Sanibel owners

[rracer5]

tlamb6463, all other issues aside (yes, I do believe that a few of the hundreds produced have many/major issues) I keep going back to your issue of things loosening up and/or falling off, ie; screws falling out, fenders & skirting loose, spare coming down & things falling through cabinet bottoms (including the possible flexing issue you describe).

This sounds like excessive vibration is the culprit. Short trips it's not noticable but, on long trips with prolonged (hours) driving, the constant vibration is shaking everything loose including the spare tire coming down and/or possibly breaking welds in the frame. Now, I'm not a structural engineer but, it seems like common sense to me that this kind of constant "pounding" would have to cause issues.

So, with that being said, have you had the dealer check the tires & bearings? Trailer tires are usually NOT balanced. The tires should be balanced and if it's as bad as it sounds, you may also have a bad tire that no amount of wheel weight will fix! Loose bearing (s) could be causing wheel "wobble" and vibration. Have them check the shocks while their under there. A bad shock can cause the unbalanced tire to just bounce uncontrollably exacerbating the vibration.

Just my 2 cents worth. Good luck!

[Ductwerks]

Originally Posted by jbaird

Prime time need s to recall the 3901

I think every trailer mfr is going to have bad units it is sad that the pre delivery isnt better. Also bad on are part for not doing a better job of pre inspecting before we leave. My first year of owning are 2014 3600 we had alot of small issues. I had the putty coming out on my unit to I removed it and nothing else has come out.

[tlamb6463]

Rracer5 I agree most issue seem to be vibration related. But in the beginning I could walk around and flex the sides of the coach easily because they didn't put any bracing behind any of the skirting. None. Just sheet metal hanging off the sides. As I drove down the road the sides flapped like a bird. This coach should have never left the manufacturer. For a company that has been in business so long these are rookie issues.

[07 ThunderRoad]

We had the skirt screw backing out, stripping out problem. I used drywall plastic wall ancors as nuts for the screws that hold the wheel well skirts on and the bracket screws.

[tlamb6463]

Good solution on wheel well skirts. Are you having trouble with the screws holding the skirting on backing out? I need to walk around coach and tighten several of these up as well every time I stop to fuel up. Most are stripped out. This coach is only on it's second long trip. I just cant image what shape it will be in after a few years.

[rracer5]

Originally Posted by tlamb6463

Good solution on wheel well skirts. Are you having trouble with the screws holding the skirting on backing out? I need to walk around coach and tighten several of these up as well every time I stop to fuel up. Most are stripped out. This coach is only on it's second long trip. I just cant image what shape it will be in after a few years.

07 ThunderRoad has a good solution. But, now that I think back a little, I did have 1 or 2 screws loosen up . I took the screws out and squirted a dab of RTV on the screw and just put them back in snug. They never backed out again and can still be removed if needed or to do a more permanent repair.

[Ductwerks]

Thats what i was going to say I hate seeing the skirting flapping to

[07 ThunderRoad]

Originally Posted by tlamb6463

Good solution on wheel well skirts. Are you having trouble with the screws holding the skirting on backing out? I need to walk around coach and tighten several of these up as well every time I stop to fuel up. Most are stripped out. This coach is only on it's second long trip. I just cant image what shape it will be in after a few years.

Screws now hold tight with the plastic "nuts" on the back side of the skirt. I don't need to check and tighten screws at every stop. If a screw could possibly loosen, it can't fall out with the plastic dry wall anchor on the back. Yes, the anchors are a pain to install, but they are holding up well (and the screws can still be removed with no damage or cleanup ).
Note: I did NOT drill out the skirt and install the anchor into the skirt. I held the plastic drywall anchor, with pliers, on the back side of the skirt and ran the screw through the stripped out hole and into the anchor. For the brackets, I installed the screw through the bracket and into the anchor and tightened the anchor with the pliers.

[07 ThunderRoad]

Originally Posted by rracer5

tlamb6463,

This sounds like excessive vibration is the culprit. Short trips it's not noticable but, on long trips with prolonged (hours) driving, the constant vibration is shaking everything loose including the spare tire coming down and/or possibly breaking welds in the frame. Now, I'm not a structural engineer but, it seems like common sense to me that this kind of constant "pounding" would have to cause issues.

So, with that being said, have you had the dealer check the tires & bearings? Trailer tires are usually NOT balanced. The tires should be balanced and if it's as bad as it sounds, you may also have a bad tire that no amount of wheel weight will fix! Loose bearing (s) could be causing wheel "wobble" and vibration. Have them check the shocks while their under there. A bad shock can cause the unbalanced tire to just bounce uncontrollably exacerbating the vibration.

Just my 2 cents worth. Good luck!

I had to replace the "E" load rated tires with "F" load rated tires and had them balanced. I also found that the wet bolts on the spring mounts had NO grease in them ( including the 2 fittings inside the Equaflex center mount ). Bearings were NOT greased. My shocks are OK, but others have found bent damaged shocks not allowing the axle to move. Unless you picked up your unit at the factory, all R.V.'S are "used on the road". We have no idea what happened to it during delivery to the dealership. Tires; curbed, chuck hole damage, bent rim. Axle; bent, shock damage, bearings overheated. Front frame flex issues; improper hitch height, brakes and/or controller not adjusted correctly. etc, etc......

