Dropped 5th wheel on truck bed

[thatrvlife]

I'm looking at a used toy hauler that has been on the market for a while. While trying to sell it, the owner moved it in his yard to mow underneath. The owner said his friend helped him move it and the friend didn't hitch it properly because the trailer slipped from the hitch and fell on the truck bed. Now the trailer has 6-8 inch cracks on either side of the pin box.

I've read posts from others who have experienced an accidental drop firsthand, but all the posts I've read say the trailer survived without a scratch and it was the truck bed, rails or tailgate that incurred all the damage.

So, now I'm wondering if the fall might have been more severe than I've been told. Do these cracks look like the trailer fell off the hitch, or do you think it was worse? Does anyone know if these cracks would indicate structural damage beyond the obvious cosmetic damage?

[jacwjames]

Almost looks like this is where it the the bed as the truck was pulled out from under the 5th wheel.

[thatrvlife]

I'm wondering what kind of fall caused those cracks. They look like stress fractures, both at a 45 degree angle pointing towards the pin box.

My hitch plate is about 18" tall. Could a fall that short do this much damage?

[Newmar2856]

Looks like he just didn’t drop it on the bed rails but drove off and completely dropped it off the truck. Those look like some pretty good scratches from the back edge of the bed. I’d check the landing gear for damage and look closely around the the entire front end for anything else that may show signs of the drop.

[RichardE]

As a retired and recovering engineer, I do not see cracks in those two photos even with magnification. I do see gouges where the bottom edge impacted something and that something slide up the front of the RV. The impact chipped the incredibly thin gel coat on the bottom and it flaked away.

If you want to confirm that these are not cracks, paint several thick stripes of fingernail polish horizontally across the gouges. Then hook the fiver up to a hitch and pull it around a mile or two. If the understructure is cracked, the fingernail polish will crack when the pin box is weighted.

[RVnAggie]

Interesting scars for sure. Cosmetic fiberglass damage which is easily repaired; however, this is no tell-tale one way or the other as to frame stress or damage.

The vertical scars look like something dug into the cap as it dropped; this seems maybe unusual unless it not only pulled out of the hitch jaws and hit the bed rails, but then also dropped completely off the end of the truck bed as well, which is a possibility. Depending on the style and manufacturer of the hitch, I guess it’s possible the hitch itself could be the cause of the damage.

Have you seen the truck that was used in the incident? I’d expect some significant matching damage on the truck bed and tailgate that indicates the severity of the drop and perhaps how/what gouged the cap.

If it were me, I’d get several good photos that could be used to get an estimate on cap repair done correctly, and for piece of mind would also insist the owner/seller hitch up the trailer to his truck letting you take some good repeatable measurements from a few points on the cap to points on the pin box before hitching and while hitched to see how much “static” flex you can measure when the weight is placed on the pin. Some is normal of course, but not much. Wouldn’t be out of the question to have him pull it a few miles while you visually watch the amount of “dynamic” flex relative to some visual reference point(s) on the cap and pin box. Otherwise, the only real way to identify potential frame issues is to take the skin off underneath the front overhang or chin of the trailer and take a look.

Good luck & Safe travels,

[Old-Biscuit]

Heck with the cosmetic damage.........

Front Landing gear needs to be fully inspected
Check the inner/outer tubes for any binding...bent tubes
Check the mounting bolts that hold legs to trailer frame.....hard hit will bend those bolts or even cause legs to move upward leaving scratches on legs

Masking tape run vertical on front cap center of pin box
Make a reference mark on the tape
Take a static measurement from top edge of pin box up to reference mark (unhitched)
Take another measurement when hitched

Note the difference in the measurements
**More then 1/4" pin box structure or sidewalls are flexing due to broken welds etc

(removal of overhang cover around pinbox for Visual Inspection to verify what is mpving)

[TXiceman]

I would check it like old Biscuit says. There could be considerable structure damage.

Ken

[Toby Dog]

Either the hitch or the now destroyed tailgate got it.

[202235f]

Hidden damage is your enemy. If there's no compelling reason to take that risk, I would walk away.

[202235f]

Sorry, forgot another observation: why has it been on the market for "a while"?

In today's market, anything worth having is selling very quickly.

Just my opinion. Good Luck!!

[JIMNLIN]

Scars look like the ones on my neighbors 38' TH made from a custom haulers bed on her 4500 Ram cab/chassis. Someone pulled her hitch jaws open/unhooked her 12v plug in while she was at a rodeo event.
She drove out from under the TH and because the way the back of the custom bed is made it left two super vertical gouges as the TH slid to the ground (dirt).
Her insurance covered the repair by a boat repair shop. No structural damage.

[bigchick]

i hate to admit it but i also experienced this type of damage. the front cap is basically a fiberglass shell and it does not carry any major structural load. the repair is to take the front cap off and rebuild the damaged area with new layers of fiberglass. we had a rv body shop do the repairs and you can't tell that the area was ever damaged. not saying it is cheap but it is entirely repairable.

[PulNSerenity]

As most have mentioned check the landing gear very well. I doubt very much there is any damage to the frame. That's just not that far of a drop. But that would be hard on the landing gear especially if it was still in motion when it dropped. The scrapes that you have in the pictures is all cosmetic. That can be repaired & the cap still be structurally sound.