Elkhart Tips

[gmadams]

Originally Posted by maxtgam

When you call Thor, and schedule service, do they tell you the estimated time for repairs?

The appointments start on Monday mornings. They have your rig scheduled for the week depending on what needs to be done. Mine only took two and a half days so I left on Wednesday.

[DGShaffer]

I sent Steve my repair list when asking for an appointment. He said that it should only take 3 days but prepare for a week.

I drove out there through some pretty bad storms and with that incurred damage to my entry door and to the anti-billowing device on my slide topper. They included repairing this damage at no cost to me.

I arrived on Sunday evening and prepared my copy of the repair list by putting pieces of carpenters tape at all the locations that required attention or repair. This worked as a visual reminder for me as well as an indicator for them.

I simply rented a car while there and they give Thor a discount as well as pick you up. You just leave it in the lot when you leave and Service contacts them to pick it up.

At the end of every day, my MH was in the lot, plugged in with slides out and cardboard on the entry steps. Each night I went over my list noting what had been done. I made some friends in the lot and would hang out with them until time to head home. The next morning at 7:00 my tech would arrive and go over what the had done and what was on their list for that day. It was a very well organized event and the service guys and manager should be proud of how they perform.

Their eagerness to remedy a lean issue I had was pretty impressive. Ford would not entertain a suspension issue like that unless it was greater than 3/4" and mine was right on the boarder. Well they decided that it was up to them and they added steel shim plates and now it sits perfectly level.

They are creative with the way they approach the repair work and I love what they did for me and my coach. My slides were noisy and a local CW created a pretty bad leak in one of my slides trying to fix the noise issue. now my MH is as quiet as can be and leak tight. I drove through a day and a half of some of the hardest rain I had ever experienced and not a leak anywhere in the coach. I wish my trailer was that leak tight.

Have fun during your visit and enjoy the company of your fellow lot mates while there. Take the Thor factory tour, the Newmar factory tour and go to the MH Hall of Fame.

[User1011]

We are going to Elkhart in the next few months and will be traveling the PA Turnpike to the Ohio Turnpike.

We are trying to plan an overnight stop. The Walmart's off I-80 do not allow overnight RV parking in the general area of Cleveland.

The Streetsboro/Cleveland KOA (exit 187 in Ohio) does not open until May. Any suggestions for an overnight stop or perhaps a recommended large truck plaza along that route ?

[DGShaffer]

Not only does Rt 80 have large rest stops but they have RV only lots in them with pay by the night (I think) electric and water hookups as well as dump stations

[User1011]

Originally Posted by DGShaffer

Not only does Rt 80 have large rest stops but they have RV only lots in them with pay by the night (I think) electric and water hookups as well as dump stations

Thanks, Don.

[gmadams]

Originally Posted by DGShaffer

Not only does Rt 80 have large rest stops but they have RV only lots in them with pay by the night (I think) electric and water hookups as well as dump stations

I saw the pedestals for electrical hookups at the service plazas/rest stops. I didn't checkout the prices for them.

[DGShaffer]

I didn't need to hook up either but it was nice that they made the spots wide enough for your slides. All of the rest stops seem to have most of what you might need as far as food coffee and rest rooms.

[Crabby Mike]

Go to the Ohio Turnpike web site, they have a PDF that details which rest areas have the RV hookups. $20 per night for 50 amp electric hookup. and there is a dump station and fresh water.

[User1011]

Originally Posted by Crabby Mike

Go to the Ohio Turnpike web site, they have a PDF that details which rest areas have the RV hookups. $20 per night for 50 amp electric hookup. and there is a dump station and fresh water.

Thanks to all for the replies and for all the help.

Yes, the website for the Ohio Turnpike is very helpful.

[BFlinn181]

Things to do in Elkhart:
When I was in high school, my family relocated from suburban Philadelphia to Elkhart for my Dad's work. In the new high school I made friends pretty quickly. Seems the big deal in the mid '60's was 'cruisin' Main St. Elkhart. One kid I knew bought a new muscle car and put 18,000 mlles on it in 4 months -- never leaving the city limits! It was also suggested I be sure to visit the Northside Gymnasium, the World's largest, seating over 8,000 for basketball. Check out the machine gun nest with bulletproof glass at the main intersection in downtown Goshen. Seems in the '20's the 3 banks on the corners were afraid Chicago gangsters, while buying a bulletproof auto in built in Elkhart might fund the purchase by robbing a Goshen Bank. The police manned the booth 24/7 to guard the banks. The Goshen Kroger had hitching posts for Amish buggies. Elkhart is quite the place. Then there were 3 movie theaters on Main St., One of them for the whole 3 years I lived there showed Gone With the Wind, thus reducing our choices to 2 theaters. We'd take dates to South Bend, about 20 miles west. It was across the Central Time Zone line at the time, so with a little creative story telling you could beg the girl's parents for an extra hour extension for curfew!

[OC Bill]

As an example of what you should have for your appointment, here is the list I sent them, they did it all and more.

Factory repair list

Soot in bedroom, re-seal engine compartment
Big slide problems, upgrade to 2014 specs
Inverter fan upgrade, not installed on early models
Water tank will only fill to 2/3 full at most
Entrance stair tread loose
Refrigerator door adjust, can't get screw stop in
Generator door adjust, will not close evenly
Large kitchen drawer slides, fell off
Overhead bunk alignment and safety pins missing
Drawers open while driving on kitchen only
Auto level won't always result in level coach
Wires hanging from drivers side front of Coach
Wires hanging in passenger foot well RFID box

Took one week to fix all of this, coach was one month out of warranty, no charge.

Bill

[bronk]

We have been very pleased with the Thor repair facility. We have a 2011 Challenger and were having trouble with the big slide; they fixed it for no charge (1 yr. out of warranty) and found other issues that we didn't know existed. They even replaced the lavatory faucet with new, since there was a small staining on the original (again no charge). Steve Reed was really a tremendous help in scheduling and accommodating our schedule. He made the visit very easy. I believe that Thor will address issues, big and small, with a dedicated and professional manner that will have you leaving a satisfied consumer of a Thor product.

Ron Cousins

[maxtgam]

Originally Posted by OC Bill

As an example of what you should have for your appointment, here is the list I sent them, they did it all and more.

Took one week to fix all of this, coach was one month out of warranty, no charge.

Bill

Did you stay at the factory for the entire week?

[OC Bill]

Originally Posted by maxtgam

Did you stay at the factory for the entire week?

No, because the work with the re-sealing the engine compartment and updating the large slide to 2014 specs, I thought it would help them to not have to re-assemble it every night for me to stay in. In the end that shaved two days off the repair time, so I was able to leave Fri PM to head somewhere warmer my appointment was Nov 18.

I stayed in a local motel for part of the week and spent a couple of days visiting friends in the Detroit area.

Bill