3" Frame Recall on 15', 17' & 19' Escape Trailers

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Greggo

I was just thinking, what if we were dealing with Winnebago or Thor and trying to get anything out of them! HA! Fuhgedaboudit!

I had some fixes done by Thor without problems, but there certainly are more people and processes between the RV owner and the manufacturer than with Escape Trailer industries. I would have preferred to deal with Reace and Tammy.

[Fox hunt]

Taking my trailer in to Escape in Oct to get it done and a couple of other things then will meet up with my horse and a few friends and with the Frazer valley hunt club and go hunting with them. We don't really kill any foxes these are both drag hunts we take the hounds out and chaise the scent of a fox - just fun to go for a gallop in the woods and drink a cup or two...

[Ruthe]

Off topic, but Parker, what kind of rocket scientist are you? Terry's a rocket scientist too. And on topic, honestly I don't think it's out of line to ask about why this started.

[PGDriver]

Well you can ask but no one has come forward that has had a problem. Just saying.

Cheers
Doug

[Parker]

Ruthe, I was actually in high-speed air-breathing propulsion, where we often competed with rockets but also relied on them for getting our engines up to speed. 'Nuff about that, I guess. Would be fun to meet Terry sometime.

Doug, I'm not sure what you're just saying, other than maybe suggesting that no-one has really had a failure, but maybe this is one of the many things that might keep Reace awake at night and he decided to do something about it before there was a failure. I certainly respect that.

[Vermilye]

Getting back to the subject, here is a photo of the joint on my 2011 17B. Looks like they didn't do any grinding after the weld. I'll add another post tomorrow after the mending plates are welded in place.

It is something I could do myself if I still had access to the equipment (one of the few disadvantages of retirement), however I'm taking it to Universal Metal Works, the closest full service fabrication shop in the area.

[gbaglo]

And, here is bend and backing on my 2008 17B.

[Vermilye]

And here is the "After" photo. 1/2 hour with no minimum charge - $34.00 + 8% sales tax for a total of $36.72. They even painted it...

[cpaharley2008]

Can not beat that deal....

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

And here is the "After" photo. 1/2 hour with no minimum charge - $34.00 + 8% sales tax for a total of $36.72. They even painted it...

Nice job, good price, and peace of mind.

[NuthatchBC]

Not really liking what I heard from our local welding shops, I've decided to take our 19 down to ETI next spring to have the frame fix done. We're hoping to get the work done after attending the rally. ETI should be really good at it by the time we show up

[memobug]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

And here is the "After" photo. 1/2 hour with no minimum charge - $34.00 + 8% sales tax for a total of $36.72. They even painted it...

That's fantastic! maybe others could post their quotes or repairs and we could get some regional options going for folks in different states / provinces.

Regards,

Matt

[Jubal]

If you have had the mending plates welded on you 19 trailer, please confirm that the right angle brackets are welded to the A-frame portion of the frame. I have not received a response from ETI and the pictures on the instructions are indistinct.

[Parker]

I was a little surprised that they didn't specify placement of the angle brackets, so I was at least going to guesstimate where they go based on ETI pictures and ensure there is nothing to interfere with on the camper floor. I'm a little concerned about corrosion with this whole thing. I'm going to try painting the top side of the angle brackets with a high temp paint and hope the welding doesn't burn it away. Being next to the fiberglass, they've got to keep this area cool, so the paint might survive. Also, with the doubler plates, since they're not welded all the way around and may not fit perfectly against the frame rails, I think it's worth trying to work something like Boeshield in behind them after welding or maybe even caulk around the edges where it's not welded before painting. I really don't like the idea of salt water road spray wicking into the area between the doubler and the frame. Long term, the doubler could be more of a detriment than a fix if this area collects moisture. I'm pretty sure the plate on the backside is welded all the way around, so this isn't a concern there.

[Brian B-P]

I assume that you would paint the backside of the plate and ensure that the portion of the frame to be covered is well painted, removing paint only from the immediate area of the welds to be made. The exposed welded area would be cleaned and painted after welding. A weld-through coating would help the area which doesn't have paint and will be inaccessible after welding. A qualified welder would know what to do; it would makes sense to me to ask how to best prepare the trailer and plates before the work.

[Viajante]

Had the welding done today. Actual time was 30 minutes to grind, paint the plates, weld, more paint. Plus 10 minutes to look the project over, move the trailer into position, and ready the equipment, etc. Minimum $70 fee was reduced to $50 when I explained the reimbursement. On a per hour basis it would have been about $45.

[Jubal]

Originally Posted by Viajante

Had the welding done today. Actual time was 30 minutes to grind, paint the plates, weld, more paint. Plus 10 minutes to look the project over, move the trailer into position, and ready the equipment, etc. Minimum $70 fee was reduced to $50 when I explained the reimbursement. On a per hour basis it would have been about $45.

See post 167. ETI has raised the reimbursement to $100.
Still not sure if the right angle bracket is welded to the A-frame on the 19 trailer 8"forward of the angled miter joint.

[Parker]

Looking at the photo from ETI, I concluded that the angle bracket is aft of the miter joint, not forward. It's to the left of the jack, and I thought I was looking at the passenger side of the frame. Maybe I'd better have another look....

[yardsale]

Has there ever been a frame failure?

[Parker]

We pretty well hashed that out several posts ago, and didn't seem to get anywhere with it. So that's still an unknown, I believe.