My Sunnybrook Frame Broke!!!

[camper1b]

Hello all....

So there I am, under my camper yesterday working some insignificant problem, and I just happen to look over to my right tire and this is what I see.

YIKES!

For comparison, here's the other side.

The shackle broke off the frame, pulling the piece of frame with it and then flipped upside down so the frame rail is sitting directly on the bolt at the end of the spring!  Don't know when this happened but I do remember a noise when we went over a bump about an hour from home last weekend.  Don't even want to think of what could have happened if I hadn't caught this!

Incidentally, we are leaving for a 7 week trip around the country in 2 weeks!

Sunnybrook has volunteered to air freight to me a new shackel/collar kit and pay for its welding in place.  I'll post with pictures when it's complete.  Don't worry Joel, we're still planning on being at Glacier on the appointed day! 

 

[Tom]

Oh my    Good job you caught that before your trip Rich.

 

[Ron]

Wow it is a good thing you found this before something much worse happened.  Sorry to hear of the difficulty but glad you found it in time.  It pays to look around under the rig once in a while.  This is one of the reasons I lube our coach since it gives me a opportunity to look things over while under the coach.  Hope the repairs go well and don't cause any delays to your upcoming trip.

 

[Len and Jo]

How many miles do you have on your rig.  It will be interesting to see how much metal they send with the kit to strengthen the area.  It would be nice if you have time to post a picture of the repair.  Good thing you checked!!

 

[caltex]

A friend of mine had the same problem, he noticed it after returning from a three month trip to Alaska (from Texas). He has no idea when it broke or how far he traveled with the axle misaligned.  The tip off was the abnormal wearing on the tire.

 

[John From Detroit]

Strange thing... When I took my Damon for it's maiden voyage a couple of weeks ago there was a trailer parked across the road from us (Well, kind of across the road) and it had almost exactly the same problem

What caught my attention was the folks working on it,  The park chaplin happens to be a welder so it got fixed on the spot, did not need a new shackle, just re-welding, it had not completly broken free yet.

All I can say is: "Better him than me"

 

[camper1b]

OK. It's fixed! And Sunnybrook is picking up the tab! I'm pleased that, even though the camper is 6 years old, they are standing behind their product. Although, it is admittedly a crappy design.

The welder could not use the kits that Sunnybrook sent. The hangers were too long and they would not be even with the others.  Also, the upper leaf on the kit hits directly at a cross member of the frame. He would have had to cut the cross member or try and notch out the leaf. Neither are acceptable alternatives. He just went ahead and fixed it like he would for any other chassis he fixes for this type of thing. Since the other side was cracked also, we did both sides. The total cost was $300 plus tax. It was all done in my driveway.

Here are some pictures....

Photo 1
Photo 2


Thanks to everyone for the inputs. I've never had to deal with something this critical. (Especially coming 2 weeks before our big trip). Later.

 

[Tom]

Glad to hear you got it fixed Rich, and in plenty of time for your trip.

 

[Ron]

Glad to hear you got it fixed, Sunnybrook paid the costs, and that it did not impact your planned trip.  Thanks for the followup.