frame rusted

[kokomoscalls]

i have a 31 ft soveriegn and i took the belly pans off today and found a spot on the main frame rail that is rusted through ita pretty bad and i was wondering i i could just plate this and it will be ok? it is on the front curbside just to the front of the step to where the frame rail boxing starts

[aquinob]

Shoot some pix if you want some better educated responses but in general I would say its possible to cut out the rusty sections and weld in more steel to beef it up.

[kokomoscalls]

here are some pics

[kokomoscalls]

pics

[perryg114]

Not much there to plate.

Perry

[aquinob]

That doesn't look good. Is that the only spot with that kind of rust through? That section of railing would have to be cut out and replaced, most likely a job for a professional shop that does welding and trailer frame repairs. My suggestion would be to take it to a local shop and get their opinion on what is needed to repair it. Am I correct that you have removed the rest of the belly pan and exposed the entire frame, so you know what you are dealing with?

[kokomoscalls]

this is the only bad spot on the frame the rest of the belly pan has been removed... there are the normal rusted cross members that i will be replacing with new box steel. the majority of this is in the front the back is fine with the exception of the last cross brace next to the bumper..

i would just build a new frame myself if i had the plans/ measurments so i could just take the shell off the old and put on the new

[kokomoscalls]

i plan on cutting a 3 foot piece out of the frame and welding / plateting a new piece on

[perryg114]

That might work. The last cross member at the back is very important. The main attachment between the shell and frame is back there. Is this trailer gutted?

Perry

[kokomoscalls]

i gutted the front and the back because of soft spots/ wholes in the perimeter of the subframe.. and also we are changing the rear twins to a queen bed and are doing a dinette in the front... i seen on the front portion of the trailer when i took the banna wraps off that there is no channel there that the subfloor goes in is this right it stops where the endcap starts

[kokomoscalls]

is this right or should there be a c channel around the front portion of my trailer?

[aquinob]

There should be a c channel running all the way around. There isnt one in the front? Its hard to tell from the photo.

[kokomoscalls]

no there is not one in the front it stops right after the straight side panel and where the end cap starts

where do i get this at?

[kokomoscalls]

just pulled up the diagram and it looks to be right ( whats currently on my trailer) its a formed floor channel for the front curved section and just floor channel for the side sections.. this doesnt look liek a good setup because what ever water gets thru the beltline trim would go directly down into the sides of the plywood( probaly why it rotted so bad in that area. i wonder if i could run flashing under the endcap panels ( between the endcap sections and the c- channel down past the edge of the plywood to prevent this.

[kokomoscalls]

pics

[perryg114]

You are correct it is a poor design the way that plate goes under the floor at the back and funnels water under the floor. Some folks have riveted an extra piece that goes behind the trim piece that funnels water away from the floor. Since I did not have to replace my hold down plate, I just got rid of the plate at the back and let the water shed off the trailer. I later added the bumper compartment back on but it was a separate compartment that did not funnel water under the trailer like the original design. The original storage compartment bottom was the belly skin for the trailer so water that did not get into the floor from the top ended up getting in from the bottom. The wet fiberglass is the death of these things. Nothing can dry out.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f476...fun-91686.html

Perry

[J. Morgan]

I don't see anything good to weld to in the range of the photo.

If the rest of the frame..

Well, making a new frame would be a project I would enjoy doing, but not really cheap.

But you have a perfect blueprint in your old frame.

[J. Morgan]

In my mind a frame made out of 5" X 2" tube would be the bomb for a 31'er.

[perryg114]

The frames on the newer trailers were 5" tubes or at least two 5" channels welded together to make a box.

Perry

[aquinob]

Originally Posted by kokomoscalls

just pulled up the diagram and it looks to be right ( whats currently on my trailer) its a formed floor channel for the front curved section and just floor channel for the side sections.. this doesnt look liek a good setup because what ever water gets thru the beltline trim would go directly down into the sides of the plywood( probaly why it rotted so bad in that area. i wonder if i could run flashing under the endcap panels ( between the endcap sections and the c- channel down past the edge of the plywood to prevent this.

The problem is that while an extra piece of flashing under the outer skin would help the water shed down and miss the edge of the plywood, you also can have leaks where the water goes in-between the inner and outer skins. Water that gets in-between can then collect in the c-channel and will eventually leak down and saturate the plywood, either through some of the bolts to the frame or just around the edges of the metal. That's why many leaks go undetected, its all hidden inside and the water can travel quite a bit from the initial point and collect several feet away.