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Old 03-04-2017, 05:32 PM   #15
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We haven't bought our M350 yet but we will lord willing. I've spent an exhaustive three year search for the best quality TH for our budget, GD is the clear winner as of now. I spent time underneath, looking at routings, plumbing, seals, roofs, fit and finish and just over all quality of the major manufactures. The M Class GD is by far the best built TH for the money. The worst quality were the FR XLR, Dutchman, Raptor. The worst floor plans were the Heartland TH, they need to fire all their designers. Heartland builds a decent rig but the floor plans and aesthetics are horrible. The Jayco Seismic was disappointing in overall quality and features. Hope WB does not screw up GD,
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Old 03-04-2017, 05:51 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by engineer78 View Post
We haven't bought our M350 yet but we will lord willing. I've spent an exhaustive three year search for the best quality TH for our budget, GD is the clear winner as of now. I spent time underneath, looking at routings, plumbing, seals, roofs, fit and finish and just over all quality of the major manufactures. The M Class GD is by far the best built TH for the money. The worst quality were the FR XLR, Dutchman, Raptor. The worst floor plans were the Heartland TH, they need to fire all their designers. Heartland builds a decent rig but the floor plans and aesthetics are horrible. The Jayco Seismic was disappointing in overall quality and features. Hope WB does not screw up GD,
Same. They had a 350M on the showroom floor when we were shopping for ours and I climbed the ladder to see the roof, roof to wall connection, etc. As well underneath. The underbelly is well done on the GD Momentum. The overall way pipes and wiring are ran is hard to beat...Neat and not in the way. Very happy with ours.
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Old 05-24-2017, 08:47 PM   #17
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We lost a wheel and tire, lugs sheared, turns out when I took the drum off the brake was dragging and completely worn out on that wheel. Don't know if that was the cause or just a contributing factor. My dealer is a service nightmare, so I called Grand Design and told them the story. New wheel, lugs, center cap and fender flair on the way with an offer to reimburse me for the brakes and studs which I already purchased to get the coach home.
The dual axles on the 350 worried me. You have 16,500 GVW on 14,000 pounds of axles. Not sure how GD gets away with that. I ended up getting the 388 only because it has 3 axles that are rated above the GVW.
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Old 05-25-2017, 05:25 AM   #18
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The dual axles on the 350 worried me. You have 16,500 GVW on 14,000 pounds of axles. Not sure how GD gets away with that. I ended up getting the 388 only because it has 3 axles that are rated above the GVW.
You do have to pay attention to not exceed the 16,500 GVW, but with almost 3500 in pin weight the numbers do work out, my trailer axles are actually not quite maxed out even though I am running right at GVW most of the time. I actually weighed using individual pad scales and all 4 wheels are under 3500. I did upgrade to 8000 pound hubs when I did the disc brake conversion and will likely upgrade suspension components when I get some wear starting to show on the stock stuff. I am also running Goodyear G614's on it. I intentionally stayed away from triple axles for a variety of reasons, but I am not sure any of those reasons are still valid in my mind.
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Old 05-25-2017, 06:03 PM   #19
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You do have to pay attention to not exceed the 16,500 GVW, but with almost 3500 in pin weight the numbers do work out, my trailer axles are actually not quite maxed out even though I am running right at GVW most of the time. I actually weighed using individual pad scales and all 4 wheels are under 3500. I did upgrade to 8000 pound hubs when I did the disc brake conversion and will likely upgrade suspension components when I get some wear starting to show on the stock stuff. I am also running Goodyear G614's on it. I intentionally stayed away from triple axles for a variety of reasons, but I am not sure any of those reasons are still valid in my mind.
I completely forgot to take the pin weight into account. That would take some of the weight off of the RV axles/tires. I've had some bad luck with blow outs on my last fifth wheel and on my goose neck trailer so I try to be careful about how much weight I put on the tires.
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Old 05-30-2017, 09:03 PM   #20
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You do have to pay attention to not exceed the 16,500 GVW, but with almost 3500 in pin weight the numbers do work out, my trailer axles are actually not quite maxed out even though I am running right at GVW most of the time. I actually weighed using individual pad scales and all 4 wheels are under 3500. I did upgrade to 8000 pound hubs when I did the disc brake conversion and will likely upgrade suspension components when I get some wear starting to show on the stock stuff. I am also running Goodyear G614's on it. I intentionally stayed away from triple axles for a variety of reasons, but I am not sure any of those reasons are still valid in my mind.
Can you elaborate on why you stay away from triple axles ? thanks
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Old 05-31-2017, 06:01 AM   #21
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Where and how I park it in my back yard mostly, a triple axle would tear it up terribly, and I dont want to pave the whole backyard. We are only carrying an electric golf cart, once we arrive the garage becomes the kids room, so I was looking for a smaller toy hauler to accomplish that, was trying to stay under 40'. Liked the 350M from the get go, and really like Grand Design (we had an Imagine travel trailer first).
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Old 06-29-2017, 11:20 AM   #22
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GD 350M general questions

