structural problems

I am wondering if anyone has ever heard of this happening??? Two weeks ago we were pulling our Wildcat and happenend to stop for gas and the trailer was sinking down on the hitch. We looked inside and the hitch was coming up through the main bedroom. We took the trailer off the truck and had it delivered to the dealer on a flatbed. The trailer was manufactured in 2006 and we bought it new. It is 29 feet long and has the "garage" on the back for an extra 2 feet. It has not been off road or really had much use. (4-5 times a year with trips averaging under 300 miles) The dealer has contacted Forest River and at this point they have offered $500.00 on an estimated $5,300.00 bill. We have a B and W hitch with a turn over ball with all equipment installed by the dealer. I would appreciate hearing from anyone that has any thoughts on this.

Thanks!

What model WC do you have?

It is a 29BHBP Wildcat.

Same as mine. Now you have me wondering. I think that my nose cap has been pulled off of our WC before. The caulking on the roof had been redone and the screws underneath had been used quite a bit. Now, just the other day, as I was washing it, I noticed that the screws underneath, next to the pinbox, along the molding are coming unscrewed. As I tried to tighten them, I noticed that the small phillip head screws were broke loose from the inside metal that they screw into. I will definetly look at mine tomorrow. We are leaving for Myrtle Beach,SC, this weekend and don't won't any surprises. I think that is pretty sorry of Forest River on the $500.

Thanks for your reply. I hope you have a safe trip. We have enjoyed this 5th wheel so much. My daughters and I use it mainly to go to dog shows. We were about 90 miles from home and had to pay a $900.00 tow bill. We tow it with a 08 Ford 350. Just pure luck that we stopped when we did. It could have killed us, the dogs, and anyone unlucky enough to be behind us.

I think your last comments are the key to your question. Write FR, so you have audit trail, and explain to them that they may have a liability issue if it is shown that the defect is theirs and that the liability costs are going to be more than $500. Explain to them that you are in the process of getting independent 3rd party expert opinions and then do so. I would directly to the Pres of FR and to the shareholders department at Berkshire Hathaway. Best of luck, keep us all posted.

Keith

I'd be curious to the outcome of this also. I did notice today when taking the trailer back to storage that a number of screws that hold the trim have actually sheared off. I tought about taking the bottom cover off to see if I can see anything but didn't. I will probably email Rod tomorrow to see what he thinks I should do.

When you got the estimate for repairs did they tell you what failed? I would think that the hitch is either welded or bolted to the frame of the trailer. For this to fail would mean either a weld has broken or a bolt sheared. If a structural weld has failed I would think FR would be liable for damages. Good luck in getting it fixed hopefully they will give you more than $500. I would definately contact a high level management and even get photos to show them the damage and what failed.

Take a look at my photo album I think I have some photos of the underneath structure I had to do some work to mine also. The only thing I can think of is that the C channel that runs left to right has broken in half someone else on the forum has had this happen, hopefully they will chime in.

We are currently waiting on our insurance company. They are saying that it is unlikely they will cover this, but I gave it a try anyway. I have also emailed Rod at FR. The structural tube is bent. I know from other forums that some others are having/had these same problems. (search structural problems 5th wheels) We had some loose screws and trim up front. Wish I had known what to look for before this happened. The dealership has "kindly" offered a $75.00 per hour shop rate. I worked out the mileage on the trailer. (mapquest) We have towed it 7,000 miles. I'll keep everyone informed.

I do have pictures that I would be happy to share. Is there a way to post pictures on this forum?

The frame would be by Lippert. I think I'd be talking to them also. I'm surprised FR didn't mention this.

http://www.lci1.com/

There is also a lot of information "out" there on Lippert frames. Wade at FR basically told me this was not something they were willing to fix, but out of "good will" would offer the $500.00. Terry's has a letter from FR that states that it is okay to pull the trailer with the turn over ball. I have learned more in the last week than I ever wanted to know. I'm wondering how I'll ever feel safe again when I am towing it??? We have also had a tire blow out on it.

http://www.servimg.com/images.php

Here is my attempt at sharing some of the pictures I have with you. Please let me know if you are able to view them.

Hey Mark Massett, I would really like to know what you find out about the sheared off phillip head screws. I would like to take the nose cap off and look, but I know that would be a job.. Hearing other comments from others has sure helped.

gsdmom3, are you using a gooseneck adapter? If so, take it off. I have very recently gone through the same thing. My dealer covered everything for me, but I do count myself very lucky for this. Where are you located at?

The cap isn't as bad as it looks to remove the front under belly is harder since you have to remove the trim on each side of the front belly then be careful not to break it since it is bonded to the edges.

