Hanger Brackets

[PSFORD99]

I feel it needs mentioning again . Sitting here in a small RV park in Montana with friends . One of my fishing buddies , came over ,and said come look at my tires . They were obviously shot on one side of his fifth wheel , completely done ,it's a miracle he didn't have a blow out . H rated 14 ply tires destroyed by a broken hanger bracket ,and the axle shifted of course ,and did the damage .

The sad part of it is ,sure you can check them to see if the welds are starting to crack , but other than that it's hope ,and pray they don't break . The other thing is getting them reinforced by having someone weld some gussets etc to better brace them . It's a U shaped bracket , butt welded to the bottom of the frame , and a flimsy gusset inside the frame that's supposed to take the flex out .

Mine are reinforced to prevent this , any type of rough road ,and butt welded hanger brackets are a disaster waiting to happen . This is what happened to this friend ,went on a rough unpaved road , not far , and had no idea it was broke . Until he noticed the tires after being parked in the RV park here . He went far enough after to destroy two year old tires , that now need replacing . Plus the expense of getting a mobile welding guy here to weld things back together .

 

[Daryles]

We broke a leaf spring Hanger in Moab Utah. Had a local mobile welder fix it. When we got home I had our local mobile welder install Lippert Angle reinforcements on the Hanger brackets.

Frame failure

The last time I wrote about this was November. DW and I went on a 3 month trip out to Utah starting in late August and ending early November. Outbound I noticed the camper (2019 Montana high Country 330RL) listing to the left. Upon inspection I discovered a bent left side frame rail...

www.montanaowners.com

post # 4

 

[PSFORD99]

We broke a leaf spring Hanger in Moab Utah. Had a local mobile welder fix it. When we got home I had our local mobile welder install Lippert Angle reinforcements on the Hanger brackets.

Frame failure

The last time I wrote about this was November. DW and I went on a 3 month trip out to Utah starting in late August and ending early November. Outbound I noticed the camper (2019 Montana high Country 330RL) listing to the left. Upon inspection I discovered a bent left side frame rail...

www.montanaowners.com

post # 4

Not able to see much above your hanger bracket ,but it appears you also have the gusset on the frame , mine were so small , I added a much bigger one above the hanger bracket in the web of the frame , I just welded it right over the top of the small one . . I braced my hanger bracket much differently than yours ,but I suppose there are several different ways to get the job done . What is that V shaped weld on the hanger bracket ???? There's a lot of things that can come apart ,but my hanger brackets are not one of them now .

Something to point out ,and such a manufacturing flaw on this friends fifth wheel . No brace in the web of the frame above the hanger bracket . 2x2 tubing welded to the frame , hanger bracket butt welded to that ,plus the hanger brackets are 5" . I'm sure all this is to have that fifth wheel sitting a bit higher to accommodate these higher trucks of ours these days , to help level the fifth wheel . He hasn't modified anything under there it's all factory ,he bought the fifth wheel new . This is all no problem if they would have just braced the hanger brackets, and a brace in the web of the frame to reduce flex , but none of that . It's a sad deal ,when the manufacturer knows that these hanger brakes fail all the time , and they butt weld those hanger brackets , and call it good .

 

[Daryles]

These are the LCI angle reinforcement brackets.
Newer rigs already come with these installed.

 

[PSFORD99]

These are the LCI angle reinforcement brackets.
Newer rigs already come with these installed.
View attachment 1321902View attachment 1321903

Well thats certainly better than nothing ,but IMO there much better ways to brace those hanger brackets . But from the picture cannot tell if there is anything in the web of the frame to help with flex , again IMO ,that's a must . But what do I know ,we got engineers designing these things .

An example of the workmanship in your photo above , the welding is atrocious . Undercut on the butt weld on the hanger bracket welded to the frame . The brace welds look cold to me , and not finished off on the welding to the frame .The weld I can see welding the brace to the hanger bracket , it's the best looking one of the bunch ,but still an unfinished weld . Just poor welding all the way around ,and this why they break .

I was in the steel fabrication business for my entire working life nearly 44 years . I know good from bad welds . The things I know about welding bad looking welds "can be" good ,pretty welds with a nice bead can be a bad weld . Welds above are sloppy . Obvious to me in the photo one is obviously undercut , the kiss of death , it a breaking point ,the best looking one is the one bead attaching the brace to the hanger bracket , but he didn't finish the weld ,it should of been welded all the way to the corner , he left a gap . And as said the weld attaching the brace to the frame is rolled over , that to me is a cold weld ,and will lack decent penetration , and again a weld that is not welded across the entire joint . Hopefully it will hold together , of course a lot depends on roads traveled ,and the miles put on them .

On edit , I can say those welds look better than some of these hanger brackets ,and other welds on our fifth wheels that I have seen .

 

[RetiredandRollin]

I don't know how to post pictures but for what it's worth I just had a hanger break while visiting Ohio. The why it happen or how it happened is really not important at this point what's important is the fix. I took my rig to affinity, where I go for everything, and I made a video as to what they did. They added new hangers, v-clips offered by lippert, gussets and a welded crossmember. for flex and stability. I am very happy with the repair, it was fairly inexpensive and they had me repaired in 5 hours. The video is on my YouTube Channel (retiredandrollin) titled "Ohio Issue Part3 (Affinity RV Group)". Part 1 video covers what happen, Part 2 covers things I did at home prior to heading to Affinity but Part 3 is the repairs. Hope it helps.

 

[LeftOverParts]

Just watched Part 3 and that’s an impressive reinforcement. The hours they took seems efficient too. Thanks for posting as it gives great ideas on how to reinforce the hangers and will help with a comparison for other shops on hours.

(For posting pictures, if you have them on your phone, clicking that picture icon lets you choose photos from the library or an album. Couple clicks and you’re done!)