Community Forums

racer0624 · 06-25-2016, 04:26 AM

Wagonmaster2,
the only thing I'd add to Davids very accurate reply is that I just propped up the rear cover as the mattress air pump is mounted near the the outside wall on the rear cover and a bear to reach. BTW, all 4 of the bolts were 1/4 to 3/4 revolution loose. A lot of squirming and akward reaching is still needed to get to them.

VP Chianese · 06-25-2016, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wagonmaster2

Thanks for all that information and pictures Vinny. I know that took a lot of your time to do all that. The tools will be no problem. I have a pretty good set of standard and metric wrenches I try to always have with me.

David - appreciate the information for getting under the bed. Biggest problem will probably be getting all the stuff we have stored under there but from the sounds of instructions this will undoubtedly be the easiest though.

Thanks again to both of you.

Glad to be of help. So now when you get good at getting all of the crap out from under the bed just and checking the bolts just run right over to Baltimore where we are right now and do mine.

I'm not looking forward to that later this coming week.

Ken Gluckman · 06-25-2016, 01:00 PM

One more data point -- Just checked the bolts on my 2014 King Aire and all were about 1/4 to 1/2 turn loose, except for the ones under the bed. They were all about one full turn loose.

Thanks for posting about this. It never would have occurred to me to check these, but I sure will keep an eye on them in the future.

MJFZ · 06-25-2016, 02:06 PM

I will be doing a factory pick up of a new Dutch Star in a few weeks. I think I will ask them to reinstall the fasteners with threadlocker.

Mike

Canuck53 · 06-25-2016, 03:12 PM

Wow I did not know there are different strengths of Loctite. Look up the different colours some like the Red requires heat to lossens the threads....

Read what the Red Loctite is for

For Threadlocking

Nuts and bolts loosen over time due to vibration, shock, and temperature changes. Fastener loosening is one of the major causes of industrial equipment failure and results in millions of dollars of unscheduled downtime each year.

LOCTITE threadlockers are liquid and semi-solid adhesives that are applied to the threads of a fastener and cure to a hard thermoset plastic when applied between metal surfaces. They cure in the absence of air and completely fill the gaps between mating threads to lock threads and joints.

Advantages:

Prevent unwanted movement, loosening, leaks and corrosion
Resist vibration
Single-component – clean and easy to apply
Can be used on all sizes of fasteners, reducing inventory costs
Removable with hand tools or heat

hawgguy · 06-25-2016, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canuck53

Wow I did not know there are different strengths of Loctite. Look up the different colours some like the Red requires heat to lossens the threads....

I did mine with Loctite Blue, only because that's what I had laying around.

Canuck53 · 06-25-2016, 04:19 PM

Good idea on the blue since heat is the only thing that allows red to be lossened. If you ever need to take apart the use red. If you may have to remove then green next then blue with purple being only good for 1/4" bolts.

Nagorider · 06-25-2016, 06:31 PM

Followup to my 6/15 post regarding the buckled and twisted kitchen slide motor mount bracket on our 2015 DSDP 4018. We have almost 19k miles on the odo which included a 6 month trip this past winter which ended just a few weeks ago.
I immediately called Newmar/sent pix requesting direction for this issue when I discovered the problem after being prompted by posts on this forum. They (Rick at Newmar) did not hesitate to get me set up for repairs. Fortunately, ended up at Beaver Coach Works in Bend, OR. Newmar sent me the replacement bracket and I took it to the shop with me. In the Pacific NW, this dealership is highly regarded and they did not disappoint. Kevin Dodd was the tech. He comes with an impressive resume having spend 17 years at North Trail in FL. He indicated he had seen worse and got to work. As it turns out the kitchen slide motor mount is welded to supporting sub-frame members. The force of moving the slide with the loose motor mount bolts was literally tearing the welded already buckled bracket from the sub-frame. The old bracket was cut from the frame and removed. He took the new bracket and welded a supporting plate on one side, (approved by Newmar), then re-welded the bracket into place, reassembled and painted it for a like new finished look. Reading the final report, it was quite a project to remove the actual spindle, but it was done without any issue. As noted, this is a very capable and competent dealership. Upon return home, I checked all the other slide motor mount bolts for all the slides, including the bedroom slide under the bed, need more yoga for that one!! Every bolt on every slide motor mount was loose to some degree. I added Blue Locktite to every bolt and really sungged them up, then marked each bolt with a paint pen for easy visual inspection.
Again, thanks for all the posts, comments, questions and insight provided on this forum!!

jmckinley · 06-25-2016, 08:28 PM

You must be mistaken. Newmar is telling other owners that they've never heard of this problem.

Canuck53 · 06-25-2016, 09:02 PM

I have mentioned it a few times I wonder if Newmar looks at these posts as a sources of problems/opportunities to improve or have there suppliers improve. If not why not. Not the only source but issues worth checking out. I assume at rally's they are looking for feedback?

PDR John · 06-26-2016, 08:02 AM

Judging from the number of other brand owners in this thread, I wouldn't call this a Newmar problem.

However, asking Newmar to provide a solution to an industry issue isn't out of line.

This will just continue to be part of my tinkering maintenance program, even with Loctite on them.

VP Chianese · 06-26-2016, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canuck53

I have mentioned it a few times I wonder if Newmar looks at these posts as a sources of problems/opportunities to improve or have there suppliers improve. If not why not. Not the only source but issues worth checking out. I assume at rally's they are looking for feedback?

I have said this before. But what I can not believe is that they apparently do not track warranty repairs. Automobile companies track each repair by both item and dealer. In this manor they can see failure rates long before the public does and they also can see dealers that are riding the warranty system. Both are very costly to the bottom line. I'm surprised that Newmar doesn't do this.

Just this past March I got a call from Newmar asking if I was happy with the repair work done by a dealer in January of 2016. The problem was that my coach was in FL since October of 2015 and said dealer was in NC. So there was no way the work was done. Turns out the work on the repair order was in fact done but it was done in August of 2015. So the dealer was just getting around to sending in the claim and lied about the repair dates. I told the Newmar person that if it was me I would deny the claim and let the dealer learn a lesson. I'm not sure what they did. But that shows that they have no clue as to failure rates. They just fix what they have too and go on.

As far as "it's the first time" goes remember Ford denied the Pinto gas tank problem as well as the tires on the Explorer just as GM never hear of the ignition key lock problem. But they knew the answers when they went to court.

The point being is they are wasting a lot of warranty money on fixing these when they break under warranty. My guess is $1,500 - $2,000 per incident. When a simple replacement of sixteen bolts during manufacture that cost about $1 each would prevent or at least all but eliminate the problem. Not to mention the inconvenience of the customers it causes by the slides not working or breaking.

Makes no sense with the computer systems that are available to track this type of failure. Who knows how many other changes in production could change the warranty costs by thousands if they were in fact tracked.

Canuck53 · 06-26-2016, 08:09 AM

You have my vote on tracking

Adbear · 06-26-2016, 04:19 PM

I recently purchased my first Bay Star (not my first coach). I contacted Newmar to discuss my handling issue. The representative told me he had never heard of a handling issue with the Ford Chassis. I asked him if he checked Forums and Blogs for customer issues. He said he didn't have the time or the interest . I thought is was interesting that the Dealer, and the Ford representative knew exactly what I was talking about and of the cheap fix.

It does not surprise me this was Newmar's response to the slide issue.

By the way I tightened all but one of the bolts on the mounts on my slides.