Any Happy Forest River Owners Out there?

[northstar1960]

Originally Posted by hbillsmith

As a follow-up to my Wildcat 295rsx post, I did have a few minor issues that were easily fixed by the dealer. 7 weeks camping, 4 trips so far. In the spirit of full disclosure, here are the very few issues noting that all were resolved:

1) Small window by couch exhibited a dripping leak during our first trip's storm. Dealer removed and resealed the window. It's been fine ever since.
2) 1 of the LCI elephant pad feet on 1 of the jacks of the Ground Control 3.0 system fell off during a trip coming home, probably a defective clip. LCI overnighted a free replacement.
3) 5er's couch cushions bounced onto the floor while hauling on the first trip. To me that seemed like the 5er was bouncing more than it should. Dealer pulled the 4 wheels and had them balanced at Discount Tire. No charge and it made a big improvement.
4) 1 or 2 interior trim pieces popped loose and I just either screwed or glued them back. They've stayed down ever since.
5) Some of the TV antennae coax connectors that attach to the Amp in the wall were apparently loose such that I didn't get all the available local channels. I pulled the wall jack out and re-tightened all the connectors. After that, I went from getting 12 channels to 53 channels at that particular campground. No problems since.
6) Bought a 12volt fan in the Walmart Auto dept to leave running in the bedroom when we leave our pet in trailer. Should the camp power fail, a 12v fan would continue on battery. Turns out the cigarette lighter plug had the + and - reversed. Pulled the jack, reversed the wires and all is good.

Your list is very similar to most FR repair lists . most simple stuff . some have more major issues but some GD wildcats have some major issues also
I biggest problem was with the dealer . FR settled with me to my satisfaction , working on restoring the dealer relationship but that depends on how they behave the next couple yrs
I do know the spec sheet for the 29hfs xlr has changed from 20,000 btu furnace to the actual 19,000 btu as per part of my deal with them .
other then that and some poor workmanship that i took care of i have not had any issues . well the fan in the garage quit working right . now it's up to dealer to start fixing their rep with me .
120 days camping so far this yr

[acris93]

I bought a Wildwood x-lite in March. Drove it 400km home, and found the front a frame cracked on both sides. It took two months ago arguing with the dealer, and lippert to get it fixed. Then they wanted me to pay for the repair, and be reimbursed. New trailer, pay for repair? What kind of warranty is that. If it would have made it back to the dealer in one piece, I would have taken it back and let ft it there.

[Wayne Joan]

Very happy with our 2015 Flagstaff 8528IKWS.

[scootingranny]

We have a 2015 Coachmen Chaparral and so far have been happy with only minimal issues...tire blowout just before delivery service got to our storage facility (got 5 new tires), a few scratches on stove front and vent that were covered up with a scratch paint..can live with that. Scratch on a chair (used some Scotts scratchcover and it's fine), ding and scratch on table but minor. One blind crooked...DH fixed that. One blind came undone...DH fixed that too. Otherwise no problems yet but we've only had it 6 months and had 4 outings so have yet to really test it. Will be looking for issues as noted on other threads. We have been in some pretty good rains with no noted leaks. Have yet to cold weather camp. But so far we are loving it.

[F and E Damp]

We bought an 8-year old '02 Georgetown Class A and owned it for 4 years before the cost of RVing became too much. We sold it last December.

My take on GT is that their quality is marginal. After a slide topper failure (not their fault) I had to replace the cabinets in the overhead of the dinette slide. Based on what I found, I rate their engineering as poor and their manufacturing as "d-i-y" - make it up as you go along.

In particular, I found the electrical wiring way below standard. There were no wiring attachments to structure - everything in the slide out ceiling was just hanging. Wiring color codes changed at every splice.

I also found the cabinet attachments in the slide-out to be downright dangerous. We had a water ingestion problem due to the slide topper failing (not GT's fault). I found that the entire run of cabinets over the dinette and the sofa behind the driver's seat (about 8 feet) were held into the overhead with short wood-screws into the 1/6" Lauan plywood skin on the ceiling's styro-foam insulation. The screws were all rusted out and not holding very well. There are two square metal tubular members in that ceiling. Why the hell aren't the cabinets tied to them? After rebuilding the cabinets, they sure are now! We were lucky the cabinets didn't fall on us.

