Getting my frame welded up

[Bryan L.]

I was looking over my trailer to get it ready for the upcoming season and when I got underneath I was surprised by what I found. I went on a 2000 mile round trip last summer and when I got back the frame looked like this. This is the area where the frame rails bend to form the A up front. Just about the only thing holding it together was the floor!

I took it to a trailer place and the young guy that came to look at it said he wasn't sure if he wanted to tackle it. He went and got the old guy and the old guy was like, "Oh yeah, piece of cake. We can do that." When I get it back in a couple weeks I will post pictures of what the fix is. This is the third frame welding repair that I've had to do or have done to the front of the trailer in the last several years.

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[CliveAlive]

Originally Posted by Bryan L.

...
I took it to a trailer place and the young guy that came to look at it said he wasn't sure if he wanted to tackle it. He went and got the old guy and the old guy was like, "Oh yeah, piece of cake. We can do that." ...
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That's because ...

[CliveAlive]

And good job for checking out the camper ahead of time.
I bet you're glad you found it now rather than later !
Interested to see the fix when you get it back.

[Darwin Maring]

Hope they don't catch it on fire welding that close to the floor.

[Carol H]

Use the drop down search function on this forum and use the bottom google box to search for scamp frame repair. The spot where the tubing bends is unfortunately a common spot for the older trailers in yours age group to crack and lots of folks have had them repaired. I think Norm (user name Hondao3842) had his done with photos if I am not mistaken.

[Bryan L.]

Originally Posted by Darwin Maring

Hope they don't catch it on fire welding that close to the floor.

That is definitely a concern of mine as well!

[Bryan L.]

Originally Posted by CliveAlive

And good job for checking out the camper ahead of time.
I bet you're glad you found it now rather than later !
Interested to see the fix when you get it back.

That Old Guys Rule thing made me laugh! As we're driving there my son said that we don't want to hear the guy say, "oooooh!" A lot as that means bad news. The younger guy said it often, the older guy barely blinked. I'm glad that I checked it over as well. I put too many miles on in a short period of time to get sidelined by repairs. This summer it's off to Glacier National Park from Kansas City.

[Don B.]

I have been a machinist for over 40 years and have repaired my share of broken frames like this one. In my opinion this problem starts with how the mfg. kinked the frame to bend it. This kink style of bending is quick but it really weakens the tubing and the older the steel tubing gets the more brittle it gets with age, which makes it prone to cracking in its high stress areas like this kink bend. I hope this gives a little insight in how the frame came to be in this condition over time.

[Chuck H]

Originally Posted by Darwin Maring

Hope they don't catch it on fire welding that close to the floor.

I was a welder for over 40 yrs and my favorite news story quote was "and the fire was started by a welders torch" Give the old guy some credit he knows what will catch fire

[redbarron55]

The polyester resin sprayed to water proof the wood will burn like kerosene as well.
The part is probably cracked across the top as well and it is possible that it would be smart to cut out the floor above the frame (assuming there is not anything too complicated above) for access and safety.
The floor can then be patched.
This area could be easily reinforced if accessible.

[MRClaus]

Easy if you are a welder

[Bryan L.]

The only thing right above this bend is the storage areas under the front bench. I told them to cut if needed. We'll see what they do.

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[Bryan L.]

I picked up the trailer today. It's nice to know that it will make the trip to Montana this summer without issue. They welded up the cracks and then welded a reinforcing plate to the outside bend on each side. Considering that this was the only part of the bent tube that had any strength, that's all that is needed. I'm relieved that it was able to be fixed!

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[CliveAlive]

Oh! So it didn't catch fire and burn to the ground after all?!

[Trill136]

I am doing some work to my trailer and pulled the frame off to do some mods. There were no stress cracks at all.
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/f...nlGUkdtaG5Ia1U