Tiffin Quality (again)

[Bob Hyatt]

(we hope)

[dezolen]

Better than 13% tax plus 25-30% exchange and we still make the purchase. Consider yourself lucky. Enjoy

[AF Guy]

Originally Posted by Bob Hyatt

First, let me say that I am a newbie to motorhomes. My wife has been wanting to do this motorhome thing for years, she's saved religiously, and we just took delivery of a Tiffin Allegro Open Road 32SA.



Second, I am anything but a newbie regarding computers, internet and web sites, having taught computer science for 46 years. So I realize that about 90% of the complaints you see have to be taken with a grain of salt, as unhappy people are way more likely to voice complaints than the happy folks are.



So, with that being said, I had a certain level of trepidation on the motor home quality control front. We took delivery on Monday. I spent quite a while, testing every last system, both on shore power and on the generator, and for those things that run off of the inverter (residential fridge, etc) I also tested those. I've tested both A/C units, the heat pump functionality on the front AC, the furnace, the hot water system, water pump, four TVs, etc. We beat on every single component. Auto leveling - check. Slides - check. All the interlocks (steps up on ignition on, etc) - check.



On the delivery inspection the only flaw I found was that the right rear-view camera was not working. Tech pulled the cover off of the dash, found it was either not plugged in, or was knocked out when someone did something else. In less than a minute all of the rear view cameras were functional.



Second glitch was the generator had 27 hours (Onan 7kw genes). They had apparently run it to both prevent phase separation problems with ethanol fuel and to keep the coach batteries charged. Oil is supposed to be changed at 20 hours. They had no record of anyone doing this so I took this on myself to avoid driving 10 miles back down the road.



Other than those two things, I have yet to find anything else that needs to be adjusted, repaired, etc. Doors, windows, drawers, furniture all looks perfect. Bought a dish network receiver, and the in-motion sat antenna pulls in HD just fine, moving or sitting still. The TV antenna is far better than I thought, receiving clear signals from our local ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX (and a few others) stations that were 35+ miles away when I did the testing.



Hot water works both electric and propane. Stove/oven works (propane). Convection microwave works in both modes. The 300 light switches and such all work as does every light. The only thing I have not yet tested is the Winegard WIFI on top of the roof. We are spending the weekend at our local Oak Mountain State Park (alabama) to do a real systems check, and where we are staying does have wifi so I will be able to check out that remaining untested piece of technology.



I suppose my question is, considering the complaints I have seen, are we just extremely lucky, or is my initial judgement correct - that everybody with a problem will complain, but most with no problems remain silent?



In any case, count me a happy Tiffin owner. My wife had looked at Thor, Jayco, etc, and thought the Tiffin was a bit too expensive compared to them. I kept taking her to the dealers to look, and I ALWAYS had the salesman take us by the 32SA coaches as the last stop. And it wasn't too long before she noticed what I had already seen - absolutely no comparison between those and Tiffin. And then there is the driving. With the Sumosprings, while I would not say it drives like a car at all, it drives really well, no wandering and such as big trucks I have driven in the past tended to do.



Looking forward to her reaction over the weekend. She wants to travel, we are both retired so we don't operate on any schedule. So travel is definitely in the future.



Only issue I have left is to figure out how I am going to tow. I am leaning toward a tow-dolly to pull her honda. Reasonable price and has electric brakes so we get to avoid all the remote brake stuff and costs, and I personally don't like the idea of towing with front tires loose. I have seen lots of reports of reduced mileage, which makes sense to me since the wheels can "swim" very slightly and still tow fine, but wear faster...



Right now, there appears to be nothing that needs the "please set up an appointment in two weeks after you take possession to fix any problems found." I hope this continues. Waiting to see if the luck holds...

Very happy to hear / read this post. I am also a newbie and have been doing a lot of research before buying. Been looking at Thor, Winnebago and Holiday Rambler. I also keep coming back to the Tiffin. Will be purchasing this year...very happy to hear the “good”. With all the research...there is a lot of “negative” comments and reviews. Happy to see a good one. Thank you for sharing...good luck in your future travels.

[Bob Hyatt]

Here's some more data. We took the thing out for a couple of trips, total of 750 miles. One this past weekend over into Mississippi. Going over, we drove through 200+ miles of 15-20 mph steady/gusty winds. Coming back, we drove through 200+ miles of major thunderstorms, thunder, lightning, high winds, mega-rain. Thing really drove well. BIG gusts will let you feel them. About the biggest thing we felt was a big 18 wheeler with a 50' long enclosed box trailer, being towed by a humongous wrecker, passed us going at least 25mph faster than we were. We drove about 62 mph everywhere we went to take it easy since the thing had 200 miles on it when we bought it. This is the 24000 chassis + OEM Sumo springs on it.

I think it is a clear winner. Only issue we had was we went to Maynor Creek campground in Waynesboro, and could not get the hydraulic leveler happy. Both sites we tried ended up with the rear wheels off the ground and the leveler complaining about "excessive slope".

Other issue was TV worked all the way to Maynor creek, down the interstates, etc. But our campground site - nothing. Too many tall pine trees. No internet. Hardly any cell phone coverage. As Tiffin says, "roughing it smoothly" with emphasis on "roughing it." At least we had 50a + water + sewage... Could have been worse.

If you drive one of these, then drive a Thor or Jayco, you won't buy 'em. If you are looking at Thor or Jayco (or any of the other "lower tier" of coaches, I'd suggest you not drive the Tiffin, nor go inside it.

