Good article. It does make me wonder how well the camper weight is balanced. When I bought my 11.5 Lance, the weight was moved forward a bit by the manufacture, this gave less leverage on the rear suspension. Even though my camper was the same weight, I had less weight overhanging. My tow rigs were also the last of the heavy frames. Modern trucks run lighter frames. Still, trucks are not designed to have weight "hinging" the rear. A trailer would have had the tongue weight more forward and the hitch tied about 20 inch's into the frame. It looks to have bent right where the boxed frame ends and the open C channel starts. To make it worse, you should see what is sold to tow with a four foot overhang. He could have gone his whole life on the street and never had an issue. Wash board roads change that.
In my life, I've seen two C class motor homes loose the rear section of frame, one separated completely. Both were towing and both drove wash boards eight to ten trips a year. On a similar note, one of my friends had his truck break the rear section of the frame right over the axle, on the street, twice. His issue was a "C-notch" kit installed due to it being lowered. He towed an enclosed race car trailer. When he had the C-Notch installed, I warned I'm about towing with a weakened frame. He stated the guy who welded it was a pro and it was still under max tongue weight. Again, here is someone who is a good welder but doesn't understand engineering, an owner that wont admit its modified and now all the stock specs went right out the window .
The article also mentioned it was possible the dealer misinformed him about what it can do. I will agree to a point. The salesmen should have known he was going to put a camper with a heavy overhang and drive washboards.
Bottom line, my modified vehicles get a thorough frame check every year. I have cracked frames (one broke all the way through), broken off spring hangers (Jeep YJ's, OMG), seen panhard rod mounts ripped off (not mine), seen steering box mounts crack. For this reason is why I have an onboard welder, to fix mostly other peoples broken off road stuff. What's really funny is most of what I have seen were not hardcore rigs. Just people with oversized tires doing moderate stuff.
