Bent Frame Repair From Too Much Weight on the Rear, Toyota Winnebago Warrior

 Our little RV has been in the shop a lot in the past few weeks. We're trying to get her ready for a drive to the Grand Canyon. As we told you before, we did some damage to her on our drive to the Arctic Circle and back. There was too much weight on the bumper, and, well, she didn't like it. Adam figured out that we drove over 2000 miles of unpaved roads on that trip (!). We carried 2 spare tires AND a cargo carrier on the back bumper. Long story short, Toyota made the truck chassis which includes the metal frame to about a foot or so behind the back wheels. Winnebago welded an extension of about 3 feet beyond the original Toyota frame. Right at this weld is where it bent. Yep. Bent. Both sides. We thought it was fixed, but it wasnt. We took her to a truck repair shop and asked them to inspect the previous repair. NOPE! no good! it was already starting to bend again!!!

This is where the frame "bent." Our first repair consisted of a plate bolted through the frame on both sides of the bend. That failed miserably. At Ray's Commercial Truck Center, the welder completely cut out the entire damaged segment and welded a new piece of "C" channel in its place. He actually welded an additional piece of steel inside of that so it was double up in thickness and strength. He removed all of the wiring and propane lines before welding. He put them all back too. 

It's really hard to see in the photo but this is it, all beefed up. The rust sets in quickly!

In this photo, you can see the extra strut that he welded to support the actual bumper too.

The welder, "Chief" also recommended new back shocks. Bilstein. Wow! Those new shocks made a HUGE difference when driving!!!  

Another issue we had was that our front brake discs had warped causing vibration in the front when we used the brakes. We took her to a different shop for that. They fixed her up and now she's ready for the road. We also went ahead and got the oil changed.