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Kachina26

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Pulling into the campground with your shit looking like this. Don’t know the story, but it was an Imagine trailer behind a Dodge 3500. Crappy way to start out the trip.
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bilz

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Another 3/4,1ton owner that doesn't need a wd or take the time to set up their shit correctly. Look at the ball mount. Trailer was probably nose high and that bent the frame. And you know with a 3/4 or 1 ton, you never feel any trailer or wind.
 
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Riley1

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First thing I see is no weight distribution hitch.
Though I doubt that was the problem. I have advised many friends over the years to disconnect their weight distribution bars before traveling into the desert because of the extreme angles between trucks and trailers going through ditches and whoops.

Curious as to what caused this.
 

Riley1

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First thing I see is no weight distribution hitch.
Though I doubt that was the problem. I have advised many friends over the years to disconnect their weight distribution bars before traveling into the desert because of the extreme angles between trucks and trailers going through ditches and whoops.

Curious as to what caused this.
The failure point is behind where WD bars hook up. Looks like manufacturing defect to me.
Some of the trailer frame companies have been fighting this for a while
 

Kachina26

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Another 3/4,1ton owner that doesn't need a wd or take the time to set up their shit correctly. Look at the ball mount. Trailer was probably nose high and that bent the frame. And you know with a 3/4 or 1 ton, you never feel any trailer or wind.
That’s what caught my attention, usually you see these guys with the trailer pointing to the moon. I was thinking, “gee, he has that thing leveled out nice”. Then I saw the disaster.
 

Jimmyv

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... looks like hitch was setup WAY too high to begin with. Still shouldn’t bend like that. Also probably swayed like a bitch even with a big boy truck.
 

hallett21

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The ultimate irony being that looks like an adjustable hitch. Had they flipped it the hitch might have been close to level


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CLdrinker

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Another 3/4,1ton owner that doesn't need a wd or take the time to set up their shit correctly. Look at the ball mount. Trailer was probably nose high and that bent the frame. And you know with a 3/4 or 1 ton, you never feel any trailer or wind.

If you stop and think about it. The ball mount is way the fuck yo there or the trailer would be sitting on the ground.

it has the L brackets fir load distribution so I might have been used before this disaster.

only thing I see I don’t like is the A frame dead ends into the frame. Most trailers it goes under for. a few feet
 

CLdrinker

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The ultimate irony being that looks like an adjustable hitch. Had they flipped it the hitch might have been close to level


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You think the hitch was like that before the incident or it’s like that so it don’t drag the ground until they got it off the road to spot where they can set up camp and wait to figure out wtf
 

Kachina26

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You think the hitch was like that before the incident or it’s like that so it don’t drag the ground until they got it off the road to spot where they can set up camp and wait to figure out wtf
Good point, I couldn’t bring myself to ask the guy what happened.
 

yz450mm

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If you stop and think about it. The ball mount is way the fuck yo there or the trailer would be sitting on the ground.

it has the L brackets fir load distribution so I might have been used before this disaster.

only thing I see I don’t like is the A frame dead ends into the frame. Most trailers it goes under for. a few feet
That frame has the Lippert sticker on it, and I don't think it dead ends at the front of the trailer. I think that front cross piece is just a thin piece of metal as a valence, to hide the transition between the tongue frame and the actual floor frame above it.

If I had to guess, I would say that they had the water tanks full and a bunch of toy weight in front of the axles, and didn't slow down for a major dip in the road. Or they might have air bags in the truck to compensate for the lack of weight distributing hitch, and also hit a major dip at speed. Once they bottomed out the truck suspension, the g-force had to go somewhere, and found its weak point at the trailer A-frame shear point.



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Kachina26

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That frame has the Lippert sticker on it, and I don't think it dead ends at the front of the trailer. I think that front cross piece is just a thin piece of metal as a valence, to hide the transition between the tongue frame and the actual floor frame above it.

If I had to guess, I would say that they had the water tanks full and a bunch of toy weight in front of the axles, and didn't slow down for a major dip in the road. Or they might have air bags in the truck to compensate for the lack of weight distributing hitch, and also hit a major dip at speed. Once they bottomed out the truck suspension, the g-force had to go somewhere, and found its weak point at the trailer A-frame shear point.



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I see a bracket for a WD hitch.
 

yz450mm

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I see a bracket for a WD hitch.
I think that might be the sway control bracket? I've never seen an aluminum weight distributing hitch receiver, and I don't see the round bar receivers on it either.

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bonesfab

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Put the stabilizing jacks down. Drink a lot. Get a few fatties to jump on it for a while. It might straighten out some. Then use the flux core welder and add a few Home depot braces.. Good for 65-70 down Rice Rd.
 

GRADS

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I saw the thread title and always think of Uncle John.

 

CLdrinker

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That frame has the Lippert sticker on it, and I don't think it dead ends at the front of the trailer. I think that front cross piece is just a thin piece of metal as a valence, to hide the transition between the tongue frame and the actual floor frame above it.

