Cayman Ride Enhancement Kit

[Mandys Man]

Independent Front Suspension

[resindiana]

I just got off the telephone with "the new Monaco"/Navistar.
Apparently they are developing a new set of trailing arms for the effected chassis RR4R. They said It is in the testing phase at this time. They expect it will have been tested for 250,000 miles before they make it avaliable. I was told the labor time required for replacement should be about 4 hours and it will be designed to be a complete remove and bolt on kit with everthing to fit the design.
I was told it might be avaliable mid march.
They said navistar is concerned with all the problems that have been reported and is trying to make a properly improved replacement part.
I hope this is true and that they will manufacture and test it properly.
It should be more cost effective than the after market unit that are out there now.. Guess we will see.
Wouldn't it be nice if they would share in some of the replacement costs.
Would that be hoping for too much? Hmmmmm.

[Jim Stewart]

I doubt that the "Monaco/Navistar" replacement will be less expensive than the current options. I guess we can start a pool, my guess is the Monaco Version of the Trailing Arms will be in the $4K to $5K range/set. Monaco now has to solve their own problems as they have shipped some RR4R Chassis as the new Monaco LLC. They have to develop a new arm for their own past production.

[jamorton]

This is very interesting news!

Originally Posted by resindiana

I just got off the telephone with "the new Monaco"/Navistar.
Apparently they are developing a new set of trailing arms for the effected chassis RR4R.

This is actually their second "bite at the apple" - there was an original recall with replacement arms made available - arms which failed in much the same manner as the original equipment.

They said It is in the testing phase at this time. They expect it will have been tested for 250,000 miles before they make it avaliable.

250K miles at 60 Mph is 4,166 hours of road time. That is 347 days at 12 hours per day. I would much rather have a single set tested for this long rather than 10 sets tested for 34 days. I wonder which it will be? My trailing arms did not fail for several years, and tens of thousands of miles.

I was told the labor time required for replacement should be about 4 hours and it will be designed to be a complete remove and bolt on kit with everthing to fit the design.

I watched the replacement of my stock trailing arms with the Source Engineering arms- four hours is very optimistic. 6 is optimistic, and 8 is a good estimate.

I was told it might be avaliable mid march.

Seems hard to get the 250 K miles of testing done that quickly - they must be using dog miles or something.

They said navistar is concerned with all the problems that have been reported and is trying to make a properly improved replacement part.

Navistar seemed vary un-concerned when I was desperately trying to get parts for my rig and the extended warranty company wanted factory equipment. They ended up covering the Source Engineering parts, but not without a letter from Navistar stating that no parts were available NOR WOULD BE from them.

I hope this is true and that they will manufacture and test it properly.
It should be more cost effective than the after market unit that are out there now..

The best thing would be for them to sell Source Engineering parts, I think. As far as cost-effectiveness, it is very seldom that a large company does something more efficiently than a small one. The cost of the Source Engineering parts is quite in line with the general cost of chassis components and suspension parts.

Guess we will see.
Wouldn't it be nice if they would share in some of the replacement costs.
Would that be hoping for too much? Hmmmmm.

That would really be excellent - if they restored warranty coverage to all the people that they have left out in the cold so far. I am pretty uncomfortable with my rig's orphan status!

I guess I have a bit of a case of sour grapes over this whole issue. I suppose that having more options for people yet to face this issue is a good thing. I know that I am very satisfied with my Source Engineering trailing arms - IF Monaco er Navistar ( MoniStar? ) comes up with something as good or better, then that is good for the market - especially if they back it up with warranty coverage for orphaned owners.
I wonder why they don't just adopt the Source Engineering parts as the factory repalcement?

Good Luck to us all!

Jim 04 HR Neptune 34 PDD

[Jim Stewart]

"I wonder why they don't just adopt the Source Engineering parts as the factory replacement?"

I would not be surprised that this is exactly what they are doing! They would probably feel that they should test them due to the potential liability. However, remember that the LLC in Monaco LLC, means they can dump everyone if they have a similar major problem in the future.

[itdave]

Jim,
Don't you think you've voiced your opinion against Monaco LLC long enough. I don't think it adds anything to the discussion at hand. Many many companies are LLC meaning a Limited Liability Company, these type of companies don't stiff people any worse than Non LLC ie General Motors, Enron and Chrysler to name just a few.

Lets keep our discussion to thing that will help the OP not scare them. If anyone is interested here is a link to the Wikipedia definition of LLC.

[Jim Stewart]

Sorry, nope, not yet! GM and Chrysler still honored their warranties and are responsible for their recalls. My comments are not meant to scare, but to rightfully make people cautious.

The Wikipedia definition is definitely correct, the LLC is best suited to protect single owners from liability; Navistar from potential Monaco liability.

[Drifter]

Jim, I agree with you on this one. A LLC just makes it easier for owners to disenfranchise them selves from a business when problems arise. It's all in the definition that itDave linked to us.

[Neptunes]

Navistar/Monaco was so concerned that they filed bankruptcy over this issue. Conveniently washed their hands of all liability and reopened under a new name. They don't even have the decency to notify the thousands of owners of the dangers of operating these units. I guess a few people will just have to suffer serious or fatal injuries over this issue. After all, it is all about the bottom line.

[LRuiz]

What about our (the Monaco product owners) bottom line. Neptunes how long is your Neptune? Was curious if the length of the coach had anything to do with the failing trailing arms?
I have seen brand new 2009 and 2010 Monaco MHs (and beautiful ones I might add) for sale and there is NO warranty - only the warranties on parts. Too bad Monaco got too big for their britches and left us owners in the lurch but I'm sure "they" didn't go out with nothing.
Seems like the extended warranty should have coverage on these failures but I was told by service facilities that they will only cover if there is an incident. What is that all about???
Guess we just have to travel with faith.
Linda

[Jerry & Sydney]

Originally Posted by L Ruiz

What about our (the Monaco product owners) bottom line. Neptunes how long is your Neptune? Was curious if the length of the coach had anything to do with the failing trailing arms?
I have seen brand new 2009 and 2010 Monaco MHs (and beautiful ones I might add) for sale and there is NO warranty - only the warranties on parts. Too bad Monaco got too big for their britches and left us owners in the lurch but I'm sure "they" didn't go out with nothing.
Seems like the extended warranty should have coverage on these failures but I was told by service facilities that they will only cover if there is an incident. What is that all about???
Guess we just have to travel with faith.
Linda

Our Neptune is only 35', we had the trailing arms checked 2X and they didn't appear to be cracked, but were indeed. I don't think the length had anything to do with the failing trailing arms, they were just a design flaw, too much weight for their size. Some of the other sites on IRV2 list the problems that happen when they fail, we just couldn't take a chance...we love our Neptune, and once we get the "smooth ride kit" from Source and have Wayne @Roadmaster in Vancouver, WA install it, we are confident we will have a wonderful coach...our extended warranty is for 7 years, 70k miles, and we hope to use it close for at least another 6 years.
We have a lot of faith, but believe we need to do what we can to protect others (our grandchildren are often with us) as well as ourselves. We saw a Monaco Knight at Paso Robles Truck Center that had trailing arms fail. The story we got was that the owners were on Hwy 1, lost control when the arms failed and they feel lucky no one got hurt, altho the Knight had MAJOR damage. I guess it's all in your priorities.
Have a great day!

[rcsoarer]

Ours is also 35' and decided to upgrade instead of taking a chance. When they were taken off one of them had what looked like the beginnings of a crack. See my earlier comments on the ride enhancement kit. Now have ~2500 miles since the upgrade and am still very happy with the results.

[Tony2]

nkwazi,

Now that you have had the ride enhancement package for a bit any more feedback? I am waiting for my local dealer up here in Calgary to get a quote together for me on it when doing the trailing arms at the same time, hoping to get all of this done in the next 3-4 weeks providing parts are not still on back order from Source.

Also did you get yours alligned after all of this? I believe my guy was recommending I did so but he doesnt do them.

Have a great weekend all!!

Tony2

[rcsoarer]

All in all I am still very happy with the overall ride and the peace of mind of having the upgraded Trailing Arms.
I had the work done at the factory and supervised by Source, nobody made any mention of an alignment being necessary. When driving have no indication that an alignment maybe necessary.