Community Forums

moisheh · 06-22-2008, 07:30 AM

Have you had your tires checked not only for balance but for out of roundness? Have you considered going to Henderson's for their complete analysis. Might be worth the $1000 or so.

moisheh · 06-22-2008, 07:41 AM

I also think you should be concentrating on having the problem fixed. For now forget about your expenses. The important thing is to make the unit right. Obviously there are hundreds of units the same as yours that do not have this problem. Ther are almost no dealers equiped to fix chassis problems. Even many alignment shops do not know what to do on a MH. You have mentioned: bumpy ride, rough ride, and porpoising. All of these things are symptoms of different problems. The one thing they have in common is shocks Saying that a dealer checked your shocks means nothing. Porpoisinng is sometimes related to the front sway bar. Could they have installed the wrong bar? Bumpy ride sounds like tires. Monaco uses Goodyears and they have ben known to cause problems. Did they try moving the tires around? Is the bumpy ride in the front or the rear or both? You need an expert to look at this. A 2000 mile trip to the factory is nothing compared to the cost of selling your unit at a loss! The more you push for expenses the less co operation you will get from Monaco. One thing at a time.

Nonno · 06-25-2008, 10:18 AM

Nedra,

Hope things are getting better with the coach.

Today, I called monaco to get measurements for my ride height. When I asked if they needed my coach serial # I was told no because all 07 Neptune models would be the same. I was given 6 15/16" front and 8 1/2" rear. Curious if this is what you were finally given?

Nedra · 06-25-2008, 10:25 AM

Sounds about right but the information they gave you is wrong. Not all 07's have the same but I won't get into that.

Nedra

cb5300 · 06-26-2008, 09:31 AM

While Monaco isn't perfect by any means I have found them more than willing to bend over backwards to fix things and to do whatever it takes to keep a customer happy.

I've had two Monaco products ('07 Dynasty and '08 Signature)in the last year and while I've had my share of little problems, Monaco has always stepped up to the plate to make things right, even to the point of sending someone to Virginia from Indiana to pick up my coach to take it to their factory to have it fixed.

Hang in there and just start moving up the "food chain" until you reach someone that has the power to help you get your rig fixed. There's also nothing wrong with "Starting at the top" and letting the you know what flow down hill.

Good luck and I hope everything works out.

glennb100 · 06-26-2008, 09:44 AM

To Majeasy

Come on that comment DOES NOT belong in this forum! I think you owe Nedra an apology

Majeasy · 06-26-2008, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Come on that comment DOES NOT belong in this forum! I think you owe Nedra an apology

of course, you are correct, the vehicle operator could not have had anything to do her problem... i deleted the post....

Gary CA · 06-26-2008, 10:47 AM

Nedra~
Your neighbor, the judge, gave you good/free advice in your April post.

A friend went thur a similar issue with another brand coach. After a year and court they got a new coach, reimbursement and their payoff never changed.

Good luck, you have a lot of patience.

Nedra · 07-01-2008, 12:33 PM

Well I decided to call someone higher up at Monaco and got to speak with the right person. I told him our wows and he was amazed at all the problems we had and said he would talk to someone in Tech Support and have them call me back.

Well, I spoke with him and he sent us to Cummins and said he would talk to them and have them check some things.

GUESS WHAT....Rocky Mountain RV had set our ride height too high. What a shock to find out that after they claimed to have fixed it and that it now "drove like a dream" (more like a nightmare) that the rear air bags were set at 10 1/2 rather than 8 1/2 as they said it was set (according to Monaco's specs). It certainly explains why on the last trip we took everything was falling off the racks, my dog levitated off my lap and Al was levitating out of the driver's seat while driving.

Anyway, they fixed that and tweeked the front and we test drove it then they tweeked it again and we're supposed to drive it next week and then we'll talk to Monaco again. The coach may not be quite perfect yet but it's 75% better than it ever was and 100% better than when it left Rocky Mountain after they fixed it.

To make matters worse we drove the coach up to the collision and body shop that Cummins recommended and got an estimate for a repair and they gave us a quote for $1,000 less than Rocky Mountain just gave us to repair a ding in the rear bumper. I guess Rocky Mountain is trying to pay for their new paint booth with just our repair...NOT GONNA HAPPEN!

So, while I might have boasted about Rocky Moutain doing such a good job all along I now find out that they screwed up royally in setting our ride height worse than it ever was and they were trying to gouge us on the cost of repairing a ding in the rear.

Funny thing was we were talking to them about buying a new coach (smaller gas) and they backed out on the deal at the last minute (I won't even go into that). We were very angry and someone said perhaps it was an omen. Well, perhaps it was. They are so proud of their master certified techs and those master certified techs made our coach worse than it was before they supposedly fixed the ride height problem. I guess getting master certified doesn't make them any better than any other service tech. I guess Cummins has got themselves a new customer since they do bumper to bumper RV repair and they sure do seem to know what they are doing...and Rocky Mountain has lost us as customers.

I'm also sure Monaco is not happy to have paid them (in addition to all the other dealers) to fix a problem that they made worse and perpetuated a problem that has been going on for over a year.

Nedra

Nonno · 07-01-2008, 12:53 PM

Nedra,
Glad to hear things are moving in the right direction.

RM setting the ride height 2" higher than it should also explains why the rods were supposedly too short according to them.

Nedra · 07-01-2008, 01:22 PM

Maybe we should buy RM a new ruler

Nedra

nutensteve · 07-02-2008, 06:35 AM

Glad to see that your issues are finally being taken care of. Maybe now you can start to enjoy your coach instead of being frustrated.

You are indeed a patient couple.

DocUSAF · 07-02-2008, 11:46 AM

All, just wondering

I see there are several posts/topics regarding RV Coach ride heights, so is there an exact post/listing that covers all the exact front and rear heights for Monaco DP models from say '00 thru '09 models. Just wondering, 'cause we are all geting really mixed versions from several sources including Monaco. Who can we really trust to get this one just right.

Doc

Dutch Star Don · 07-02-2008, 01:40 PM

Nedra.....Take a heavy duty coat hangar and put a small arc in it. Cut the ends off so the distance from end to end is your ride height specification. Make one for the front and one for the rear. Now you can check the ride height yourself. You don't even have to go under the coach, just kneel down beside the tires. Check the distance, with your new tool, between the two metal plates at the top and bottom of the airbag. At least you'll know if they're accurate and can check them whenever necessary.

DocUSAF....Your Manual may have your ride height adjustment numbers in the Chassis section. I know they're in the 05 manuals and not in the 07 manuals.

RIDE HEIGHT is one of the easiest things you can check on your coach. No need to crawl under the coach or even get dirty. Minor adjustments can really change how your coach handles.

I finally checked mine and found the front was an inch low and the rear was an inch high. I made the correction and immediately noticed a smoother more comfortable ride. The other bonus....I was using a drop down hitch extension to bring my tow bar height down to align properly with my toad. Adjusting the ride height brought the hitch down 2" and eliminated the need for the drop extension.....just a side benefit.