Annual Maintenance

[PhillyPhan]

I'm getting close to my one year anniversary with my 2019 28BHS and recently picked my trailer up from the service center for another repair. On the repair sheet they listed some annual maintenance items I'm due for. Bearing maintenance for 2 axle was $349. Roof cleaning, conditioning and spot sealed was $399. What the heck is a roof conditioning and spot seal? Any other maintenance you all do annually to your trailers?

[tcoilburner]

I try to annually give the trailer a real good wash and wax for the walls. The roof a good cleaning and a coat of rev roof conditioner. I also check all the sealer and touch up anything that looks like a problem. The bearing repack I wait for 2-3 years. I don’t put a lot of miles on a year.

[MichaelO]

What do you use to wash it with?

[hbravo]

There are several different materials that fall under the “rubber roof” title. I suggest you check your paperwork or call the manufacturer with your VIN to determine who supplied your roof material and check their site for cleaner recommendations. Mine recommends household dishwashing soap.

Checking and touching up the roof sealant is something you should do multiple times a season. Most use Dicor but many like myself have covered most if not all of our seams with Eternabond.

A tube of Dicor and bottle of soap will cost under $20. Cleaning and sealing my roof as necessary takes an hour. I’ll do yours for the bargain basement price of $300.00. :-)

[DonaandDon]

If you have the EZ lube axels then remove the wheel. pump a full tube of high temp grease, rotating the drum slowly and pumping slowly. (Cordless grease gun is worth it)

Cost of Simplegreen $2.99
Cost of Grease $3.99 (per)


You should also preform slide maintenance; CW price quote? $200.00 per.
Cost of slide seal lube $8.99
Cost of Slide out lube $10.99

Telling everybody at campfires how much you saved? "Priceless"

[/QUOTE]

[Camper_bob]

IDK about the price for the bearing maintenance, I always did mine my self.

But $399 for a "roof inspection, conditioning and spot seal"? That's robbery IMO.

My TT had a TPO roof, manufacturer recommended cleaning at least once a year with Murphy's Oil Soap, and that's it. Alpha specifically recommended NOT treating the roof with anything other than a cleaning with a soft brush.

Spot seal? So, they grabbed a $5 tube of Dicor off the shelf and randomly gobbed some on? Probably took a service tech 10 minutes, tops?

Nope, no way that's worth $400. And especially if you didn't ask them to perform the work.

[justlb33]

Originally Posted by hbravo

There are several different materials that fall under the “rubber roof” title. I suggest you check your paperwork or call the manufacturer with your VIN to determine who supplied your roof material and check their site for cleaner recommendations. Mine recommends household dishwashing soap.

Checking and touching up the roof sealant is something you should do multiple times a season. Most use Dicor but many like myself have covered most if not all of our seams with Eternabond.

A tube of Dicor and bottle of soap will cost under $20. Cleaning and sealing my roof as necessary takes an hour. I’ll do yours for the bargain basement price of $300.00. :-)

Do I hear $275?

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by justlb33

Do I hear $275?

I'd do it for a C-note. Maybe a buck-and-a-quarter if it's hot out...

[RetiredOne]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

I'd do it for a C-note. Maybe a buck-and-a-quarter if it's hot out...

Don't forget the case of beer, too...

[2edgesword]

How many miles did you put on the trailer over the last year? I would question whether a one year old trailer that doesn't see a lot of miles needs "Bearing maintenance for 2 axle" for $349.

Roof maintenance twice a year, a general cleaning before I cover it for the off season, getting under the trailer to inspect wiring, fittings, hoses, etc. is my annual maintenance given I put less than 500 miles a year on the road (30 nights of local camping each year).

[Siamese]

Well sure, they'd like you to be stupid enough to bring your trailer in for their extremely overpriced maintenance. $750 for something you could do yourself for about forty bucks. That job is going to take them about an hour. You do the math. I'd trust those guys about as far as I could kick 'em.

At this point, you're due or overdue for a roof inspection and possible application of Dicor sealant. Any other roof treatment on the entire roof isn't really necessary...opinions will vary on that, but show me the facts.

As has been mentioned, Eternabond tape would be an excellent idea. Replace ALL the roof Dicor sealant with it. That's what I did. Plenty of online info for this.

Let the dealer do the roof, and when you have a leak what happens?

My bearings get maintenance every year. We probably put on 3 to 4 thousand miles per year. I don't use the grease zerks to lube. IMO, if you want to do it right, take off the wheels and hand pack the bearings. It'll cost you 8 bucks or so in grease and new seals around 20 or so. Clearly you can't trust your dealer, so who's to say they're going to do it right?

At about the 8,000 mile mark with our 2017, 26BH, we replaced the bolts in the suspension with a wet bolt kit from MorRyde. The original nylon bushings from Jayco were severely worn by then. This is worth your doing some online searches on wet bolts. Essentially, the bolts that hold your suspension springs to your trailer get replaced with a grease-able system. Not expensive, but not fun to do, either. My wife and I did our's. Otherwise, if you can get someone handy other than a stealer (dealer), you could direct the work if you learn to do it online. Or, if you have some other reasonably honest/competent trailer service in your area.

The other major maintenance concern you should have is keeping water out of the sides of your trailer. All the marker lights and signals are known areas for water ingress, so you need to make sure they're well sealed. Online search.

