Axle falling off R-Pod, 2nd try
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Forum Name: Warranty, Service and Recall Bulletins
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URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12920
Printed Date: 20 Apr 2024 at 12:12am
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Topic: Axle falling off R-Pod, 2nd try
Posted By: Happy Tripping
Subject: Axle falling off R-Pod, 2nd try
Date Posted: 09 Jun 2019 at 3:03pm
This shows the break, I hope. Note the condition of the bolts. |
Replies:
Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 09 Jun 2019 at 4:21pm
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Bolt appears rusted, but intact. The bracket weld to the frame looks incomplete. ------------- bp 2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 09 Jun 2019 at 5:34pm
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+1. It’s hard to make out but it looks like it might be a poor weld combined with corrosion. No sign of movement due to loose bolts that I can see. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 09 Jun 2019 at 5:39pm
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+2, the weld appears broke. Heavy corrosion. ------------- Mike Carter 2015 178 " I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability." |
Posted By: Happy Tripping
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2019 at 7:05am
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I don't pretend to be an expert. I believe the break is in the metal tab, due to metal fatigue, just before the weld begins.
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Posted By: podwerkz
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2019 at 7:30am
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Yeah it looks like the welded angle piece broke due to rust and fatigue at the bend. It appears to be thin metal, undersized for the job. I believe mine does not have the bend, it is welded as a flat piece along the inner surface of the main frame. I will look at this today. Can I ask what part of the country this trailer has been mainly operated in? Are we looking at a north-eastern tier 'rust-belt' casualty? From what I can see, the entire frame may be in danger of breaking in half.  {edit: I looked at my axle mounts and they are made the same way as yours, with those 'tabs' bent under and welded to the frame.}
------------- r･pod 171 gone but not forgotten! |
Posted By: Happy Tripping
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2019 at 9:08am
| The trailer has been all over except the northwest, however, mostly its been east and NC Outer Banks. I haven't driven it into the ocean, but its been near it and I am sure more heavily exposed to salt then one from California or Texas. |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2019 at 12:44pm
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The OBX will eat steel for sure. I live here and also have a 2015. Mine doesn’t look bad but I have to work hard to keep it that way and am very careful never to take any of my vehicles through standing water. Even standing rainwater is salty here because the wind blows the salt all over.
Flush the bottoms of your vehicles with water as soon as you can after leaving the coast, and immediately if you do go through standing water. I spray mine with Fluid Film, which is also used for protection in the northeast rust belt. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: podwerkz
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2019 at 2:36pm
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Speaking of anti-corrosion films, I am particularly fond of ACF-50. It is not cheap but it works very well. It can be found in some automotive supply stores in smaller spray cans, and can be ordered online here: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/acf50.php?clickkey=7761 - https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/acf50.php?clickkey=7761 ------------- r･pod 171 gone but not forgotten! |
Posted By: Happy Tripping
Date Posted: 13 Jun 2019 at 2:11pm
Yeah, I agree its salty but even the outer banks doesn't equal the peculiar slushy mix of road salt, water and snow encountered routinely all thru late fall/winter/early spring from the northeast thru to Minnesota. This year I did a little winter camping in WV and got into that but in previous years, no.
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Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 13 Jun 2019 at 4:12pm
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Having lived in both, I consider the OBX to be worse than the northeast. It’s much warmer when it’s salty, and heat greatly accelerates chemical reactions, including corrosion. Rule of thumb is double the reaction rate for every 10 degrees C. A summer hurricane vs a winter snow event are about 20-30 deg C different in temperature, so that’s about 4-8x faster corrosion.
Just one storm surge event will destroy a vehicle. We call them tide trucks out here 😜. We keep em for driving on the beach, which we won’t do with our good vehicles. We chuckle at all the tourists who drive their brand new $60k 4wd pickups on the beach. Some of these idiots even drive through the surf on purpose. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: podwerkz
Date Posted: 14 Jun 2019 at 10:34am
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I watched a youtube video awhile back and these clueless new RVers with a brand new dually pickup drove on a beach and practically buried it. Brand new! I think the owner in the video said something to the effect of, 'hey, it's 4WD, so we'll be fine'. ------------- r･pod 171 gone but not forgotten! |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 14 Jun 2019 at 12:38pm
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Towing operators make good coin on the OBX in summer and its almost always some clown with a brand new 4wd truck. 4wd just gets these guys further from help before they get themselves well and truly stuck. You have to pay for a beach driving permit now to access the national seashore so they get to pay 3x, once for the permit, once for the towing, and once for the corrosion and vehicle damage. All so they can say they actually used their 4wd one time. Me, I just park and walk over and I get to pick an area where they exclude driving so I'm not having these clowns drive 2 feet from me disturbing my beach nap time. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: Happy Tripping
Date Posted: 20 Nov 2019 at 8:08am
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Having learned more with time, I wish to come to 'closure' on my axle falling off. 1. The trailer was unquestionably too heavy for the axle, perhaps by as much as 200 pounds. My bad. The steps that led me to this error are not directly relevant, sufficient that it happened and you can avoid my error by weighing your trailer at a scale, and this is absolutely MANDATORY for everyone. 2. Whether or not FR's engineering margins for error of their axles are too small is a very different issue but not appropriate to go into here. I hope this very bad experience benefits all of us.
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Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 20 Nov 2019 at 8:14am
couple of good websites or FB groups that follow and feature some very entertaining videos of beach recoveries.. ------------- |
Posted By: Olddawgsrule
Date Posted: 20 Nov 2019 at 8:36am
Thank you for passing this along! I see it as a wake-up call for the rest of us. HT... You have your work cutout for ya cleaning this up! Do you intend to? Lippert added a 1 x 2 x 3/16 tube under my frame (almost full length) and may be something you could do as well. ------------- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJduGeZNFgtptH67leItRFQ - Byways no Highways 2017 Tacoma http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=72408 - Truck Camper Build 2004 F150 My Overlander |
Posted By: wthoms2000
Date Posted: 17 Nov 2020 at 11:59pm
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Website says:"ACF-50 kills the corrosion process with just one application and will last for 24 months."
Seems like a short life span... ------------- Porta Poddy Wil and Luz, Orange County, CA 2017.5 179 HRE 2021 Ranger XLT FX4 REDARC Brake Controller |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 18 Nov 2020 at 8:12am
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ACF-50 is popular in the aviation industry, for spraying inside fuselage and wing structures. I had it done on my airplane a couple of times. Pretty expensive for rPod use, and I doubt it would last long at all on the bottle of a trailer. I'd suggest Fluid Film, saved me lots of problems when I lived on the Outer Banks and is also popular in Northeast winters. It's thick stuff made of lanolin so nonhazardous and won't ruin your clothes. You can get a sprayer for it, crawl under there and go to town. That being said, unless you're right on the beach in OC corrosion shouldn't be much of a problem for you in SoCal. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |