Winnebago - SO DISAPPOINTED

[Superslif]

That was one reason we went with Outdoors RV for our next RV. Looked many times at the Winnebago trailers, but just never found one (floorplan) we liked. All of the dealers in our area (75 mile radius) stop carrying the Winnebago trailers. Everyone wants the cheap stuff...

In our "Quality Trailer Hunt" we looked at Winnebago, Lance, Highland Ridge, Arctic Fox and ORV. All are crafted / built a little better than the average stick & aluminum Elklhart stuff. But with anything, you will learn to be handy.

[bigdog]

I have an "01 Tradewinds that we love and just have normal problems for a rig this old, except that we have a sick engine and that's another story. We had an '05 Cougar 304 BHS TT before this and I was very happy with everything on it and the only major problem we had it was that a couple of pins on the springs broke and that was attributed to a trip out of S.F. on I-80 with the broken concrete slabs. I have been looking into getting back into a TT and the one thing that stands out in ALL of them is how cheaply they are built. Walk thru one and feel the floor flex, say something and hear the echo because there are all hard surfaces. In some of them, you can't watch TV because you can hardly see it I asked one salesman if I could mount a sat dish on the roof and he said that he wouldn't advise it because it might damage the roof.
Nope, I'm gonna keep driving my 16 y/o MH for a bit longer even with the sick engine. I'm still right side up in it. I suppose I could trade it in with the engine problem like the PO did, but I can't do that.

[4x4van]

Agree with everything that has been said here, but even more:

In addition to the general lack of quality control in the assembly & manufacturing of RVs, it seems like ALL (or nearly) of the once dependable components are also nose-diving in quality; Dometic, Norcold, Suburban... My first RV (a '79 class C purchased in 1989) had absolutely no component failures for the 12 years we drove it. Same with our second (a 1988 class C purchased in 2001) for the next 15 years. Of course, they both had manual steps, manual awnings, non-ducted A/Cs, no transfer switch, a single TV with crank-up antenna...But still; the converter continued to "convert/charge" the entire time I owned them, the A/C blew cold air, the fridge kept food cold, the stove/oven cooked, the furnace kept us warm, the WH provided hot water, water that the water pump moved to the faucets...

Now, in addition to the general lousy quality from the RV manufacturer's, we constantly hear of major appliances failing after 1, 2, 3 years. Fridges, A/Cs, water pumps and heaters, furnaces, transfer switches...not to mention the newer chit; electric awnings, steps, slideouts, leveling jacks...

And yet we just keep buying them as fast as they can pump them out. We just purchased our current rig last year, a '04 Itasca class A. Still have manual awning, but do indeed have levelers, slideouts (HWH), electric steps, ATS...Just keeping our fingers crossed.

[e.swensonore]

We have a Winne ERA 170 A 4x4...2017 with 6734 miles on it. Nothing dramatic at this early stage of ownership. The little details like screws that were put in on an angle ( should have been at 90 degrees ) and some sloppy small things with the cabinets bother me, but who knows...overall, the 2017 design looks a lot nicer (to me ) with the use of up to date materials..than earlier models. I have fixed a number of small things myself....bolts on waste gate were not tight...which allowed the black water lever to work its way out when we were driving...and THAT was bad.
I think the dealer really did nothing as far as prep, or checking out things.
O,here is a good artile ( about RV production ) in the latest RVTravel news..
worth reading..RV Travel Newsletter Issue 814 – RV Travel

[Winemaker2]

Absolutely agree.
I read about sooo many owners of new class As that not only have issues but can't get dealers to fix them or it takes weeks or months. Many end up having to go to factory for repairs...not easy for many that are not full timers or at least retired with no schedule constraints.
Don't kniw what the answer is but we are glad we bought a used coach from a very detailed hobby machinist that fixed many most of their own problems.
I do pity an owner that does no repairs or maint and has to rely on dealers.

[powercat_ras]

I have a 2015 Vista 27N that is coming up on 3 years since its build date in December, 2014 with about 23,000 miles driven and about 120 days of use so far. Like many of us Winnebago owners, I have had no major subsystem failures since purchase. Yes, there have been many sub-system failures reported on various threads on this forum. Just because of frustration we should not accuse fellow hard working Americans of intentionally producing defective products.

I believe that the best way to deal with problems on out of warranty subsystems is to approach the RV maker and Subsystem maker in a positive fact based manner. In particular with Winnebago they are taking care of their owners that have had problems with LCI subsystems having failures that are clearly not normal aging failures , there have been many posts about people taking their RVs to the factory service center and getting repairs made at no charge, even out of warranty.

[Philswrench]

Originally Posted by bigdog

I have an "01 Tradewinds that we love and just have normal problems for a rig this old, except that we have a sick engine and that's another story. We had an '05 Cougar 304 BHS TT before this and I was very happy with everything on it and the only major problem we had it was that a couple of pins on the springs broke and that was attributed to a trip out of S.F. on I-80 with the broken concrete slabs. I have been looking into getting back into a TT and the one thing that stands out in ALL of them is how cheaply they are built. Walk thru one and feel the floor flex, say something and hear the echo because there are all hard surfaces. In some of them, you can't watch TV because you can hardly see it I asked one salesman if I could mount a sat dish on the roof and he said that he wouldn't advise it because it might damage the roof.

