What Broke On Your Grand Design Today?

[txloser]

I started a thread like this on the previous forum I lived on. Partly in jest, but read some interesting random stuff and some issues got people directed to the right spot for help. Not so much a place for repair ideas. We’ve got that already. Just a venting spot as we enjoy our poorly made expensive toys.

So, for today…. Pulled into my site and while getting setup, I found the back wall in the washer dryer closet coming apart. All the staples and trim pulled out at the top and the top quarter of the wall loose. Easy fix for another day.

Also, found half my love seat had broken loose from the floor and is now free floating.

Lastly, the bottom facia of my cabinets over the couch is sagging.

And a funny item. This one’s on me. I was purging pink stuff from the water system, and didn’t realize that A, the shower wand was selected, and B, it was pointed out of the shower. Pink stuff on me and everywhere. Good times.

All of these issues found in a 30 minute period without looking for issues. Just dumb luck and poor assembly. Roads weren’t even bad on the way here. Oh well. The furnace works, my steak was good, and I’m dry while it drizzles.

 

[Bkrhoda]

We have a Solitude 380FLR that we full time in. One fine day a couple months ago we pulled into a site somewhere in Utah. Got levelled - the spousal unit was getting the slides out as I was hooking up utilities. Once I was done and headed inside, the wife handed me the center medallion off of the dining room slide trim. She found it on the floor after deploying the slides. Guess it didn't care for the road quality on the trip. (Really not too bad as I recall). The wimpy little staples used to originally secure it didn't survive the reinstallation attempt. End result? Yanked all the trim and replaced it with 1x6 cedar. Lighter, brighter & more attractive than the original.

 

[hkrlee]

378 MBS here. Immediately upon delivery, my NORCOLD refrigerator control panel was broke. Then, my fireplace would not operate correctly. I had to pay a tech 600 dollars to fix. I called GD and they contacted Lippert who actually sent me a new fireplace. the stove knob, which has a plastic shaft to the knob, broke. I have to replace the entire stove. On this last trip, which we just showed up to in Florida, I also found the front compartment on the left side of the front bedroom coming apart. You can see the staples where it pulled apart. I will take it into LazyDays and have it checked for the bent frame issue perhaps? I did pull the wine rack off the kitchen wall to make a larger area for bottles and a mixer. Since I bought in 2022, I became an RV Tech to fix most of these issues myself. Honestly, they all are built cheaply and have issues. Brinkley guys broke off and decided to make a better product. Not sure if there is enough data yet to see if they are the best. But until someone creates a company to compete with Lippert, RVs will always be sub-par.

 

[Travelnbabe]

I started a thread like this on the previous forum I lived on. Partly in jest, but read some interesting random stuff and some issues got people directed to the right spot for help. Not so much a place for repair ideas. We’ve got that already. Just a venting spot as we enjoy our poorly made expensive toys.

So, for today…. Pulled into my site and while getting setup, I found the back wall in the washer dryer closet coming apart. All the staples and trim pulled out at the top and the top quarter of the wall loose. Easy fix for another day.

Also, found half my love seat had broken loose from the floor and is now free floating.

Lastly, the bottom facia of my cabinets over the couch is sagging.

And a funny item. This one’s on me. I was purging pink stuff from the water system, and didn’t realize that A, the shower wand was selected, and B, it was pointed out of the shower. Pink stuff on me and everywhere. Good times.

All of these issues found in a 30 minute period without looking for issues. Just dumb luck and poor assembly. Roads weren’t even bad on the way here. Oh well. The furnace works, my steak was good, and I’m dry while it drizzles.

We have a 2022 GD Momentum 31G Toy Hauler. Two summers ago, we noticed that our 18' awning was slipping in its track and not winding up as straight as it should be. We called a mobile RV tech who allegedly adjusted the awing fabric a bit and informed us we would have to replace the entire awning. Cost for the adjustment was $300 and the estimate for replacing the awning was about $900. Spousal unit climbed his ladder to the roof and looked at the rail where the awing was supposed to be attached. Turns out, it was screwed into nothing more than the insulation. Since that insulation is mostly styrofoam, it really had no support and was actually coming loose in some places. That's what was causing it so roll up crooked.

