weld broken on the slide - common??

[louiskathy]

We seem to have a broken weld on our slide. This is a 2005 Host Rainier 9.5 I want to know how common it is for a weld in the slide to break from "normal wear and tear".

We found a crack coming from the slideout opening earlier this spring... and I think a tree branch that fell on our camper last October caused this weld to break.

I sent the photo's to Host and they emailed back that it was a broken weld causing the problem.

Closer Look

Progressive Insurance guy is coming out Monday. Talking to him on the phone (with him looking at the photos online) he indicated that this was common on slideouts. "Normal wear and tear" kind of thing. He seemed to doubt that a tree branch falling on the roof could cause a weld in the slide to break.

I've got photo's documenting the night the branch came down...
The night the branch hit

Leave the campground out of this discussion. Just give me all the info you have on how common it is for welds to break in the slide... and if a whack from above could cause the weld to break.

[louiskathy]

jimh425 wrote:
Do you use Happy Jack tiedown mounts?

We have four Happy Jack tiedowns ... the turnbuckle kind, two on each side. Nothing inside the bed of the truck. We do have a liner in the truck bed.

Here's a link to the time we had to weld the truckbed to the frame... found this when we removed the truck bed to change the fuel filter.
This shows the tiedowns... Tie downs

[jimh406]

Do you use Happy Jack tiedown mounts?

[louiskathy]

jimh425 wrote:
I'm glad you got a fix that you are happy with. Are you also going to weld it?

No, we're not going to weld it.

One mod that hubby did was to move the top of tie down so the pressure is on the front edge of the camper and not directly under the corner of the slide. He was concerned that, where it was at, the tie down added stress where the crack appeared. So he moved the tie down to the front corner where the happy jack leg is bolted. Then it extends back to the same place it was always connected to the under frame of the truck.

[jimh406]

I'm glad you got a fix that you are happy with. Are you also going to weld it?

[louiskathy]

Kayteg1 wrote:
Love the pictures, especially the last one 😉
When I think the fix is too flexible sideways, when it works, it works.
For whatever it is worth, I am shopping around for camper with side door and being fixman I don't mind small project that save me money.
Run into Lace with "small structural repair"
By now we all should know what it is about.

Click For Full-Size Image.

That looks worse than our problem...
It's nice to be educated enough to know what to look for.

[Kayteg1]

Love the pictures, especially the last one 😉
When I think the fix is too flexible sideways, when it works, it works.
For whatever it is worth, I am shopping around for camper with side door and being fixman I don't mind small project that save me money.
Run into Lace with "small structural repair"
By now we all should know what it is about.

Click For Full-Size Image.

[louiskathy]

Okay... I think we are on the mend.
Here is the fix for the broken weld... in pictures and video.

Photos of fix

Video of fix

[louiskathy]

bighatnohorse wrote:
Another way to look at is; how could a tree branch that large fall on the camper and NOT cause some damage?
Ask the KOA manager if a branch that size could fall on his/her head and not cause some damage?

And like a rear-end-collision can cause back pain weeks or months after the event, how can KOA deny any liability in this issue? Frame damage by that tree event could present itself after months of use - due to the frame structure being compromised by the tree limb.

KOA has some responsibility in this issue.

Koa offered to pay my deductible. Whether they are at fault or not they offered to do that from a few weeks ago when i first contacted them about this broken weld. I'm not complaining about KOA. KOA never denied it was their branch that hit our camper.

It's my insurance company that is denying that the branch caused the broken weld. The insurance inspection showed some powder present and they said it was corrosion damage on the aluminum caused by water. They deemed that water had been getting into that area for some time to cause that corrosion. They deemed that the branch did not do visible damage to the roof so that they did not think that the branch caused the broken weld.

Hubby has his own plan to fix the slide. If we have someone else do it...it's going to cost a minimum of $6,000. If we do it, it will be a couple of hundred dollars.

We plan to just use this camper as a guest house for visitors. We close on a house in 3 weeks. I'm kinda done with RVing. Been full timing since 2005.

[louiskathy]

double post

[louiskathy]

jimh425 wrote:
Is Progressive your insurance or KOA's? If it is KOA's, what does your insurance say?

Sorry, I did not answer your question.. Progressive is MY insurance company.

[bighatnohorse]

Another way to look at is; how could a tree branch that large fall on the camper and NOT cause some damage?
Ask the KOA manager if a branch that size could fall on his/her head and not cause some damage?

And like a rear-end-collision can cause back pain weeks or months after the event, how can KOA deny any liability in this issue? Frame damage by that tree event could present itself after months of use - due to the frame structure being compromised by the tree limb.

KOA has some responsibility in this issue.

[jimh406]

Of course, feel free to move on and not file a claim with KOA. I would have started with KOA.

In the threads you've posted there isn't enough evidence for me to come to your same conclusions that you have, but it doesn't matter what I believe. It's your TC.

Good luck getting your fix done.

[louiskathy]

JTLance wrote:
I cannot see how a tree branch would have weakened the slide either.

Sorry for your loss. 😞

I've learned a lot in the last 3 weeks. 3 weeks ago I would have been 100% sure that branch caused the issues and the rains over the winter got into the slide once the fiberglass was cracked and caused all the rot.

Not anymore. I think the slide weld was poorly done to begin with. Probably a lot of aluminum welds were poorly done in the time frame that our camper was built. This is a 2005.

But the fact that that branch hit as hard as it did and the roof took it is proof that the camper roof is built really well.

[louiskathy]

jimh425 wrote:
Is Progressive your insurance or KOA's? If it is KOA's, what does your insurance say?

My insurance obviously doesn't think it's worth going after KOA. I'm too far away and too busy with life to go after KOA. I mean, if my insurance won't say it's the branch that did it... what chance would I have trying to get anything from KOA?

Not worth the hassle.