Cedar Creek Silverback 29 IK or 29RE

[No more shoveling]

The wife and I are planning to spend our winters in the south and we are going to up grade to a Cedar Creek Silverback 29IK or a 29RE from our 8528BHSS Flagstaff. Before we take the plunge it would be nice to hear from someone who has either one of these models on the pro's and con's, and any issues you have had. The one option I'm really looking at is the automatic leveling system, is it worth the extra cost. Thanks for any info. Pray for spring still have over 4 feet of snow in my yard !

[danno2u]

We have a 2014 29RE. This is our 2nd RV (downgraded from a 42 foot XLR toy hauler). We love this RV! We really like having the open living room in the 29RE. The 29IK has the pedestal in the middle of the kitchen/living area. That adds a few hundreds pounds to the RV. Other than that, the 2 models are identical.


On the 6 point leveling system -- it's the best thing since sliced bread! Now that we've had an RV with this system, we wouldn't have one without it. Leveling is a breeze. You can just push a button and it levels.


We have had very few issues and warranty repairs fixed what we had. It's like rolling the dice on what maintenance issues you might have. But Cedar Creek does build as good a product as you'll find in my opinion.


If you have specific questions, let us know.

[spock123]

I have a Cedar Creek 32RL and the level-up is well worth the money, now with that said we move around a lot. A week is about the longest we stay in one place, I put plastic pads under each jack, I measure under each jack just so the level-up thinks the spot is level, that's when the spot is grass,dirt, or gravel, when its a all level spot just press the button and in less than a min camper is level. Works great, worth every penny


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[R&J Silverback]

we have a 29ik and love it!!!! couldn't live without 6pt level-up.it is so nice to pull in get out un-hook pull out one button and done. have had just a few minor fixes. I think one needs to keep in mind the units are built by humans.100% perfection isn't going to happen,but the guys that build Cedar Creek have worked their many years and are good at the job. (very low employee turnover)

[DrippingDuo]

We have a 2014 32RK and love it. Just a few initial issues that were fixed quickly. The level system is worth every penny.
2011 4x4 Dodge Ram 2500 TV

[BeachLady]

I love my Silverback. We do not have the leveling system, but we have not moved it all that much. My word of caution would be the tires- china bombs, times 2 instances. The dealer claimed not to know there was a issue with Trail Mate tires. But he sold me 5 new tires, charged me for labor and balancing. The shower head "pinchy thing" hole ( yep, that is a technical term!) was the origin of a shower wall crack. We paid $350 to have the wall replaced.
Finally, the beautiful dark cherry cabinets.... the cabinets & drawers don't stay closed. When the slides are pushed out the cabinet & drawers can get damaged. Remember back when ya rubberbanded the cabinets together and hoped they stayed closed! That's what we have to do, 2 trips to the dealer and he was not able to recitfy the problem.
So when the rig is being set up on a new site, I have to back up to the counter, using my arms I push my butt up on to the counter, tuck my knees up under my chin, slide across the counter and squeeze through the opening between the slides and double check all the cabinets and drawers before the slides are pushed. Can you picture this action??..BeachLady is getting OLD, not sure how many more times I can do this!!
All said, I would buy it again, I just would have been nice to know the shortfalls.

[danno2u]

Originally Posted by BeachLady

So when the rig is being set up on a new site, I have to back up to the counter, using my arms I push my butt up on to the counter, tuck my knees up under my chin, slide across the counter and squeeze through the opening between the slides and double check all the cabinets and drawers before the slides are pushed. Can you picture this action??..BeachLady

The very first time I opened out slides, I heard a wood-splintering CRACK from the back. A cabinet door had come open and the slide caught it as it opened. Luckily, it just bent the handle and popped out a piece of trim, which I popped back in. Now we use rubber bands to ensure all the appropriate cabinets stay closed.

But to your dilemma... I now open my passenger side slide out just a few inches. Then I squeeze through to check the doors. You can do this without needing to climb over the counter! Just open the slide enough to squeeze your legs through and you won't endanger any open cabinet doors.

[Salt Shaker]

2014 29RE here. No issues this far other than wiring cover in awning and screen.

Love the 6 pt level up. Oh so nice to push a button and be done with it.

I wish it had access to the refrigerator when everything was closed up.

Pulls fantastic. Plenty of storage. We've had it 3 months and used it twice.