After some discussion and research, we decided to get a one by two piece of lumber to screw the awning screws into on the inside of the trailer. We stained the wood to almost the exact shade as the wood trim in the trailer and of course had to piece it in as walls and doors were in the way.

However, now the awning is straight, comes in and out beautifully and is solid an secure. When we saw how loose it was, I was surprised it didn't simply come flying off at 60 mph on the highway. Not anymore.

 

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Well, the trailer is sitting under some snow for now so nothing broke today. But near the end of the season the kitchen roof vent fan starting acting up. You could open the vent from the wall control and it would work fine. But if you started the fan...the lid would close. So I took it apart and found a cct board in one corner of the fan housing. Before ordering a new cct board I thought I would bypass the wall control and test. The lid still closed. So I was pretty confident it was the cct board. A call to max fan and was told it will be either the cct board or the fan motor. Couldn't see how it would be the fan motor seeing as it spins the fan around just fine so I ordered a cct board. Replaced it and it does the same thing......... oh well. Guess I'm buying a motor now and have a good, tested spare cct board.
The only other things that broke on our 303 was one of the plastic saddle boxes and one hinge on one of the basement doors. GD sent me replacement parts for free. Pretty good for a trailer bought in October 2020 and has crossed the continent...more or less...twice.

I hope I'm wrong but I expect John, ajg617 to be a frequent poster in this thread....

 

[ajg617]

I hope I'm wrong but I expect John, ajg617 to be a frequent poster in this thread....

HAH - too funny. Probably right though. The good news is it is sitting at the Elkhart factory replacing a lot of things I had no clue were issues (do they count?) so if something else breaks.....

 

[Scott'n'Wendy]

sitting at the Elkhart factory replacing a lot of things I had no clue were issues (do they count?)

Ignorance is bliss.....

 

[txloser]

That’s great. I’d be willing to pay a few bucks to drop my trailer off in Elkhart at say 3 years for a full inspection/repair.

 

[ajg617]

That’s great. I’d be willing to pay a few bucks to drop my trailer off in Elkhart at say 3 years for a full inspection/repair.

You may not want to see the list they found.

 

[Scott'n'Wendy]

You may not want to see the list they found.

And you may not be happy with how they fix it.....
I've been following John's adventures and GD's factory techs are a little sus.

 

[ajg617]

And you may not be happy with how they fix it.....
I've been following John's adventures and GD's factory techs are a little sus.

Well, in fairness, my first visit was just at the time when all the YT hysteria on frame flex was at it's worst and GD had just issued the TSB and I felt the visit was very rushed and incomplete. That said, this time is absolutely different. But a word of advice to those booking appointments at the factory - they do not go beyond what you request unless they notice something. Once the appointment is scheduled with an itemized list of repairs you request, I was advised they don't change what they do (but see below).

Because this was a repeat of early this year, GD had the 310 transported out to Elkhart. It's been out there since early Nov. They have repaired/replaced more items, and strengthened the frame significantly than I can keep track of. For instance, I had no issues with the main door-side slide out other than it seemed to need to be adjusted so that it sealed better in the rear. GD pulled the slide because they discovered that the main floor was sagging so they added an extra outrigger, replaced three windows, trim, seals, decal, door hinges/lock, but they also found three bent outriggers on the rear of the same side and replaced them with doubles.

They noticed my sagging underbelly and replaced that and the soaking wet insulation which after leaving the water pressurized overnight found no leaks and likely a result of seal malfunction around the underbelly. They brought in Lippert engineers to inspect the frame. Currently at 20 pages of repairs, and it was pulled back into the shop a second time to inspect (at my request) the suspension bushings and equalizers which they decided to replace. That was when they noticed the crack in the frame web. To their credit, they had Lippert in the next day to weld frame supports on both sides but I plan on having a conversation with GD when my POC returns in January.

The nose cap was off and re-sealed and LED light string replaced, the bedroom floor under the bed box was re-attached to the supporting frame, decals replaced, roof tear three people had not noticed repaired, kitchen island strengthened to stabilize it (I had already done some of that but it wasn't enough). I now have a lot of extra steel in critical areas but I don't know the end-game on the suspension just yet - but more convinced I'm going to have IS installed.

