Community Forums

wardy · 01-21-2010, 04:24 PM

I wonder, has anyone had a similar problem?

I bought my 2007 42.5 QRP used (18K miles) in April 2009 from Lazydays. The coach was from upstate New York and the previous owners bought a new Tiffin. I noticed a little rust on the Spartan chassis but it was/is not bad i.e. bolts rusted etc. However I now know that I have at least a moderate if not real problem. Some Tiffin assembled area's are rusting badly. The rear-side radiator has an metal piece that folds under it to protect it from rocks etc. It is falling apart from rust. On the same side (driver) up front where the suspension air, gen release etc box is located the frame is severely rusted. There is more rust overall on the driver side than passenger, notably. I can have some of the metal cutout and replaced with weld and rivets. But I don't know what I don't know, in other words what I can't see.

Has anyone had a similar problem and or remedy? Also, what other points should I have inspected. If the chassis frame is metal then I may be in real trouble as this area is concealed, do I have a disaster on my hands?

The coach now resides in Central Florida with shore power and AC kept in the low 80's for humidity control. The interior looks great, no issues... yet

WilleyB · 01-21-2010, 08:38 PM

Buddy, what you have could be quite serious. Tiffin is a quality product and it's much too new to be rusting bad. My little rig is a 2000 and there's no rust on it. (we keep it protected) we live just about surrounded by salt water.
If it were mine I'd have it surveyed by qualified RV mechanic to determine the extent of repairs if required, or if an application of a rust inhibitor will do the job preventing further rusting.
Just my opinion for what it's worth.

Cheers
Willey

wardy · 01-22-2010, 04:52 AM

Willey,

Yes I agree, this could be quite serious. I had a 2004 Dolphin that I traded for the Bus and it had almost no rust and we camp on/near the ocean often.

As far as rust inhibitors-yes but I can't apply where I can't get to. Undercoating only locks in the rust so you don't see it rusting but the rust continues. Not sure what to do from here. I need to feel Okay about the coach or get rid of it. Really this reminds me of northern cars from the 70's & early 80's that rusted out due to salt use on the roads. I've not seen this sort of thing in years yet alone on a 2007

WilleyB · 01-22-2010, 10:43 AM

I guess I wanted to be kind in my post, but you seem realize just what you have and to be on the verge of a decision. The first thing that came to mind was one of those which had a treatment of salt water and not hosed down after the immersion. I guess it's now safe for me to say if it was my decision I'd get rid of it on a trade.
Hope it turns out in your best interests and not too big a loss.
I would question the honesty and integrity of a dealer who would take a coach like that on trade and flog it off to a trusting customer.
Cheers
Willey

wardy · 01-24-2010, 05:45 PM

Willie,

Yes, please don't hold punches... I just now came back from LD and looked at 2010 Allegro Bus's. They have proposed a fair trade value for my coach, just wish I liked the 2010's as much as my interior. I absolutely love the wood work & finish of my coach. Tiffin's new interior wood is gloss or semi-gloss, not satin like mine. If I could just cut out the problem area's I would but it's what I can't see and as we know rust never sleep's....

I in a pickle!

WilleyB · 01-24-2010, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wardy

Willie,

Yes, please don't hold punches... I just now came back from LD and looked at 2010 Allegro Bus's. They have proposed a fair trade value for my coach, just wish I liked the 2010's as much as my interior. I absolutely love the wood work & finish of my coach. Tiffin's new interior wood is gloss or semi-gloss, not satin like mine. If I could just cut out the problem area's I would but it's what I can't see and as we know rust never sleep's....

I in a pickle!

The wood work & finish is the least of your problems, the biggest one is getting stuck with what you have. The problem you have may not be only the rust. If that coach was caught in any kind of flood (salt or fresh) mold and rot will be the next discovery and neither of those unwanted costlys won't sleep either. All in all just by your description of the rust and a suspected dip in the salt water I'd guess it'll be a write off in a couple years.
If your gut feeling is to get rid of it and can get a fair trade for a GOOD coach I'd go for it if I were you.

Cheers
Willey

wardy · 01-25-2010, 05:12 AM

Willey,

I'm on board with you thought's. In fact I'm hopefully going to place an order while there are still non-urea based ISL's out there... running out of time.

wardy · 02-15-2010, 02:43 PM

Okay, so I mentioned that I bought my rusty coach from Lazydays. So it's only fair that I write to let anyone know that after sending in photo's and conversing, Lazydays cut-out and repaired the badly rusted area's and fixed-no charge to me. I did not have to demand or overstress. Just stated that the coach was sold to me in the current condition. Yes they should have picked up the problem(s) with even a basic inspection. But anyone who's run a biz knows thing's are not always run per policy. So I enjoyed the Crown Club, stayed a couple of nights for free as they made good.

.

Foz · 02-21-2010, 07:50 AM

Glad to hear they took care of you. We bought our 04 Horizon from Lazydays & take it bake for service each spring. We have had some warrany issues & nonwarranty issues. Lazydays has ALWAYS treated us fairly even when repairing non-warrany issues, they have done their best to keep costs down. They even convinced Winnie to "eat" some costs for us 2 years back & well out of warranty.

One thing we have learned in RVing is if you don't push, it won't get fixed, but Lazydays seems to come through.