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Old 07-12-2015, 09:34 PM   #1
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Refrigerator Leans on RH Turns! GT XL 334

On our first trip with our teenage girls, there was this ungodly scream from them as I was making a right hand turn. The kind that would make your hair stand on end, if I had any . However, it turned out that the refrigerator (residential type) leaned out of it's cubby and frightened them. My youngest is now refusing to ride until I can secure it in true teenage drama queen fashion! But she has a point. This is a new 2014 Georgetown XL 334 we just purchased a couple months ago. Indeed, you can grab the top of the hinges and it will lean quit easily. When it's loaded, it leans even easier.
1. has anyone else had this problem?
2. Is there some sort of fastening system that should be in place to prevent this?
3. If not, has anyone creatively come up with something to prevent this lean.

I can also imagine this is not good for the longevity of the appliance either.

Any idea/comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!
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Old 07-12-2015, 10:08 PM   #2
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We have a 2014 Georgetown XL 334QS with the three door residential refrigerator. I have made many tight turns on roads that lean significantly and no, our refrigerator does not lean out of the cabinet. The situation you describe must be corrected as soon as possible. Besides the obvious safety issues, the leaning of the refrigerator might easily cause problems with electrical and water line hookups. How do you secure your refrigerator doors? Our refrigerator came with two bungee like cords which connect to the wood cabinet on each side of the refrigerator and keep the doors from opening while the MH is moving. If your MH is still under warranty I suggest you carefully drive it to your dealer. It would be helpful if you would let us know how the problem is repaired. Good luck!
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Old 07-12-2015, 10:28 PM   #3
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I agree, if it's still under warranty, dealer needs to fix it ASAP. If not, Take a look on the bottom. It could be as simple as adjusting the feet to provide a tighter fit inside the cubby. I had to do something similar with my dishwasher at home when we got granite countertops. Because we couldn't attach the stabilizer bracket to the stone, the whole thing tipped forward every time we opened the door. A few turns of the adjuster feet, and now it's wedged in there tight.
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Old 07-12-2015, 10:33 PM   #4
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Thanks CA. Yes, it's still under warranty. I'm going to call them to see what the deal is.
Yes, we do have the bungee cords, however, they're not enough to keep the doors shut if there's items in the frig. We have to use another bungee and wrap that around the handles. The extra lean has something to do with that, I'm sure. We now have put an anti-skid mat, more bungees on the inside and have refrigerator bars where they can fit. Yea, we need it fixed. We're about to embark on a 4 week 6,000 mile journey and we spend more time securing the fridge than all the rest of the protocol to break camp!

Now I'll share a funny (now it's funny anyway) story. When we got the RV back in March, the dealer never told us about the bungee cords. So, the first day of traveling, I stopped to pick up a 6 pack of gluten free beer in glass bottles to treat myself. Bought a regular 6-pack for the wife that I loaded in first. Well, drove all day, no problem. Missed a left turn in the dark onto a small street so had to U turn the Queen Mary and make a right. Well, the doors flew open and the 6 packs came flying out... right onto the tile floors... SPLAT! Fortunately, a Walmart Supercenter was right there. (remember, brand new so we had NOTHING to work with!) Well, 3 hours later and several trips into Walmart, we were able to get back on the road, when I stated that our RV was now properly christened, but smelled like a frat party! And we could only laugh. BTW, one of the trips into walmart was to buy bungee cords. When attempting to figure out some place to connect them, I found the hook, which led to the discovery of the bungees themselves neatly hooked vertically!
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Old 07-12-2015, 10:41 PM   #5
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Ca Fisherman, Since you have a similar model, I'm curious, if you open the doors to your fridge and pull forward, does it seem you fridge is bound to that cubby space?
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Old 07-13-2015, 08:54 AM   #6
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I do not recall being able to pull the refrigerator forward with the doors open. Our MH is currently off-site being set up for our new TOAD. In the next day or so I will be sure to double check the stability of the refrigerator and let you know what I find.
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Old 07-13-2015, 09:20 AM   #7
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Thanks. I'll be curious to hear. good luck with the toad!
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Old 07-14-2015, 07:26 PM   #8
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I visited our MH today at the service center in Fountain Valley. I was UNABLE to tip the refrigerator forward out of its cabinet opening. I tried very hard and it did not move at all. A service person told me that brackets/bolts are installed from the top of the refrigerator and connect to the framework above the refrigerator. this is hidden by a trim board above the refrigerator called the "eyebrow trim". It is possible someone neglected to install the brackets/bolts for your refrigerator.
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2014 Georgetown XL 334QS (class A with 4 slides)
2013 Smart Car TOAD
Blue Ox Aventa LX tow bar, base plates, diode kit
SMI Stay-IN-Play Duo auxiliary braking system
25' Off shore blue water fishing boat
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Old 07-14-2015, 09:30 PM   #9
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NO doubt! Wow. This unit was built on a Friday before a major holiday! they didn't charge the A/C system either, among several other things.

I did look at the trim board above and didn't see a way to remove it. I'll have to look a lot closer now. unfortunately, I'm out of town and won't be able to do it for a couple days. I'm calling the closest dealer (not the one I bought it from, and they're an hour away) tomorrow and will see if they can help me.

Thanks for taking the time to do that. It's well appreciated. My daughter will be thrilled!
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Old 07-16-2015, 09:35 AM   #10
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Securing residential refrigerator

Earlier this week I was heading out for our 3rd trip in our new Berkshire XL 40BH with a fully loaded Whirlpool 3 door refrig with water/ice in-door. Having my daughter notice before that the refrig has a tendency to lean out a bit on right hand turns, I had already checked the bracket that holds the unit in on the topside. Feeling that Forest River had designed it correctly, I didn't really concern myself. Well, I was wrong! 2 miles away from home, touched a curb on back side right hand turn and instantly heard crash. Wife turns and yells the refrig fell over. Was able to stop immediately and notice bracket had pulled out of the simple little wood trim strip it was attached to. Thankfully nothing real bad as the refrig had actually wedged itself so it didn't fall over to the other side of the rig and damage anything else. Wife and I pushed the unit back and carefully drove to Home Depot. I bought a couple of screw eyes and a strong bungee. Grabbed my tools and secured the screw eyes into the wood that I could reach on the top space of the refrig cabinet. Unfortunately while I could reach the inside on the left, I couldn't on the right. So that screw eye is on the outside, way up top of the pantry. Bungeed it thru the door handles, breathed a sigh of relief and went on our way.

Bottom line is the wood trim that the refrig bracket is attached to is way too weak and need to be be built up to handle the weight shift. Bad design by FR.
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Old 07-18-2015, 01:13 AM   #11
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Update: A dealer agreed to fix this on Tuesday. I'll post what they found.

Boxers: we're not far apart! Maybe an hour. Wild story you have too! I haven't gotten a chance to put a bright light up there, but I will before Tuesday to see if there was anything connected somewhere at some point, but I think not.
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