We are located in Sandy, Utah. We do pull it with a gooseneck adapter. The dealer has a letter from FR saying it is okay to install on the trailer. All work was done at the dealer. Did your hitch come up through the bed of the trailer? My husband is the production manager at a hollow metal frame company. He feels that the tube that is bending is not strong enough for the weight of the trailer. We have not hit any bumps or railroad crossings too hard as has been suggested to us. We trailer horses all over the state and pull the 5th wheel as carefully as we pull the horse trailer.

No, the hitch never came up through the floor, luckily I caught the issue first. After seeing the underside without the covering, I can see that these things are not designed like a typical gooseneck to withstand the extra force put on by the gooseneck tube. There is no part of the structure angling back to the front corners of the camper like a gooseneck trailer. It is more of an H type of structure. The dealer had worked on mine before and beefed things up a little, but the factory metal was torn the last time. We went back in with thicker steel and I went ahead and bought a B&W 5th wheel companion. It pulls so much better now I can't even tell you. The gooseneck is actually changing the fulcrum point of the whole hitch assembly and that is what is tearing the steel.

If the dealer has this letter from FR, I would make them pay for the repair. My dealer covered the cost of fixing mine since they put the gooseneck adapter on for me (and they are really good people).

Just back from meeting with the insurance agent. There is more damage than we thought at first. The top side on the slide side of the trailer is starting to bulge out. At this point I don't know how this is going to be fixed. I'm wondering if it needs to go back to the factory??? It also has what he called flexion (?) in the axle area.

Is the bulge just over the pin box area?

Draw a line stright up and yes it would be. The dealership is trying to say this is water damage from a leaking window. The trailer is stored on our property and we check it frequently. The vent over the bed is also leaking and I now wonder if this is from the roof cracking off? We are meeting with them tomorrow.

Kathy

Good luck, hope everything works out.

GSDmom, look just under the forum picture, and you'll see a link to Gallery,, post your pic's in there....

I couldn't get the pic's to come up from your link above.

I posted some of the pictures into the gallery. We are still waiting to hear back from Wade at Forest River. Scott at Terry's was very understanding and has been trying to contact Wade. It is hard to wait as we would have taken the trailer to a family reunion this week. We are taking our 19 year old Lance camper instead. It will be like "old" times using the Lance. We had this when our children were very small and we went fishing and camping. Only problem-sleeping 8 people! We are still going and we are going to have FUN!

You need to post the actual links to the pictures, not the link to the website itself. When you are in that Servimg.com website, go to your own images and under each image it says link, click on it then simply scroll to the bottom of the links and copy the "direct links" URL and then come back to this site and click on the image icon located directly above the reply box (if you hover over it, it says image) and paste the link in the box and viola, you're done.

The pic's are in the Gallery under gsdmom3.

But GSDmom, you could put a discription of what we're looking at, a couple were kinda hard to figure out what you were showing . I could see the rip in the metal frame , but the others ????

ok thanks. I was following his oriiginal link to the servimg.com website which only took my to the sign in page.

http://www.wildcatcamperforum.com/gallery/Personal-album-of-gsdmom3-cat_u493.htm

It looks like the gooseneck adapter caused the failure (fatique) the added rotation forces from accelerating coupled by the pin weight of the trailer itself. It appears to be on the light side (looks like 1/8" wall tubing at the tear), but is probably fine for regular towing without an adapter.

The way the tow company chained the front end at the pinbox didn't help the situation either.

http://www.wildcatcamperforum.com/gallery/Personal-album-of-gsdmom3/fifth-wheel-007-pic_676.htm

I emailed Rod about the broken screws. He didn't seemed too concerned. Now I'm sure I'll have fun getting the old screws out and new ones in. I'm picking it up tomorrow and will give a try with the screw extractor set I got at Harbor Freight.

Wish me luck...

From: Rod Batts [mailto:rbatts@forestriverinc.com]
Sent: Monday, July 06, 2009 10:41 AM
To: Massett, Mark A Civ USAF USSTRATCOM USSTRATCOM/J65
Subject: RE: Sheared Screws

I would definitely replace the screws. All they do is hold that molding in place. I have seen this before, not just on Wildcats. It is not a structural issue. Hope this helps. Thanks, Rod

________________________________

From: Massett, Mark A Civ USAF USSTRATCOM USSTRATCOM/J65
Sent: Monday, July 06, 2009 12:19 PM
To: Rod Batts
Subject: Sheared Screws


Rod,
We just completed a 2600 mile trip with our 06 32QBBS and
yesterday when I was dropping it off at storage I noticed that the trim underneath the hitch area had separated from the front cap. The screws seemed loose so I took one out and noticed that it had broken off. I removed a few more and all had broken. Is this something that I should be concerned about? Should I drill out the broken screws and install new ones?

Mark A. Massett