Broken frame crossbeam?

[jd1923]

3 hours ago, Rivernerd said:

So, the welder who told you to never haul your Elite II with a full tank of water was wrong, since the fresh water tank is forward of the broken welds?

We almost always leave home with a full fresh tank and will continue to do so, unless we are heading straight to a full hookup campsite. It's not that heavy. Full at about 250 LBS across that wide area is not a concern. 

[Geronimo John]

Following is rabbit hole conjecture on my part for your amusement:

• The G-forces on loads behind the center point of the twin axles are lineally amplified by the lever arm distance.  It therefore is good design to have more structural supports behind the axles than in front of them as reported. 

•  As the EZ Flex raises and lowers the axles based upon up/down road bumps/holes/trenches, it could also be adding additional loads to the areas in front and behind the axle center points.  If those are in-phase with the road induced G-forces, the structural member loadings would be increased beyond that mentioned above.

[rideandfly]

13 minutes ago, Geronimo John said:

Following is rabbit hole conjecture on my part for your amusement:

• The G-forces on loads behind the center point of the twin axles are lineally amplified by the lever arm distance.  It therefore is good design to have more structural supports behind the axles than in front of them as reported. 

•  As the EZ Flex raises and lowers the axles based upon up/down road bumps/holes/trenches, it could also be adding additional loads to the areas in front and behind the axle center points.  If those are in-phase with the road induced G-forces, the structural member loadings would be increased beyond that mentioned above.

John,

Hate to be a Monday morning Quarterback, but did you add Coriolis Force?

[johnwen]

9 minutes ago, rideandfly said:

John,

Hate to be a Monday morning Quarterback, but did you add Coriolis Force?

We do deflect to the right up here :)

[routlaw]

Well now I am setting on the edge of my seat waiting to find out the true engineering intent for these cross braces. Maybe Oliver will share with us some day.

[MAX Burner]

(Copied and pasted from the leaf spring thread):

Regarding frame cross member welds - visually inspected all yesterday and photographed each weld to set a baseline for our records.  All good.  I'm suspecting that the broken welds reported could be caused by an inexperienced welder at the factory - an anomaly and not a design flaw.  I also suspect that Oliver engineers designed the frame to withstand "normal" usage (that may be difficult to define, however).  Like other owners, we routinely, yet carefully, travel over unpaved and unimproved roads with a full fresh (empty black/gray) tank without issue - I believe this practice is within the design limitations of the trailer.  We'll definitely keep inspecting the cross members after such trips, however...  Thoughts?

[Patriot]

1 hour ago, MAX Burner said:

(Copied and pasted from the leaf spring thread):

Regarding frame cross member welds - visually inspected all yesterday and photographed each weld to set a baseline for our records.  All good.  I'm suspecting that the broken welds reported could be caused by an inexperienced welder at the factory - an anomaly and not a design flaw.  I also suspect that Oliver engineers designed the frame to withstand "normal" usage (that may be difficult to define, however).  Like other owners, we routinely, yet carefully, travel over unpaved and unimproved roads with a full fresh (empty black/gray) tank without issue - I believe this practice is within the design limitations of the trailer.  We'll definitely keep inspecting the cross members after such trips, however...  Thoughts?

I agree Max all great points,

Comparing visually just a few early model weld photos to my welds on XPLOR there is a vast difference in the appearance of the skill level of the welder and his craft.
I really don’t see this being an issue with later model Oliver’s. I have not heard or read about any cracked welds on the newer Olivers. Oliver TT clearly recognized the need for higher quality welds early on and improved on this with a much better weld.

Good on Oliver!

All this said it is imperative that owners inspect and maintain ALL areas of their Oliver. Olivers are extremely well engineered and well built in my owner experience. 

Oliver has continued and will continue to make improvements through the years. If I ever end up with a cracked weld I will simply have it fixed. I know I still own the best TT made in the USA. 🇺🇸

With so few trailers impacted, I am not sure how much more we can beat this dead horse. 😄

Happy Camping!!
 

 

Edited April 12 by Patriot

[John Welte]

13 hours ago, rideandfly said:

John,

Hate to be a Monday morning Quarterback, but did you add Coriolis Force?

And did Oliver account for an opposite force when we take our trailers to the southern hemisphere.  A lot of us want to explore Australia with our trailers and we need to know how Oliver designed the frame.  😂🤣

John

[rideandfly]

1 hour ago, Patriot said:

All this said it is imperative that owners inspect and maintain ALL areas of their Oliver. Olivers are extremely well engineered and well built in my owner experience.

 

3 hours ago, MAX Burner said:

(Copied and pasted from the leaf spring thread):

Regarding frame cross member welds - visually inspected all yesterday and photographed each weld to set a baseline for our records.

 

Yep, Pre-Flight aircraft inspections have saved my bacon more than once. Ollie cross member inspections can be made easy with a telescoping inspection mirror during the walk around before towing.

Still need to inspect all welds a few times a year using a creeper, too.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=telescoping+inspection+mirror&crid=3GPS6IC729535&sprefix=telescoping+inspection+mirror%2Caps%2C133&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

[MAX Burner]

5 hours ago, rideandfly said:

Yep, Pre-Flight aircraft inspections have saved my bacon more than once.

Same here, brother!

7 hours ago, Patriot said:

All this said it is imperative that owners inspect and maintain ALL areas of their Oliver. Olivers are extremely well engineered and well built in my owner experience. 

Couldn't agree more, David!

We should all invest in something like one of these unless already owned...

...just one last blow to the horse!  HA!

[taylor.coyote]

Bent / sagging crossbeams

I have a related issue with some frame crossbeams.  I have four and maybe more crossbeams that are sagging (have a belly in the middle). When putting a straight piece of bar stock across the bottom of the trailer's crossbeams, you can see about one inch +/- bow / belly in these crossbeams. Interesting that the beams that are bent are located in the front 1/3 of the trailer ( behind the bathroom and in front of the axles) and the back 1/3  (behind the axles and in front of for the cabinet between the twin beds.  The bent crossbars have no apparent other damage other than the belly. I am a big guy, regardless these beams should not be bent.  Does anyone  have knowledge  or experience with bent crossbeams? 

[jd1923]

On 4/29/2024 at 6:38 PM, taylor.coyote said:

Bent / sagging crossbeams

I have a related issue with some frame crossbeams.  I have four and maybe more crossbeams that are sagging (have a belly in the middle)...

This piqued my interest, and I would like to see a picture of yours too. I got under our Oliver today after reading this. I see 4 crossbeams front of the suspension. 3 of 4 of ours have NO sag. The have an intentional arc but are fully supporting the hull left to right. The front one has a 3/8" gap at the center. The true front of the hull is held up by the heavy frame ahead of these 4 beams, so the first one looks to have no weight on it and merely holds left to right. I don't see much wrong with this, but yours may be worse if all four beams have sagged. It's certainly not the weight of cargo or a person on the inner shell.

Edited 5 hours ago by jd1923
Added picture

[MAX Burner]

1 hour ago, jd1923 said:

The front one has a 3/8" gap at the center. The true front of the hull is held up by the heavy frame ahead of these 4 beams, so the first one looks to have no weight on it and merely holds left to right. I don't see much wrong with this,

Exactly right, John.  Our's front cross beam has the same gap with what looks like a rubber gasket between the aluminum and the fiberglass hull...FYI