New Season. Remember, inspect the frame for cracks!

[gibby]

The snow is gone, and my thoughts turn to a new season of camping.

Pulled our 21RBS out of storage a couple of weeks ago, did the wheel bearings / brake service. The following weekend did the water system flush / sanitize and test all systems.

While doing the wheels, I did my usual inspection under the trailer to check for cracks, and yes, a few are showing on the cross members where they attach to the outside rail (the usual location that others report).

I took it to a welding shop and they confirm they are small, and not of concern in the immediate future. So off we go this weekend for the first trip (just a short 300 km trip). But we have it booked in to get the welds touched up before the next trip.

Other than touching up the welds, has anyone got any "Engineering" suggestions to improve the integrity?

Here's a couple of shots, only one side of the cross member has the crack in all cases, the other side is still intact.

I guess the moral here is inspections are important!

[DavidM]

Yes, don't leave the small cracks for long. Small ones almost always become big ones.

Well, I will put my structural engineers hat on (I am a retired chemical engineer but I dealt with lots of structural problems in my engineering manager role).

Gussets are the best solution to most of these high stress joints that fail. They are triangular pieces of aluminum, 3-4" on a side that you weld to reinforce the joint. This spreads the stress over a larger area and doesn't stress the welds as much.

I would consider these at any critical joint that has cracking. Critical means any joint where the frame will start coming apart if the weld fails. Those cross members aren't as critical. The welds at the front of the A frame near the coupler are very critical, but that area is usually well reinforced. Another critical joint are the four corners of the frame.

David