shade
Well-known member
Gypsum?
Colorado / Canyon bent frame
- Thread starter SixLug
- Start date
dreadlocks
Well-known member
Stale Bread?
shade
Well-known member
Question 1: That's not what I said.
Question 2: Crawl under a truck from the 1960s and compare what you see there with what's under a truck with the same rating today.
shade
Well-known member
Hmmm ... maybe Wonder Bread, but certainly not a baguette.
jacobconroy
Hillbilly of Leisure
I feel for the guy. If it had happened to me I'd be furious too. We had been considering a Colorado and now, we aren't.
So, the fellow was pulling a 2100 lbs. trailer with nearly 400 lbs. of tongue weight (if I recall correctly). Doesn't that seem like a lot of tongue weight? I would have tried like hell to get the tongue down to 10% of total weight. Do yall think that had anything to do with the frame failure?
I haven't towed anything with that much tongue weight in any rig and am genuinely curious.
So, the fellow was pulling a 2100 lbs. trailer with nearly 400 lbs. of tongue weight (if I recall correctly). Doesn't that seem like a lot of tongue weight? I would have tried like hell to get the tongue down to 10% of total weight. Do yall think that had anything to do with the frame failure?
I haven't towed anything with that much tongue weight in any rig and am genuinely curious.
shade
Well-known member
Maybe so, but my point has to do with the load ratings, too. I think some of the numbers being issued for today's trucks are rather ambitious.
shade
Well-known member
Tongue weight had something to do with it, as did the terrain, speed, length of drawbar, lack of trailer brakes, sloshing liquids, and probably some other things.
LimaMikeMike
Observer
This is a good article on bent “utes” while off road with a trailer. Apparently it affects many brands, even the holy grail of down under trucks: Toyota.
www.whichcar.com.au
What causes a ute chassis to bend?
What causes a ute chassis to bend and how to prevent it from happening.
www.whichcar.com.au
shade
Well-known member
Towing, and rear end collisions. Not having an upper structure tying the front & rear of the truck together makes this a weak point in all BoF pickups.
https://jalopnik.com/mid-size-trucks-dont-need-frames-1785674405
https://jalopnik.com/mid-size-trucks-dont-need-frames-1785674405
dreadlocks
Well-known member
Tongue Weight needs to be at LEAST 10%, less is very very bad and just going to put you in the ditch if your lucky.. more is fine if vehicle is capable of handling it... my toy hauler is closer to 20% tongue than it is 10%, and personally I shoot for ~15% as that seems to be the sweet spot.
rkj__
Adventurer
I have no idea what happened to bend the frame like that. If it is a serious manufacturing defect, it's not a common one.
If you can jump the truck 4ft in the air, or tow 5,000 lb down the road, I would not let this isolated incident affect my buying decision. However, I would also not do any warranty-voiding modifications to a new vehicle. I've heard other similar modified-vehicle-warranty-claim-denied stories from other brands as well.
That said, if the truck was not abused, and folded up like that, it must be infuriating for the owner to not have GM help out with the issue.
If you can jump the truck 4ft in the air, or tow 5,000 lb down the road, I would not let this isolated incident affect my buying decision. However, I would also not do any warranty-voiding modifications to a new vehicle. I've heard other similar modified-vehicle-warranty-claim-denied stories from other brands as well.
That said, if the truck was not abused, and folded up like that, it must be infuriating for the owner to not have GM help out with the issue.
shade
Well-known member
That's a great article. Thanks!This is a good article on bent “utes” while off road with a trailer. Apparently it affects many brands, even the holy grail of down under trucks: Toyota.
What causes a ute chassis to bend?
What causes a ute chassis to bend and how to prevent it from happening.
shade
Well-known member
I heard the word "damage" used frequently in that video. He even said that it wasn't a good idea to jump it as he had. No matter the make, if you're jumping a production truck with any frequency, the abuse will accelerate wear & cause damage.