New trailer quality

[clubhouse]

There has been lots of posts recently about the lack of quality control at the factory, dealer missed items and generally poor workmanship on new units, so I thought I would share a story from this weekends camping trip.

One of our camping crew just bought a new Forest River Vide 27xxxx trailer. It's is beautiful with a great floor plan and features. I blieve it stickered with delivery about ~$33k, and they paid $25k. Certainly not the most expensive unit, but absolutely not cheap.

This weekend was the shake down trip so the whole camping group went, 4 families. Here is what was experienced...

First, when getting the trailer picked up from the dealership it was quickly figured out that the WD hitch would not install correctly due to the fancy front cap that contains the propane tanks. Required small modification, read cutting the cap, to allow clearance for snap up brackets. Before cutting we it was even considered that an Equal-I-zer hitch that doesn't require snap up brackets might be better. That didn't work either so my buddy proceeded to modify the cap. The dealer offered to do it, but he didn't trust them so he went ahead and took care of it at the CG after towing 70 miles with out WD.

Next, immediately after connecting city water, water began to poor from under the wall. This was concerning so we all pitched in to figure it out. Turned out that the factory didn't properly connect the city water inlet to the plumbing and the water was just pouring into the trailer. Fortunately it was bad enough that we caught it instantly and the area the water entered was very easily opened to dry up. No damage but proved the dealer didn't test that system only the tank and pump.

Then upon leaving it was figured out that the "black" and "grey" tank handles were labeled incorrectly. The plumbing is covered so you could not see it and he trusted the handles. What this meant was he left the black open for the weekend and the grey closed. Several minutes adding water via a bucket and running the tank washer fixed the buildup problem. Good thing it was a weekend trip and not a week.

Last, also upon leaving, the electric stabilizer jack in front wouldn't retract. After 10 minutes searching for a blown inline fuse, we located the terminal block that all the exterior accessories connect to, only to find it was wired by a monkey and several wires were not correctly terminated. Took about 30 minutes to clean up the wiring and reconnect everything properly. Stabilizers fixed.

My buddy knows there will be more surprises in the next couple trips and accepts it as he, like me, believe RVs and Trailers come "some assembly required". Further he trusts his skills and care much more than the dealership tech.

Just thought I would share what I witnessed first hand of quality from another mfg.

[ALJO]

In all the mass manufacturing it is the same. By Jayco it is no different looking at the complaints on this forum. Amish craftsmanship?.............but it sells!
I was looking at RV Ratings and Jayco comes out average.


RV Rating - Customer Survey of RV Makes and Models


No wonder I had to do so much which should have be done at the manufacturing plant. Am I happy with my Jayco? Yes I am, because I made it my own through all the work I did myself.

[Nighthawk 96]

We are into our third season with our trailer. No real problems. Nothing to fix under warrantee.

Water line to toilet became loose and a little water was on floor. Hand tightening took care of it. Couple of loose screws in the wheel skirts. Awning motor was replaced under a recall. This was replaced in my back yard.

I have made several improvements to the trailer. New bath fan, new faucet in bathroom sink, digital thermostat, hardwired electrical management system, quick disconnect electrical cable and so forth.

This is my second Jayco and very few issues with either.

IMHO if you are going to own a TT or Motorhome, you should be prepared to keep it up, improve it if your want to and be able to do simple repairs. Other wise you can pay Camping World $120.00 per hour plus materials to do it for you.

[ninjahbob]

ALJO you are right on and we too finished their job and built it our way.

[mike837go]

I took possession of my brand new TT three days ago. So far, I found the dealer fouled up in not supplying a sewer hose and leaving both waste tanks loaded. The pedestal table - poor design.

Offsetting all this is moving up 30 years in technology. That'll have to wear off before I can leave an unbiased opinion.

[Iraqvet05]

Originally Posted by mike837go

I took possession of my brand new TT three days ago. So far, I found the dealer fouled up in not supplying a sewer hose and leaving both waste tanks loaded. The pedestal table - poor design.

Offsetting all this is moving up 30 years in technology. That'll have to wear off before I can leave an unbiased opinion.

Why were the waste tanks full in a new TT?

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by Iraqvet05

Why were the waste tanks full in a new TT?

Sounds like they did an "almost complete" PDI which includes filling all tanks to check for leaks. Problem is they forgot to empty them, thus "almost complete".

[mechinhell]

Yep i had mostly a decent delivery my rear stabilizers didn't work, led canopy lighting was falling off, heater wasn't blowing very well (but had a wonderful heated floor), weather stripping around frameless windows falling off, and entire framing underneath is covered in rust. So most was fixed or still awaiting parts. The framing I'm probably just going to sand down frame and repaint with rust inhibiter paint.

[notaz3]

My wife and I have been looking for a new fifth wheel and the list is now between Foreat River and Jayco. What I have found is they are both in need of a better Quality Assurance. That may just be because I've spent a few years as QA on military aircraft and have become obsessive with perfection.

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by mechinhell

Yep i had mostly a decent delivery my rear stabilizers didn't work, led canopy lighting was falling off, heater wasn't blowing very well (but had a wonderful heated floor), weather stripping around frameless windows falling off, and entire framing underneath is covered in rust. So most was fixed or still awaiting parts. The framing I'm probably just going to sand down frame and repaint with rust inhibiter paint.

Welcome to the forum.

Most folks vent vigorously about stuff like that. Glad you're upbeat about it.

