Frame Failure? 2509C - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

jedelen · 06-12-2020, 12:04 PM

On my first trip this spring I noticed the top was not up fully against the bottom of the trailer after raising it. I then discovered what might be a failure of a part of the frame right under where the cable attached to the top of the camper (see pics). This is my second Hi-Lo (first one 1980-2018), 2010 - .
Any of you old timers tell me what is going on and whether or not this is fixable in my driveway; if not, is there a Hi-Lo repair facility that might handle it?
Thanks

JackandJanet · 06-12-2020, 01:09 PM

I had this happen to mine, but I caught it before it got that bad. I think it's caused by a cable adjustment that tries to raise the top too far, and it attempst to force the top past the point where the bulb seal has met the lip on the bottom half. This pulls the cable very hard, which collapses the wood beam at the bottom edge of the top.

I disconnected the cable, filled the depression with epoxy and then made stronger metal plates to keep that from happening again. I did not have the distortion to the outside surface or the damage along the inside edge you seem to have.

I suspect this will be a difficult repair. You can certainly do it, but it will involve taking that side of the trailer apart. I din't know if the distortion to the outside surface can be corrected without replacing it.

- Jack

sam · 06-12-2020, 11:45 PM

I would email the pictures to J&R Mount vernon Ohio. We took our HiLo to them for seal replacement and a few minor things. They adjusted the cables for us and put some metal where the cable rubs. So sorry your HiLo has this damage.

JIM L · 06-13-2020, 09:20 AM

I had this same problem on my HiLo but not as bad as yours. On mine it was caused by water running down the outside wall and getting behind that small 90 degree trim strip that trims the bottom of the wall to the bottom of the wood beam. The water wicks up into the beam, weakens it an it twist to the inside due to the load at the cable attachment point. This was caused by HiLo failing to seal the trim with butyl tape when they manufactured it .I took it up to J and R in Ohio, they replaced the beam, did a great job. They said they had seen this problem on numbers of HiLos. I ran a bead on the outside top of the trim strip with Lexell sealant on all of the trim strips including windows, door, rain gutters etc to give a second seal on these areas.