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

You are best to talk to Escape to find out. I would bet they are, and I would highly recommend the fix.
 
Higgy: Please be aware that the early 19 trailers were actually subject to two frame recalls and thus you need two kits. This work is easily done by a competent welder and would not stop me from getting one of these great trailers.

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f20/update-19-with-3-frame-april-3-2018-a-12578.html
Having owned a 2009 19,and having suffered a frame brake, heck even talking to Reace, I am unaware of a second frame recall. What was that one?

Mine was the one that occurred at the weld between the angles tongue and straight frame part.

Maybe it was after my issue and getting rid of the trailer, so I just never paid attention. :)
 
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Even if you couldn’t get the plates needed from Escape, the plates and body bolts would not cost very much to buy. Then you could get a good local welder to install them. I’m sure someone would post the appropriate photos and plate dimensions. If I were looking at an Escape of the three inch frame vintage, the frame repair would certainly not be a deal breaker. I got our 19 repaired locally at a tractor repair shop by a very good welder. Took less than an hour and he charged me $80. When Reace looked at the repair later that spring in Chilliwack he pronounced it a very good job. Reace traded me the $80 repair for a $110 fix Escape Trailer Industries did on our trailer straight up! Since the repairman routinely welded on $300.000 combines, i figured he could certainly do the Escape job.

If you buy the 2009, I would pull the bolts that hold the spare tire holder and replace with new grade eights and drill the bumper tips. In addition check the bolts on the propane tank tray and the bolts on the front box if it has one. Best of luck from:
Iowa Dave
 
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Having owned a 2009 19,and having suffered a frame brake, heck even talking to Reace, I am unaware of a second frame recall. What was that one?

Mine was the one that occurred at the weld between the angles tongue and straight frame part.

Maybe it was after my issue and getting rid of the trailer, so I just never paid attention. :)

Jim: My link above was to the “2nd” recall but here is a direct link to pictures. Full reinforcement bar welded across (underneath) the original reinforcement.
https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f20/update-19-with-3-frame-april-3-2018-a-12578-2.html#post246147
 
If you buy the 2009, I would pull the bolts that hold the spare tire holder and replace with new grade eights and drill the bumper tips. In addition check the bolts on the propane tank tray and the bolts on the front box if it has one. Best of luck from:
Iowa Dave

A 2009 won’t have a front box unless it was added after the build. They become available late 2010/2011. Also take a look but the propane tray should be welded on like our 2010.
 
I just sent a privat message to Jim B asking some 2009 19 questions so I would not drag the rest of you thru it. I am a former welder so I under stand the weld job needed after seeing all the pics. The first fix is a patch of sorts the second adds much greater strength as would an inboard gusset, triangular plate. I’m lucky to have a 19 for sale close by me in Maine, I spoke with gentleman and he sent me dozens of pics he took today, one brake is stuck but that is to be expected from sitting for two years in Maine. He is asking 19000 and said we can talk as we inspect the trailer and feel that is fair?
 
Trailers

Our 19 had plates welded on the inside of the bends and recall plates on the outside plus the added body bolts. We sold it before the second recall went out. If I needed a 19 and found one in nice shape, that vintage, with some options that I liked, $ 19,000 would sound reasonable to me. Money talks.
Iowa Dave
 
Not sure I understand the second recall, it looked like it was the same area but the repair was designed much better? I don’t think this 19 has many options added at all other then a micro wave. The AC brand is Carrier AIR V. Do you think I can still get parts or repairs for this AC and what ever the original fridge is? Thanks in advance for all the help, it makes a difference.
 
The first fix is a patch of sorts the second adds much greater strength as would an inboard gusset, triangular plate.
Not sure I understand the second recall, it looked like it was the same area but the repair was designed much better?
The two fixes address different problems:
  1. The first fix (gusseting) is the subject of this forum thread; it applies to all 3" tall frames with a mitred joint between the main frame and tongue, which was used in various models including the early 19'.
  2. The second fix (reinforcing tube bridging joint and extending rearward, and other changes) applies only to the 19' model (and only to the 19' with 3" frame), and addresses the problem of through-rail body mounting bolt holes and other issues causing failures of the main frame rail near the front (not at the joint). A better gusset at the joint would not fix this problem.
 
