sidewall crack

[cruiserjohn]

I just found a crack in the sidewall of my 3170ds. It is on the driver side under the slide out near the hot water heater.. I have an appointment with dealer 9 Jan 2015 look at it. Is this a common problem?

[Sun.ranger]

I think this is a common issue and not easily fixed.

[budblack]

We have a 2012 3170 with the famous crack. The crack extends at a 45° angle downward from the lower rear corner of the driver side slide cutout. There has been much discussion about the crack on this forum, some people claiming it to be the result of a serious structural defect. Some say the crack is caused by a missed well in the aluminum superstructure. Forest River has apparently agreed to fix some of them. In order to make the weld, the fiberglass skin must be ground out in a three or 4 inch circle so the heat of the weld will not damage the fiberglass and then that fiberglass, and the corresponding gelcoat, replaced. I took a less invasive route. If there is a missed weld I left it and with a Dremel tool ground out about a quarter inch groove to grind out the crack from the gelcoat. There was no visual indication of any cracking of the fiberglass wall itself. I filled the quarter inch groove with flexible epoxy and put a short piece of white electrical tape over it to keep sun off of it. The fix is about one quarter inch wide in about 1 1/2 inches long. You'll never notice it and I haven't ground out a 4 inch hole in the fiberglass wall of the coach. I've had fiberglass boats patched before, and the patch color is never right. If for no other reason, because the patch will fade differently than the original gelcoat. We have a total of 19,000 miles on the unit. We have put 4000 miles on the unit since the fix, some of those miles on a very rough pavement, and there is no further cracking.



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[ATVer]

IMHO I'd be concerned that fixing the fiber glass crack with flexible epoxy just masks the problem. The fiber glass can't crack like that unless the aluminum structural members which it is bonded to are also cracked. However if the crack hasn't progressed that's a good thing. So far the aluminum structure probably is not cracking any further.

[ofranco]

FR repaired mine under warranty. Dealer in NC did a great job. Required aluminum welding. Personally I am happier it is fixed than patched.

[Cmitchell40]

I had mine repaired with approval by Forest River by a group in Ocala, Florida who used to work at the factory. They repaired from the inside with a gusset plate. They then repaired the fiberglass. The total was something $550 under warranty. Forest River was easy to deal with even though I had the coach longer than 1 year.


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[GunnerB]

I am looking at buying a 2011 Sunseeker 3170. I am meeting a private seller in a week. I would like to look for the "famous crack". I was unable to open the last picture posted. Does anyone else have a photo I could look at. Other then the standard checklists is there anything else in particular I should look for with this model.

Thank you,

Newbie

[DXSMac]

I just had the same problem on my 3170. Noticed it this morning after three days in a row of 50+ mph winds. When the wind came up, I would pull the slide in, but guess I didn't catch it in time, now I have a stress crack. Same place. I'm getting mine looked at tomorrow.

[DXSMac]

Forest River is going to cover my stress crack. 574-206-7600, ask for Russ in Sunseeker Warranties,

I have to drive 100 miles to an authorized dealer. Mine will probably be a week because it will have to be farmed out to a body shop as opposed to the lucky person who went to North Carolina and had it fixed in two days....

[schnauzer mom]

Is the crack structure or cosmetic? We also have the infamous crack.


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[DXSMac]

It's due to some "welding" thing. My appointment is next Thursday at 8:30. I'll keep you posted on mine. I printed out this thread, I'm taking it to the RV repair place. I fear that I will have to stay in a motel as this will most likely be subbed out to a body shop.

[DXSMac]

Can any of you tell me how long your repair took? I'm hearing anything from two days to five months. Five months is extreme, I need my RV back by at least April!

[DXSMac]

I'm leaving tomorrow for the 80 mile trip, will spend the night, and appointment is 8:30 on Thursday. Fortunately, it's a shop I've used before, and I trust them, except they have changed their name because they got "bought." I'm hoping this didn't change the honesty of the people.

I have developed Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C depending on what the outcome is. Knowing my luck, it will end up being Plan D, and I will have to scramble.

I'll keep you all posted.

[DXSMac]

Update!

I just got back from my appointment. Since it's close to Christmas, they weren't able to get ahold of anyone at Forest River. I was told that RV manufacturers shut down the last two weeks of December.

Today, they looked at it, their body work person get all the information, then I was sent home.

Meanwhile, they have to put together an estimate, and then call Forest River for an authorization to proceed. The body work person can't get me in until January anyway. I was told it would be minimum two weeks.

But I was told it's ok to use my RV in the meantime. Good, I have Christmas plans.

I am using Awesome RV (formerly known as Uhlmann RV) in Chehalis, WA. I've used them before, they are good folks. Let's just say, Chehalis, WA is a small enough city that a business can't afford to be a "bad" service provider. So I'm confident that Awesome RV will ensure the job gets done right!

[DXSMac]

Got my date. January 7. In addition to the warranty work, I'm having some minor things repaired, like, one of my facia trim boards got soaked when a corner of my slideout leaked (I think this is a design flaw). Also, just want my slideouts checked. And, I'm asking the RV repair place to winterize before taking it to the body shop (I will pay for the winterizing).

I have my alternate plans all worked out.

[DXSMac]

Ok, folks, I am delayed by a couple days due to flooding. The town where my RV is going tends to flood in January, even the interstate goes under water as shown by this picture from, I think, 2007:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Cheh...tm%3B610%3B398

I was going to drive up on Tuesday, stay over night, then get the RV in early in the morning on Wednesday, but now I think I will wait until Wednesday morning and drive up there. Supposed to dry out on Wednesday. It's an 80 mile trip, most of it two lane roads, only the last 20 miles on free way.

I called the RV dealer this morning to ask about floods. The RV dealer is NOT in the flood area, but the body shop where my RV is going to be sent to, IS in the flood area. That's all I need......

[DXSMac]

My RV has been turned in. Crossing my fingers on this. Awesome RV (formerly Uhlman RV) in Chehalis, WA is coordinating the work. I'm also having some other minor issues taken care of while it's there. So, I'm not getting out of this quite scott free...... So, I'm guessing it might be three weeks instead of the two weeks because I tacked on some other issues I wanted addressed.

I've used this repair place before, many times. They are trustworthy.

[cruiserjohn]

Well drop off my RV at dealer for led light and draw catch and sidewall crack.
They have a rv body shop that will takes care of crack. I did not get a time frame for repairs yet it seams that the body shop is currently is close for some type of upgrade.
I told the dealer that I had a trip planed for first week in March they no problem .

[DXSMac]

Called for an update today. I was told that they hope to have it done by the end of this week (I brought it in on January 7). However, I have three minor things the RV place needs to fix after it comes out of the body shop, so I'm anticipating middle of next week.

[geotex1]

Good luck with it! I hope you get a quality fix that's only detectable by the most discerning eye.