Pinbox Flexing

[Paul M]

I have a 2020 3121rl, and notice Monday that the pin box is moving up 1/2 inch when connected to truck,also the side wall is moving about a 1/4 inch.Talked to keystone this am and said they may cover it under warranty,( warranty has been out a year)but since I’m using an Anderson Hitch they aren’t sure. After calling the recommended dealer,( camping world), and talking to them, he had me to check for stress cracks at the corner of bedroom slide, sure enough there was one. Doing research keystone says they will void any warranty on the frame or sidewall if you use an Anderson hitch. There is a memo that Montana put out stating such, but wasn’t real clear.Emailed Anderson and they responded very fast, sent pictures and they told me to keep them informed. Has anyone dealt with keystone with frame flex and anderson hitch? I did mention camping world, a friend had similar problem on a 37ft legacy,they cut the side out,replaced the panel, matched the paint and you can’t even tell any work had been done,they did a great job. Taking in Monday for evaluation to see if keystone will cover the repair, $3-4k

[mlh]

As far as I k know if you don’t have an approved hitch and you have a frame problem Keystone will not cover a problem and the Andersen hitch isn’t approved. Hopefully someone will come along shortly and say this hitch is approved.
Lynwood

[jkxtreme]

Where do I find a list of 'approved' hitches

[Paul M]

I guess you could contact keystone, they have a letter saying that guess anything with a ball and cup type are not approved since 2019. But they didn’t send anything to rv owners, just posted it on there site or somewhere, which I think if they are making changes they should be required to notify owners.

[truckerpops]

I have a 2010 Montana 3400RL. After very little towing I noticed that the front closet wall was shattered. It took me a while but Keystone finally towed it to their factory in Penelton,Or. They found that the front and side walls were not lined up before screwing the structure together. It was returned to me and it was better. Then last year I noticed the pin box still had a lot of movement from the coach. I removed the under covering to reveal the frame.The frame welds looked like bubble gum! I had a certified welder come and reweld the frame. I replaced the covering and resealed everything and now problem solved. I could'nt believe how bad the welds were!

[Paul M]

Keystone is going to repair my camper. As a goodwill,It’s the same issue as a friends. There is A weak point on the wall frame at the bedroom slide. Always look for stress cracks on the left side facing it, that is where the problem shows up

[GreG L.]

I have the same thing happening to my 2020, in Camping world now. I had to do an emergency stop, after that I noticed that when on the hitch it looked like it was pushing up into the camper but was really letting the surrounding frame sag around the hitch, when on the jacks it looked more normal.

I did a insurance claim and they sent me to Camping world. As soon as he saw it he said I know what it is and have seen several, Keystone has a structure fix for it. Total cost $13,321.00

[Old Okie]

Hi guys!
I have a 2017 High Country 305RL, bought new. Some time back I began to notice the pinbox flexing relative to the trailer front cap as I drove it. I did the Lippert Upper Deck Flex Measurement per the Lippert instruction sheet. It showed absolutely no flex. Remember this measurement is from the bottom rear of the pinbox attachment structure back to the front underside of the trailer.

Sometime later I did another check in my concrete floored RV barn. This consisted of taking a floor jack and 4x4 placed under the hitch pin. I measured the distance from the bottom side of the pinbox at the front of the trailer to the underside of the cap directly above it. Then I jacked the trailer up until the front jack feet cleared the floor and took the same measurements. The measurements showed about a 3/4 inch deflection. Bear in mind that the measurement location is well forward on the pinbox, closer to the pin than to where the pinbox bolts to the attachment structure.

I then did the same set of measurements on the pinbox attachment structure (the steel channel structure that the pinbox bolts to). The measurements were made at all four corners from the bottom of the structure up to the filon covering the area. I could detect no deflection of this structure when the front trailer jacks were jacked up off the floor via the pinbox hitch pin.

The bolts attaching the pinbox to the pinbox structure show no sign of having moved, but I attempted to tighten them anyway. I actually was able to tighten a couple of them with a breakover and cheater. In spite of this, the paint doesn't show any sign of the pinbox bolts having let it slip.

Other clues or non-clues: The upper trailer sidewalls show absolutely no cracking and the joint beside the bedroom slide shows no sign of having moved. The only damage I've ever seen in/on the trailer was inside the front closet which goes all the way across the front of the cap. There is an MDF pedestal on each side of the closet for a washer and dryer which we've never used and a trim strip between them. During a trip to Louisiana from Oklahoma and back we hit a bridge to highway transition joint (interstate at 60-65 mph) that was so bad it caused the truck rear suspension to bottom out hard. After we got home, I noticed some of the joints in the washer/dryer pedestals were loose and that the trim strip had come off the wall. I just air nailed them back up and they haven't moved since. However, we've only done short trips since then and haven't had any more bottoming out.

I'm pretty baffled by having this trailer body to hitch pin movement when towing, but not being able to pinpoint its source. Any ideas about how to pinpoint where this flex is happening, or whether it's a worry at all?



Thanks,
Ol' Okie

[RMcNeal]

Okie, take a close look at the metal framing in the very nose of your trailer. You will need to remove the propane tanks on either side and look specifically at the framing directly between the propane tank and the front cap. There should be angled gussets welded into the vertical framing for support. I have seen on another rig where these welds were broken and caused the type of flex your are describing at the front of the pin box.

[Old Okie]

RMcNeal,

Thanks for the reply. I looked at the framing and gussets in the area in front of the propane tanks as you suggested. All the members and welds look great. The gussets I see are fairly large, maybe 6-8 inches on a side, but are rather thin. They don't look terribly structurally stout, but the attachment welds are fine. No sign of buckling, either.

I'm thinking of jacking up the front of the trailer at the hitch pin as I described having done before and rechecking for deflections at several points in the hitch area. Also thinking about calling Keystone to get their thoughts, for what that's worth. I don't expect any warranty coverage since the trailer is a '17 model.

Any other thoughts are appreciated!

[Paul M]

Don’t rule out that keystone won’t fix it if you find a broken frame, the camping world that is fixing mine said that have covered models as far back as 2016