Broken trailing arms

[Joephome]

Just recently, May 2018 heard about trailing arm failure. About to embark on a trip cross country Ca. 2 NY. i have a 2006 Monaco Cayman 37' on a Roadmaster Chassis... Should I be concerned. Heard a lot about possible failure, recall's etc. I purchased the coach new in 2006, never heard of a recall or!!!. Any advise will help.
Joephome@gmail,com

[sdennislee]

Here is some information for you to read. I use to have the original recall notice (NHTSA recall 05V053000) but when I identified my coach wasn't on the list I lost track of the recall.

Source Engineering among others has the replacement arms, the 2nd link I posted for you will guide to identifying if you have the suspect arms and how to inspect them.

"Check that your rear shock mounts behind the air bags, otherwise these aren't necessary and won't fit."

FMCA Discusion on the topic, takes a couple posts to get in to the meat of the matter
https://community.fmca.com/topic/569...afari-chassis/

Source Engineering Inspection
http://sourcerv.com/inspection.pdf

Ad for replacements
https://www.ultrarvproducts.com/TRA-...nd-R4R-Chassis

List of all the threads here discussing the issue
https://www.google.com/search?q=road...earch=irv2.com

[Joephome]

thank you sir for the info and Thanks For Your Service, I'm also an Army Vet, Served In Alaska, Alaskan Command, Fort Wainwright, Fairbanks

[sdennislee]

Originally Posted by Joephome

thank you sir for the info and Thanks For Your Service, I'm also an Army Vet, Served In Alaska, Alaskan Command, Fort Wainwright, Fairbanks

Sitting here in Tampa at 95 degrees I sure miss Alaska. Thank you for your service

[bdpreece]

The trailing arm problem with the Roadmaster R4R Rail Chassis is something you need to take very seriously. This is a very dangerous problem. As it is even the replacement product used in the original recall did not function correctly and the only safe product is the one from Source Engineering Source Engineering Inc | Custom RV Chassis | Eugene, OR.
Please for your own safety investigate this immediately. I personally would not embark on a long trip without at the least having my trailing arms checked by a professional familiar with the problem.

[J2Jake]

Another source of information are the folks at Alliance Coach located in Wildwood Fl. To be specific, Mr Ed. He is a bundle of knowledge and a former Marine. 352-330-3800.
They installed the Source Arms on my coach. Good luck and as stated above, make sure you do not have the suspect arms. As Mr Ed told me, and others, its not IF they fail, its when.

[tomclayton1]

I have an 04 Ambassador R4R. Recall applied primarily to 02 and 03. Called Monaco with SN, etc. and found mine exempt - and the shock is behind the bag. It was all about one weld that created a failure plane, the rest of the trailing arm is rock solid. The Source Engineering piece is high quality and quite a production, maybe overkill, weighs a lot more, so leave some stuff at home - but - they made a lot of money off it.
I think it would be extremely rare that an 06 would have this problem. Be safe, call Monaco and ask the experts [yes, I know it's been sold 5 times over, but they still have a wealth of information].
AF 35 yrs, C-130s and 141s --- we sleep indoors.

[super_rep]

Originally Posted by Joephome

Just recently, May 2018 heard about trailing arm failure. About to embark on a trip cross country Ca. 2 NY. i have a 2006 Monaco Cayman 37' on a Roadmaster Chassis... Should I be concerned. Heard a lot about possible failure, recall's etc. I purchased the coach new in 2006, never heard of a recall or!!!. Any advise will help.
Joephome@gmail,com

Give Jim Wall a call at Source Engineering in Coburg, OR. He was a Monaco Engineer and specializes in chassis repair. He know if you may have a problem.

[MikeTheMech]

I will be picking mine up from the suspension shop in the morning. Had the new rear kit installed, Part#TRA1004, from Source Engineering and also for those of you with the R4R Chassis that have the I-beam front trailing arms, PLEASE check them. You can't tell in this photo, but without the jack, that was spread open over an inch. By the grace of God we made it home with this still intact. Mine were 90% broken in half when I noticed a shutter on braking. Limped it 80 miles back home and pulled the front wheel off to find this:

[onechaddude]

Originally Posted by MikeTheMech

I will be picking mine up from the suspension shop in the morning. Had the new rear kit installed, Part#TRA1004, from Source Engineering and also for those of you with the R4R Chassis that have the I-beam front trailing arms, PLEASE check them. You can't tell in this photo, but without the jack, that was spread open over an inch. By the grace of God we made it home with this still intact. Mine were 90% broken in half when I noticed a shutter on braking. Limped it 80 miles back home and pulled the front wheel off to find this:

Mike,

Wow, I'd say you are living right, with a crack that bad you were lucky to have noticed it in time. My coach is an 07 Neptune on the rr4r chassis. I'm not at my coach this second to look at it, but I believe my front trailing arms are different than yours. I believe my arms are about 4" tubing, whereas yours look like channel or possibly an I beam. Just want to be informed in case there's an issue that may arise at any given time.

Chad

[MikeTheMech]

Chad,

That is a good policy...better to know it and not need it than need it and not know it.....wait, there is always google I guess.
I replaced mine last week with a set of the updated ones that Monaco started using that I picked up at a wrecking yard. They are the 3" square tubing trailing arms for the front. I am picking it up in the morning from the suspension shop after have the new Source Engineering rear kit put on and total realignment, torque and brake check and tracking adjustments done.

Take care.

[onechaddude]

Originally Posted by MikeTheMech

Chad,

That is a good policy...better to know it and not need it than need it and not know it.....wait, there is always google I guess. [emoji23]
I replaced mine last week with a set of the updated ones that Monaco started using that I picked up at a wrecking yard. They are the 3" square tubing trailing arms for the front. I am picking it up in the morning from the suspension shop after have the new Source Engineering rear kit put on and total realignment, torque and brake check and tracking adjustments done.

Take care.

Mike,

Thanks for replying. Glad to know it's the older style than has the problems. I hate you had the problem style however. I had the Source rear arms changed quite s few years ago. It's a shame that companies sell products that have issues like these a few years down the road (especially after the company went belly up) and we owners have to fit the bill. I guess it's part of the rv game, we have to pay to play LOL!! Best of luck with your coach, hopefully you'll have many trouble free miles ahead of you now.

Chad

[dazzo55]

We have the same I beams on our 03 monaco knight. Drivers side broke in half on trip back from our sons. We were lucky we had pulled onto a parking lot to take a break. When we eased back on road thought I had hit a curb. Lucky we found a welder on Sunday to weld it up and made it home. Have new trailing arms ordered for front and back from Source. I just bought it 3 months ago and never heard of recalls, not that it mattered since the new company is not liable. Lord was watching over us that day our it would have been another unknown caused accident!

[parkrog]

Anyone have more photos of cracking obn front trailing arms????