Unfortunately, costs drove us out of the RV lifestyle, but if we ever get back into it, FR's various trade names are off our list!

[updhaul]

We purchased a 2011 Forest River Wildcat because of the appearance and floor plan and great 3000lb+ carrying capacity The weight labels showed (2)5000lb axles with a 6800lb. TT weight allowing for great over 3000 lb. additional capacity, but we found (2)3500lb axles instead which severely limits capacity with 6800lb trailer. Initial contacts with FR were poor leaving a bad taste, I would look elsewhere but shop more carefully than I did.

[Big Rig]

Originally Posted by hbillsmith

It's just the wife and I. We were looking for the perfect 5er and read voraciously all the comments in this and rv.net forums. It seemed that china bomb tires, poor A/C performance and in-adequate showers and refrigerators are something to pay attention to. Even though I was buying a new 2500HD diesel, payload could be a problem if I went too residential high-end.



In the end we picked the 2016 Wildcat 295rsx over the similar plans from Grand Design and OpenRange because of so many values the others left off such as:



1) BAL frame drop frame design creates a front storage with a huge area, much bigger than others.

2) Maxxis 16" tires and aluminum speed rims were std. and a highly recommended brand. Having 16" instead of 15" was collectively promoted by the forums.

3) Radius shower made the bathroom and shower feel much nicer

4) Dual A/C's standard and a 15K in rear and low profile 13.5k in bedroom, 100+ temps no problem.

5) 2 Big TVs. A 49" LivRm and a 32" std bedroom TV

6) All LED lighting. No incandescent means low power draw for dry camping.

7) Std rear fold down bike rack a nice too have that I won't have to go add.

8) Great Dealer in Ft. Worth offered a 35% off MSRP AND was $4K higher on my trade-in after a nationwide shopping spree. This was on a custom order

9) LCI Ground Control 3.0 Auto Level factory installed at half the Camping World price

10) Slide covers all 3 slides $700 dealer cost total for all

11) Theatre Seating that faces the LivRm TV std. No more crooked neck.

12) 9 cuft std refrig (not the 6 cuft that most ultra lights have)

13) Kitchen large pantry with glass door. A wife's must have.

14) Windows on both sides of bedroom bed, much better view and cross vent fresh air

15) Payload worked perfect

16) Mor/ryde Cre/3000 with wet-bolt kit

17) 6000# Dexter Axles (others in this class were 4200 or 5000)

I wouldn't put a wildcat on the same level as a Grand Design or an Open Range.


Sent from my iPad using Forest River Forums

[PhoneDude 8289]

As we close out 2015 our 5r will be 2 yrs old and yes we are very happy with it. A couple of minor repairs, nothing I couldn't take care of myself. This RV has spent "0" days in for service. My biggest complaint is / was the tires, have had Maxxis tires for a year.

[striper44]

We pick up our new 2016 flagstaff 8528rkws we couldn't be happier with it. We traded our 2014 jayco 31dslb, now that was a trailer to complain about the quality of the jayco didn't even come close to the flagstaff

[donanddona]

The only issue we have had is the spongy floor. Floated a 3/8 wood floor. I think a 1/2 could work. Tech's at FR say they have addressed the floor thingy. Still love mine.

[Petersb]

We. Ordered our Mbs in July picked it up in Sept. Then left for OR coast then off to Calif. we have had a few issues but for the most we could not be happier. Plenty of power.super easy to drive. With the slide out lots of room.After we got back set app with dealer to fix the problems and they took care of all of them but the mattress . Which I'm thinking of just replacing. I've followed a lot of complaints on this forum but maybe we got lucky and got a good one without all the problems that others have had. VERRY SATASFIDED.

[poorbuthappy]

I loved ours, was singing the praises... then it went in for warranty slide issues and a water leak. that was June, now it's November and still no rv. really bummed out.

[purduepete97]

Originally Posted by poorbuthappy

I loved ours, was singing the praises... then it went in for warranty slide issues and a water leak. that was June, now it's November and still no rv. really bummed out.

