Unhappy!!! Forest River you need to read this

[Weezer]

I've done more reading where some "park models" don't even have holding tanks. (shrug)

I've got a call in to our dealer ATM. As I've stated on another thread, our landing gear was DOA when we arrived at the dealer's warranty/service location. They, as usual, said NO problem, we'll track down the problem and add it to your list. It will be repaired.

HOWEVER, when I showed this thread to Fritz last night he commented that the service guy who "jumped the switch with a DC tester" to get the landing gear down couldn't find the "short stopper" as was shown on this thread being wired incorrectly. (I'm assuming he looked for it thinking it might have tripped, killing power to the landing gear.)

Didn't think much of it ATM but now? I want that puppy located and checked for correct wiring. If they couldn't locate this on our 5er, why does it not have one?

Once again I thank the Good Lord above for us having such an AWESOME dealer!

(Turbs, you're preaching to the choir with me. I've made the same earthquake comment on this forum more than once, but I *do* feel some consideration has to be given to the constant towing situation by the design engineers of these things. Yep, I do know there are lots of warm bodies between the design engineers and the assembly line folks )

[Weezer]

Originally Posted by DDC

And it should be built to withstand that earthquake because they are destined to be towed, right from the moment it comes off the line. If you make a product to be towed then towing it should not destroy it.

X eleventy and to quote Uncle Si; that's a fact Jack!

With one aside; one should also be prepared to do regular checks and maintenance. That's required of sticks and bricks, and they never move....unless ya live in CA.

[Arefbee]

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

Lol think of it this way.
Your camper is in a mini earthquake every time you tow it.

Last winter did a job on our roads. I would bet it experiences a moderate to severe earthquake right now.

[Weezer]

Heck, my garbage disposal wouldn't turn off (switch on the backsplash wouldn't kill it) here at home last night, and I've never even taken it on a shake down cruise.

Had to get up under the sink and disconnect the darn thing. I think it got possessed with the ghost of "feed me Seymore!"

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

Although this is not something we all want to happen and the OP is very lucky to have caught this and not be injured and there's no EXCUSE for shoddy workmanship.
THIS IS a house on wheels!
I don't know about y'alls roads but around here I'm lucky to have a camper behind me when I arrive at my destination.
Thinks WILL loosen, break, fall apart.

Sorry but some if not a majority of problems happen because your house drives or gets towed down the great USA hi ways we have.
OK I'm done with that.

OP's problem was not caused by being towed, it was a flat out factory mess up from the git go with the cb being wired incorrectly. True, the switch malfunctioned, but had the cb been wired correctly, the ensuing events would not have happened

[The_Rhino]

Before everyone gets scared about the wiring on their Tracers, I read through some of the OP's posts, and it looks like he has done heavy modifications to his wiring around the TV area on the Tracer, the same area the fire started...

So I did this last year.. I bought a 600W inverter (Walmart $60-$70) that plugs into a cigarette plug which I happen to have next to my 27in TV. The inverter has 2 110w outlets on it, and another extention cord output to another 110w outlet. I snipped off the extention cord end, and hardwired it to the 110ac outlet for the TV... I mounted the inverter underneath the cupboard under the TV and all the wires are behind a panel so it's invisible unless you go looking.

IMO due to the DIY mods in the same area as the fire [12V cigarette plug & inverter are not stock], Forest River and/or dealers are not going to honor a warranty let-alone do free post-warranty work... Also, IMO, when the OP installed the 110V inverter he should have checked the Stop Short circuits and/or added a fuse just after the battery.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by The_Rhino

[Before everyone gets scared about the wiring on their Tracers, I read through some of the OP's posts, and it looks like he has done heavy modifications to his wiring around the TV area on the Tracer, the same area the fire started...IMO due to the DIY mods in the same area as the fire [12V cigarette plug & inverter are not stock], Forest River and/or dealers are not going to honor a warranty let-alone do free post-warranty work... Also, IMO, when the OP installed the 110V inverter he should have checked the Stop Short circuits and/or added a fuse just after the battery.

Regardless, the problem was the Stop Short circuit breaker was wired wrong from the factory.

[B and B]

Originally Posted by Weezer

I've done more reading where some "park models" don't even have holding tanks. (shrug)

I've got a call in to our dealer ATM. As I've stated on another thread, our landing gear was DOA when we arrived at the dealer's warranty/service location. They, as usual, said NO problem, we'll track down the problem and add it to your list. It will be repaired.

HOWEVER, when I showed this thread to Fritz last night he commented that the service guy who "jumped the switch with a DC tester" to get the landing gear down couldn't find the "short stopper" as was shown on this thread being wired incorrectly. (I'm assuming he looked for it thinking it might have tripped, killing power to the landing gear.)

Didn't think much of it ATM but now? I want that puppy located and checked for correct wiring. If they couldn't locate this on our 5er, why does it not have one?

Once again I thank the Good Lord above for us having such an AWESOME dealer!

(Turbs, you're preaching to the choir with me. I've made the same earthquake comment on this forum more than once, but I *do* feel some consideration has to be given to the constant towing situation by the design engineers of these things. Yep, I do know there are lots of warm bodies between the design engineers and the assembly line folks )

Hmmm The Ehow post speaks with some knowledge. In My case my Golden Falcon 38 ft Park Model has 3 tip outs that are screw nailed to the walls. I have a Electric/Gas Atwood 10 gallon hot water heater, a Gas Atwood Furnace, Residential Electric Fridge, Residential GE Gas Stove that cooks a mean turkey, and a Dometic 15 K AC unit. The power is 30 amps total. No 12 Volt anything. A Black water holding tank as well.

