[ependydad]

We head to my buddy's work tomorrow morning to start removing the underbelly to see the backside of the frame.

Today we ran down to the San Francisco RV Resort to pickup packages: generator and 400ah of lithium batteries. I've been prepping and planning for boondocking; just didn't know we would be suddenly thrown into it! Because the soft starts aren't here yet, I'll be getting a second generator.

[Seniorclyde]

I have a 2014 Sabre. We had a similar problem last spring. I was blowing the rear axel tire on the drivers side. We had the rig checked and they could find no obvious problem but I found that when I made a right hand turn the rear axle left side tire would rub on the left slideout drive rod. I also found out when I made a left hand turn the tire would move away from the drive rod. I could not get any rv dealer to check it for me so I drove from Kansas to Michigan only making left hand turns (think truck parking spaces in rest areas). When the Camping World dealer looked at it they had in stock hanger stiffners and extenders which dropped the axles down 1". This took care of the problem. I think the factory has these parts at dealers as a known problem but my extended warranty was still charged for the repair

[Paulie1138]

E'Dad, great to hear you got taken care of! Could have been a disaster.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by ependydad

No significant impacts that I can recall. Axles run maxed out at 7k each but I haven't weighed them individually in a long time so I could be over on one or both.

My last weighing was a couple of weeks ago. At the time, I was 700 lbs overweight. At the time, the axles were carrying 13,880 lbs.

After all is back together and working well you might want to consider shedding a little weight. Even if you increase axle capacity, unless you do a lot of frame reinforcement the extra weight problem will just shift to the frame.

I've been guilty all my adult life of trying to carry too much "stuff" in my truck and previous trailers. When I bought my new trailer I've sworn to myself I won't be loading it up like those in the past. I learned my lesson when I cleaned out my old trailer. A couple of days of "Why in the world did I carry THAT around for the last 10 years?" while cleaning it out was the turning point.

[Restcure]

Really glad to hear that you're getting things worked out.

[5picker]

Sounds great Doug.
Seems like you'll be making lemonade out of lemons.

[ependydad]

My buddy asked me to come by the shop to get started by 9am this morning. If you know my family, you'll know that was laughable, at best. But, we pulled in right about 9am. A little late as we had to get parked and settled- but not bad! Shortly after getting there, his wife and kids showed up. We had a grand ole Labor Day at the port-o-pot company's yard. Us adults got to know each other, do hard work, and enjoyed each other's company. The kids played hard and well together. Lunch was Chipotle around a folding table and under the awning.

First things first, we removed a portion of the the underbelly to see what horrors awaited is:
- as was known, driver's side is buckling inward, badly
- passenger side is pushing outward
- 2 cross members aren't doing crapola and are bent all to crap with a lot of the inner supports cracked and broken
- in fact, we came to realize one of the cross members is literally pulling itself through the i-beam
- the "insulation" on the under belly is laughable; it's basically a giant sheet of reflectix with a random patch of fiberglass insulation glued here or there (no rhyme or reason)

While we were taking it down and starting to use the Porta Power to straighten the frame, I got a slew of messages from a buddy with a non-FR unit who experienced very similar issues and non-impact frame movement. He sent videos and pictures and that helped us in our decision making of how to fix it.

He got the driver's side fairly straight with the Portapower and shifting things around.

We used a comealong to pull in the passenger side. Unfortunately, it didn't have enough omph in it to get it done wholly, but we think that if we use the comealong and add the cross braces, it'll hold its shape.

The plan now is to cut out the 2 busted up cross braces and replace them with steel c channel. Then add another 2 on either side of the axles to hold it all together. We are mostly going to bolt it together to avoid the metal fatigue of hot welding.

After that, we'll try to straighten the spring pack and either we'll check alignment or I'll take it to a trailer shop for that.

After 1 day of work, it's already noticeably better. The main slide actually extends the whole way. The bar doesn't rub the tire. And the passenger side tires actually line up (vs looking twisted like they'd be after a hard backing).













And my girl... this toy sprays chalk "paint". It hasn't ever worked (they've futzed with it hundreds of times, it seems!) and she managed to spray herself in the ear!

[Restcure]

Doug, it sounds like you're well on your way. I wish you continued success.

[ependydad]

Picked up steel today- 4 pieces of C channel and flat pieces to make end caps.

We got the first cross bar cut out and new cross member installed. Took a looong time to get that accomplished. The next 3 will go quicker based on what we've learned so far.

I did realize that TitanMike is more right than he knows. With all of the new steel, my axles are now definitely going to be overloaded. As I emptied the basement to get stuff, I started a pile of "to get rid of".







And, while I waited for things I could help with-
I started test fitting my lithium batteries.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Hope it all works out well for ya. I remember when my son got T-Boned in his car. We had the frame straightened, but with all the flexing of the steel, it was never the same, wouldn't track right...no matter how many times they tweaked it and we got rid of it in the end. Hopefully with all your extra support it won't be an issue. It looks a lot stronger than the original supports. Good Luck !!

[gectisme]

Originally Posted by ependydad

Picked up steel today- 4 pieces of C channel and flat pieces to make end caps.

We got the first cross bar cut out and new cross member installed. Took a looong time to get that accomplished. The next 3 will go quicker based on what we've learned so far.

I did realize that TitanMike is more right than he knows. With all of the new steel, my axles are now definitely going to be overloaded. As I emptied the basement to get stuff, I started a pile of "to get rid of".

Great to hear things are going better. Those batteries sound/look very cool, until the price drops considerably, I am out of that market though. [emoji2]

On your frame work, wondering for pieces that are going to be bolted only, (if there are any), could you use aluminum and save weight?

[Kenny kustom]

Just add those batteries to the “ get rid of “ pile.
You have my address....

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by TheWolfPaq82

Hope it all works out well for ya. I remember when my son got T-Boned in his car. We had the frame straightened, but with all the flexing of the steel, it was never the same, wouldn't track right...no matter how many times they tweaked it and we got rid of it in the end. Hopefully with all your extra support it won't be an issue. It looks a lot stronger than the original supports. Good Luck !!

My wife has her eye on a toy hauler that we found during my overreact/"we are so screwed" phase....

So yeah, there's that.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by gectisme

Great to hear things are going better. Those batteries sound/look very cool, until the price drops considerably, I am out of that market though. [emoji2]

On your frame work, wondering for pieces that are going to be bolted only, (if there are any), could you use aluminum and save weight?

We are actually bolting everything up to avoid wearing the frame any more. I guess aluminum was an option but we didn't explore it.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by Kenny kustom

Just add those batteries to the “ get rid of “ pile.
You have my address....

Yeah, on it.

[18CrewDually]

I know you're concerned about the axle rating. Look into the specs for the next size up axles. Compare tube diameter, wall thickness, brakes, and springs. I wouldn't be surprised if that the only difference between yours and a higher rated one is the leaf spring pack. You may be able to just swap out the springs and be done.