Picked up the RV after 3 months - wish I hadn't seen some things

[ajg617]

Well, good news and bad news. After 3 months in the shop following return from Elkhart factory visit, I'm not sure I can describe how terrible the bushings/wet bolts/tires/hangers (replaced by GD) - and more evidence of upper deck flex. I don't know where to begin. Axles have been unaligned since delivery. Hangers were not aligned front to rear. Rear hangers (the ones GD replaced) holes were enlarged. All wet bolt splines were worn down and bolts worn on the nut end. Of the 14 bushings, 6 on the left side were completely missing. Only pieces left on the right side and most were almost gone. Other than the picture below, the largest piece of bushing was about 1/4". The mis-alignment ruined the tires -especially the off-door side. 6,000 miles after suspension replaced - greased three times in between. 1,000 miles after factory visit. 21,000 miles total. Can't go anywhere with these tires and I have zero confidence in the suspension now.

Left rear tire

Left front tire

Largest piece of any bushing removed

New wrinkles in decal just in front of bedroom slide out after Elkhart factory addressed the TSB but did not drop the filon.

Beyond frustrated and do not trust the suspension at all. It gets worse when I see what the LCI tech discovered on the interim hanger repairs at Glacier.

 

[jim_de_hunter]

I'm here to commiserate. Dealer has had our RV since July 24th. Tech says the axles are bad. GD wanted to know how we load it so I sent CatScale tickets showing the unit 500lbs under the axle ratings. Still no answer. Cancelled one reservation so far. Got another one for Columbus Day that isn't looking good.

 

[ajg617]

@jim_de_hunter I feel your pain. Dropped ours of June 26th, less than a month after a factory repair trip to Elkhart. Got it back today and can't go anywhere without tires. Unreal. Parked at home for the season now.

 

[Soundsailor]

I'm so sorry to hear this, John. It's hard to believe that after all you've been through, things are still that bad. I suppose if it were me, I'd be asking GD to buy the unit back.

 

[ajg617]

@Soundsailor Stephen, I'm going to sleep on this (hopefully) and then tomorrow draft a nice letter to Grand Design or maybe call my POC out there. I'm just lucky that I didn't go anywhere. LCI tech said it wasn't safe to two - guess he was right.

By the way, the tech had a large Prime Time Sanibel in his shop - frame completely broken at front of bedroom slideout after repair by dealer and second repair by factory. OMG - I can't believe either repair was considered roadworthy.

 

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Well John.....I guess I should say something positive which means nothing about your trailer. Sooo.. That Marvin the Martian tat rocks! I have Marvin the Martian floor mats in my Challenger.

 

[ajg617]

Good guy - 82nd Airborne

 

[WhittleBurner]

Wish there was something good and inspiring to say about this. It's time to escalate this whole issue , either with an atty or GD or both

 

[ajg617]

@WhittleBurner Yes Marcy, I'm going to escalate it with GD first. I am beyond frustration. I hesitate to bring in an atty because that shuts off all conversation with GD. I think my next step will be a personal phone call rather than an email. I simply don't know what their tolerance is and what might/might not be possible.

 

[diventure]

While I appreciate every situation is different and there are many owners who have had terrible experiences with GD, Lippert, etc., I can vouch for the fact that when I had some serious frame issues, I personally spoke with a manager at GD and with a number of folks at Lippert and I received what I would consider an excellent conclusion to my issues. Talking to someone on the phone vs. texting/emailing is the only way to go in these situations in my view. And of course, patience and professionalism is a virtue. Good luck.

 

[ajg617]

While I appreciate every situation is different and there are many owners who have had terrible experiences with GD, Lippert, etc., I can vouch for the fact that when I had some serious frame issues, I personally spoke with a manager at GD and with a number of folks at Lippert and I received what I would consider an excellent conclusion to my issues. Talking to someone on the phone vs. texting/emailing is the only way to go in these situations in my view. And of course, patience and professionalism is a virtue. Good luck.

I think that much of this problem is a Lippert issue but Grand Design had a great deal of difficulty in getting them to honor their own shops warranty claim for improperly aligned and welded hangers. I agree on the phone call. Email would be back-up with pictures.

 

[rlbenz]

I found one of the wet bolts on our 390RK-R with the nut almost off when I was going to grease them before a trip. Good thing I did because I had to replace all 4 of them that were attached to the frame because they wouldn’t take grease. When I pulled them out, the bushings looked just like the picture that the author of this thread provided. This thread now has me thinking if the suspension is out of line since I only had around 13,000 miles when I found our problem. Keep checking if they take grease will tell you if the bushing is still good.

 

[ajg617]

@rlbenz The big red flag for me now is that the bolts take grease too easily. I initially thought that was a good thing. Not so. In both cases, my bushings were already gone and grease just poured out the opposite side of the spring eyes.