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TedandElle · 09-06-2013, 07:02 PM

I just pulled in to Jellystone CG in Pelahatchie, MS about 2 hours ago. Upon lowering the overhead bunk, I heard a loud crash at the end and a cable came out from the driver's side rear of the bed, where the left slide is.

I can see the cable is supposed to go under a pulley and back up to an attachment point. The question is how do I access that easily? I called the Thor number and waited on hold for 5 mins just for the chance to leave a message. I decided to stop waiting and try again tomorrow morning. If they are closed Saturdays ill press the "my coach is completely down" button. I can't get it back up even with pressure under that side. That of course makes it impossible to drive the coach. We're on day one of an 8-day trip to FL. Hope we don't have to turn around or spend all our time in a dealership.

Any tips for safely getting the bed back up so that I can just enjoy the rest of the vacation without that bed? Annoyingly I see multiple screws whose heads ripped off and a crack in the arm right where the bed attaches to the slider.

Also, can someone please confirm what number to call when in this type of situation? I have one number for Thor, the one that was closed tonight. They don't say their hours on the message--any idea when they are normally open? Thanks in advance. I'm not going anywhere until I get this one fixed

TedandElle · 09-07-2013, 02:40 PM

Just in case this helps anyone else, we were able to get the bed up and secured this morning. After leaving a second message with Thor, I decided to call MHSRV and see if they could help. Tim Johnson at MHSRV was very helpful with walking us through forcing the bed into the up position. He said once we got it up and pinned it would be safe to drive that way. He suggested putting a 2x4 between the dash and front part of the bed to make sure it didn't come down.

That seemed a bit too risky for me, so we spent some time working on the cable. With a lot of pulling, luck, and a shoelace from my shoes as a lead, we were able to get the cable back in place. Then we raised the bed as I pushed with all my might until we got it back in place. Now the pins are in and the bed seems as secure as before it broke. We'll continue the rest of our trip without it and take it in for service when we get back next week.

When we were about 3/4 finished, the Thor emergency rep called me back. He too was very helpful and authorized us to call a local repairman to help get the coach drivable again. Before the local repairman called us back, we fixed it ourselves. Now we have to finish screwing the trim pieces back on and then hopefully can concentrate on vacation

tanstaafl · 09-07-2013, 04:13 PM

Thanks for the information. I just hope we won't need it.

**JohnRR** · 09-07-2013, 04:34 PM

Thank you for the update and I hope you get to enjoy the rest if your trip.

jpspinks · 09-07-2013, 06:46 PM

Ted, You guys appear to have what my dad would have called "buzzard's luck". Hopefully all of the 34E issues will be over soon and you can travel safely and without worry. We have spent the last few dyas getting a Jeep Wrangler ready to become our "toad" for future trips. Safe travels and I sent you a PM. John

TedandElle · 09-07-2013, 10:34 PM

Here's what the cable looked like when it popped out.

Click image for larger version

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jdwky · 09-08-2013, 06:02 PM

We have the same type of overhead bunk in our Miramar too. Ours makes some "un-nerving" noises as it lowers, I hope we don't end up having the same problem too!! Let us know how it goes on the repair...

TedandElle · 09-08-2013, 08:58 PM

Will do. Ours would sort of skip going down just about every time we used it, including the check-out. The tech said it was normal and we believed him. Each time we used the Mh (3 trips so far) we found screws near the main slide out. We assumed that was the standard "screws left in the slide out" I've read about here in the Thor forum. Turns out they were screws ripping out of the bed's slide down assembly. I decided not to spend any time screwing the padded pieces back into place because they'll need to take those off when they repair it. The cross piece fits in the pass through just fine.

Edit: I meant to say now that it's fixed we realize it was broken--or at least a bit messed up--before we put the bed down Friday night. We both noticed the bunk moving a lot at the front where it's supported only by cables. We chalked it up to the bumpiness of the roads, not realizing it wasn't right. Today it didn't move at all, even on rough roads.

jpspinks · 09-09-2013, 06:10 AM

Ted, I have not removed the padded cover from the Bunk verticle track. How is it attached? I want to remove mine and check the tracks on both sides. Also, you mention movement on rough roads. Your bunk was moving with the pins installed on rough roads? Ours is up so tight to the ceiling that there is nothing to move. Maybe the pin holes are too low? John

Quote:

Originally Posted by TedandElle

Will do. Ours would sort of skip going down just about every time we used it, including the check-out. The tech said it was normal and we believed him. Each time we used the Mh (3 trips so far) we found screws near the main slide out. We assumed that was the standard "screws left in the slide out" I've read about here in the Thor forum. Turns out they were screws ripping out of the bed's slide down assembly. I decided not to spend any time screwing the padded pieces back into place because they'll need to take those off when they repair it. The cross piece fits in the pass through just fine.

