Observations On Structural Problems

First, I want to say that I'm glad that the structural problem posters caught the problem before it became a fatal or near fatal accident. Also want to wish them my best and hope that all goes well in resolving the problems.

I noticed two things that immediately caught my attention on the structural problem stream.

1. Two of the recent posters with king pin problems has bunk house models. Could the problem here be weight v. kingpin housing? I don't know what a BH weighs compared to my 29RLBS, but I gotta believe it's heavier. Did Lipert use the same king pin housing w/ the same welds and bracing on the BH that they use on the RLBS? If so, I'd guess that the stresses would be alot more with the BH compared to the RLBS.

2. The last of the posters used a B&H hitch with a turnover ball. Gotta be the stress placed on the housing by the gooseneck adapter. I guess we've on that one, but it's worth mentioning again. Don't care what FR has to say on the subject. Our hitches are not stressed for a gooseneck adapter. Take a look at how the horse trailer goosenecks are welded and supported. No comparison.

Well, that's enough stirring up trouble for one night. Gotta go.

IMHO some people have created their problems with this frame by putting on the gooseneck adapters and overloading. I have taking apart older trailers and when you remove the wood and tin constructed trailers it is all part of the structure and as soon as you remove it the frame at that point will and does bow quite abit on these newer designed trailers the aluminum structure tends to give more and the outside stucture is not as much part of the frame as in the older units. I have built Gooseneck trailers and there is alot of gussets and Extra steel frame in that area and also alot of spring if you were to box them in it would defenitly crack at the weakest point I have watched my goose neck trailer loaded and you would be amazed at the flex in that area. I would never put on a adapter on these trailers they are just not designed for it.

We would also never put a gooseneck on the trailer again. We were assured when we bought it new that there would be NO problems. The dealer has a letter from FR saying it would be just fine. Call us dumb for believing what we were told. We don't take any long trips and the trailer had/has very little use. The thing that is really scary is the ones that are cracking without being towed with an adapter. We came very close to having a serious accident through no fault of our own. Look in the gallery and see how close that trailer was to the truck. We didn't even need gas, just happened to stop.

http://www.winstontrailers.com/home2.htm

The URL posted above will take you to the Winston Trailer site. It shows pix of some 6 - 12 ton gooseneck flatbed trailers. Take a look at how the gooseneck is arranged and constructed on the 6 ton (12,000 lb) model (The Red One). That would equate to the load on my 29RLBS when at max capacity. That's why I wouldn't put a gooseneck adapter on a standar 5th wheel hitch. There really is no comparison in the construction methods.

gsdmom3 wrote:We would also never put a gooseneck on the trailer again. We were assured when we bought it new that there would be NO problems. The dealer has a letter from FR saying it would be just fine. Call us dumb for believing what we were told. We don't take any long trips and the trailer had/has very little use. The thing that is really scary is the ones that are cracking without being towed with an adapter. We came very close to having a serious accident through no fault of our own. Look in the gallery and see how close that trailer was to the truck. We didn't even need gas, just happened to stop.

FR flat told us no warranty with goose neck adapter. We have the B&W and love it. Our 30RLBS flexes when we lower it but returns to normal so we keep on rolling so far.

schrowang wrote:http://www.winstontrailers.com/home2.htm

The URL posted above will take you to the Winston Trailer site. It shows pix of some 6 - 12 ton gooseneck flatbed trailers. Take a look at how the gooseneck is arranged and constructed on the 6 ton (12,000 lb) model (The Red One). That would equate to the load on my 29RLBS when at max capacity. That's why I wouldn't put a gooseneck adapter on a standar 5th wheel hitch. There really is no comparison in the construction methods.

That link is not available at this time.

It opened for me. Might have been a lot of people looking at that site at the same time.

Must be my Firefox. Will not open and when I go to the web site another way the trailers you listed can not be accessed. The link is dead no matter when I try. That is my story and I sticking to it. LMBO

I want to know what factory the trailers were made.....East Coast or West Coast.

I inspected the frame around the pinbox and it was fine. It was a pain, but it was time to touch up the caulking anyway. One observation I made was the front cap "floats" up front. It's not attached to the frame. With the frame flex, it'd probably crack the cap.

jetskier wrote:I want to know what factory the trailers were made.....East Coast or West Coast.

I inspected the frame around the pinbox and it was fine. It was a pain, but it was time to touch up the caulking anyway. One observation I made was the front cap "floats" up front. It's not attached to the frame. With the frame flex, it'd probably crack the cap.

Hey good to know there is another norther nevadan on the forum. I store my wildcat at my inlaws in gardnerville. The only other caution I received from my repair shop was to make sure that the cross member Isnt bent.

jetskier wrote:I want to know what factory the trailers were made.....East Coast or West Coast.

I inspected the frame around the pinbox and it was fine. It was a pain, but it was time to touch up the caulking anyway. One observation I made was the front cap "floats" up front. It's not attached to the frame. With the frame flex, it'd probably crack the cap.

That would be interesting. Yours and mine should be West Coast.

jetskier wrote:I want to know what factory the trailers were made.....East Coast or West Coast.