If I had to guess, I would say that they had the water tanks full and a bunch of toy weight in front of the axles, and didn't slow down for a major dip in the road. Or they might have air bags in the truck to compensate for the lack of weight distributing hitch, and also hit a major dip at speed. Once they bottomed out the truck suspension, the g-force had to go somewhere, and found its weak point at the trailer A-frame shear point.



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I have a Lippert. They might do that beauty plate you are talking about. I’m looking at mine tommorow morning that’s for sure.

I would have to look but the Imagine is a travel trailer I’m pretty sure.

I do agree he probably bottom out the truck real hard and the force had to go somewhere.
 

CLdrinker

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I think that might be the sway control bracket? I've never seen an aluminum weight distributing hitch receiver, and I don't see the round bar receivers on it either.

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That bracket looks identical to mine. I run an Equilizer. That bracket is the “saddle” the load bar rides on. The friction/force provides the sway control and load leveling together.

Has anyone wondered if it’s stolen?
 

yz450mm

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That bracket looks identical to mine. I run an Equilizer. That bracket is the “saddle” the load bar rides on. The friction/force provides the sway control and load leveling together.

Has anyone wondered if it’s stolen?
My first toy hauler back in 2000 was a tag, and I relied heavily on the WD bars to be able to tow it with a 1500. After that I went fifth wheel for the past few, so I'm not up to speed on the current weight distributing setups.

I have hit some dips on roads and freeways that I swore would tear the fifth wheel apart, I can't imagine hitting some of them with a loaded down tow behind TH.

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Flying_Lavey

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I can just about guarantee that the adjustable hitch was NOT set like that when the frame bent and instead, as mentioned earlier here, what was used to get the front of the trailer up on the ground. OP said the trailer was an Imagine. That is a Grand Design travel trailer. NOT a toy hauler. They are built a tick above the rest from what I've seen so this is a little surprising. I wouldn't be too surprised if they went through a dip/pot hole/ poor tRR track crossing too fast and caused extreme bucking with the WD hitch on which as we all know, reduces articulation and motion at the hitch, and as the truck and trailer where likely going up and down, the rapid increaes and decreases of the loaded bars onto the trailer frame found the weakest point.

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Rondog4405

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I gotta show this to the giant rv salesman that swore grand designs were cream of the crop unbreakable! 🤣
 

Happy Smitty

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It's all about knowing your rig and tow accordingly. At a certain point you start risking damage when you push the limits. usually related to weight, speed, ruff road conditions etc.

Luckily for me I tow with an f150 and don't have to worry about any of that.
 

4Waters

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It's all about knowing your rig and tow accordingly. At a certain point you start risking damage when you push the limits. usually related to weight, speed, ruff road conditions etc.

Luckily for me I tow with an f150 and don't have to worry about any of that.
43 foot 5th wheel, right? 🤣
 

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Is this a travel trailer or toy hauler? I've seen this quite a few times over the years. That's got to be a shitty way to start the weekend but at least they are at the river or whatever their destination is. I would be interested in what the tongue weight is and weight over each axle. I bet there is way to much tongue weight and a wall thickness of .125" on that frame.
 

Nanu/Nanu

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A F-150 would not have had this problem.
 

Flying_Lavey

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Is this a travel trailer or toy hauler? I've seen this quite a few times over the years. That's got to be a shitty way to start the weekend but at least they are at the river or whatever their destination is. I would be interested in what the tongue weight is and weight over each axle. I bet there is way to much tongue weight and a wall thickness of .125" on that frame.
Travel trailer. Not too sure how you would be able to load too much tongue weight in it.

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Travel trailer. Not too sure how you would be able to load too much tongue weight in it.

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Put enough beer in the front for the weekend can cause too much weight. I bet its designed with the tongue weight right at the max from the factory. Adding any more weight as a consumer will put it over. I could see shitty roads with humps or dips cause this but that should be taken into consideration when building the trailer. I remember years ago on 95, South of Lakeside Blvd. there were some gnarly dips and humps. I think I caught air the first time I went through it in my F250. Thankfully I didn't have a trailer.
 

Flying_Lavey

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Put enough beer in the front for the weekend can cause too much weight. I bet its designed with the tongue weight right at the max from the factory. Adding any more weight as a consumer will put it over. I could see shitty roads with humps or dips cause this but that should be taken into consideration when building the trailer. I remember years ago on 95, South of Lakeside Blvd. there were some gnarly dips and humps. I think I caught air the first time I went through it in my F250. Thankfully I didn't have a trailer.
I have a hard time believing there was too much tongue weight. Those imagines have a pretty high CCC compared to other travel trailers as well. I'm tell ya, leverage from the torsion bars and road shock make way more sense.

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pronstar

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Maybe the owner isn’t a moron, and it was a design defect.

Weekend Warrior had a grip of these fail on their Ultralight toy haulers back in the day IIRC, due to defective frames.


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