Dear Dave,
My Airstream has been diagnosed with having the dreaded body/frame separation. Repairs will be interesting. Is this a manufacturing issue, or caused by rough roads and/or something I have done? —Donald, 2020 Airstream International
Dear Donald,
I had not heard of this situation on Airstream trailers before. However, I don’t have a service center that works on dozens of units every week, so I did some research.
Frame flex does happen to other RV brands
In the Airstream forums it seems this is something that is not a crisis, but does happen. They call it front end separation (FES) or rear end separation (RES). It is caused by flex similar to the frame flex situation that Grand Design and Lippert have had.
Airstream manufactures a frame or chassis and shell that is considered a monocoque design. We also utilized it at Winnebago years ago. Rather than having a heavy, rigid frame, the shell and frame are integrated to flex together.
One particular forum had a post by an Airstream owner that had a 28′ 2016 International with the FES issue. You can read about it here.
It seems the front body shell sheared the rivets and disconnected from the frame. He took it into Can Am RV and got a real lesson in design, flex, and what might have cause this issue. The post went on to say that frame flex is caused by road conditions, which Dustin, at California RV Specialists, had indicated in several articles on the Grand Design issue (see links below).
It also stated that Airstream chose the Dexter softer axle suspension to lessen the stress and that proper tire pressure is also important.
Another cause of damaged trailer
One other piece of information was the equalizing/sway control hitch created a solid connection that was part of what damaged the trailer. All the vibration and swaying from the tow vehicle and the road was transferred to the solid connection of the hitch and therefore to the tongue and front of the body. This excess stress was more than the rivets could handle and they sheared off. Some good news is that it can be fixed and reinforced. I assume yours can, as well.
As for the hitch, the tech at Can Am RV recommended an Eaz-Lift, which is softer and the stress is absorbed by the bars. He also recommended 10-12 psi in the air bags and 80 psi in the rear tires. I would recommend weighing the rig and verifying recommended pressure in the tires by the weight and consult the tire manufacturer’s tire chart, which you can get at www.rvsafety.com.
One of the commenters on the post had a similar situation. A technician told him that the front storage compartment had four frame ribs extending from the top. However, two did not go all the way to the floor and the L bracket did not provide enough support.
More recommendations from commenters
Several comments also recommended not going over 50% front axle load restoration (FALR) on your equalizing hitch. So, there are several “tweaks” that can help with reducing the stress applied to the front body.
Therefore, I do think it is a weak design by Airstream. But it is not a catastrophe, as many rigs are subjected to harsh conditions such as deep egress in and out of filling stations, rough campground roads, off-roading, highway heaves, and overloading conditions. It was not something you necessarily did wrong. You just need to know more about the dynamics of all the items discussed and figure out what works in your situation.
More frame flex posts
- Repairing a frame flex issue uncovered after RV dropped off for other service
- Federal authorities investigating Grand Design frame flex concerns
- Identifying frame flex damage and concealed water damage under pin box
- Diving deep into the ‘frame flex’ issue: RV owners take some blame
- Grand Design’s frame flex controversy explained
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RVDT2918
VERY interesting article. Without naming names – there is a tire expert that continually sugggests that plus or minus 10% is acceptable for tire pressures and that running max cold inflation is fine. Taking actual 4 wheelweights in consideration, using a tire pressure/load is the ONLY way to get the tire pressure. If you follow the conditions I first described YOU ARE OVERINFLATING which beats the heck out of the trailer and suspension as this article states.