My Issues in the Past Week

[taviking22]

This is a reposting of a comment I had made as a reply to another Pinnacle owner's thread. But I thought it needed more exposure. My Pinnacle is the 4th Jayco product I have owned. All were bought new. None of the first three units ever approached these problems!

Ah, yes...Pinnacle...the top of the line 5th wheel trailer in the Jayco fleet.

Just in the past week I have had to do the following to my Pinnacle (see sig) while on the road:
•replace a sheared driveline bolt in my dinette slide
•repair the entertainment slide (the blue lead wire on the right hand motor had its insulation rubbed off and was shorting out)
•for the 3rd time had to reset the barrel pin in the right gear assembly of the front landing gear (try doing that without being able to remove the leg!)
•tighten the 4 hold-down bolts for both AC units as one was dripping water during a light rain. (My DW reminded me of this one as was not mentioned in my earlier posted reply.)

Fortunately, I am handy enough to do the work myself as am off warranty and on the road. But when you pay nearly $50,000 for a brand new unit you'd expect and should get more reliability. And, I am OCD when it comes to maintenance.

Since I'm off warranty I'm sure Jayco would do nothing. My concern is that these expensive units have a 3 year usable life and then start nickel and dime-ing you. And no, I am not a full-timer. We use the trailer about a total of 3 months a year.

Yes, I am a very frustrated Pinnacle owner at the present time!!

[Larry G.]

My goodness!

Every owner, no matter what manufacturer, has to do some maintenance at some point and being your rig is 5 model years old, as ours is, we expect something.

Good for you being able to fix things on your own.

Safe travels.

[mike837go]

As you said, it is a top-of-the-line, aka "luxury" line.


One of the headaches I've seen with high-end cars (Cadillac, Lincoln, Mercedes, etc.) is that they do not age well. All of the beautiful appointments of electronic this and automatic that; the fabrics that enjoy being touched are not designed to last very long.


The more plebian (simple) things hold up over time and use much better.


Yes, you pay big $$'s and expect good service from the machine. What you wind up with is getting 'serviced' by sycophants that want to sell you another high-end unit before the underpinnings require impossible-to-do repairs.


I've had Lincolns to Chevrolets, Honda, Mazda and even a Jaguar as my daily driver. I'll take a mid-rage, mid-sized 'family sedan' for everyday use every time! Maintenance is straight-forward and parts can be had for years! Just try getting a replacement headlamp for a 9 year old Lincoln. Or, better yet, replace the EGR valve without pulling the engine.


[end rant]