hooked up to king pin & under overhang shattered

[DarMar]

As you can see we have an 03/2955rl. We took it to get brakes bearings serviced and when we picked it up I just backed under it as normal, shifted the weight from the landing gear to the kin pin and went to pull away when all the underbelly around the king pin cracked and some pieces fell down. Got out in awe to survey what had happened and also found several cracks around the front cargo door as well. Well, after much thought I was convinced it was frame flex and/or broken welds around the kin pin. Our service centre tore it apart and found all welds ok and thus contacted Keystone about the frame or something giving too much. We were both told this is not frame flex and because our trailer is older(2003) there wouldn't be any warranty. They said they were convinced our problem was from an impact which is nothing shy of ridiculous. Sure, our weather up here is a little colder than most, but -18C isn't as cold as many units are towed in. I was told that this damage did not have the same symptoms that showed up with frame flex but in my mind when the weight went on the kingpin something must have flexed. Our dealer has been great and will get us on the road by Friday but I am worried about this happening again. So, has anyone out there experienced this or have any opinions on this situation?
Thanks in advance!!!

[Glenn and Lorraine]

We have an 04 2955RL which actually came off the line May 8th of 03 which makes it very much like yours. I have not seen any signs of cracking fiberglass or frame flex.

[Emmel]

When was the last time you actually watched the lot movers at your dealership? Our dealership is great since each tech working on a unit is the one that moves it but I have seen some other dealerships with a lot guy moving all the units. At the camper show in Columbus Ohio recently, I saw a guy hook up to a 5er without the proper height set, bent the landing gear! When the suggestion was that impact damage was done, don't rule it out! I've never heard of the cargo door damaged when the welds broke, kind of suspicious. Good luck with your results. I don't want to imply that your dealership was at fault, could have even been a theft attempt and didn't work!

[applejack]

DARMAR, I bought a new 2004 Montana 2980 in December of 2003 from a dealer 200 miles away from home. I had the dealer deliver it to me mid December 2003 when the temp in Alberta was aroung -10 C. The dealer driver parked the unit in my yard and upon delivery inspection
I saw no problems with the unit. Around mid February 2004 I happened to walk around the unit and found the exact same damage that you describe. The pin box liner(underbelly around the king pin) and the bulkhead (front wall around the cargo door) were both cracked even though the unit was not moved since the dealer deliverd it.

In April when the weather warmed up I duct taped the cracks and returned it to the dealer. The dealer indicated that what happened was that the screws attaching the pin box liner and bulkhead were probably overtightened at the factory and the expansion and contraction in the cold weather caused the cracking starting at the overtightened screw holes.

My damage was covered under warranty. The only problem I had was that the dealer did a shoddy job in installing the new liner and bulkhead. There were bulges in both so I took them apart and reinstlalled the myself to insure that there were no stress points.
I have not had a problem since.

[DarMar]

Thanks for that info Applejack it seems we have alot in common, that is cold weather and cracking at least. I can see that from over tightening at installation could definately start a crack that would only further crack when moved in cold weather. Ours has NEVER been moved in the winter before until now when we are getting ready to head to the RGV.

It just dissapoints me that Keystone wouldn't discuss perhaps a reason why this might of happened and a possible solution so it won't happen again. I have mentioned overtightening to my dealer and they will take extra care when re-installing the new pieces tomorrow. Also was told by the dealer that this area has now been changed to a fiberglass material and I can only guess why the change. Again, it's not so much the $700.00 repair bill but the fact that you are told this has never happened before and it must be an impact problem. I always look for solutions so things don't go bad again and it's just piece of mind to know why. Also, if we all moved south to warmer weather it would solve a lot of problems indeed!