Frame rusted through

[tyler811]

I had noticed sometime ago that the paint was flaking off the frame and developing what I thought was surface rust.


Today I took a good look at it and discovered that both sides were cracked in the same place and broken through.



Is there anyway to fix this ?

[Mr. Dan]

Thread moved from the General Community Discussions forum to the Running Gear, Axles, Brakes, Tires & Frames forum.

[Aussieguy]

your local welding shop can fix
ask them to add a gusset for some extra strength as well


shop can remove the paint... and grind the crack before welding it and then adding the gusset



not hard to do

[PhilFromMaine]

Rusted through means you can push an ice pick from one side to the other. To be honest, I don't know from the photos exactly where the rust is located. As Aussie said, a welding shop can splice a new member in a location like that.

Where I live, the State will allow you to splice new steel to replace up to 3 feet of rusted frame per frame section on motor vehicles. Trailers aren't inspected here, but I would imagine the same safety standard would apply.

[TitanMike]

Looking at the pictures, the questionable area is directly above a spring hangar that is subject to compressive forces. Paint often cracks in locations like this and allows rust.

First step should be sand/media blasting of the area to determinebif actual metal cracking exists, or if it's just cracked paint with rust.

If actuall cracking, then adding reinforcement is in order but followed bybavtrip to the scales to see if the trailer is overloaded.

If no cracking the sand/media blasting will provide a goid prep for a good anti-corrision paint and then a trip to the scales.


FWIW merely adding reinforcement in one area of an overloaded frame often just moves the issue to a different location.

[tyler811]

In this picture you can see the light from the flashlight on the over side. Not overloaded either, the closet I am ever came to being over weight was being under by 450 pounds.



So a welder or RV shop that welds?
Thanks for the help BTW

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by tyler811

So a welder or RV shop that welds?
Thanks for the help BTW

Yes! But not necessarily an RV shop.

My choice would be a (big) truck or trailer repair shop that can perform welding to DOT spec's. They'll be used to frame repairs like this.

RV shops????????? Most wouldn't give me a good, warm, fuzzy feeling that they would do it right.

Truck shop may charge more but in the end doing it right overshadows economy in a job like this.