Floor failure!!!

I used to be active on one of the Ford forums and we had some Ford engineers there...they could be a bit firm when they handled complaints...but the information was sound.

Over on a motorcycle forum I am on, one of the main dudes (company owners) is on the forum now and then....but its a small company and a tight user base. I think they just mainly like to read what people are saying and keep up with the state of affairs. Which is a good thing.

1/4 inch upward in the center is OK. I'd have to look at the deflection limits again but 1/32 could be at or past the axle tube yield point, the axle ends are pretty short. it could also be measurement error, its hard to measure to 1/32 inch tolerance with a tape. OTOH, it wouldn't really surprise me if the axle end bent on the side opposite the frame failure. Whichever part fails first will absorb most of the energy, so if you get an overload on both sides it could easily be that the axle bends on one side first and the frame on the other.

Yeah it does sound like you have a tongue/front frame failure too. 1 inch is a lot. I highly doubt that Lippert builds a crown into rPod frames when it fabricates them. See if you can determine where the bend is. I can't measure mine right now but I will when I get the chance.  

That puts the two max stress points at the axle and at a point about 58 inches aft of the ball. The stress is about half as much at the 58 inch point as it is at the axle. 

In my research in this failure I read (and watched a video) of how our floors are built. Each said (or showed) metal (believe aluminum) as cross members in the floor construction. This lead to how the heck they would straighten this with tearing up the floor.

Another going through much the same was told that the floor would relax.. My only response to that was "Please let me know how that works out." My thoughts, which I did not state to them were/are basic. Steel in a 8" span, sagging over an inch, is not normal flex it will 'relax' from.

Well, my floor has 'relaxed'... Shall I say returned back very close to normal. Makes absolutely no sense to me. How is this possible?

I come to a few possibilities. 

First being there is no boxed end on these cross-members. That would leave a space for this to happen and only the over-hung plywood (floor composite) is holding the exterior wall between the points of the cross member. If so, the added brackets are now holding the cracked floor.

This senecio to me has credence.

Next is that if there is a boxed beam, it only goes to the frame beam and the entire exterior wall is supported by the floor composite. 

This would be a candeliered wall support. Yet that requires the floor composite to be equal to the cross members.

I don't see this as a possible.

Next, is this. The cross members are metal (?) and did not bend. They do indeed go to the exterior wall and there may just be the boxed beam I hope is there. What happened is the underlay delaminated and dropped/sagged. Sounds good, but let's think about this senecio. The frame pushed upward and the wall stayed in place? Only the underlay moved? Then wouldn't it have torn from the outside wall and show a gap? The whole side skin wouldn't have shifted with it.. The side wouldn't have worked, the skin would have seperated from the roof. 

I do believe I have a bent floor. I need my unit back here to dig in deeper to the damage. 

I state this for you all to think of what else I (possibly all) should be looking at. Hey, what am I missing? 

    

I'm just going to deal with part for now.

What do you see or not see?

No boxed beam. 

Take a closer look and see what you do.

Pay attention to the tongue frame as it comes back. We know this intersects with the longitude beam. Where is it?  Now those two outriggers shown.. I'll be darned if I have those on mine. I think those where just added on mine.

All I'm sayin' here is if you want it to last a lifetime, you may wish to add some outriggers to support. I don't wish anyone I what I have gone through if avoidable! 

And again, for what we paid, and what we have, it's not that much effort to make it so far beyond and capable!

Please, let's turn this thread (or build another) to what we can do so others do not have to endure what I have. If I had known, I would have...