Community Forums

Diamond Joe · 04-29-2021, 01:52 PM

*had chassis or frame issues?

* I've been RVing for about 20 years now, but not full time. I've had 2 trailers prior to my current 2014 Arctic Fox 25r. All have had bent chassis to one degree or another.

I sold the previous trailers when i noticed they were bent. I bought the AF because of their so called sturdy chassis.

I've logged about 20k miles on the arctic fox and spent about 200 nights in it. I tend to go out for 6 weeks at a time.

I'm out roaming the SW now. Earlier on this trip i noticed the cross member for the a-frame tongue was bowed and there was excessive flex in the tongue. Fortunately i found a great welder in panguitch, utah who straightened and reinforced the cross member which resolved the problem. However, I've now noticed that the bathroom door and the pantry door are a bit off square. They may have been this way for a while before i actually noticed, Same with the tongue.

To you all with years of TT experience if you've had your rv get a bit off square from all the over the road miles? Is that when you ditch it and get a new one? do you have the chassis straightened? or just live with it?

Other than those 2 issues, I'm perfectly happy with this trailer. Especially now that I upgraded my solar to 800w with 400ah lithium and all victron components....but I digress. Thanks!

SKP Kirk · 04-30-2021, 08:01 AM

If I ever had a trailer frame get bent, it wasn't enough for me to notice.

Persistent · 04-30-2021, 10:30 AM

The door squareness is par for the course. Even stick and brick buildings develop those. The frame bow may have been there from the beginning. Doors may have been installed with the bow in the frame. Re-install if they bother you.

The frame should be OK if there are no cracks propagating and welds show no cracks. Subtle out of square should be OK. Gross out of square would be bad.

Monitor for changes for a while. If no change, frame should be OK.

Redapple · 04-30-2021, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Persistent

The door squareness is par for the course. Even stick and brick buildings develop those. The frame bow may have been there from the beginning. Doors may have been installed with the bow in the frame. Re-install if they bother you.

The frame should be OK if there are no cracks propagating and welds show no cracks. Subtle out of square should be OK. Gross out of square would be bad.

Monitor for changes for a while. If no change, frame should be OK.

Agee with this. I am willing to bet there was at least part of a bend already, and it was built with the bend. As it got worse and more noticeable, you fixed it and now the doors are out of square. Trim the doors and enjoy like before.

Good Luck

imjustdave · 05-03-2021, 09:16 PM

Of all manufactures the Artic Fox AKA NW actually builds a decent frame. I have looked under a bunch of trailers when looking for one to buy and some I didn't even bother looking inside as the underside was such a joke it didn't matter.

Any and all trailers can have issues, and you sound like you actually use it so not a shock you occasionally have an issue.

Did you welder have issues fixing it? did they have an opinion that was negative? Happen to take any photos?

To me your trailer has proven it's ability 20k miles is a lot and I would trust it over something new today. Now age, floor plan ETC I understand may dictate you wanting a change but I think or feel your good for now.

charliez · 05-04-2021, 08:50 AM

A door can be out of wack depending on how the whole unit has been leveled or not leveled. And I'll dare to add if your on your third bent frame, I would review what are you doing with them. I've owned many trailers , and never once bent a frame.

Diamond Joe · 05-04-2021, 12:56 PM

The wielder said the crossmember for the a-frame was made of too thin of steel, but also said that the design needs to allow for some flex. What doesnt flex, will break. When he reinforced the crossmember, he said he took that into account.

As to the question about my habits contributing to bent chassis. Good question. Trailer #1 was a 1982 alpenlite 19' 5th wheel. I bought it in poor condition in 2002 and fixed it up a lot. It was considered an ultra light. Its possible that it was already bent and i just didn't notice til much later. Also possible I loaded it beyond its gvwr.

Trailer #2 was a 2004 trail cruiser 25 ultralight. Bought it as new in 2009. I'm sure i loaded it beyond its gvwr which was not much more than the dry weight. Tongue was bent up and the rear was bent down behind the axles. Most likely my fault. I put about 20k miles on it.

Now for the current Arctic fox. As i see it there may be 3 things I did to cause it.
1. Too tight on the wd bars?
2. Once, when unhitching, the tongue jack slid off the 4" thick wood block and the trailer rolled fwd a few inches. (poor wheel chocks and dry hitch ball and socket)
3. I pulled the trailer half a block when the jack was only halfway retracted. The jack banged the pavement at 2 mph when going over a slight dip. I knew right away and immediately stopped and retracted the jack.
Neither of those mistakes damaged the tongue jack.

I've weighed the AF while loaded several times and its ~8k lbs, well under the 10k gvwr.

So, if the bend didn't come from over the road miles on #$%@ing bumpy highways, then its likely one of my 3 errors.

The crossmember had a bow in the center and a small crack there. The bow was toward the rear.

charliez · 05-04-2021, 01:01 PM

A pic of the cross member might help too. If you look at any rv frame, it's made of very lightweight pieces welded together as fast as possible. Sometimes too if you fix that spot too rigid, it can lead to failure in other areas.

It's all a crap shoot sometimes. I went down some roads on the last trip that left me amazed nothing was busted.

Dave Pelletier · 05-04-2021, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whangler

The wielder said the crossmember for the a-frame was made of too thin of steel, but also said that the design needs to allow for some flex. What doesnt flex, will break. When he reinforced the crossmember, he said he took that into account.

As to the question about my habits contributing to bent chassis. Good question. Trailer #1 was a 1982 alpenlite 19' 5th wheel. I bought it in poor condition in 2002 and fixed it up a lot. It was considered an ultra light. Its possible that it was already bent and i just didn't notice til much later. Also possible I loaded it beyond its gvwr.

Trailer #2 was a 2004 trail cruiser 25 ultralight. Bought it as new in 2009. I'm sure i loaded it beyond its gvwr which was not much more than the dry weight. Tongue was bent up and the rear was bent down behind the axles. Most likely my fault. I put about 20k miles on it.

Now for the current Arctic fox. As i see it there may be 3 things I did to cause it.
1. Too tight on the wd bars?
2. Once, when unhitching, the tongue jack slid off the 4" thick wood block and the trailer rolled fwd a few inches. (poor wheel chocks and dry hitch ball and socket)
3. I pulled the trailer half a block when the jack was only halfway retracted. The jack banged the pavement at 2 mph when going over a slight dip. I knew right away and immediately stopped and retracted the jack.
Neither of those mistakes damaged the tongue jack.

I've weighed the AF while loaded several times and its ~8k lbs, well under the 10k gvwr.

So, if the bend didn't come from over the road miles on #$%@ing bumpy highways, then its likely one of my 3 errors.

The crossmember had a bow in the center and a small crack there. The bow was toward the rear.

speculation; the first two were because all those lightweight trailers use weak frames. The last was probably your WD bars and a dip - someone just bent their 8" HSS ORV frame doing the same thing.

Dave