I inspected the frame around the pinbox and it was fine. It was a pain, but it was time to touch up the caulking anyway. One observation I made was the front cap "floats" up front. It's not attached to the frame. With the frame flex, it'd probably crack the cap.

It appears by looking at the info provided they are all East Coast 5th wheels. Could be wrong.

That's what I'm seeing. I'm not sure about s4tuner. If he bought it locally at the place I avoided, it would be west coast.

Our trailer was manufactured in Oregon.

I was going to post the east/west question earlier. I was told that my trailer was the first they had seen with the problem by the manufacturer it is a east coast version (forest river) .... I mentioned all of the information I found stating otherwise and was told "those must be west coast models"......

gsdmom3 wrote:Our trailer was manufactured in Oregon.

So hopefully if I keep away from the goose neck adapter I should have no problems since all the others seem to be East coast. I hope.

I am willing to bet they build the frames at lippert which has 5 seperate Factories so east coast / west coast I bet they all use the same design specs for each year and possibly stress factors charts are the same. They possibly have changed them thru the years and might build differently depending on year and size.

Several years ago, in Missouri I think, I parked next to a guy driving a brand new motorhome. He was from Alaska too, both of us headed back home in the spring, so we started talking. He said he'd just bought it with the refund he'd gotten for the Montana he'd bought new, towed to Alaska, and the insurance company/Montana bought it from him as totaled. The frame had broken in half just behind the kingpin, i.e. the cracks ran through the bathroom. So I guess in my opinion it may not really be a FR problem, unless they have the frames built to their specs which I don't think happens.

My $0.02 worth.

BTW, he said he was sorry he'd not bought another 5th wheel, since he felt that for the money you got more room.

Cardinal_Bill wrote:Several years ago, in Missouri I think, I parked next to a guy driving a brand new motorhome. He was from Alaska too, both of us headed back home in the spring, so we started talking. He said he'd just bought it with the refund he'd gotten for the Montana he'd bought new, towed to Alaska, and the insurance company/Montana bought it from him as totaled. The frame had broken in half just behind the kingpin, i.e. the cracks ran through the bathroom. So I guess in my opinion it may not really be a FR problem, unless they have the frames built to their specs which I don't think happens.

My $0.02 worth.

BTW, he said he was sorry he'd not bought another 5th wheel, since he felt that for the money you got more room.

Agree more room but the big boy has some advantages.

onetonford wrote:I am willing to bet they build the frames at lippert which has 5 seperate Factories so east coast / west coast I bet they all use the same design specs for each year and possibly stress factors charts are the same. They possibly have changed them thru the years and might build differently depending on year and size.

But do they have the same quality of product. Oregon built me a WC that would man a person never want to own one of there products again. Since it seems these are mostly East coast models I am wondering.

I really don't think it makes a difference whether the trailer was made on the East coast or West coast. This problem also isn't exclusive to Forest River products. There definitely seems to be a connection to goosenecks, but that isn't exclusive either.

Frequent inspections on our parts are important. Maybe to avoid any problems, we should all consider replacing the screws with longer ones.

JMHO.

Tater

For the money, the better investment would be a 5th wheel and a PU truck. We use our PU for a lot of stuff other than pulling the trailer. Couldn't haul a load of firewood, dirt or gravel with a MH.

The only convenience about a MH that I would want is being able to stop for a break in a rest area when it rains - and not get wet. Scruffy might like self-levelers.

Tater

Scruffy and Tater wrote:For the money, the better investment would be a 5th wheel and a PU truck. We use our PU for a lot of stuff other than pulling the trailer. Couldn't haul a load of firewood, dirt or gravel with a MH.

The only convenience about a MH that I would want is being able to stop for a break in a rest area when it rains - and not get wet. Scruffy might like self-levelers.

Tater

Not to mention MH engines suffer from lot rot or the lack of lubrication to the seals.

That too. My brother's MH is sitting in a storage lot. The only time it's been moved in the past 4 years was from one lot to another.

Even though they got a great deal on it, it was still expensive, and they are still making payments. In the meantime, nobody want to buy it.

Tater

Scruffy and Tater wrote:For the money, the better investment would be a 5th wheel and a PU truck. We use our PU for a lot of stuff other than pulling the trailer. Couldn't haul a load of firewood, dirt or gravel with a MH.

The only convenience about a MH that I would want is being able to stop for a break in a rest area when it rains - and not get wet. Scruffy might like self-levelers.

Tater

The only draw back is getting a 24 foot truck into some spots in town.

Portagie1968 wrote:The only draw back is getting a 24 foot truck into some spots in town.

You must have one of those "special" tape measures for him...my CCLB is only 22ft

From the front bumper to the Ford sign in back between 23 and 24.

HMmm? I might have to check mine now!!

Here in Texas everyone has a PU truck. They take that into consideration when building parking lots.

We've never had a problem finding a space big enough to park in during our travels. Some parking garages seem a bit low, but so far, so good.

Here in California the parking lots seem to built for them new fangled electric cars.