Anyone have issues with a Salem Hemisphere 302FK?

[DiverDennis]

Hi, we just brought our TT home and would like to know of any problems other owners are having. Thanks.

[Brother Les]

Grease your spindles as there is no grease in them and very little on the wheel bearings. Take all of the wheels off and tighten up the spindle nut tighter to the bearings as they are all loose and will allow your bearing to move back and forth and heat up.

Check and see if your brakes on the unit are self adjusting when putting on the brakes --going forward-- as you will have to manually adjust them and back them off at the hubs every once and a while.

The stabilizers don't work very well. Get a pair scissor jacks to put on the front and back.

The fresh water tank drain tube may create a one way suction force and traveling down the road will self empty your water tank. I put a shut off valve at the breather tube and open it once we get to the camp ground.

The axles may not be heavy enough for the camper dry and cargo weight.

Hope you bought the two year service warranty, because you will need it. If the Dealer that you bought the unit from is too far away, some FR dealer closer to you 'may' accept to take your unit and work on it under warranty conditions.

If it has the Swintek slides, learn how to use the 'over ride' controls, as you will have problems some time down the road with the motor calibrations and on getting the slides in and out.

They look nice and cost some big bucks, but under the facade it is just cheap material and workmanship.

[DiverDennis]

Originally Posted by Brother Les

Grease your spindles as there is no grease in them and very little on the wheel bearings. Take all of the wheels off and tighten up the spindle nut tighter to the bearings as they are all loose and will allow your bearing to move back and forth and heat up.

Check and see if your brakes on the unit are self adjusting when putting on the brakes --going forward-- as you will have to manually adjust them and back them off at the hubs every once and a while.

Thank you for the info. I will check the bearings and brakes.

We bought the 7 year extended warranty and an authorized dealer is only 4 miles from our house.

[Brother Les]

You may want to pull the plastic under side, back and take a good look at your fresh water tank. The brackets that are used to hold the tanks on are subpar and too much water will bent and break them. May need to beef the brackets up.

[DiverDennis]

Thank you for the heads up. Haven't been under her yet. Is the plastic screwed on?

[Brother Les]

Yes, it is screwed on. unscrew it and you can pull it down to do any work and reconnect when done.

[DiverDennis]

Thanks. I'll be checking stuff soon.

[markb5900]

Originally Posted by Brother Les

Grease your spindles as there is no grease in them and very little on the wheel bearings. Take all of the wheels off and tighten up the spindle nut tighter to the bearings as they are all loose and will allow your bearing to move back and forth and heat up.

Check and see if your brakes on the unit are self adjusting when putting on the brakes --going forward-- as you will have to manually adjust them and back them off at the hubs every once and a while.

The stabilizers don't work very well. Get a pair scissor jacks to put on the front and back.

The fresh water tank drain tube may create a one way suction force and traveling down the road will self empty your water tank. I put a shut off valve at the breather tube and open it once we get to the camp ground.

The axles may not be heavy enough for the camper dry and cargo weight.

Hope you bought the two year service warranty, because you will need it. If the Dealer that you bought the unit from is too far away, some FR dealer closer to you 'may' accept to take your unit and work on it under warranty conditions.

If it has the Swintek slides, learn how to use the 'over ride' controls, as you will have problems some time down the road with the motor calibrations and on getting the slides in and out.

They look nice and cost some big bucks, but under the facade it is just cheap material and workmanship.

Wow, sounds like you had a few problems.
On the flip side of things, I had a Salem Cruise Lite which is supposed to "less" quality from what I am told and had NO issues at all.
Towed it over 10,000 miles and camped I am guessing 120 days in two years.

[oxcamper]

We have the 282RK and overall are very happy with our unit. Brother Les is correct about the tank brackets, only ours was the black tank that failed. No damage other than a gosh awful smell that we couldn't figure out. Anyway our dealer took care of it and actually beefed up all the tank supports with stainless steel strapping.

We saw the FK model at this year's Cleveland RV show and were seriously considering trading in for it, however with our unit only 9 months old at the time, we would have taken a real beating on the trade.

Are there a few things that could be better? Of course. my pet peeve is the cabinet hardware. Kinda chinsy. The water bypass for winterizing in the RK is not easily accessible, but liveable since it only has to be accessed once a season.

We've not had any stabilizer issues. We don't boondock and use the fresh water tank so we've not had the siphoning issue but heard other have. (It's actually the breather vent tube --what sometimes is mistaken for the overflow-- and not the drain tube that causes the loss of water in the fresh tank). If you don't use the fresh tank, not an issue. If you do,others on this forum have simply routed the tube upwards.

Our RK pulls good and stable. We have the Equilizer 4 way 10K WD hitch. I think you made a good choice on your TT. I've found by experience, and from other posts on this forum, a good relationship with your dealer will go a long way toward a satisfying experience.

Happy Camping!

[DiverDennis]

Originally Posted by oxcamper

.....about the tank brackets, only ours was the black tank that failed. No damage other than a gosh awful smell that we couldn't figure out. Anyway our dealer took care of it and actually beefed up all the tank supports with stainless steel strapping.....

Thanks for the post. I'll be checking those brackets for sure.

[oxcamper]

The problem is the dealer probably won't do anything under warranty proactively. You have to wait till it happens. Your other option is to unscrew the belly covering and do it yourself, not something most of us want to do on a brand new unit.