Looking at the FR Cherokee Grey Wolf 27DBS

[Justanowlinaz]

Leaning heavily towards the FR Cherokee Grey Wolf 27DBS. Fell in love with the floorplan... Its kinda like a bunkhouse, but not a complete bunkhouse, and love the couch/bunk arrangement... Its enough of a bunkhouse for us, but isn't too long.

So, for those that have had their Grey Wolf's, how are they? We're coming out of a MOHO by Thor, that we've had issues with from day one, and we don't want to get into a TT with lots of issues.

Is the icemaker/minifridge on the outside a gimmick? or do people really use that feature?

For those that live in colder climates, how necessary is it to have the underbelly sealed and insulated? We use ours year round, but we live in a cold climate so we don't winterize, just keep it heated with space heater etc.

[jd50i]

Since you opened this up to Grey Wolfs in general, I love mine. Very few problems but I am looking at another Grey Wolf, a 26RR with a floor plan I like better, the rear couches I can leave up and have the area remain a garage. My 21RR I cannot live inside with the motorcycles inside but could with a 26RR. I was full time for 18 months and could have used some underpinning during the winter. It has heated tanks but they are only heated when using the propane heat and I was using a space heater so I did have a water line freeze, even with a heated hose. I insulated and ran a heat trace on the grey and black dump lines since I did have them also freeze on me. My underbelly is insulated but of course bad assembly and I need to reattach it since it is sagging.

[911Fire]

I have a Cherokee 274dbh. Absolutely love it, and very happy with the purchase. Quality is good for the industry, and they’re easy to work on. I have the outdoor fridge with a slide out grill under it. Originally I thought it was a waste of space but we use it all the time!!

[farmboy6180]

Originally Posted by 911Fire

I have a Cherokee 274dbh. Absolutely love it, and very happy with the purchase. Quality is good for the industry, and they’re easy to work on. I have the outdoor fridge with a slide out grill under it. Originally I thought it was a waste of space but we use it all the time!!

What year is yours

[chickenwing]

I have a 2018 Grey Wolf 27dbs (Patriot Edition). Like you, it was the floor plan that we loved so much...a bunk but also room for an adult. In fact, we removed the back couch and put in matress for a kid or adult. Can easily put it couch back in.

Overall, really like it and the floor plan. We have had the normal little stuff...sink drain leaking, sink supply hose not tight and leaking, spot weld popped on range hood, water pump pressure switch went bad. All warranty stuff (although fixed many myself) and things you will get no matter the brand.

Icemaker does in fact work, but you have to remove the ice and put in the freezer otherwise it will melt so you have to kinda pay attention to it. Wont fill a cooler, that is for sure. The outside fridge is awesome for water and drinks and with the shower there, the fold down door makes a great outside dish washing station.

We don't winter camp much so open underbelly and lack of heated tanks is not important to us.

If there is any important consideration i would bring up is the low dump drain/valves. Given the driver's side door and double step, ours was routed very far rearward, past the step and low. In addition, it pointed down drastically. Very little ground clearance. I did actually hit a hole and given the low valves, scraped them on the ground and broke the black water drain valve leaving a gas station. Luckily it just had water in it from sanitizing the water lines. I try to be careful, but I guess I just caught it right.
So, I re-plumbed the dump plumbing, which moved the values 16" forward and gained 3.25" in height which will help a whole lot...I wish they did it that way from the factory. Im not sure how they did the drain valves on the 2019, but do really look at that.
PS, i have a couple pics of the plumbing move here http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...in-145586.html


Happy to answer any other questions you have.

[911Fire]

Originally Posted by farmboy6180

What year is yours

2018.

[biker2]

We have a 2013 Grey Wolf Select 28 BH and are pleased with it. I found it necessary to make a few modifications like installing pull out shelving in the pantry, making a plate rack for the overhead cupboard, and making a turn key so that I can turn the valves on the water heater from the outside. My main issue was with the undercarriage. We wore out two tires after a 4000 mile trip so I had heavier axles installed with cross bracing, the springs beefed up, and replaced the cheap factory 14 inch tires with 16 inch Maxxis. Also replaced the angle iron skid plates with heavy duty wheels but with the added height that the bigger tires give me it is very unlikely that the rear end will drag. Overall a very nice trailer for the price. Oh and we bought a foam topper for the very uncomfortable queen mattress and added a foam topper to the double bunk mattress. Now we get a good nights' sleep. So far no problems with the fridge, stove, heater, water pump, water heater or air conditioner. Also the slide out and awning continue to operate just fine. Love the outside shower, we use it all the time as we camp in a very private 5 acre wooded lot in Lund, B.C. One more thing, we had an awning installed over the slide out which keeps the top of the slide out dry and clean.

[Reprise]

Mine is a little different smaller - it's a 2018 20RDSE (euphemistically called a 'couples' trailer). A little simpler, b/c it doesn't have a slide, but nicely appointed, and for $14K new (w/ WDH!) for a first trailer - I can't complain. I'm a 'bang for buck' shopper, and to me, the Grey Wolf was the way to go.