Edit: I meant to say now that it's fixed we realize it was broken--or at least a bit messed up--before we put the bed down Friday night. We both noticed the bunk moving a lot at the front where it's supported only by cables. We chalked it up to the bumpiness of the roads, not realizing it wasn't right. Today it didn't move at all, even on rough roads.

TedandElle · 09-09-2013, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpspinks

Ted, I have not removed the padded cover from the Bunk verticle track. How is it attached? I want to remove mine and check the tracks on both sides. Also, you mention movement on rough roads. Your bunk was moving with the pins installed on rough roads? Ours is up so tight to the ceiling that there is nothing to move. Maybe the pin holes are too low? John

John, the circles you see on the padded covers pop off easily with a flathead screwdriver to reveal Philips head screws below. If you just want to examine the tracks you can just remove the two screws on each vertical pad and it will slip right off. For my work we needed to take off the horizontal pad, which involved more screws including the ladder mounts. Some of mine were helpfully stripped and slid right out.

The part that was moving was the front, right over the dashboard. That part is supported by the cable that runs through the whole system. Even with the pins in the back, the front was moving on bumpy roads, indicating the cable was probably slack. Now that we've re-attached the cable, the front is rock solid again.

Ted

TedandElle · 09-18-2013, 12:41 AM

Just a quick update: The bed stayed firmly in place throughout the rest of our trip (and about 15 more hours of driving). I brought it to the local dealer yesterday. They expect to have it a few days to diagnose the parts needed, and then they'll give it back to me while they wait for the parts to arrive (4-5 weeks or so). By then it will be late October and I won't mind giving it to them for several weeks to fix. As I described the problem to the service tech, he said I was the second person to come in with the same problem in two weeks. I hope when they fix it the bed STAYS fixed! I'll update here when I know more.

Also, in case it helps another newbie like me, I spent ~15 minutes on hold just for Thor to tell me I needed to speak to someone else that was not an option to press on the initial call. Another 15 minutes later, Ron at Thor listened to my problem and then told me all I needed to do in the first place was call the local dealer. Apparently I could have saved myself the 30 minutes of holding with the "All techs are busy..." message repeated every 30 seconds or so.

TedandElle · 10-16-2013, 05:35 PM

Update, 1 month later. Boy was I silly to believe this would be a relatively fast process. I had to call 3 times to get my MH back 2 weeks later than the dealer said they'd have it, and they still hadn't received permission from Thor to order the parts! I know from personal experience the parts will take 4-5 weeks to arrive, and by then it will be Christmas which will slow things down more. I'm starting to wonder if this will be fixed by next Spring. I'm supposed to receive a "concierge" call from Thor at the 90-day point, which should be any day now. I'm hoping they can help expedite this process a little bit.

cenfl · 10-17-2013, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TedandElle

Update, 1 month later. Boy was I silly to believe this would be a relatively fast process. I had to call 3 times to get my MH back 2 weeks later than the dealer said they'd have it, and they still hadn't received permission from Thor to order the parts! I know from personal experience the parts will take 4-5 weeks to arrive, and by then it will be Christmas which will slow things down more. I'm starting to wonder if this will be fixed by next Spring. I'm supposed to receive a "concierge" call from Thor at the 90-day point, which should be any day now. I'm hoping they can help expedite this process a little bit.

Sounds like a problem with the dealer. When I was getting the run around from Lazydays trying to get warranty work done, I called THOR and finally got results. Don't wait on the "concierge", call them now!!!

Dixie029 · 12-03-2013, 03:42 PM

OMG we purchased a new 2014 Hurricane 34J & boy have we had issues. On our last trip our electric bed would not go up. Called Thor & the tech I spoke to wasn't very helpful or nice. He told me to get a wrench & put it up manually. Right I am a 60 year old woman who has never used anything but a hammer & screwdriver. He the suggested I ask at the front desk if they had someone there that could work on it. I don't want a jack leg working on my coach. I said "what about the warranty since we have only had it for 3 months." He informed me that is why we have to buy a road side assistance plan. Really! I love the floor plan & that is the reason we purchased it but I AM NOT happy with Thor's customer service or tech line or whatever they call it. My husband finally was able to get the bed back up.