As far as the thermal circuit breaker the little rubber cover fall off mine all the time so I trapped it on, The battery cut off is wide open and could be mounted safer in a enclosed cabinet or channel to prevent a bolt lets say from the Revolution Hitch shorting it out.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

OP's problem was not caused by being towed, it was a flat out factory mess up from the git go with the cb being wired incorrectly. True, the switch malfunctioned, but had the cb been wired correctly, the ensuing events would not have happened

Not once did I say it was

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by presley01

After taking delivery on our 8289 last Dec I was moving stuff around in the front storage and noticed a wire from the battery to the disconnect was loose. Had to pull the battery to tighten it but also found several other loose connections. Following that I got into the distribution panel, more connections that were not tight, some as much as a full turn of the screw or more. Ended up pulling all the plugs and checking them, plugs had push in type connections, nothing to tighten. It's amazing how many loose connections were in this RV.

Oc,
I guess I was commenting more towards this reply.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

Oc,
I guess I was commenting more towards this reply.

Makes more sense and I agree.

The OP would probably never have had a problem with the way it was wired incorrectly IF the switch had not malfunctioned.

IMO, there is no reason for FR to allow a major safety item like that to go out the door. More folks at fault than the tech that made the mistake.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Makes more sense and I agree.

The OP would probably never have had a problem with the way it was wired incorrectly IF the switch had not malfunctioned.

IMO, there is no reason for FR to allow a major safety item like that to go out the door. More folks at fault than the tech that made the mistake.

Agree.


I just hope it comes to someone's attention at the highest level!
And not just the dealer saying" yeah I'll let someone know"

I most likely wouldn't stop till I had the last person that nobody else could fire.

Or at least ms Amy wouldn't. 😆

[GaryOverfield]

I showed this to my hubby. Where would one find this gizmo and how would one know if it were correctly wired?

We don't have a lot of electrical wiring expertise here.

[TURBS]

I'd take it STRAIGHT TO THE DEALER! DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT PAY 200.00!

they should see this an pay for any and all damage!

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

Agree.
I just hope it comes to someone's attention at the highest level!
And not just the dealer saying" yeah I'll let someone know"
I most likely wouldn't stop till I had the last person that nobody else could fire.
Or at least ms Amy wouldn't. ��

As me old mammy use to say, "I'd raise Hell and put a chunk under it"

[JCamper]

Pull the panel off the underbelly of your trailer. Should be about 2 feet from your batts. Mine only had the one shortstopper that was mis-wired.

[JCamper]

Rhino before you go digging through all my past posts why do you consider giving me the benefit of the doubt that I know my head from my @$$. The inverter I installed didn't and doesn't have ANYTHING to do with the circuit my slides and jacks are on. This is a pure and simple instance where the manufacturer screwed up. Just like delivery day when the dealer found the manufacturer drilled a screw trough the main power line installing the microwave. If you have nothing of value to say on this topic and thread, move on bud!

[JCamper]

So an update... After the dealer gave me the shove off I called Forest River and they too said it's out of warranty so sad. Went to the local trailer supply house and loaded up on all the wiring new switches and new shortstoppers (one for each if my 2 slides and both stabilizers now where the manufacturer had everything on one and of course miswired). Pulled the underbelly out and started stringing wire and replacing switches. I had to pull paneling out and even found the hot wire had sliced through heat ducting.
After replacing that and patching up the underbelly, I'm back in business. Excluding the burnt wire smell!
I feel much better knowing I installed the shortstoppers and all new wiring. The cheap factory stoppers were plastic, I put in metal auto resetting.

Bet I pulled 100 feet of bare burnt wire and melted plastic out of that trailer.
A good coat of corrosion proofing on those short stoppers and everything works great.
Tomorrow I'm delivering a little present to the dealer. A big garbage bag of all the burnt and melted wire, fried switches and the failed shortstopper still miswired!!!

[Weezer]

Originally Posted by JCamper

So an update... After the dealer gave me the shove off I called Forest River and they too said it's out of warranty so sad. Went to the local trailer supply house and loaded up on all the wiring new switches and new shortstoppers (one for each if my 2 slides and both stabilizers now where the manufacturer had everything on one and of course miswired). Pulled the underbelly out and started stringing wire and replacing switches. I had to pull paneling out and even found the hot wire had sliced through heat ducting.
After replacing that and patching up the underbelly, I'm back in business. Excluding the burnt wire smell!
I feel much better knowing I installed the shortstoppers and all new wiring. The cheap factory stoppers were plastic, I put in metal auto resetting.

Bet I pulled 100 feet of bare burnt wire and melted plastic out of that trailer.
A good coat of corrosion proofing on those short stoppers and everything works great.
Tomorrow I'm delivering a little present to the dealer. A big garbage bag of all the burnt and melted wire, fried switches and the failed shortstopper still miswired!!!

KUDOS to you for having the know-how to fix it yourself! Hopefully you took tons of pictures and/or videos during the process?

Nothing like doing it yourself and knowing it's done right! And saving yourself quite a bit of money in the process I'm thinkin'.

Now it's time to get out there and

[BigJohnD]

Glad it's all fixed. Me, I'd have probably gone to Indiana and hunted the guy down, with all my pictures and bag full of burnt wire. This stuff makes me furious. I kind of take it personally, as in I could've lost my family due to FR's lack of....