The part that sold me on its floorplan was the large viewing window in the rear, and the fact that I could get to the bathroom w/o worrying about a slide (almost bought the 23MK, except for this.) At 25', not only is it an easy tow, I can get into 93% of National Park campsites with it.

From a build quality standpoint - well, I knew what to expect, and that wasn't 'perfection'. But as others have said - it's no worse than most in the industry, especially at the price point.

Things I would look at (for improvement):

- Cabinet facings / doors. Looks like FR got a big, bad batch of wood, b/c a lot of folks are talking about powderpost beetle infestations these days (I don't have an active one, but I do have some small random holes in my doors / facings, so I suspect the wood had beetles at some point)

- Make sure the bathroom (whether tub / shower) is large enough. While mine has the tub (and I like that), I wish it were a bit wider, now that I've used it a couple of times. Stand in it, both to make sure it's tall enough for all of you, and to make sure it supports weight well (bounce a bit).

- If it has an oven, consider whether you'll ever use it (baking in a hot trailer, anyone?), and if you can get an extra storage drawer in lieu of the oven, I'd consider it, IMHO. From what I hear, they don't heat very evenly, anyway.

- You'll probably want to replace the faucets in the lav (both sink & tub / shower). I can't get used to the way they operate and will probably put in residential models (lots of ppl do this, from what I hear, and not just with GW trailers)

- While I'm *very* happy that LEDs are used throughout, I find the interior lighting a bit bright for my tastes, at least. As a result, I'm exploring a central dimmer control.

- One of my bedside wardrobes has the outlet / plug for the water heater. I recently removed the 'cover' panel to discover that that cord routes through a 3" hole - and that hole has no grommet - which would be like a barn door to a mouse (the other side is where the WH is, so that hole is effectively exposed to the outside.) I can fix this; I'm just glad I found it before acquiring another 'tenant'.

- The low position of the black / grey drain valves has been mentioned. I haven't cracked mine - yet.

- While I originally really liked the Lippert 'solid step' or whatever it's called; I think I'm going to replace mine with a conventional set of steps. I'll spare the long 'why', but there's more than one reason I'm not fond of them, now.

- The Dometic electronic thermostat...it has some pretty blue backlighting...but works like crap. It's too touch-sensitive. As soon as I find something better, out it will go.

- Get a memory foam topper for the mattress, before you spend a night on it. I have a 2" on mine, and while it works *very* well, 3" or more might be even better.

Other than that (up to this point), I'm pretty happy with / don't regret the purchase; I've used it for about 20 days since taking delivery at end of March, including towing it 2800mi to Montana / back, w/ no problems.

Am I a FR / GW 'lifer' ? Probably not. But right now, at least, I would say "yeah, I'd consider another".

[Jerheye]

Be careful with the cherokee I have a 274dbh and didnt notice that the windows were not tinted 600 plus to tint other than that love it. I see a lot of cherokees not tinted.

[farmboy6180]

What year

[Jerheye]

2016

[farmboy6180]

Ok mine is 2019. They are tinted.

[Darrinlambier]

I love my new 2018 27dbs. For us it allows us to put the playpen in the back corner for our baby an shut the curtain to let her sleep. Have had real good lunch with mine. Had to change thermostat, they are crap, but the dump valves are low. I haven’t had issues but I keep a eye on them for sure. overall I love it an glad I got this floor plan

[TheWolfPaq82]

I have a 2018 Cherokee 304BS (Patriot Edition) with the mini frig and stove. Wife thought is was stupid, but when we're sitting outside and I get up and go to frig and whip her up a nice adult beverage and cook up a quick snack....she simply loves it. We pack up and cover ours for winter, so I can't give you much info there.

[Eric 2019Greywolf27DBS]

I have a 2019 27DBS. We are very happy with it but there are a few of things to consider. The black and grey valve are much too low. I managed to pop a pipe weld on my grey tank pulling out of my narrow driveway. Dropped the left tire off of the curb and it hit.
The fridge and ice machine is a big hit with my family. The ice machine works well. I'm not a fan of how there is a lot of opportunity for bugs to fly into the rig when the compartment door is open. It would be nice if the back of the compartment was sealed off. This design flaw also lets it hot or cold air into the inside kitchen sink compartment.
The queen bed is short and hard as a rock. the locks on the compartments and outside showers are junk. These are only minor problems for us. We truly are happy that we chose the 27DBS. My 14 year old son loves having his own space in the sort of bunk room.

[skidog]

Love my 2016 Grey Wolf 29bh. No problems to date. As some others have mentioned ground clearance is low in the rear. If you have the drag bars on the back in some low places they may drag. One solution some have done on here is to flip the axles but I haven't had any issues with ground clearance. Where I pull to is mostly level ground so haven't dragged anywhere as of yet. Other suggestion is put on 15" wheels to get a little bit more clearance. Other than that we love our bunkhouse. I have 4 girls so it works well for us.