Nope, I'm gonna keep driving my 16 y/o MH for a bit longer even with the sick engine. I'm still right side up in it. I suppose I could trade it in with the engine problem like the PO did, but I can't do that.

Replace the engine ?

[PA Weldor]

FYI

I purchased a new slide motor to carry in our MH 'in case'. Cost $160.89 (including shipping) from a vendor in eBay. The part # for my Winnebago is 287298. This is not an aftermarket item, but an original item use by Winnebago.

Also, all you need to change out a bad motor is a couple of phillips screw drivers (or a drill motor with bits). There's a informative video on You Tube with complete instruction on how to do this. Saved me a trip to the dealer, and a possible long wait for it's return, not to mention the cost.

Hope this helps those with concerns over this slide motor.

I'm convinced that all Lippert LCI products are inferior, and it's not a case of 'if' they will fail, but 'when' it's going to happen. I carry a spare hydraulic jack motor (had the bad one rebuilt after it failed and a new one installed by dealer); slide motor; controller for the hydraulic jack system.

I don't want to be on a trip and have one of these systems fail that I can't repair myself.

[marjoa]

Originally Posted by PA Weldor

FYI

I purchased a new slide motor to carry in our MH 'in case'. Cost $160.89 (including shipping) from a vendor in eBay. The part # for my Winnebago is 287298. This is not an aftermarket item, but an original item use by Winnebago.

Also, all you need to change out a bad motor is a couple of phillips screw drivers (or a drill motor with bits). There's a informative video on You Tube with complete instruction on how to do this. Saved me a trip to the dealer, and a possible long wait for it's return, not to mention the cost.

Hope this helps those with concerns over this slide motor.

I'm convinced that all Lippert LCI products are inferior, and it's not a case of 'if' they will fail, but 'when' it's going to happen. I carry a spare hydraulic jack motor (had the bad one rebuilt after it failed and a new one installed by dealer); slide motor; controller for the hydraulic jack system.

I don't want to be on a trip and have one of these systems fail that I can't repair myself.

And the year/model of your Winne and slide system you have that this motor fits on is what?

Sorry, but that part# alone doesn't tell us much.

[B]You might want take a couple of minutes to fill out your signature with information about your motorhome (MH). This will really help in all future posts too.
You do this by:
1) Going to the top of this page and click the top left tab named “User CP”
2) Look at the menu on the left and scroll down to “Settings & Options” and click “Edit Signature”
3) In that text box type all the information about your MH, Year, model, length, mileage, any aftermarket extras installed, your toad and so on.

[PA Weldor]

Originally Posted by marjoa

And the year/model of your Winne and slide system you have that this motor fits on is what?

Sorry, but that part# alone doesn't tell us much.

[B]You might want take a couple of minutes to fill out your signature with information about your motorhome (MH). This will really help in all future posts too.
You do this by:
1) Going to the top of this page and click the top left tab named “User CP”
2) Look at the menu on the left and scroll down to “Settings & Options” and click “Edit Signature”
3) In that text box type all the information about your MH, Year, model, length, mileage, any aftermarket extras installed, your toad and so on.

If you took the time to read the original post it states I have a 2014 Vista.

[baraff]

We have a 2005 Winnebago Aspect Class C (or B+, if there is such a thing). We bought it used with 50,000 miles on it and so far, at 90,000 miles have had very little problems other than the usual failures on a 12 year old motorhome. The only major issue we've had so far is that Winnebago used wire nuts to connect the generator output pigtail to the "house" wiring and after 85,000 miles they vibrated loose and arced, burning up the pigtail. This occurred because they did not tape the wire nut connectors, which is just good practice, if not code.
My letter to Winnebago on this received a response to the effect of " we do not tape wirenuts as it is not required by code". It would have cost them .03 cents and and 15 seconds of time, but to them it's not a problem until someone's coach burns to the ground.
Love our Aspect, but not sure I'll buy another Winnebago.

[GoneToTheDog]

And I quote:

"Love our Aspect"...."12 years old"....."90,000miles"...."very little problems".

Wow! It would appear you have surely beaten the odds of RV ownership.
We would all hope, dream, and wish to be even half as lucky!

Buy another Winnebago!!!

[awol50]

The only thing that will change the sloppy practices of RV manufacturers would be auto style lemon laws on the entire rig.

[nothermark]

Originally Posted by awol50

The only thing that will change the sloppy practices of RV manufacturers would be auto style lemon laws on the entire rig.

Then watch the price double to cover having them. A root cause of the quality problem is the price war on the bottom end units aimed at the casual user. They area also the high volume purchasers of the systems in the various RV's. That lets them set the price points on things like appliances.