Ride enhancement package

[Jerry & Sydney]

Almost two months ago we purchased a 35' 2008 Neptune XL that had only 6600 miles on it. We had read in this informative forum the problems some owners have experienced with the trailing arms breaking and we experienced first hand a less than smooth ride while taking it on a "shake down" trip of about 100 miles before heading out on our 3500 mile vacation.
Lucky for us, we met up with Scott (at Source phone number 541-935-0308) and Wayne at Roadmaster in Vancouver, WA, and together they came up with a wonderful ride enhancement package. After trying out many possibilities and testing the different shocks and air bags, we ended up with new trailing arms, larger air bags, Koni FST shocks and adjusted the ride height.
As a side note, Scott took the old trailing arms (with only 8300 miles on them) and magna flex tested them, and surprise the cracks showed up under an ultra violet light. We had had them examined before we purchased the RV and were told they were not cracked. For safety sake, we are so glad we had them replaced!
We are in the middle of our vacation, have put on over 1500 miles with the new ride enhancement package and are so pleased.

[Dutch Star Don]

sydney....Can you give us an idea what the upgrade cost? Did they replace both front and rear airbags? Better yet, can you break down the costs?

[MonacoMama]

sidney cain...I am extremely glad that you took the proactive approach and ended up pleased with the results!

I am sorry it had to come out of your own pocket though...

[time2go]

I would love to know the approx. cost of a pkg like this and if any of the shops performing the trailing arm replacements in Fl could do the same.

[Jerry & Sydney]

Give Scott at Source a call, and he can fill you in....each of his retailers (i think there are over 50 across the country) will set their own price. Scott and Wayne worked together on this, the invoice should be waiting for us at home. i do know at the last minute, we decided to have a steering stabilizer that Roadmaster makes put on, (i heard a figure of around $500 for that plus labor). We weren't able to have larger air bags put on the front because it would have thrown the ride level off, but Scott is working on that.
Safety was our biggest concern, so between Scott and Wayne they spent 5 days going through this RV...they tweaked, lubed, oiled, tested, and retested. We even have a whistle coming from the front, that they determined was from the awning arms when the wind and speed is just right.
When we picked up the RV from Sky River, the dealer, after 3 weeks of repairs trying to find out why it wouldn't go over hills*, the awning wouldn't retract..so Sky River just zip tied the awning closed and we'll have to have it fixed when we return home. We were leaving the next day for this vacation and just were done dealing with repairs.
*the reason we didn't have any power going over hills is that there was a kink in the fuel line, which probably happened at the factory??
We don't always have wifi, so if we don't reply, please forgive us....will catch up when we can...

[MonacoMama]

It is great to know they took the extra time and effort to figure everything out for you and get you safely back on the road. ...and I am sure your husband is glad to be enjoying the time where you two are!! Have a great time and ohhhh- you really should share some photos too!

[soberjoe]

Thanks for the report. Keeping up with all the chassis stuff has been very helpful to me.