This is a 19 with the 3” frame I will need to find a pic and understand the tube joint frame, I did see a pic with some square tubing welded to the bottom side where the bottom frame meets the coward section leading to the tongue, is that the second fix? Thank you
 
... I did see a pic with some square tubing welded to the bottom side where the bottom frame meets the [forward] section leading to the tongue, is that the second fix?
Yes, that's the second fix, described in the thread linked earlier (UPDATE - 19' with 3" frame (April 3 2018)) and shown in post #28 of that thread (also linked earlier).

This thread is about the first fix, for all 3" mitre-jointed frames.
 
Having owned a 2009 19,and having suffered a frame brake, heck even talking to Reace, I am unaware of a second frame recall.
...
Maybe it was after my issue and getting rid of the trailer, so I just never paid attention. :)
Yes, Jim, the second recall for the 19' frame (linked by Dave and in my previous post) occurred in 2018, after you sold your 19' in preparation for getting your 5.0TA.
 
Thanks Brian, even if this 19 I’m looking at tomorrow has no cracks I will weld repair it just as in the pics or I will have a local welder do it, it won’t cost me much, and I don’t find it an eyesore at all, I find it looks strong and doneright😁
 
Jim: My link above was to the “2nd” recall but here is a direct link to pictures. Full reinforcement bar welded across (underneath) the original reinforcement.
https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f20/update-19-with-3-frame-april-3-2018-a-12578-2.html#post246147

I was on my phone when I posted earlier and never saw the link for what it was. Now that I am on my PC I did read it and now do remember it. It never registered in my mind it was a recall, and was after my 19 was gone. I probably just wanted to skip the memory of the first frame break issue. :)
 
Well shucks! I was under the impression my 2010 17B had the recall mod completed. Maybe not? I thought the doubler on the inside of the frame was the part added in the recall kit. If it's not, how in the world can the brace be added to the outside of my frame? Looks to me like the angle bracket to the fiberglass body is in the way.
 

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I was under the impression my 2010 17B had the recall mod completed. Maybe not? I thought the doubler on the inside of the frame was the part added in the recall kit. If it's not, how in the world can the brace be added to the outside of my frame? Looks to me like the angle bracket to the fiberglass body is in the way.
Just to be clear, the "second recall" which Higgy was asking about does not apply to the 17', or any other model beyond the 19'. It is not the recall of mitre-jointed 3" frames that this thread is about.

In this recall, a plate is added to the outside of the joint; the plate on the inside was part of the original frame construction.

2010 is clearly before the 17' switched from a 3" frame to 4" frame, and the photo clearly shows the mitred joint, so this does appear to be a trailer covered by the recall.

But yes, it looks like the "mending plate" (Reace's term) which is to be added to the outside of the joint would overlap with the body mount bracket which is just ahead of the joint on this 17B. In general, the affected trailers had the body mount bolt go right through the frame rail (which is a bad, and one of the reasons for the need for the second recall of the 19') instead of using a bracket like that - if you look at Reace's example photo of a 17' in post #2, there's no body mount bracket and the bolt goes through the frame. I just went through this entire thread again: there are few photos of 17' frames, but none of the others show a body mount bracket.

It's good to have the body mount bracket (although in this case it's in the way), but it's surprising on an older 17' and the welding of the bracket looks... interesting. Was it perhaps added at some point after the trailer was built? It's also possible that this was an unusual configuration which was factory-supplied but wasn't how they were normally done at the time - there may have been some experimentation going on, or a brief production run of a different design.

I have some ideas of how a reinforcing plate and the body mount could be built, but I think it would be better for Escape to handle that. Although Reace is no longer available, there should be someone there who can manage this specific situation. If it were my trailer, I would already have sent an e-mail query (with at least the second photo) to Escape. They should also have records of which specific trailers (by VIN) have had the recall upgrade done.
 
Thanks Brian, email sent to ETI this morning. I agree the weld on the bracket looks like something I would probably be capable of:laugh:. One thought of mine is to grind the bracket off the frame, add the doubler plate, then weld the bracket on top of the doubler. I would need an undrilled bracket since the holes will no longer line up. We will see what ETI says.
 
Just waiting for check to clear, and I’ll be the broad owner of 19, When I arrived and inspected, I found the frame recalls were already done and done well, I’m an ex welder in a former and younger life. Thank you for pointed this out before I made the plunge.
 

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