Fleetwood frame failure

[Trainstop2]

We have a 2005 Fleetwood Prowler AX6 346 5th wheel trailer that has not more than 20,000 highway miles on it.

Still trying to get home BUT We aren't home yet.
The trailer frame had only one full ht. cross member between the two "I" beam frame members between the front to the rear cross members.

It was VERY cheaply made with inadequate bent angles (not cold rolled) and 3/8" re-bars welded (Poorly) to the two angles to form a truss.

Some of the welds broke, and some of the bars broke.
The two axles shifted to the left at least a foot jamming the rt. rear tire into the frame blowing it. The Frames twisted. A real mess!

We had the frame pulled over by a wrecker, "x" chained the frame and taken to a farm equipment mfr. in Oregon. They looked at it and told us that they had repaired 4 others with the same problem.

I have many pictures of the breakdown and the repair.

It is now the way it should have been by Fleetwood.

Has anyone else had this problem?
I know that the Fleetwood Co. that built this is out of business now (I can see why) But what about the new one?
I hope that they have better Engineering and don't cut cost corners that result in a bad product!

I will e-mail pictures to anyone interested.

[Ray,IN]

Trainstop2! Sorry you had this major problem. The glass-half-full side is, you now have it repaired properly and can look forward to a great summer camping season.

[first5thwheel]

Originally Posted by Trainstop2

We have a 2005 Fleetwood Prowler AX6 346 5th wheel trailer that has not more than 20,000 highway miles on it.

Still trying to get home BUT We aren't home yet.
The trailer frame had only one full ht. cross member between the two "I" beam frame members between the front to the rear cross members.

It was VERY cheaply made with inadequate bent angles (not cold rolled) and 3/8" re-bars welded (Poorly) to the two angles to form a truss.

Some of the welds broke, and some of the bars broke.
The two axles shifted to the left at least a foot jamming the rt. rear tire into the frame blowing it. The Frames twisted. A real mess!

We had the frame pulled over by a wrecker, "x" chained the frame and taken to a farm equipment mfr. in Oregon. They looked at it and told us that they had repaired 4 others with the same problem.

I have many pictures of the breakdown and the repair.

It is now the way it should have been by Fleetwood.

Has anyone else had this problem?
I know that the Fleetwood Co. that built this is out of business now (I can see why) But what about the new one?
I hope that they have better Engineering and don't cut cost corners that result in a bad product!

I will e-mail pic

I just came across the whole Fleetwood Industry failure that took place after 2007. They were totally out of the 5th Wheel business by 2009. You can read about it under Fleetwood enterprises in Wikipedia on line. There is a link to the Riverside industries in the quote section that will tell you the whole story on how the company failed. It will not change structure vulnerability in everyone else’s Fleetwood’s, should they have them, but it does give insight as to how these flaws may have come to be.

What I did read was with the failing revenue issues and plant closures and layoff's maybe they started cutting corners in the late 2000 models to save money. Maybe this created units that are vulnerable to failure like you experienced. I have a 2000. I have some removable covers that will allow me to examine how the frame is constructed. However to view the area you are speaking of is covered by the sealed undercover. I would have to cut through that to see how the welds are and if I have the same vulnerability you had. What a shame. Fleetwood was a fortune 500 company not long ago. Near the end they must have been turning out shoddy work. Glad you finally got your issues repaired. I can't even imagine the cost to you to fix that mess. I guess seeing yours was a late model, it was cheaper to fix it than go with another unit?
tures to anyone interested.