 

[txloser]

Wow. That’s significant. Makes me wonder what all is wrong with my ‘24 that I don’t even know about. Or any other trailer I’ve owned for that matter.

 

[LanerC]

Well, in fairness, my first visit was just at the time when all the YT hysteria on frame flex was at it's worst and GD had just issued the TSB and I felt the visit was very rushed and incomplete. That said, this time is absolutely different. But a word of advice to those booking appointments at the factory - they do not go beyond what you request unless they notice something. Once the appointment is scheduled with an itemized list of repairs you request, I was advised they don't change what they do (but see below).

Because this was a repeat of early this year, GD had the 310 transported out to Elkhart. It's been out there since early Nov. They have repaired/replaced more items, and strengthened the frame significantly than I can keep track of. For instance, I had no issues with the main door-side slide out other than it seemed to need to be adjusted so that it sealed better in the rear. GD pulled the slide because they discovered that the main floor was sagging so they added an extra outrigger, replaced three windows, trim, seals, decal, door hinges/lock, but they also found three bent outriggers on the rear of the same side and replaced them with doubles.

They noticed my sagging underbelly and replaced that and the soaking wet insulation which after leaving the water pressurized overnight found no leaks and likely a result of seal malfunction around the underbelly. They brought in Lippert engineers to inspect the frame. Currently at 20 pages of repairs, and it was pulled back into the shop a second time to inspect (at my request) the suspension bushings and equalizers which they decided to replace. That was when they noticed the crack in the frame web. To their credit, they had Lippert in the next day to weld frame supports on both sides but I plan on having a conversation with GD when my POC returns in January.

The nose cap was off and re-sealed and LED light string replaced, the bedroom floor under the bed box was re-attached to the supporting frame, decals replaced, roof tear three people had not noticed repaired, kitchen island strengthened to stabilize it (I had already done some of that but it wasn't enough). I now have a lot of extra steel in critical areas but I don't know the end-game on the suspension just yet - but more convinced I'm going to have IS installed.

Man oh man what an ordeal!

 

[Lance Glogowsky]

As mentioned in another post, I might as well mention my recent trip to St. George, Utah, where the kitchen slide would not operate. Called out a mobile tech and after looking at it, he discovered a ground wire that disconnected from underneath the coral blast by the motor. Connected that back up and it worked fine after $180 that he charged me. I had called lippert and Grand Design and after diagnosing it with them, they could not come up with the answer.

 

[huntr70]

But until someone creates a company to compete with Lippert, RVs will always be sub-par.

Good luck with that!

Every time a company has a great product, Lippert buys them out and makes it subpar...

There is no one that can/will compete with Lippert at the scale they are at.

 

[Captcolour]

Last repairs included the cold low point drain which started to leak during our trip on the way to Disney. Quick fix was to disconnect the pipe that goes through the underbelly and cap the low point drain with a regular garden hose cap. The fitting on the pipe doesn't allow it to fall through the Nautilus floor so just stays there. Easy fix until it could be replaced.

Had one side of the hydraulic solenoid fail. Quick fix was to swap the wires to the side that did work when I needed to move the legs or slide in or out. Ordered a replacement valve from Lippert and was an easy replacement. Kept the old one as a 1/2 working spare just in case.

 

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Good luck with that!

Every time a company has a great product, Lippert buys them out and makes it subpar...

There is no one that can/will compete with Lippert at the scale they are at.

The previous RV I owned was a Glendale Titanium. A 2005 model. At that time they made their own frames in house. Then they stopped making frames and had Lippert make them . Then they started going bigger and heavier with their Mystique line......and then frame flex issues started popping up....

 

[huntr70]

The previous RV I owned was a Glendale Titanium. A 2005 model. At that time they made their own frames in house. Then they stopped making frames and had Lippert make them . Then they started going bigger and heavier with their Mystique line......and then frame flex issues started popping up....

Yep, and now they've been gone for 15 years....

 

[JKJavelin]

You may not want to see the list they found.

You have the patience of a saint. I woulda blown a gasket a long time ago with everything you've gone through. I'm actually surprised that they haven't offered you a replacement by now.
JK

 

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Yep, and now they've been gone for 15 years....

Yup, exactly. 2009.