5th Wheel Brand Input Needed

[RAM 6.7 4x4]

Originally Posted by sellis1053

I'm considering doing that also. Where would you get warranty work done if you don't have a dealer anywhere close by?

Had several long discussions with Ryan at Outdoors RV prior to taking the trip to purchase the RV and asked just that question. I have two options - take the RV into any certified RV repair shop and have the warranty work performed OR if I was handy and could do some work myself, ORV would send me parts free of charge so that I could do those small repairs. I like having the two options.

[JohnBoyToo]

in my humble opinion (and my unfortunate experience) stay away from redwood.

[Steve578]

We have 3 years experience with a 5th wheel by Coachmen. Coachmen is a subsidiary of Forest River. Before we bought it we searched for at least 2 years to find the brand of rv and the floorplan that we liked. Most rv campers are a trade off on quality vs price. Even the higher end 5th wheels use lightweight materials to save on weight and money. We did give the Columbus a lot of consideration but just could not settle on the floorplan we liked. Eventually we found the Coachmen Brookstone that had some of the bells and whistles we liked such as the level-up system by Lippert, ez-lube axles and plenty of tank space for fresh water and waste water. I guess it depends on your budget and what features are most important to you. Good luck on your search.

[Tammi]

We have a 2016 Cardinal Estate, we have been pleased with the floor plan, and have had minimal repairs. The price point is very spendy, msrp was 115000 + we negotiated down to 85+ but it was loaded with everything except the generator. 3 Ac units I think is a major thing you need to think about when purchasing you unit. The estate package is the only one I think that comes with all the extra options. Happy hunting

[ChuckV1]

Who is the dealer you were going tp buy from. we bought ours from Tacoma RV, no complaints so far, no pressure sales people and the younger salesman really new there stuff ...

A word of advice they do sell about 8 different brands of RV's and have a large shop so getting in for service at times can be trying, most times appointments are a month out or more

Safe Travels

[jetzen]

Trailer life review May 2017 KZ Durango Gold G384RLT
A Touch of Gold | www.trailerlife.com

[rampowerwago]

Originally Posted by jetzen

Trailer life review May 2017 KZ Durango Gold G384RLT
A Touch of Gold | www.trailerlife.com

Not a very impressive review.....

[Top_Speed1]

Originally Posted by rampowerwago

Not a very impressive review.....

Like any, you can always find some flaws here or there. Overall it sounded pretty good!

[jetzen]

Originally Posted by rampowerwago

Not a very impressive review.....

Don't know what review you were reading.
The only thing Trailer Life didn't like about their unit was the bathroom fixtures.

[Gary magic]

looked around a lot, checked forums and will be purchasing the Grand Design
Solitude 360. All around great look and great warranty. Also if you buy from alpin haus they have a lifetime warranty. 40 ft.

[KFM]

Did a lot of research of fifth wheels and narrowed our search to Grand Design, Jayco and Arctic Fox. We just ordered a Jayco Eagle because it has exactly the floor plan we wanted. I would have been comfortable with any of the three brands.

[Gary magic]

Checked out a lot of the majors .Jayco Montana and Grand design. We fell in love with the GD solitude. A major plus was the 3 year warranty, their forums (everybody loves them) If you buy from Alpin Haus they have a lifetime warranty on a lot of important parts of their unit. Going with solitude 360.

[minnow]

A few points of clarification on the above; Not everybody loves GD. There is a FB Grand Design page and there are more than a few disgruntled owners. GD rv's are, in my opinion no better put together than any of the rest of them. It seems the past year, the workmanship has taken a nose dive. No doubt due to the huge increase in production.

The 3 year warranty is for strucural components such as walls and roof. A 1 year warranty applies to the rest of it, except for any individual component warranty that may be longer.

What sets GD apart from the rest is that generally they are easy to work with regarding warranty repairs and don't make an owner jump thru hoops to get the rig fixed. They also will allow non-dealer repair shops to do warranty work if a GD dealer is not available either due to geographic location or if it'll take weeks to get on the service schedule. An owner can call GD customer service directly to get the ball rolling. Other RV manufacturers don't ever want to hear from a customer and will point you to the selling dealer, who by the way, don't really want to hear from you either when it comes to a warranty repair.

[Cumminsfan]

Originally Posted by minnow

A few points of clarification on the above; Not everybody loves GD. There is a FB Grand Design page and there are more than a few disgruntled owners. GD rv's are, in my opinion no better put together than any of the rest of them. It seems the past year, the workmanship has taken a nose dive. No doubt due to the huge increase in production.

The 3 year warranty is for strucural components such as walls and roof. A 1 year warranty applies to the rest of it, except for any individual component warranty that may be longer.

What sets GD apart from the rest is that generally they are easy to work with regarding warranty repairs and don't make an owner jump thru hoops to get the rig fixed. They also will allow non-dealer repair shops to do warranty work if a GD dealer is not available either due to geographic location or if it'll take weeks to get on the service schedule. An owner can call GD customer service directly to get the ball rolling. Other RV manufacturers don't ever want to hear from a customer and will point you to the selling dealer, who by the way, don't really want to hear from you either when it comes to a warranty repair.

Northwood MFG and Outdoor Rv both offer owners personal warranty help. I've called Northwood several times for warranty help and talked directly to a service or tech guy. I've had parts sent twice to my home. I also had my one and only warranty repair done at an independent RV shop since I bought the 5er 300 miles from my home.

I agree though that GD is a cut above from the Elkhart crowd when it comes to CS. It's just a shame that they really don't build better than the average Elkhart crowd.

The 3 owners seemed to see the writing on the wall and sold the company just as things started take a downturn. I've been reading on their owners forum for several years as I was initially very impressed with what they offered. As time has gone by GD seems to have fallen victim to the current RV boom and is having trouble keeping up with demand. That seems to be why quality has taken a dip. Elkhart and it's RV MFG's are in dire need of help. It's been reported that the area needs 20,000 workers to fill all types of jobs.
Couple that with cost control and it's no wonder ALL MFG's, even Northwood and ORV are having some quality issues.
I do get a kick out of GD owners that think they've found the pot at the end of a rainbow of RV MFG's.
In the end they're all the same. If having someone personally talk to you about your problem is comforting then go for it. For me I'll take having less issues as comforting.