Flagstaff Broken Couch Frame Repair

I was aware the back left seat corner of the couch in my travel trailer was broken almost from the time I got it. It was on my list when I went back to the dealer for warranty work. I should have known I was in trouble when they said they’d have to check with the factory first and wouldn’t be able to do anything about it while I was there. Months of emails and sending photos and finally they just stopped responding so I was stuck with it.

When a visitor sat down really hard on the left side of the couch I heard it break even worse and knew I had to do something about it. I removed the seat from the jackknife frame, removed just enough hog rings to expose that corner and tried JB Weld to fix it. It didn’t last, probably because there were more breaks in the frame. The seat kept sagging more and more.

After 5 years of putting up with it, I decided to pull the seat again, remove everything, and see what was going on. There were multiple breaks.

 There was a local welder who could work on it that afternoon and I could pick it up at end of day. Talk about lucky. I went to pick it up and he showed me how he had rewelded everything and it was like a new frame. He charged me $40. I couldn’t believe it.

While the seat cover was off I hand washed it and let it completely dry.

Now for reassemly. I toyed with the idea of buying all new foam, but decided to use the original since it was in pretty good shape. The foam had been attached to the frame with spray adhesive so a bought a can.

Whoever made the couch put the foam over the bare springs so it was cutting into the foam.When I had tried the JB Weld repair I had tucked fabric between the springs and the foam but wanted a more permanent solution. I purchased fabric and glued it to the bottom of the foam to protect the foam from the springs. 

Okay — now for what some people may think is a crazy idea. I had seen someone online who had reinforced all the springs on a peice of furniture with nylon cable ties. I figured it might firm up the seat and wouldn’t do any harm, so I bought 200 cable ties at Harbor Freight and used almost all of them zip tying the living daylights out of the springs.

These photos shows all the cable ties, the black fabric glued to the foam, and a start at reattaching the cover with all the hog rings. I had purchased a hog ring plier and 200 hog rings from Amazon. The plier had a spring that made holding the hog rings so easy. If you’re trying to attach hog rings with a plier that has no spring, I saw a video how putting a rubberband on the handles of the plier works just as well. 

I am so happy with the results. The frame is now rock solid and I think the cable ties do give the seat a more solid feel. The fabric glued to the foam may contribute to this as well. While I was at it I also bought more fiberfill to plump up the back cushions. Now the couch is in great shape.