Colorado / Canyon bent frame

shade

Well-known member
Why do you believe that the owner of the truck is claiming that this just happened driving down a smooth road? What kind of analysis have you done to determine that newer truck frames are weaker than those designed years ago?
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.
 

Buliwyf

Viking with a Hammer
F250-550 Fords have way stronger frames than in the past. I think the 150 is getting a bit porky as well.
 

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.
 

shade

Well-known member
F250-550 Fords have way stronger frames than in the past. I think the 150 is getting a bit porky as well.
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
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.
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.
 

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.
 

CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
GQtFok1.jpg


Toyota denied this claim too, some grandma tossed a case of Bud Light in the bed in the grocery store parking lot and snap...
 

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