For those that have or are considering a 350M or 388, I have a few questions.

Is the 388 really worth the extra money for 3 more feet of garage space? Right now, it's coming up about 5k more for a 2017 model.

Are there significant differences between 2017 and 2018 for a 350M? There is about 3500 difference in price.

Lastly, although I love the layout and the kudos GD has gotten, I really don't like the awning placement with respect to the slide and outside entertainment? Seems like you only get a few feet of useable shade with the slide poking out and the TV on the slide (referring to 350M). Any thoughts or opinions on this? Real world experience?

Thanks in advance. (Disclaimer - this is our first camper so sorry if the questions seem bizarre or obvious).
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Old 06-29-2017, 02:57 PM   #23
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For those that have or are considering a 350M or 388, I have a few questions.

Is the 388 really worth the extra money for 3 more feet of garage space? Right now, it's coming up about 5k more for a 2017 model.

Are there significant differences between 2017 and 2018 for a 350M? There is about 3500 difference in price.

Lastly, although I love the layout and the kudos GD has gotten, I really don't like the awning placement with respect to the slide and outside entertainment? Seems like you only get a few feet of useable shade with the slide poking out and the TV on the slide (referring to 350M). Any thoughts or opinions on this? Real world experience?

Thanks in advance. (Disclaimer - this is our first camper so sorry if the questions seem bizarre or obvious).
We have a 2016, 350M. Honestly the awnings are fairly high and don't provide the shade you may be looking for. We prefer a screened in room instead.

We love the unit - floor plan, quality, customer service, etc. have been great.

I think only you can decide if the extra feet is worth the price. I would also suggest that the extra length comes with some other things to consider. The length will limit your camping options more than the 350 does. There are national and state parks that we can't get into with our 350M, but there would be even more that are off limits with the longer rig. Manuvering these units can be challenging in smaller places like fuel stations and public campgrounds.

Good luck with your decision.
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Old 08-31-2017, 02:46 PM   #24
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I had been looking at all makes/models for over 2 years. Then this July, purchased our 2017 350M from an individual. I could not be happier. This rv is more than I ever imagined. We have used it 3 times so far. Love it and not one issue. Hoping the no issues trend continues.
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Old 08-31-2017, 11:11 PM   #25
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2017 Momentum 350M. All 3 AC units FAIL!

