Featherlite Repair For Lake Forest Owners

Heat affected zone softening around aluminum welds

Welding aluminum reduces the strength of the metal in a zone around the weld, and that zone is permanent. On a trailer where a post or a crossmember has been repaired by somebody who welded it the way they would weld steel, the parent metal beside the weld is now softer than the design assumed, and it will yield there under load. Repairing a Featherlite properly means placing joints where the softened zone is acceptable and using splice geometry that carries load around it rather than through it.

Polished finish matching after panel replacement

Much of the appeal of a Featherlite is a polished aluminum exterior, and a replacement panel does not arrive polished to the same standard as a panel that has been on the road for six years. Matching means working the new panel and blending the surrounding original, and even then the match is a matter of degree. Owners who expect a replaced panel to disappear against polished neighbours need to hear at the estimate that a full side surface treatment is often what actually produces an even result.

Gooseneck neck bending on living quarters models

The neck on a gooseneck living quarters trailer carries a substantial cantilevered load over the tow vehicle bed, and that load includes a residential style interior with cabinetry, appliances and water. Hitching hard or dropping the trailer onto the ball at an angle bends the neck fractionally, which shows up as a trailer that rides nose down or a front cap seam that begins to open. The neck has to be measured against its original geometry rather than eyeballed, because a small angular error over that length is a large error at the front of the trailer.

Lower rail scrub damage from torsion axle geometry

Torsion axles allow the wheel to move in an arc rather than vertically, which is excellent for ride and means that a curb strike pushes the wheel rearward and upward into the lower rail area rather than straight up. The resulting damage is often to the rail and the fender mount rather than to the suspension, and it is easy to miss because the axle itself looks fine. On any Featherlite that has hit a curb we inspect the rail and the torsion arm mounting rather than stopping at the wheel and tyre.