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by notaz3

My wife and I have been looking for a new fifth wheel and the list is now between Foreat River and Jayco. What I have found is they are both in need of a better Quality Assurance. That may just be because I've spent a few years as QA on military aircraft and have become obsessive with perfection.

My pockets aren't deep enough to buy the perfection I'd like to have. I'm happy getting the best bang for my buck.

[ALJO]

When units are shipped during the winter season, chances the frames might be rusty because of road condition.

[Fuldraw2015]

When we bought ours we did a surprise tour of it before we picked it up we spent about 1 hr in it with blue painters tape and marked every thing we saw about 15 items that we told our salesman about then about a week later we had our pick up date it took us about 3 hrs to go thru it we had them show us every thing ( open, close,turn on and turn off. Then my wife and son slept in it for a couple of days in the drive way .our real shake down is next weekend for the 5th wheel.
Our 1st travel trailer we let the dealer rush us thru it and had a lot of thing we missed and had to learn the hard way

[NC Roamer]

Originally Posted by mechinhell

... entire framing underneath is covered in rust. So most was fixed or still awaiting parts. The framing I'm probably just going to sand down frame and repaint with rust inhibiter paint.

Our Greyhawk had a lot of light surface rust on the horizontal frame surfaces. It looked like the painter painted the frame adequately from the sides but not from directly underneath. We turned it in to our dealer as a warranty issue. Jayco sort of agreed. They allowed 2 hours of warranty work but it required 10 to fix. Our dealer ate the difference. I was very pleased with the results.

It looks much, much better than this "before" picture.

[rryman]

Met a guy a few years ago in a campground when we had just gotten our 2010 Jayfeather. It was our first TT since the early 90's. While we were talking, he said that he thought it was a good idea to just turn off the city water supply when you were leaving for any length of time. He pointed to his Salem 5'er which he had bought new, and said the first time out they left for awhile and when they came back, water was coming out of his basement storage doors. A water line had apparently been improperly crimped and blew off, flooding his basement storage area. We are now on our third Jayco in 5 years. The first two had no problems at all. I found some problems on our present one after I took delivery that I fixed myself, but none that I thought were really serious issues. I just found it easier for me to fix the issues than take it back to the dealer 25 miles away.

[TCNashville]

Originally Posted by rryman

I just found it easier for me to fix the issues than take it back to the dealer 25 miles away.

Our dealer is 60 miles away and I would rather fix stuff myself as well. I've had great success dealing with the various manufacturers directly [Atwood, Jensen, etc] in obtaining parts while under warranty instead of lugging it back to the dealership, especially when they would have to keep it 2 weeks for a part that took me 20 minutes to install. When you figure in the time and fuel costs to lug it back to the dealership, being a little handy pays off.

[rick danger]

Originally Posted by TCNASHVILLE

being a little handy pays off.

+1

[Ela1948]

Originally Posted by notaz3

My wife and I have been looking for a new fifth wheel and the list is now between Foreat River and Jayco. What I have found is they are both in need of a better Quality Assurance. That may just be because I've spent a few years as QA on military aircraft and have become obsessive with perfection.

If you need perfection, the RV industry is not for you!!! If you buy an RV, I think that you should expect to have some issues with the unit. If you happen to get lucky and not have a few problems,hurrah for you. If you have a picky attitude, chances are that you will be unhappy. They are mass produced for a price. That means speed is very important to the manufacturer. The trick is to get the most production with the least error. A very tough line to follow!!! Thats why I think the dealer is as important as the manufacturer. If you have a dealer with a very good service dept., It will make the mistakes a lot more bareable. Over the years I have bought from 3 different dealerships. Only one of them will see me again!! When you consider that a new truck will cost from $40 to $50K, I'm thankful that I can buy a 34 ft. fifth wheel with triple slides for less then 35K. I expect there will be issues. I just want someone in the wings that has the expertise to fix it right the FIRST time.

[NC Roamer]

Originally Posted by Ela1948

Thats why I think the dealer is as important as the manufacturer. If you have a dealer with a very good service dept., It will make the mistakes a lot more bareable.

Well put, and I think most of us will agree.

[notaz3]

Originally Posted by Ela1948

If you need perfection, the RV industry is not for you!!! If you buy an RV, I think that you should expect to have some issues with the unit. If you happen to get lucky and not have a few problems,hurrah for you. If you have a picky attitude, chances are that you will be unhappy. They are mass produced for a price. That means speed is very important to the manufacturer. The trick is to get the most production with the least error. A very tough line to follow!!! Thats why I think the dealer is as important as the manufacturer. If you have a dealer with a very good service dept., It will make the mistakes a lot more bareable. Over the years I have bought from 3 different dealerships. Only one of them will see me again!! When you consider that a new truck will cost from $40 to $50K, I'm thankful that I can buy a 34 ft. fifth wheel with triple slides for less then 35K. I expect there will be issues. I just want someone in the wings that has the expertise to fix it right the FIRST time.

Don't get me wrong we love our RV (Colman) and I'm more then capable of fixing anything that goes wrong with it. What I notice on some (not all) new fifth wheels is poor construction. It does not take any longer to crimp a wire correctly or insure the screws go in straight and all the way. Jayco and Forest River seem to have quality work and that is why they are on our short list for an upgrade. Some of the other manufactures are just setting people up for disappointment and failure. I'm a believer in "Do it right the first time because it takes more time to do it twice".