If you have had the issues with broken welds due to frame flex - where did you have it worked on?
On my Beacon FLB (living room in front) we had a separation on the frame on each side of the overhang. This is a pretty common issue on all brands of 5th wheels. I had it repaired at Robert Crist RV in Mesa, AZ. Service manager George has done this repair on several.
The aluminum extension from the steel coach frame has upright aluminum stringers that allows for the walls to be attached. The welds on these uprights crack/break causing the molding to gap when hooked up to trailer.
George lifted the sides away & welded triangle aluminum braces between uprights & horizontal.
No problems so far after 1,300 miles from AZ to MN.
Check out YouTube videos by “ midlifedetour” where it shows this issue & they had theirs repaired at a shop in Goshen.
Best of luck to all my fellow “orphans!”
Bob
I mentioned midlifedetour on YouTube in previous post regarding frame flex . The episode that explains it is
Frame Flex Broken Welds Cracked Walls - Full Time RV Living EP46
Enjoy-Bob
I had similar issues on our 39FBB, although it was just the passenger side that had the separation. I mentioned & showed it to Jamie Myrick and Brett Oliver at one of the rallies and they suggested that the Tishomingo Service Center could take care of the problem.
I made a 1200+ mile trip from Colorado to Tishomingo back in April and the guys there were able to repair that pretty well in a couple of days. They were also able to take care of a few other items while I was there, including a broken leaf spring that happened right after I arrived. I was very pleased at the quality of work they performed especially in the timeframe they completed the work. I’ve out on another couple thousand miles since the repair and no issues.
Some pics of the damage and the repairs.
Repaired
Did you have any damage in your fiberglass from them pulling it back? Several owners (including myself) ended up with damaged glass that later had to be corrected. I still have a portion on the back side of the expansion joint that is delaminated. My repair was done early when they were still discovering the problem and solution.
My fiberglass was not damaged due to the repair.
Sorry that happened to you.
No damage to the fiberglass from the repairs they performed thankfully. I’ve kept a close eye on that area since then and haven’t noticed any issues. It certainly seems like a good solid repair. I can say when I watched them separate the panel with a massive scraper looking device it was a bit unnerving lol. If they’ve done a number of these, I’m sure they’ve gotten better at it and can better avoid the collateral damage.
Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with the quality of their repairs and how long it took. If this was through a typical dealer, I’m sure it’d still be in the shop and probably wouldn’t have gotten fixed. They also repaired the busted leaf spring, sheared wheel bolt, fender wheel arch cover (they had spares and painted it on site), repaired an interior wall and electrical outlet in the half bath and re secured the front storage compartment door that had come loose (related to the frame break I think) and bad front right hydraulic jack.
The only thing they weren’t able to repair was the Vanleigh decals on the from and rear caps since they weren’t able to get replacements from Vanleigh in time. Vanleigh did send me those without charge, so I just have to find the time to remove the faded and cracking ones and reapply the new ones.
They had to work at it to get mine exposed and that is an uncomfortable thing to observe. I have seen Danny’s team and Redbay both do the removal and both places for sure have gotten better at completing without other damage.
I have seen several metallic Vanleigh logos that have faded out. I have a friend that has a vinyl shop and while replacing mine stated that the material they used on those is only rated for a year of sun exposure. It probably doesnt help that my unit is dark and that surface gets warm in the sun.