Salt

[Philip Rank]

We now have six months of use on our 2015 29IK. We downsized from a 40' fifth wheel. We love the rear entertainment floorplan and the kitchen island is perfect if you love cooking. Never had an auto level system so I do not miss it. We ordered dual pane windows as we camp a lot in the fall in near freezing temperatures and although these windows are much heavier, they are a sound investment, never any moisture to wipe up. As part of the deal, I gave the new tires that came with the RV to the dealer and had him transfer the used tires from my trade as I had much more faith in them, even though they were used. After an initial shake down cruise of four weeks and two thousand miles I gave our dealer a list of about 15 minor things to fix/adjust. The dealer did an excellent job on the repairs. We also have the washer/dryer combo and it works well. Our only misgiving is that we did not order the big fridge. Extemely happy with this unit and would highly recommend it.

Philip

[arpipeliner]

Air ride hitch is a very nice option. I will always have one from now on. 2010 29 RE.


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[2 for the road]

We have the RE. This is our 3rd fifth wheel. Bought in in December and we are on our first trip with it right now. Have been out 24 days or so so far. DW was worried that we were loosing a lot of kitchen storage with the move to this floorpan. Not finding this to be true so far. Our previous 5er had a nice size pantry, but she has moved things around a few times and its working out well for us. Minor issues so far. Will be changing the tires after this trip just for peace of mind.
6 point level up has been great, though I have only set up twice so far and down once.
We move again Friday. So I get another chance to try it out.

[goduc]

Best prices I've seen are at Jeff Couchs Rv. Way, way lower than us on the west coast. We only have one CC dealer here in Oregon. Not sure if you're trading in or not and how that would work with Couchs low price. Just some food for thought as I see you're in NY. Could be well worth the trip.

[grandpacsf]

We had a 2010 29RE and enjoyed it quite a bit but like BeachLady stated it was extremely difficult to get to the back when the slides are closed. With IK model the fridge slide is narrow enough to get between the slides. We traded the 29RE for the 2013 33RL model. Much easier to get to the back of the RV when travelling. We live in the RV 4 to 5 months of the year and put on 5-6,000 miles per year. The trail Air hitch is a must! We are thankful that we have not had any issues with this RV.

[JoLee]

We have a 2015 Silverback 29RE which we love. We have the 6 point level up system which works fine but we do find there is movement in the unit after we have set up. We have tried putting wood under each level up pad to try to shorten the support legs which doesn't seem to work, thinking that the shorter leg length would reduce the movement. We have tried manually leveling but have not been so successful. The unit sits pretty high off the ground in comparison to other units. Has anyone run into this with their 29RE, and what did you do to remedy the movement?

[dieselguy]

JoLee ... we bought the adaptors for the round foot pads on the level up that allow the use of JT Stabilizers. You can simply drill holes and screw them to the foot pads or weld them on. We had JT's on our other fivers and being able to use the JT's again has made considerable difference in what wiggle there was with level up.

[Salt Shaker]

Jolee,


The first time I set mine up at the house it launched it (tires off the ground). I use a 2x12x12 chunck of treated board under watch pad.

I got out the handy dandy owners manual and reset my zero with the pads under it. Works great and have used it now for 3 or 4 set ups with no issues.

I can't remember the exact steps but it was easy.

Salt

[JoLee]

Hey Salt Shaker....what is the "watch" pad? We put a stack of 4 2x12x12 treated under each front pad and 2 2x12x12 under the other pads, but it didn't stop the wobbling. We did this with the intent to try to keep the legs short. So you recommend resetting it to zero with the boards under the pads?

[Salt Shaker]

Jolee,

Damn smart phones. Should be under each pad...or foot.

If memory serves...I set everything up how I liked it (manually, each leg where I wanted it) then pushed a button anf set it.

It "defaults" to those settings as zero now.

Tires in contact. Level, pads in place, some wiggle but not excessive.

Salt

[JoLee]

Salt, other than the 6 point levelers, do you use any additional stabilizers, ex scissor jacks or tripod on hitch?

[danno2u]

On my 29RE, I don't use the "auto" feature of the level up any more. It tends to do things like lift wheels off the ground, which I don't particularly care for. So I put the system in manual ops and level it myself. It's not as sexy as watching the auto level do its thing, but I am in control and can place the RV exactly where I like it.


We still get some wobble walking around but it's not much. I don't think any RV will be rock solid unless you lift the entire thing up on blocks like a permanent park model.