Excel Broken Frame – Long Road to the Factory

[Bob Wilson]

This is the second in a series of five posts on my experiences with a broken frame on our 2004 Excel 36RDO.

In May 2007, as I prepared to head back to Oregon after spending the winter in Florida, I was unable to fully close both the sofa slide and the desk/entertainment center slides. Both were out of square with the slide frame, and the flashing of both was overlapping the frame of the slide, preventing the slide from fully retracting. Distressing to say the least ... especially since prior to leaving Oregon for Florida my bedroom slide would not deploy unless attached to my truck ... a problem I had ˜adjusted' at a non-Excel dealer before departing for Florida. And along the way to Florida I had developed a problem with the kitchen slide ... seems it had skipped a tooth or two and was out of time ... meaning that the front end would retract fully, but the rear edge remained out about an inch.

So before hitting the road in May I called Jack at the Excel service center and told him I was having problems with all four slides, and that I was heading back from Florida and asked if I could swing by the factory to have them take a look in about ten days. To my shock, Jack told me the service center was booked 5 months in advance, and that they could not look at the problem.

My blood pressure rising, I told Jack that my experience with dealer service was poor, and that I thought that there was a structural problem since all four slides were having problems. Jack suggested that I take the trailer to a dealer, or wait five months ... my choice. I must admit to being livid ... although I didn't call Jack any names, I did hang up on him. I'm not proud of that.

In truth, it's not Jacks fault that the service center is booked five months in advance. If you've visited Smith Center, you know how small the labor market is that Jack has to work with. He can't wiggle his nose and add more technicians.

Service dealers in the Tampa area were booked weeks in advance, and I was caravanning with my folks, so sitting tight for weeks wasn't a good option. Instead, I called the Excel dealer in Eugene, OR and made an appointment for early July ... giving me time to limp home, and stay in an area near my kids while the trailer was repaired.

After dropping off the trailer for repair in Eugene, the dealer called later that day to tell me that the slides were too far out of alignment for them to correct the problems. They said I could pick up the trailer ... uh, I asked if they called the factory. The service manager said ˜no, my tech has 20 years of experience, and if he says he can't align them, then he can't and he didn't need to call the factory for advice on how to align the slides.'

Great ... Jack doesn't have time, and the dealer can't fix it. What am I supposed to do until Nov. or Dec. when Jack might have time?

So I asked the dealer to call the factory and let them know that they couldn't adjust the slides, and that I was concerned that there was a structure problem, and to see if they could get me an earlier appointment. According to the dealer, the initial answer was that the first available appointment was in Nov.

Thankfully the dealer pleaded my case, and Jack took sympathy on me. I now had a date at the factory on August 20th. And I'm even more thankful that Jack asked the dealer to examine the frame in two specific locations for cracks ... sure enough, I had cracks in both spots that had allowed the rear of the trailer to sag, causing the slide alignment problems. In addition, fiberglass on the street side had cracked in multiple spots near the entertainment center slide, and the interior wallboard had cracked around the sofa slide.

As I left Oregon for Smith Center it wasn't a sure thing that I'd make it. The Eugene dealer, at the direction of the factory, had welded in some ˜fish plate' where the frame was cracked on one side and was separated by a ¼"� on the other side as a temporary measure ... the dealer warranty paperwork said ˜temporary repair which we "hope"� will get the customer to the factory'.

In fact, we did make it to the factory on August 20th, and we were there for a week ... in the next post I'll cover the repairs and what I learned.

[Bob Wilson]

This is the second in a series of five posts on my experiences with a broken frame on our 2004 Excel 36RDO.

In May 2007, as I prepared to head back to Oregon after spending the winter in Florida, I was unable to fully close both the sofa slide and the desk/entertainment center slides. Both were out of square with the slide frame, and the flashing of both was overlapping the frame of the slide, preventing the slide from fully retracting. Distressing to say the least ... especially since prior to leaving Oregon for Florida my bedroom slide would not deploy unless attached to my truck ... a problem I had ˜adjusted' at a non-Excel dealer before departing for Florida. And along the way to Florida I had developed a problem with the kitchen slide ... seems it had skipped a tooth or two and was out of time ... meaning that the front end would retract fully, but the rear edge remained out about an inch.

So before hitting the road in May I called Jack at the Excel service center and told him I was having problems with all four slides, and that I was heading back from Florida and asked if I could swing by the factory to have them take a look in about ten days. To my shock, Jack told me the service center was booked 5 months in advance, and that they could not look at the problem.

My blood pressure rising, I told Jack that my experience with dealer service was poor, and that I thought that there was a structural problem since all four slides were having problems. Jack suggested that I take the trailer to a dealer, or wait five months ... my choice. I must admit to being livid ... although I didn't call Jack any names, I did hang up on him. I'm not proud of that.

In truth, it's not Jacks fault that the service center is booked five months in advance. If you've visited Smith Center, you know how small the labor market is that Jack has to work with. He can't wiggle his nose and add more technicians.

Service dealers in the Tampa area were booked weeks in advance, and I was caravanning with my folks, so sitting tight for weeks wasn't a good option. Instead, I called the Excel dealer in Eugene, OR and made an appointment for early July ... giving me time to limp home, and stay in an area near my kids while the trailer was repaired.

After dropping off the trailer for repair in Eugene, the dealer called later that day to tell me that the slides were too far out of alignment for them to correct the problems. They said I could pick up the trailer ... uh, I asked if they called the factory. The service manager said ˜no, my tech has 20 years of experience, and if he says he can't align them, then he can't and he didn't need to call the factory for advice on how to align the slides.'

Great ... Jack doesn't have time, and the dealer can't fix it. What am I supposed to do until Nov. or Dec. when Jack might have time?

So I asked the dealer to call the factory and let them know that they couldn't adjust the slides, and that I was concerned that there was a structure problem, and to see if they could get me an earlier appointment. According to the dealer, the initial answer was that the first available appointment was in Nov.

Thankfully the dealer pleaded my case, and Jack took sympathy on me. I now had a date at the factory on August 20th. And I'm even more thankful that Jack asked the dealer to examine the frame in two specific locations for cracks ... sure enough, I had cracks in both spots that had allowed the rear of the trailer to sag, causing the slide alignment problems. In addition, fiberglass on the street side had cracked in multiple spots near the entertainment center slide, and the interior wallboard had cracked around the sofa slide.

As I left Oregon for Smith Center it wasn't a sure thing that I'd make it. The Eugene dealer, at the direction of the factory, had welded in some ˜fish plate' where the frame was cracked on one side and was separated by a ¼"� on the other side as a temporary measure ... the dealer warranty paperwork said ˜temporary repair which we "hope"� will get the customer to the factory'.

In fact, we did make it to the factory on August 20th, and we were there for a week ... in the next post I'll cover the repairs and what I learned.