Damaged RV on roads on way home from Florida, anyone else?.

[Tundra2084]

Let me first say that the roads were really bad this year in the northern states in April.

On our way home from Florida to Ontario Canada along interstate 75 we hit some very bad roads with potholes and cracks in the roads.
We hit some potholes because we had no place to go but into and over them due to traffic. We did hit a couple pretty hard and we travel at about 60 mph. Once home we noticed while unloading that we now have a Crack in the side of the RV, running about a foot in front of the axle. The crack starts at the top right corner of our slide in the livingroom.
After seeing this we went to look under the RV to see if anything else was damaged. Under the RV we noticed the underbelly had lost a screw and upon looking at it and lowering the belly a little more, that in 2 places on the cross beam the welds had broken loose.

Has ANYONE had anything like this happen to them while traveling along I75 or for that matter along any bad roads?

Insurance is saying its manufacturers defect and that we would have Tire and rim damage if the roads were bad and we hit potholes. They haven't even looked inside the RV for frame damage yet its manufacturers defect.
We have 14ply tires so that shouldn't happen anyway by hitting a pothole.

[kellertx5er]

agesilaus wrote:
...If they want bike trails then tax bikes to pay for it.

Better still- Collect fines from all the cyclists who run stop signs and red lights, yet demand the same rights as vehicles.

[GHop]

Sorry to hear about your RV. I don't know about Floria's roads and or highways but in California, the roads have been bad for years and our gas tax for road repair has gone crazy. State Government is never held accountable. Our tax dollars for road repair and maintenance have been used for other programs. Just in the past few years, our roads are slowly being repaired. I know this will not help.

[miatared]

Interesting, in late April this year, we also travelled from Texas to Ontario and along I-70/75, between Kentucky and Ohio we hit some serious potholes too - in fact, we broke an axle, the spindle sheared off. The whole wheel, along with brake drum and all went flying... we were stranded for a few hours on the side of I-70/75.

Called CAA/AAA, they accompanied us on 3 wheels (I have a 5th wheel with tandem axles) to a Repair shop where they installed a new axle, new brake components, they move the other brake and wheel from the bad axle. I used my spare until I got home.

The shop told me it was a bad weld on the axle (less than 3 years old). My insurance paid the repairs, hotel and meals for 2 nights.

After complaining to Lippert they offered to send me a whole new axle assembly (6000#) I accepted and had it sent to my favourite local RV shop at home. I'll try to get something in lieu of...

But yes, the roads are awful in many states. Priorities are screwed up...

[laknox]

agesilaus wrote:

midnightsadie wrote:
seems all the states have spent there money on other things, here in ohio our state,, city,, township roads are not fit to drive on, BUT we can spend billions on football stuff.

Billions on football stuff? Are they building a gold plated stadium or what....heh? There is no doubt governments waste a lot of money. But in my opinion the best thing they could do to improve roadway quality is to stop spending gas tax highway maintenance monies on things like bus routes and bike trails. You know spend it all on road maintenance the way it should be spent. If they want bike trails then tax bikes to pay for it.

To the OP just where were these potholes anyway. Can't say I've seen any in the south on Interstates.

Clinton tried that with av gas taxes that are earmarked for general aviation use BY LAW. Funds to be used only for municipal and small airport improvements like runway maintenance/rebuilding, new facilities, etc. The GA community wasn't having it and he backed off PDQ! He forgot that the GA community does include people and companies who own =private= planes like G5s, and such. :B

Lyle

[agesilaus]

midnightsadie wrote:
seems all the states have spent there money on other things, here in ohio our state,, city,, township roads are not fit to drive on, BUT we can spend billions on football stuff.

Billions on football stuff? Are they building a gold plated stadium or what....heh? There is no doubt governments waste a lot of money. But in my opinion the best thing they could do to improve roadway quality is to stop spending gas tax highway maintenance monies on things like bus routes and bike trails. You know spend it all on road maintenance the way it should be spent. If they want bike trails then tax bikes to pay for it.

To the OP just where were these potholes anyway. Can't say I've seen any in the south on Interstates.

[midnightsadie]

seems all the states have spent there money on other things, here in ohio our state,, city,, township roads are not fit to drive on, BUT we can spend billions on football stuff.

[pcm1959]

Unfortunate. I'm sorry to hear this. Sounds to me like another weak/poorly made Lippert frame.
JMO and by NO means am I defending the manufacturers, however, the basic RV suspension does little to reduce the shock transferred to the frame. MorRyde or similar center equalizers may help as well as shocks. Of course, IS would be best.
Having quality, stiff 14 ply tires doesn't help either. While they are great to help prevent tire failures they have little flex to help absorb road shock therefore transferring all the impact to the frame through the axles and springs. I really, really realized this when I got my air hitch in the bed of the truck.
I would imagine that the slide out crack resulted from the weakened frame allowing the weight of the slide-out to be shifted on its rollers resulting in a stress crack??
Sorry to hear about this and I hope you are able to find a good shop to help you with the repair since the insurance does want to help you out. The crack in the fiberglass can be repaired once the frame is repaired.
Good luck and again sorry for this misfortune.

[HadEnough]

All the time. The roads have destroyed the front end on my vehicle. Pulled a water tank loose and made it leak. Made shorts and rattled apart lots of wiring. And even bent my truck camper frame mounts.

You would think the municipality would have to pay for it. And it does. But it’s just not worth your time to spend fighting them.