New Grey Wolf BH and the dreaded drag

[akhenaton22]

Hello, new to the forms. We had a 2006 cherokee and loved it. Recently we sent the travel trailer in for some repairs, and found out the repairs were a little most costly then we cared to pay for. So we went to a FR dealer near us and came home with a new 2017 Grey wolf limited 29BH. Beautiful camper, great and easy to use.

Now the bad part. The grey wolf sits lower then my cherokee, I new that going in. Cherokee had 15" tires and this one has 14". We literally drug on every pull out from anywhere (camp site, turns on the road, etc) this weekend on our first outing with it. On the way back i drug on every pull out, bent the right rear skid almost flat. I nearly threw up. At this point I'm not sure about taking it anywhere. I am looking into skid wheels, but the engineer in me wonders putting a load on only one wheel and not both could possible do some twisting/bending to the frame and the structure itself. I will continue to search these threads for more information, but ideas are welcome. I plan on calling the dealer tomorrow to see if they can help with it.

I did adjust my hitch this afternoon, i was riding quite high in the front. we'll see if that helps too.

[doc73]

Originally Posted by akhenaton22

Hello, new to the forms. We had a 2006 cherokee and loved it. Recently we sent the travel trailer in for some repairs, and found out the repairs were a little most costly then we cared to pay for. So we went to a FR dealer near us and came home with a new 2017 Grey wolf limited 29BH. Beautiful camper, great and easy to use.

Now the bad part. The grey wolf sits lower then my cherokee, I new that going in. Cherokee had 15" tires and this one has 14". We literally drug on every pull out from anywhere (camp site, turns on the road, etc) this weekend on our first outing with it. On the way back i drug on every pull out, bent the right rear skid almost flat. I nearly threw up. At this point I'm not sure about taking it anywhere. I am looking into skid wheels, but the engineer in me wonders putting a load on only one wheel and not both could possible do some twisting/bending to the frame and the structure itself. I will continue to search these threads for more information, but ideas are welcome. I plan on calling the dealer tomorrow to see if they can help with it.

I did adjust my hitch this afternoon, i was riding quite high in the front. we'll see if that helps too.

I lifted my Grey Wolf by flipping the axle from over the leaf springs to under. Gained 5" or so. I would also get yourself less nose high.

[akhenaton22]

Yeah I plan on talking to them about if they would be willing to do something like that.

Bad thing is I hung my in-law's driveway coming home, which literally drops off from asphault to gravel about 2-3 inches at most. To me it shouldn't be doing that, I don't care how long or short the trailer is.

[akhenaton22]

Talked with the dealer, who put the hitch on for me. Told them what happened, they are zero help. "we'll put a drag bar back on there." I said your not getting it, and their reply was "not much we can do. we have not had anyone say they are having trouble."

I hung up before I blew up. I love dealers...

[rmac04401]

Originally Posted by akhenaton22

Talked with the dealer, who put the hitch on for me. Told them what happened, they are zero help. "we'll put a drag bar back on there." I said your not getting it, and their reply was "not much we can do. we have not had anyone say they are having trouble."

I hung up before I blew up. I love dealers...

That is dealers and manufactures first words " we have not heard of this issue before", and you know they have because others you know have said they told them.

Easy deniability!

[akhenaton22]

Yeah. I told the wife and she said we'll we just need to take it to them and make them fix it. I agree, but other then replacing the drag bar and making sure the truck is level (which i have already done) i doubt they will do much. I'd like to flip the axles, may see if a shop near by can do it. I wonder if it will void my warranty though. Hadn't had the thing but about 10 days.

[SuicideSaints]

What model do you have out of curiosity? How big are the dips you are coming out of? What hitch do you have and what Vehicle are you towing with? To hit/drag on every one makes me think something isnt right, unless it is truly a squatty trailer, Ive got an EVO really similar to the Grey Wolf and I dont hit anything, although I dont have skids i dont come close to dragging the rear or front. I do have 15 in tires but maybe an inch really makes that big of a difference.

[akhenaton22]

Dips initially we rather steep, which I barely hit the skid bar. I purposely coming out of the camp site went right to avoid that dip and ended up hitting two more that were flat ( I thought). What got me was the last onto a rock drive where I store it. It's literally a 2-3" drop and that's it. I don't think it should do that. Hit all bumps at angles too.

[JustB_Rad]

I would say that your nose up was your problem. I've got a 26DBH (31ft overall length) and I've never dragged and my driveway is uphill at 3%+ slope, or going into or out of any parking lots, campgrounds or campsites.

[kbradley]

Don't be afraid to contact Cherokee. I went through 8 tires from FL to WA and back. I swore there was something wrong when I turned while backing up. On my 2012 GW 28BH they first replaced the axles under warrantee. We asked the dealer to jackknife park it to make sure the problem was gone. It was not. They had to rebuild the wheel wells under warranty. Success. Perseverance pays.

[danny4127]

I have bent the jacks twice on my 26RR pulling out at bike rallys. It is low to the ground also with 14 inch tires

[akhenaton22]

I emailed Forest River so we'll see where it goes. I plan on putting some heavy duty rollers on the backend this weekend. See if that helps. I'll re-evaluate my tongue as well to be sure I am level.