Depending on what kind of windows you have, they may just have the compressed foam gasket to keep the water out. Those should be sealed with OSI Quad sealant you can get at Walmart, etc..

One more thing. Don't neglect the foam seal that's under your roof AC. If water gets past it...and it will....then you have water rotting the wood in your roof. Rot...mold....no thanks. This needs to be done at least annually. Online search.

That pretty well sums of the major stuff your trailer needs. Oh, there's more, but I wanted to cover the stuff that can basically ruin your trailer or at the very least, a vacation.

Highly recommend you do these things yourself. Not a lot of fun, but for me, I greatly prefer rolling down the road knowing I've personally addressed the known issues.

[Camper_bob]

One thing we've failed to consider is the existence of an extended warranty in this situation. The terms of the extended warranty could have required these items be conducted by a dealer and documented.

IMO, just one more reason NOT to have an extended warranty...

And I don't think my notes on the back of my (by then consumed) beer packaging would suffice!!

[MichaelO]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

One thing we've failed to consider is the existence of an extended warranty in this situation. The terms of the extended warranty could have required these items be conducted by a dealer and documented.

IMO, just one more reason NOT to have an extended warranty...

And I don't think my notes on the back of my (by then consumed) beer packaging would suffice!!

So the consumer can do maintenance and track it on the autos and not have warranty issues, but if the dealer doesn’t do work on the rv’s it voids the warranty?

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by MichaelO

So the consumer can do maintenance and track it on the autos and not have warranty issues, but if the dealer doesn’t do work on the rv’s it voids the warranty?

Not the standard Jayco warranty, but a separately purchased extended warranty perhaps. You really need to read the fine print on those things, from what I understand they'll find any excuse not to cover something.

I can't remember where, but I read somewhere on this forum that someone was paying their dealer to do this regular maintenance for this exact reason.

[Mad Cow]

Unless I approved of all that, then they did it for free. There is no stipulation in the warranty that the dealer must be the one to do “annual” maintenance. If there were, Federal warranty regulations would require it be provided free of charge to the consumer.

I would pay them for work authorized and dispute the rest. They are not allowed to bill you for work you did not approve. If they won’t let you have the unit unless you do pay, contact you local DA and have extortion charges filed.

Yet another reason I ignore extended warranties or that “warranty forever” scam., Just a cash cow for dealers.

[icr21801]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

One thing we've failed to consider is the existence of an extended warranty in this situation. The terms of the extended warranty could have required these items be conducted by a dealer and documented.

IMO, just one more reason NOT to have an extended warranty...

And I don't think my notes on the back of my (by then consumed) beer packaging would suffice!!

Extended warranties are a scam, pure and simple. There are so many caveats in the fine print that will exclude service under “certain conditions” that’s it’s laughable.

We fell for it on our last 5th wheel. 7 year extended warranty that was cancelable any time with a pro-rated refund on the balance. Five months after trading that rig....haven’t seen a dime.

[RedHorse1]

I expect if your dealer is a large one the prices are what they charge. In general tho, yes, overpriced.
If you are confident in your basic mechanic skills, search YouTube for how-to videos on the items you want to do yourself. There’s very little “rocket science” in a trailer.
Additional service items:
Sanitize the water system
Change water filter
Flush the water heater
Check for water stains inside on the ceiling
Inspect windows for leaks around the frame
Get on the roof (gotta get up there anyway to clean) and check all sealants (caulking) - pin holes, cracks or “popped bubbles” need to be filled
Check hitch for wear/damage
Inspect tires for wear, cracks, damage and tread issues
Every 2-3 years clean, inspect, repack bearings and inspect brakes
Wash/wax exterior
Lube slide mechanisms if appropriate and treat slide seals
Verify operation of slides, AC unit(s), fridge (LP/AC), water heater, water pump, toilet flush
Check plumbing for leaks or drips
Check lights inside/outside

That’s all that I can come up with at present, I’m sure others will add more.

[unzinators]

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

I expect if your dealer is a large one the prices are what they charge. In general tho, yes, overpriced.
If you are confident in your basic mechanic skills, search YouTube for how-to videos on the items you want to do yourself. There’s very little “rocket science” in a trailer.
Additional service items:
Sanitize the water system
Change water filter
Flush the water heater
Check for water stains inside on the ceiling
Inspect windows for leaks around the frame
Get on the roof (gotta get up there anyway to clean) and check all sealants (caulking) - pin holes, cracks or “popped bubbles” need to be filled
Check hitch for wear/damage
Inspect tires for wear, cracks, damage and tread issues
Every 2-3 years clean, inspect, repack bearings and inspect brakes
Wash/wax exterior
Lube slide mechanisms if appropriate and treat slide seals
Verify operation of slides, AC unit(s), fridge (LP/AC), water heater, water pump, toilet flush
Check plumbing for leaks or drips
Check lights inside/outside

That’s all that I can come up with at present, I’m sure others will add more.

good info

[Mad Cow]

Also, there are some great how to videos put out on YT from RV Education 101 by Mark Polk. How to make a patch in a roof, how to clean and protect roof, how to replace trim, proper tools to carry in your RV, all sorts of stuff. Nice, easy paced how to videos with tips and advice.

Here is one example.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu7cKiOVJ7Q

[Marmot]

I wash my roof quarterly and check the Dicor Sealant at the same time. The Dicor roof does not need conditioner according to Dicor. I use Dawn and warm water with a long-handled car wash brush.