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

[thoer]

As far as I know no one has reported any here

 

[reace]

We have had 2 19' frame welds fail. Both of these units were 2009 trailers. The first fail was about a year ago and was chalked up to an overloaded hitch. The second fail was a couple of months ago and was not an overloaded hitch. Upon further investigation, the weak joint appears to be the culprit....thus the recall.

We can't be sure if these were just a couple of bad welds that finally failed or not...but I would like to be able to go to sleep with a clear conscience knowing that we are taking steps to prevent an accident.

Reace

Oh yeah

If you did not receive instructions with your kit, let us know and we will email it to you. The instructions should show on the 19' that the angle brackets get welded to the frame. Placement of the bracket is 8" from the center of the bracket to the weld. The photo in the instructions should clarify this.

Something else that has come up...some of the early 19' units have the battery mounted under the front passenger dinette seat. You will need to remove the battery and box prior to drilling the hole for the bolt.

 

[thoer]

Thanks for the update Reace and for being so proactive with this

 

[yardsale]

Wow Reace. I suspect this "recall" may have been advised by legal council and that the two failures have happened due to inappropriate overload in one case and an isolated bad weld in the second. Just adds to Escape's rep. as having top-of-the-line customer service. Now I am wondering if I should just keep the repair plates around as a back up and monitor the joints. I know that Reace cannot go there but I am wondering what others who have experience with welding think?

 

[Parker-ESC]

The odds are probably in your favor, but when a weld lets go under load, it lets go. The heat effected zone around it can be more brittle than the parent metal, and I wouldn't plan on it giving much warning. And if you are lucky (or unlucky) enough to see a crack starting, now you have a broken frame to repair, likely away from home, which would likely require more than the two plates. Like you probably feel, I think it's highly unlikely that MY trailer will fail (the "it will never happen to me" notions that we all get), but someone's did. I'm going to have the plates installed.

 

[Jim Bennett]

Now I am wondering if I should just keep the repair plates around as a back up and monitor the joints. I know that Reace cannot go there but I am wondering what others who have experience with welding think?

Why wouldn't you, would be my question. That is pretty inexpensive for peace of mind considering there could be the potential for a hazardous situation.

 

[yardsale]

2 out of what, 700 units? I have larger risks to worry about. The question I have for experienced welders is this. When a weld fails, does it do so gradually or catastrophically or both? Opps, I see Parker has answered my question.

 

[Parker-ESC]

I hear you. I look at what appears to be an excellent quality miter joint with a backing across the entire rear surface, and I just wouldn't expect there to be a catastrophic failure. But it's just not one of those things I feel like I can ignore, now that I know there has been an issue, and ETI has formally advised all of us about it. I don't live in fear of lawsuits, but I also don't want to take on the liability of ignoring the recall.

 

[Zardoz-ESC]

There's no question that 2/700 is a pretty good track record but for me, it's a no-brainier. First of all, it's not known how many units might have sufficient fatigue in these joints to begin a deterioration of the joint making the mend necessary at some point down the line. Plus, right now you've got ETI standing behind you offering enough of a reimbursement to get it done on their dime. Finally, who wants to risk the (remote) chance of a failure while driving?

As for the liability laws in Canada, all I can say is that I hope they're not like ours.

 

[Ruthe]

Rich (or Mary) that's exactly what I was thinking. It sounds like the trailers involved were a few years old. It's possible that the trouble will show up after a certain number of miles or years.

 

[yardsale]

We have a repair date scheduled. Just grumpling I guess. Off to the Adirondacks in New York for a canoe trip (sans trailer). Will have the repair done the following week.

 

[thoer]

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

I had ours welded today. The welder suggested the same thing I had been planning, using JB Weld epoxy to seal the nonwelded edges. Before I took it to him I painted the rear of the plates with Rustoleum high temp paint that I had left over from repainting our Weber grill.

He was surprised that it needed that extra plate since there is already a backing plate there on the inside. He thought if someone could crack it there on a 17 they would have to be abusing it somehow Charged me $50

 

[Parker-ESC]

For anyone who has had the plates and angle brackets installed on a 19, I'm interested in the two angle brackets that provide additional body attachment to the floor. Previous correspondence with Jubal indicated that the angle brackets are to be welded to the frame, forward of the miter joint in the angled frame members that form the tongue. Our 19 already has a body attachment bolt going through the frame there. If I look aft of the miter joint, a hole on the driver side would have the bolt coming up under the converter. If indeed the angle brackets go forward of the miter joint (the only place I see where it makes any sense) then I don't think our 19 needs them. I'm wondering if some earlier models didn't have bolts through the frame in this area, and the angle brackets correct that. Depending on what I learn here on the forum, I guess a call to ETI is in order. Here are a couple of photos of the existing bolt through the frame on the passenger side. I just don't see a logical place to add the angle bracket(s) and additional bolt(s).

 

[cpaharley2008]

Better check with ETI over this....

 

[reace]

Hi Parker

It may seem redundant to add the forward bracket and bolt however it is necessary. It is a better way to anchor to the chassis.

Reace

 

[Parker-ESC]

Hi Reace,

Oh, okay. Thanks for clarifying. Is there an actual preferred dimension forward of the corner of the miter joint?

Parker

 

[thoer]

Reace aren't you supposed to be on vacation today? [emoji6]

 

[dglasrud]

On Friday afternoon I had the plates sent from Escape welded onto our 17B. A simple job for a good welder. Thanks to Reace and Escape Trailer Industries for their proactive campaign with this recall.

 

[Parker-ESC]

So to answer my previous question, the angle brackets go 8" forward of the miter joint, center to center. I received that info in a pm from another member of the forum, and Escape called today to verify. For whatever reason, our initial notification and the documentation that came with the kit did not show this dimension. I dropped our 19 off today at the welding shop. They plan to paint the parts after welding and suggested that I might want to caulk around the gaps in the ends of the reinforcing pieces to keep the slushy stuff out.

 

[yardsale]

Had the mending plate welded on our 17b yesterday. Welder did not read instructions and welded the vertical ends of the plates. Why shouldn't that section have been welded? Now that it is, what now? Written Escape with these questions but no response yet.