[tlamb6463]

Here is our latest issue. Manufacture needs to take measurements to see if we have excessive flexing. Really? Picture doesn't speak for itself. Keep in mind they had just took the measurements the last time they had it.

[rracer5]

Originally Posted by tlamb6463

Here is our latest issue. Manufacture needs to take measurements to see if we have excessive flexing. Really? Picture doesn't speak for itself. Keep in mind they had just took the measurements the last time they had it.

I've been told that if there is a "frame flex" issue, that area is the first place it will show. It is the weakest point because the side wall structure is thinest at that point & offers minimal additional support to the frame. That......looks like definite frame issues!!

[tlamb6463]

Well we made it back to Maryland but not without incident. Had a blow out two hours into our second day. We actually babied these tires, (speed, pressure and covered) because all the bad press on here and other sites with regards to the ST GY Marathon tires. I'm convinced we are not meant to enjoy this Forest River product.

One thing I can brag about is our Good Sam's roadside assistance. Talk about bad luck, got out of the truck after we pull off interstate and into Home Depot parking lot. Got out of the truck to check the tire and left the keys in the truck with the wife. A few minutes later I look around and wife is standing next to me. The dogs were left in the truck with the keys and cell phones. Sure enough one of the dogs stepped on the auto lock and locked the doors.

To make this story short, Good Sam RSA had a repair truck there within an hour to unlock door and changed our tire at no cost (except for optional tip). Best $89 I ever spent.

Now to get Goodyear to replace the tire. This coach is wearing me out.

[emmyoscar]

Very sad about your problems. We have a 2012 Sanibel 3400 which we love but it has had its share of problems too. We brought it into our RV repair shop in May for minor repairs under two-year warranty and discovered our kitchen slide needed repair. It took until September before we got our RV back. Long story short: parts delay from FR. There have been other small things during the two years but that was the biggie. I still worry about frame flexing but FR says my VIN wasn't affected. Hope so! I did replace the GY tires with Maxxis last month due to so many bad reports/blowouts on the GY tires. I only have about 3500 miles on my Sanibel. Very proud and comfortable in it. Don't full time.

[rracer5]

Originally Posted by tlamb6463

Well we made it back to Maryland but not without incident. Had a blow out two hours into our second day. We actually babied these tires, (speed, pressure and covered) because all the bad press on here and other sites with regards to the ST GY Marathon tires. I'm convinced we are not meant to enjoy this Forest River product.

One thing I can brag about is our Good Sam's roadside assistance. Talk about bad luck, got out of the truck after we pull off interstate and into Home Depot parking lot. Got out of the truck to check the tire and left the keys in the truck with the wife. A few minutes later I look around and wife is standing next to me. The dogs were left in the truck with the keys and cell phones. Sure enough one of the dogs stepped on the auto lock and locked the doors.

To make this story short, Good Sam RSA had a repair truck there within an hour to unlock door and changed our tire at no cost (except for optional tip). Best $89 I ever spent.

Now to get Goodyear to replace the tire. This coach is wearing me out.

Glad you made it back home......sorry to hear about your blowout. Agree, Good Sam RSA was great with us too (on 2 occasions, 1 blowout & a lockout). We didn't go another 10 miles on our 6000 mile GY Marathons after our blowout in August. We went directly to the GY dealer and had all 4 tires replaced with GY G614, well worth the expense......what piece of mind for the rest of our trip!!

[plshilo]

Hey guys,
I have read all the posts....we are thinking about getting a 3551r in 16 at the super show in Tampa. I am glad you all posted the problems you all had with the tires..we have Hercules on our crusader with about 5,000m on them with No Problems so may just go with them on the Sanibel. Anyone have these tires on their rig????

[ozarkff34]

Just put the money down on a 2016 Sanibel 3251. We pick it up in April cant wait.

[jbaird]

Good deal
We are very happy with our new 3601

[plshilo]

Glad to hear.....we are going to purchase our 3551 in January...

[transamz9]

We love our 3601 also.

[tlamb6463]

Well to bring this post up to date. (I know you all are tired of hearing about our coach problems) Good year replaced all for tires on our coach for $104 installed with new Marathons. They would have given us full credit toward the 614 but the wheels were not rated for that size tire and Good year refused to mount them on our rims.Would have needed to buy new rims as well. Chose to keep the Marathons for now.

Took the coach to new dealer recommended by Primetime to look at all our current issues. Showed up to the dealer with a 5 page report and spent 2.5 hrs walking down all the issues.

Received a call from the dealer today and we have been informed that the coach needs to go to Indiana to repair the frame flexing issue so they will make all the other repairs while there.

I hope this doesn't take real long but if they fix all of our problems we will be happy. Getting tired of going to the dealer after each trip.