Youve been without your camper for 5 months???? You are WAY more patient than 99% of us!! You need to be escalating with dealer, Forest River, and/or BBB until you get to resolution. What make/model/year is your unit?

[breezyhillfarm]

We're on our third FR and have only good things to say about them, FR and Couch's where we bought the last one.


2014 XLR27HFS
2006 Ford F450 Diesel Dually
2015 Harley Freewheeler Trike (Tara)
2004 Harley Road King Custom (Gemma)

[SKnight]

Originally Posted by purduepete97

Youve been without your camper for 5 months???? You are WAY more patient than 99% of us!! You need to be escalating with dealer, Forest River, and/or BBB until you get to resolution. What make/model/year is your unit?

My dealer had mine for nearly two months the first go around with no resolution, I took it back a few months later and they had it four months until I finally said they had it long enough and I needed it, again with no resolution.

The Sierra rep refused to communicate with me. I was advised to go over his head and then they never responded to my email requests.

Now it's back at the dealer after some discussion with the new dealer GM. They claim it's ready and in less than a month this time.

So out of the first 22 months of ownership it has spent nearly seven at the dealer. C'est La Vie.

[poorbuthappy]

Originally Posted by purduepete97

Youve been without your camper for 5 months???? You are WAY more patient than 99% of us!! You need to be escalating with dealer, Forest River, and/or BBB until you get to resolution. What make/model/year is your unit?

it a 2014 sunseeker 2250. poulsbo RV has been doing the work, the warranty process is horrible. dealer reports problem to LCI or FR, wait for part to arrive, replace part, same problem try a different part.... they have replaced every single part on the slide. now FR is thinking its the lack of skills at dealer. this whole deal is out of control. the worst part is no one seams to give any f's. I had over 45 nights and 10,000 miles before I brought it in. I was so happy with it, now I tell people it's not even close to worth it. it's a gamble what you are going to get from the factory, if you win then sweet, but getting the lemon sucks. waiting for all this to get resolved before we bring in the lawyers, there is a chance FR is going to do the right thing.

[jwuertz]

Our Rockwood 2304S was purchased new in 2011 and has had very few issues. The slide motor went out the first year and the dealer repaired it quickly. Other than that it has been good TT. We are very pleased with the quality of the Rockwood TT.

[bwcarp]

My Dealer has been waiting to get two doors for replacement in my 3025w. The unit came with a cracked bathroom door and have been waiting a year for it.Meanwhile noticed the window on the outside rear door is not sealed at the bottom letting water get inside the door. Used some sealant on it to fix it but noticed the frame was all distorted like someone ran over it. The same door has a spider crack in the gelcote by the handle. Dealer said they would order a new door,that was over four months ago.Still waiting,why doesn't Forest River not do a better job on sending things out to fix there units with issues that should have never left the factory with? THEY NEED BETTER Q.C. I have had to fix things like junk noisy fans behind the fridge,no radio because the antenna is junk,blue lights in the fridge,the underbelly falling down,and cheap china bomb tires.

[ScottBrownstein]

We got out 335DS last December after trading in a 17 year old Bounder 32H. Of course 17 years have done a lot to class A's, like slides and a residential frig, flat panel TVs... I can fix most things myself an have to admit that we have had few problems with the 335. If you look at a modern TT or RV it is basically a box with a lot of 3rd party systems in it. You can't fault FR if a furnace quits. I find that the dealers come up pretty short when it comes to anything. Virtually all of my problems were setup errors (automatic front shade, Jensen TV and a popped GFI on the Xantrex inverter.) Solved all of these problems on the internet in an hour or two. Bottom line, keep after your dealer and make sure they have filed for warranty issues and ordered any parts.

We love our 335 and would recommend FR to anyone.

[poorbuthappy]

I get the little things like tightening up bolts and the such. A house on wheels is going to have and develop issues, it's a given. But you are taking a gamble on what day and what time it passed through the line. They built my slide an inch out of square. How does that even happen? Replaced every single part of the system except the room itself, now it must be the way the parts are installed? Six months without my coach, that sucks. Be glad you got lucky, but I thought I was good for six months as well.