1977 25 foot Land Yacht "oilcanning"

[Frank Dolan]

Both front corners of my trailer have developed cracks in the aluminum skin because of "oil canning" while I am towing it. When it is parked the dents pop out but when I tow it the dents return. Does anyone know what could be the Cause of this? I'm considering riveting a .080" patch over the affected area and hope for the best. Any ideas?

[ZoomZoom]

Frank

Sounds like your "front plate" may be loose or rusted through. The plate is a steel reinforcing piece behind the skin, it is bent 90 ° at the bottom and fits between the floor and frame, the floor channel is thru-bolted to the frame with this in between. The plate runs up the front about 18" and is buck riveted to the outer skin during constuction, the outer skin in the front is the only .050 thick aluminum on the coach. It's easy to see any frame/body sepeartion when you move a coach with a forklift, you can bounce it up and down and really notice it. In your case you should be able to lock the coupler down, raise the jack and have someone stand on the rear bumper and lightly move up and down, if you see the body lifting away frome the frame you've found the problem. Then the fun begins, but it is repairable.

Greg