We took our 2017 Momentum 350M to Sturgis for it's first shakedown. The nightmare hit us hard! All 3 AC units would not come on! All we could get was the fans! At one point, it reached 91 degrees in the coach. The campground heard of our delema as news spread throughout the campers. The grounds owner gave us the name of their go to RV mechanic. We contacted him and he came out to our site. He had no luck getting us up and cool. We had to deal with the Sturgis heat for our entire stay! We were beyond pissed! We are in touch with Grand Designs. They claim to have our issue in good hands and look forward to finding out what is causing the AC compressors to not kick on. ALL 3! The heat nearly killed us! Luck is that we brought a couple fans. So, we bring the RV home and contacted the dealership that sold it to us. Unfortunately, they could not get us in for nearly 4 weeks! This issue has cost us all of our planned August/September RV use. It finally goes in Sept 2nd. I will keep all of you updated on this ridiculous situation. Our big question is this. How did this RV pass the AC inspection at Grand Design??? How did it pass at the dealership with the so called 50pnt inspection??? Got to say, we are deeply disappointed.
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Old 09-01-2017, 10:03 AM   #26
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We took our 2017 Momentum 350M to Sturgis for it's first shakedown. The nightmare hit us hard! All 3 AC units would not come on! All we could get was the fans! At one point, it reached 91 degrees in the coach. The campground heard of our delema as news spread throughout the campers. The grounds owner gave us the name of their go to RV mechanic. We contacted him and he came out to our site. He had no luck getting us up and cool. We had to deal with the Sturgis heat for our entire stay! We were beyond pissed! We are in touch with Grand Designs. They claim to have our issue in good hands and look forward to finding out what is causing the AC compressors to not kick on. ALL 3! The heat nearly killed us! Luck is that we brought a couple fans. So, we bring the RV home and contacted the dealership that sold it to us. Unfortunately, they could not get us in for nearly 4 weeks! This issue has cost us all of our planned August/September RV use. It finally goes in Sept 2nd. I will keep all of you updated on this ridiculous situation. Our big question is this. How did this RV pass the AC inspection at Grand Design??? How did it pass at the dealership with the so called 50pnt inspection??? Got to say, we are deeply disappointed.


Wow- highly disappointing. Please if you would let us know the outcome. We are soon to decide on a new 350M or the Raptor 355. Good luck.
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Old 09-05-2017, 02:49 PM   #27
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Questions

We have been thinking of the 350/351 Momentum. I would like to hear from owners, both good and bad experiences without the filter of the Momentum Owners Group. We seem to be up against poor build quality, no matter which brand we look at. From what I've been reading, there really aren't any really good units out there. We pay a premium price and wind up with a mediocre product, for any manufacturers or sales people out there please note. It would almost be worth buying a used unit and getting it setup for us.
Anyway, thanks for reading, Roadhobos
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Old 09-05-2017, 10:06 PM   #28
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We have been thinking of the 350/351 Momentum. I would like to hear from owners, both good and bad experiences without the filter of the Momentum Owners Group. We seem to be up against poor build quality, no matter which brand we look at. From what I've been reading, there really aren't any really good units out there. We pay a premium price and wind up with a mediocre product, for any manufacturers or sales people out there please note. It would almost be worth buying a used unit and getting it setup for us.
Anyway, thanks for reading, Roadhobos

I have a close friend of mine who bought a 376 back in December. He has had numerous problems with his Grand Design product.

Shower faucet was leaking behind the wall into their bedroom. He had to remove the wall paneling to get to the leak and fix it.

His front tv broke 5 months in.

His blue accent lights come on at random and the switch broke to turn them off.

His brakes completely failed on a cross country trip. Only could stop with his truck brakes.

After a full day of driving at a gas stop he found out one of his rear windows completely fell out of the unit. He had to plywood it and it still is like that because he can't get an appointment to get everything repaired.

He met Ray Clark one of the Reps of Grand Design, and I think he is the brother of one of the owners. Told him about all his issues, and Ray mentioned, "Well, looks like were going to have to replace your unit."

That was ten days ago and Ray won't return any of my friends calls about the trailer.


My friends, brother in law also bought the same unit.

His brakes have failed just the same, and he has developed leaking in a few of his windows. He saw that Grand Design uses two different caucus for the windows. A special one for just the tops, and another cheaper caulk for the sides and bottoms.



All this and I have seen, at Dealerships and one at an RV show, two different Grand Design 395's have caulk missing from the roof where water was actively getting into the trailer.


I was heavily considering a Grand Design but not anymore.

Yah they give you a 3 year warranty, but your never able to get at service appointment to get it fixed!!!

I don't know why everyone is raving about their build quality. For raving about their 3rd party inspection before it hits the dealership, there sure is numerous issues!
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