WHAT??? Your Frame is Broke! Lippert Broken RV Frame 7-27-22 DRV Elite Suites

Being a welder for over 42 years and built lots of heavy duty trailers for the oil and gas industry, we always used fish plates and gussets at joints to make them stronger than just butt welds. These people were extremely lucky to have caught the failure before it came apart while doing highway speeds going over a bridge or a double bump in the road.

I discovered a 3’long crack in the Lippert manufactured frame on my pull behind a few years ago. You could see daylight through it. If I would have relied on Lippert to fix it it would still be 1500 miles from home. I found a welder who came out to my campsite, plated it and welded it. You got to think outside the box on this stuff. The dealers and manufacturers don’t want to see you again once you drive off the lot. You’re dead to them.

I have a daughter who is going to school to be a lawyer. She’s talking with the lawyers she’s working with, to see if there are grounds for a class action lawsuit. I’m helping her gather names. This should be criminal if it’s not. So far, social media has helped me find dozens of families screwed over by LIEppert, and the rv industry.

Bottom line here is DRV and LCI are building substandard frames and coaches! It is Fantastic that you have exposed the two Corporations to their failures when designing the rigs components! Even the after repairs was substandard that will not stand up to the test of time. This Coach should have been totaled due to the extent of the damage. Hopefully the owners recognize this fact and take steps to hold these companies accountable!

From a long-term welding inspector, I saw more than 7 major welding, frame support, material selection and improper techniques used on this RV. Get an attorney because at some point when you’re not satisfied, they will quit responding and you will be ahead of the game.

Retired RV Tech here. After years of repairing trailers and fifth wheels all I can say is that they are all crap! (except Airstream). These things are made alike across the board. The expensive ones look pretty...But they are crap! When I was assigned to go out and do some warranty repairs, I was the one to catch the Hell from an angry customer. It got to the point where I simply told them I'm not the one who built it. I'm not the one who sold it. But I am the one here to fix the problems. The only thing I can recommend is to purchase an Airstream. They're Not without their problems. but they are miles ahead of any others in quality. Its just too bad they don't make a Fifth wheel. Or maybe they're just smart!

Thank you for the video!! And exposing lippert!! My personal opinion, they should be sued out of business and never make another frame in their lifetime. I have had two frames onto different makes of trailer the exact same thing happened to, except one of them was so horrible, I had been working in Pennsylvania and was headed west coming home when I had to make a detour to Northern Indiana to drop the trailer off so lippard could fix it. And six months after they fixed it it was breaking again. I weld for a living and have been doing so for 35 years. What they're doing in their shop, a high school welding instructor wouldn't even call it welding. They are an absolute joke and need to be sued!!

Finally a video that shows just what my 2016 Vengeance is doing. The front is moving just like this when I put it on the truck. I now have a better idea of where else to start looking for cracks in the frame.

Lipert knows exactly where the cracks are , where they start and where the end and how long their repairs will last .They also know about the lower frame at the axles are cracked . They also know about the Pinbox failures and where the cracks are .They can tell you just how many inches of weld that the entire repair will require .

I'm so glad to find this video. A couple weeks ago I purchased on-the-spot a beautiful 2016 Forest River Palomino Columbus 295RLC 5th wheel RV (built Nov 2015). While the RV designs are very much alike, the RV builder is different than the one in this video, however the physical chassis frame is the same which is also a Lippert Component build and as soon as I get back to Tennessee in 9-days, that is the very first thing I'm going to check on mine. Why this bothers me is because on mine, the space above is a bedroom with queen size bed and a stacked washer/dryer unit in that corner closet in the nose of the RV. What disturbs me in this video are the welds on the finished product, that is not going to hold for very long as the bonding between the new steel and the old steel is very poor and inexcusable. That shoddy welding needs to be ground down and done correctly. In addition, there should've been 1/2" inch thick gussets welded to the inside of where the new steel meets old steel to prevent side loading and flexing. I like the new larger sized steel used in this repair but the welding leaves much to be desired.

Doesn't surprise me. I bought a brand new travel trailer in 2013 and after a few trips, I was cleaning it and found one bolt that holds the wall to the frame loose, so I tightened it. I then looked at the rest of the bolts and found that all of them were loose! I was able to tighten all but one which was free spinning. I'm assuming it's a carriage bolt inside of the wall so the only way to fix it is to open up the wall! I ended up double nutting all the other bolts with Locktite. In place of a bolt at the back side of the trailer, they actually just used a long wood screw! Yup, quality made in America right there.

As someone that works in structural engineering, I would LOVE to see the actual frame design. I also have serious concern for their "repair" at the moment. Hard points as we call them, cause stress concentration and just moves the failure point. As an example, consider bending a stick in a U until it breaks. Then do the same with another identical stick, but slip a steel tube sleeve over the area where the other one broke. Can you guess where it will break now? Either that frame was taken beyond its design (capacity) limits, or Lippert is running their margin of safety WAY too thin! Can't say I've seen many gooseneck to semi trailers do that without an "event"...

IMHO, 45 degree rectangular tube gusset, designed way too close to the corner. It does not appear to effectively resolve torsional stresses caused by the leverage arm generated as the weigh & inertial forces are suspended on the front of the trailer as it rests on the pin box. Of course, manufacturer will probably claim, overloading or driving too fast over rough roads. Again, IMO, the fix / repair & original engineering, should have included a second 45 degree brace, about 12" ahead (or as far forward as operational functionality allows) of the original brace / gusset, in addition to the repair.. BTW, Nomad, good job saving your clients a road catastrophe. You deserve a medal! (LOL, edited b/c spell check strikes again!) If there was fairness, the manufacturer and the couple's and manufacturer's insurance companies should award you significant $s! Best regards, Dennis

This has got me holding off on buying a new Momentum, and questioning the whole industry even more. 120k, 145k MSRP, is a lot to always have this on the back of my mind. Actually makes me want to look at the cheaper ones even more. At least I will expect issues that way.

These new RV's cost a fortune and the quality just isn't there, sure they look nice but that's it. The square metal tubing used for the goose neck frame seems to be too thin, I would bet that even after they "patch it up" it will eventually crack somewhere else on that goose neck( probably the top part of the goose neck ), please keep us posted in the coming months.

Well as a former LCI employee I must say those welds look like they came out of plant 19 where I used to work. Back then they didn't care how the welds looked as long as they were 1) in the correct place, and 2) were done according to print. 100% welds were passed that looked like explosive diarrhea on a plate and ultimately that's why I left. Guys didn't care because they were making $20-25/hr back in 2013/2014

LCI will build whatever frame the manufacturer requests. After that, they are done. The manufacturer provides the specs and it is their engineers responsibility to ensure proper loading capacity. Manufacturers are overloading their rigs more and more every year while not ordering proper frame capacities due to price. JMO.

Get a mobile welder to weld it for you and install plates to reinforce the breaks on site .Then your done . Also check your big I beam s at the axles at the Cross braces . Shackles , springs and cracks along your I beams .

It amazes me the crap that we build in this country Not sure if it’s an engineering problem or cost savings or poor manufacturing practices but all of these problems get covered up when the rig is built and the owner is left with trying to figure out what went wrong Looks like Lippert should have a test mule on hand so they can see what happens to their product over time I would hate to think that they just don’t care

I am eager to see how this fix will evolve in the future. If it was my rig, I’d open it again after one year to give it an inspection. I suspect it might break again. 😢