Freightliner stepping away from cracked frame rail.

The regs state Manufacturer's Recommendations. The reg was posted earlier, in this discussion. I don't know of any manufacturer that only recommends welding, without reinforcing with a proper sleeve or glove.
The reason that Freightliner recommended changing the frame rail, is because, in that area a proper repair cannot be made. If that crack was a few feet, further back, they probably would recommend a repair, instead of changing the rail.

 

Sorry to hear about the issue you had MN.
I wont throw my .02 into the argument, as I have never had to look into it, luckily.
Out of curiosity though, how much is a frame rail replacement, seeing as folks are talking about it.

Martin

 

my dad ran tri axle and freightline did weld a repair section in his frame, not a full rail or partal just a repair section so yea freightliner does do it. and you posted this to a thread not a private email so it is his conversation if he wants to be in it.....why so rude. sorry to hear you got a bad truck deal but no need to act like that

 

This is an unfortunate situation but out of warranty is out of warranty.

If you were the original owner or new the complete history of the truck you might be able to claim that the dishing of the flange was a manufacturing defect but it might just cost more than replacing the frame rail.

 

I didn't read the regs, I must have missed that post. But I don't think it says anywhere you can't weld a frame.

Ill be honest, I'm not gonna go look either...lol. If my frame cracks I'm welding it!

 

It's only a legal repair if it's approved by the manufacturer as valid.

 

Well I guess there are thousands of illegal trucks on the road then. I worked at a Freightliner dealership for a while, and we had a guy just for shortening, lenghtening, and repairing frames. He also worked nights and weekends on the side doing the same. I owned a truck that had a rear cutoff put on it. I don't know how many years it had been there when I got it, but the truck was over 10 years old, and the section looked to have been there a long time. Tens of thousands of dump trucks are stretched out tractors, I also owned one of those with no proplems.