[Davidrvr]

Never take the rear tires off the ground.. that is where the air brake is locked.. you will slide (or can ) with no brakes.. always raise the front as high as needed per se.. if they are off the ground you need blocks or to find a better spot

[Bob Hyatt]

Originally Posted by Davidrvr

Never take the rear tires off the ground.. that is where the air brake is locked.. you will slide (or can ) with no brakes.. always raise the front as high as needed per se.. if they are off the ground you need blocks or to find a better spot

This is what the auto-leveler did. I just pressed "auto-level" and up it went, followed by the too much slope (or whatever it says) light coming on and still having an orange light in the bottom showing rear is still low.

BTW this is not a diesel, so no air brakes. But the park/emergency brake is definitely tied to the rear of the drive shaft so yes, raising wheels off the ground is bad. Silly auto-level computer seems to still have a bug or two in the software based on watching it work...

Where we stayed apparently used bulldozer drivers that didn't have any levels when they surveyed. EVERY single site we looked at sloped off toward the water...

Could not park nose-in, as the power would have been a long way from rear of coach where power connects. Probably had enough hose for sewer and water, but things would have been backward overall...

[rockriver]

in the near future we are headed to watch part of our build...
just made reservations at a sweet little ladies' place!

bottom line, i didn't know or hadn't realized i would have spider in the coach!!
unless bob paid extra money for arachnids?

the other info is so helpful... and educational... don't raise rear wheels off the ground. tv remotes richocheting, benefit of sumos, etc... yall keep the info flowing and the experiences telling!

[Ddjay]

Have an older Class C with three packs of Lynx levelers for the manual leveling process. Thought I wouldn’t need them once I got Class A with hydraulic jacks. WRONG! In reading and studying I note that you level up some with blocks in uneven campsites then use jacks for final fine tuning. Those blocks are going with us once the Class A decision is finalized.

Folks should study, study, study on the Internet before buying a rig. Would be beneficial for first time buyers to emphasize purchasing from a dealer with a rep for outstanding PDI experience too.

Dave

[Bob Hyatt]

It seems we have to deal with two separate issues.

(1) I am going to build some heavy-duty ramps to deal with the rear of the coach. Need to have a way to raise the rear while keeping the wheels in solid contact with the ground. I am thinking of something like pressure treated 2x12 using two side by side to make it wide enough for a dually rear wheel. That will give me 3" of lift, with another pair of 2x12 (or whatever I end up using) underneath those when the slope is off by thatch. Should be able to swap 'em to the front in the odd front-low case.

(2) need some heavy duty pads to go under the levelers as the last campground we stayed at was not level and not flat. I don't know what kind of travel the hydraulic jacks have, but I figure that something needs to go under 'em no matter what, and that "something" needs to be pretty heavy duty. Might resort to the same 2x12 lumber with two stacked and glued/screwed together at right angles to avoid splitting them.

Only thing I don't have a feel for yet is what kind of typical off-level heights we are going to have to deal with. IE 3-4" doesn't seem like much but it certainly is. I just don't know if we are going to have to deal with anything beyond that on a regular basis...

Rockriver: you had me checking my post for the word "spider" since auto-correct gives me fits (spyder -> spider). Didn't find it.

[Davidrvr]

I have a few pieces of 4x4 that are 22” Long .. added in a couple pieces of 2x4 at 20” and we have yet to park where we couldn’t get level

[Lt Dan]

Originally Posted by Bob Hyatt

(1) I am going to build some heavy-duty ramps to deal with the rear of the coach. Need to have a way to raise the rear while keeping the wheels in solid contact with the ground. I am thinking of something like pressure treated 2x12 using two side by side to make it wide enough for a dually rear wheel. That will give me 3" of lift, with another pair of 2x12 (or whatever I end up using) underneath those when the slope is off by thatch. Should be able to swap 'em to the front in the odd front-low case.

(2) need some heavy duty pads to go under the levelers as the last campground we stayed at was not level and not flat. I don't know what kind of travel the hydraulic jacks have, but I figure that something needs to go under 'em no matter what, and that "something" needs to be pretty heavy duty. Might resort to the same 2x12 lumber with two stacked and glued/screwed together at right angles to avoid splitting them.

Bob, here is what I built for ours. They are 2x12's, 48" long and have 6" of rise so I can get under the coach for maintenance. I built four and they are kind of heavy so I don't carry them in the coach. A 3" rise like you mentioned wouldn't be as heavy and could be shorter.

As for jack pads, I carry 12 pieces of 12"x12" 3/4" plywood and stack them as needed.

[rockriver]

i have seen ads for snap pads... that fit on feet of leveling jacks.
they are on my "maybe " list.
just wondering if others have tried them...
not that they would replace plastic or plywood or 2x boards...

anybody tried them? seems like they would reduce the amount of length that jacks extend and give a wider base. ?

[MDPD]

I found that on our new RED 33AA the jacks seemed to be further under the coach than on our last motorhomes making it a little difficult to place and retrieve boards from under them. One of the first improvements we made to the Tiffin, and it did not need many, was purchasing Snap Pads and I am super glad we did. No more getting on hands and knees and with the limited storage space in the 33AA, the space taken by boards is now put to better use. The Snap Pads were very easy to install and do add about an inch to the length of the extended jack.

[Jthigh]

I built ramps like LTDan’s picture. I used just regular 2 x 8, not pressure treated, due to weight. PT lumber is a lot heavier. I stacked mine in groups, and labeled them A, B, C, and D then predrilled holes for pins to keeps boards from sliding off each other. The groups allow for the predrilled holes line up every time. I got long landscaping nails and cut them down to proper length for for pins. I cut a set on long pins to stack 3 boards and another set of shorter pins to stack just 2 boards. I also countersunk the boards for the nail heads so as not to hit tires. I find that I use 3 boards on one side while the other only needs 2.