Forest River problems

Ladageob · 07-30-2018, 12:44 AM

Has anyone experienced problems with their F/R Wildwood? Purchased 10 months ago. Traded in Springdale for a little more space. Wish l had it back. Privacy door will not stay on track. Moldings are loose or falling off. Repaired 3 on the road before they got worse. You Never find these little aggravations sitting at the dealer. Get it on the road n the darn thing falls apart. Cabinet door hinges after several uses barely hold door up. Went to Panquitch lake, Ut last week. Nice little fishing lake. Had showers almost every afternoon. Not bad after I cleaned mess up from kitchen window leaking and frustrating watching the water drip between awning mounting and the body panels, "grate" sealing job. Prime for dry rot or mold. I could bore you with several other issues. You expect a degree of competency in the production but in this buyers opinion F/R is one of the worse T/T's. Going to be fun (riiiiiiight) discussing these issues with the dealer. Anyone looking to purchase a TT I suggest you stay away from Forrest River.

**bikendan** · 07-30-2018, 01:45 AM

Did your dealer not do a PDI/walkthrough?
They should have had all the systems up and running for you, so you could make sure everything worked or not.

Hotrock · 07-30-2018, 05:38 AM

It seems to be the norm in the entire RV industry, we have had 3 brand new campers in the last 4 years and all three had small quality issues, I suppose the Casita fiberglass trailer was the best built, but even it had some really poor workmanship issues.....

jd50i · 07-30-2018, 05:57 AM

My TT has had very few problems and has been great. Not all of FR is bad.

5picker · 07-30-2018, 06:57 AM

Ladageob, I see this is your first post. Welcome!

There is no question Forest River and the R/V industry as a whole, has issues.
With that said, you should be working with your dealer to get these issues straightened out.

Spend some time speaking with your dealer and outlining your concerns and see where it gets you. If you purchased from a poor dealer, then maybe you'll get nowhere but at least give it a shot before recommending folks stay away from Forest River in your very first post.

Best of luck getting your concerns fixed.

mwdilday · 07-30-2018, 07:19 AM

We have had a few issues with ours. It is 9 months old and I have replaced a water heater, adjusted a couple of cabinet doors, replaced 6 drawer slides, brakes were way under-adjusted and several more have failed, refrigerator door is hitting bottom and our fender is loose and cracked (no I didn't hit anything). I am having the fender and fridge door fixed at Goshen and I am taking care of the rest. It sort of comes with the territory. RVs are not like cars, they are complex homes on wheels. You have a degree of maintenance and repairs that must be done. It helps if you are willing and able to do most repairs yourself so you don't have to deal with a dealer. I kind of enjoy doing things on my RV. All the best in your adventure.

Hotrock · 07-30-2018, 10:12 AM

One thing I would like to say about the RV industry as a whole, I think there are different levels of quality in different models, we just purchased a Wildwood X-Lite 171RBXL, but have been in some of the Forest River models that were twice the cost and observed what seemed to be a higher level of quality. Our new camper didn't even come with a spare tire, that is considered an option, I am 59 years old and this is the first camper I have ever bought or owned that did not come equipped with a spare. I have owned over a dozen campers in my lifetime and think I can speak from experience about many issues related to the RV industry.

raymc · 07-30-2018, 01:10 PM

I have a 2013 Lippert electric through the frame slide out and I am wondering how to even the slide out up. one side is 4 inches further out than the other side

5picker · 07-30-2018, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raymc

I have a 2013 Lippert electric through the frame slide out and I am wondering how to even the slide out up. one side is 4 inches further out than the other side

Raymc,
I see this is your first post too... Welcome!

Since your issue is something different than what the OP (original post/poster) is speaking about in this post, it will benefit you to start your own post with a title that will generate interest in solving your slide issues.

Best of luck in getting it repaired.

captain bill · 08-06-2018, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hotrock

One thing I would like to say about the RV industry as a whole, I think there are different levels of quality in different models, we just purchased a Wildwood X-Lite 171RBXL, but have been in some of the Forest River models that were twice the cost and observed what seemed to be a higher level of quality. Our new camper didn't even come with a spare tire, that is considered an option, I am 59 years old and this is the first camper I have ever bought or owned that did not come equipped with a spare. I have owned over a dozen campers in my lifetime and think I can speak from experience about many issues related to the RV industry.

This is the same model we have and it came with a spare tire and the camper was not special ordered.

mwdilday · 08-06-2018, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain bill

This is the same model we have and it came with a spare tire and the camper was not special ordered.

From the FR website the spare tire and carrier on this model are optional.

Decon Blue · 08-06-2018, 06:28 AM

Mine came with spare tire, not that it really mattered. After picking up a nail I went to install spare tire and found that my Shasta Flyte has 6 lugs wheels and the spare was a 5 lug wheel. Being that I was only few months out of warranty I bought new tire, then contacted selling dealer only to be told too bad your out of warranty. Do these people even require workers to know how to count. Very poor customer loyalty !

GL1800Rider · 08-06-2018, 07:28 AM

Welcome new posters. I hope you stay with the forum and get a great education. During the first year you can expect many issues to crop of from minor to major that will need repair or replacement. Most of these units, regardless of who the manufacturer is, are produced with unskilled labor with less than a year experience. It helps to have a few mechanical skills so you can do the minor stuff yourself as it makes no sense to burn $25 or more for fuel to replace a $5 part available on Amazon.

You can get lots of help on here and most of the time there is a Youtube video showing how to repair, replace or diagnose something. Keep up with your maintenance and you will enjoy many years of memories camping as the rest of us do.

**bikendan** · 08-06-2018, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain bill

This is the same model we have and it came with a spare tire and the camper was not special ordered.

That's because the dealer ordered it with that option. Should have been listed on your build sheet.

Timberking · 08-25-2018, 12:08 PM

I bought a new FR Wildwood x-lite last year for one of those big RV ranches here in Texas. Only to find it was buy it and see you. Never again! If I ever buy new again I'm going to a small local firm the will fix what they sell.

2step3313 · 08-25-2018, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GL1800Rider

Welcome new posters. I hope you stay with the forum and get a great education. During the first year you can expect many issues to crop of from minor to major that will need repair or replacement. Most of these units, regardless of who the manufacturer is, are produced with unskilled labor with less than a year experience. It helps to have a few mechanical skills so you can do the minor stuff yourself as it makes no sense to burn $25 or more for fuel to replace a $5 part available on Amazon.

After dealing this week with our dealer and their lack of care and urgency in handling our warranty repairs I agree 100%. I did however contact the warranty manager of the Salem and Wildwood Division in order to get some issues expedited. Hopefully he will follow thru.

The owner of the RV Dealership told me since I bought an entry level trailer I should not expect as much as in a more expensive trailer. My reply was and always will be that there is a difference between expensive and less expensive items but there should always be quality workmanship regardless of the item's price tag. Every issue I had is directly related to workmanship.

Going forward I plan to handle everything myself unless we have a major failure.

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