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  1. #1
    Site Sponsor
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    Weld failure on front lading gear leg

    Took our new 303 out for the weekend, everything went well. When we got home I began the process of unhooking from my truck. As I use the Andersen hitch, I began extending the landing gear to unhook. Just as the cup cleared the ball of the hitch, the camper produced a very loud "boom" and shuttered. I immediately ran around the camper attempting to locate the issue. I noticed the landing gear leg on the door side was much shorter than the other side and the unit was very crooked. Upon opening the front storage compartment I saw the landing gear had been pushed up into the floor of the bedroom above it. I ran inside and the floor was visibly raised on that one side considerably.

    I managed to get the unit lowered back onto my truck to support the weight, but the landing gear remained pressed into the floor of the bedroom above it. I first assumed the bolts had not been fastened tightly enough in the support to hold the weight. As I loosened the top one, the pressure of the floor pressing down on it made it drop violently down to it's original position. It was at that time that I found the real issue. The bottom support on that side had broken away from the frame completely. The root cause? It was only tacked on by two tiny tack welds, which obviously did not hold. The other 3 supports had definitely been tacked, but had also been followed up with stronger side welds. This one was just forgotten or overlooked.

    Unfortunately, it was late on a Sunday evening - and since I'm a working guy who needs to drive the tow vehicle to work the next day to make camper payments, I had to find a way to get those jacks down and free my truck. I ended up calling a reputable mobile welder. He put it back together in about an hour - making many wise cracks about the shoddy welding throughout. After adding in weekend/ late night/ emergency/ this guy has no choice fees = $400!

    I did get the jacks down, free my truck and get to work Monday morning. Not happy with Grand Design right now. I'll be reaching out to them. This will be my second pretty major issue.

    Friends - check the welds on those landing gear supports and make certain they are all welded correctly.

  2. #2
    Site Sponsor Sandi's Avatar
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    While hopefully GD does do a cursory inspection when the components are delivered to them , the real culprit is the manufacturer, Lippert. That would be who my first call would be to. Be sure and take pictures and I would also get a statement from the repair person so you can get fully reimbursed for this debacle.
    Allen and Sandi-Lexington, KY
    Home of fast horses and beautiful women!
    2015 Chevrolet Duramax 4 x 4 3500 HD LTZ
    2014 Solitude 369 RL-Oct. 2014
    2016 Momentum 376 TH-April 2016

  3. #3
    King Pin
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    Trailmix. That's the first time I've heard of that failure mode. Grand design will probably reimburse you. But it still leaves doubt in your mind about "what else did they miss?"

    Jim

  4. #4
    Seasoned Camper
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    Wow. Now that is an eye-opener. Do you have pictures you can post?

  5. #5
    Site Sponsor gbkims's Avatar
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    Sounds a variant of Tom's BOOM!!! - https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...ionable-Design
    - Gene

    Kim & Gene
    2015 Reflection 317RST
    2017 Ram 3500 CC LB 4x2 6.7 CTD AISIN 3.73 DRW Auto Level Rear Air, BD3, Prodigy P3, Aux Tank

  6. #6
    Seasoned Camper
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    Just went out and took a peek at my 18, 303 welds. A nice smooth weld down each side of all 4 U Brackets. Bolts are tight also on each bracket.

  7. #7
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    photo of weld failure

    Here's a photo of the weld failure. The two failed tack welds are circled, you can see that they have a thin silver line in them where they broke - when I took the picture I had pushed the bracket back in place. The arrows signify where the follow up and finishing weld should have been placed, and was placed on the other three brackets on my unit.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  8. #8
    Fireside Member
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    Yup, definitely missing the weld. Glad you were not hurt and able to get everything fixed up. Keep us posted on how GD resolves this for you.

  9. #9
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    It's not a GD problem it's a Lippert problem. GD just orders frames from Lippert per model.

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