Got our new Forester 3051S

[radman]

I drove that way on my way to Michigan. We drove over the grand escandle staircase in Utah and it topped out at about 9800', no problems.

[JimOneil43]

Originally Posted by radman

I drove that way on my way to Michigan. We drove over the grand escandle staircase in Utah and it topped out at about 9800', no problems.

Were you towing?

I think the highest we got on our way home was about 6500' between Billings and Missoula MT. Our Forester really revved up and did a great job. Don't know what the max RPMs are with the V10, but ours kicked up to about 5000.

[sdgscott]

Hi Jim,

Congrats on your purchase! I also went the RVW route and they were great to deal with. Don't worry about the revs, this V10 and trans combo does a great job on hills. If you haven't turned on the tow/haul mode, it works great. I went over Vail Pass (10,666) and through the Eisenhower tunnel (11,158) on our return trip and barely tapped the brakes.

Hope to get up your way this summer. Enjoy the rest of your trip!

Scott

[JimOneil43]

Originally Posted by ORvideoguy

I agree with the statement about getting an alignment. Our 2015 3011 had a lot of slop in the steering all the time and wandered all over the place when towing our Dodge Durango until we had an alignment.

Start with that and then drive it, you may find that's enough. So far it has been for me.

I noticed that you're from Eugene. I'm a fellow Forester owner in the area over here in Springfield and we bought from RVW. So far so good for us with purchase and help getting service after the sale. We had our warranty work done at Carrier RV Service and they were great. They also arranged for the alignment to be done by a local alignment shop while they had it in for warranty work. I don't know the name of the place but I'm sure they could tell you if you called them.

Good luck and have fun!!

We are planning to take our 3051 to Kaiser Brake & Alignment in Eugene, now that we're home. They do a lot of motorhomes and are the best around this area. Also will have them install a Roadmaster steering stabilizer and hope between that and the alignment the steering & handling will be much better. Does Carrier RV do all type of RV service and are they located in Springfield? It was pretty hairy driving down the Columbia Gorge with the strong crosswinds.

[Steeljag]

Good to read you made it home safely !

Congradulations again on your new MH !

[JimOneil43]

After towing our Honda CR-V from Ohio to Oregon, we discovered that the steering seemed to be all over the place on the CR-V. We took it in to the Honda dealer and they said that the front alignment was quite a ways off and also one rear wheel was out of line. Having towed it over 2500 miles on some of the worst Interstates in the country, mostly in the midwest, I asked them if that could have caused it. They said that yes it could have. I'm not wanting to pay for an alignment after every trip, but don't think I can avoid all the rough roads.

Has anyone else ever had this problem and if so, what do you do to avoid it?
Our Honda and I would really appreciate any help
Thanks

[radman]

I just returned from 5 weeks on the road with my 3051. The only problem I had was on the next to last campground. I was retracting my levelers, hit the retract button ( Big Foot ) and the jacks came up all the way but the all up light never came on, but all jacks were fully up. I crawled under and saw that the steel rod that the foot hits to show all are up had been bent. The jacks still work but I had to drive almost 700 miles with warning buzzer sounding, what a pain.

[Sagecoachdriver]

Originally Posted by radman

I just returned from 5 weeks on the road with my 3051. The only problem I had was on the next to last campground. I was retracting my levelers, hit the retract button ( Big Foot ) and the jacks came up all the way but the all up light never came on, but all jacks were fully up. I crawled under and saw that the steel rod that the foot hits to show all are up had been bent. The jacks still work but I had to drive almost 700 miles with warning buzzer sounding, what a pain.

Seems when the foot hits something and turns, it tweaks the pin. I saw them at the local hardware stores I think.

[HopHed]

Originally Posted by Sagecoachdriver

Seems when the foot hits something and turns, it tweaks the pin. I saw them at the local hardware stores I think.

I have had the same issue. Had the pin replaced once by dealer. As Sage says if the foot scrapes it will twist and bend the pin. Mine scrape going in and out of driveway so working on something to keep it from scraping. Currently have bent pin now. Have found replacements at DIY centers for .95 each. Easy to replace but have to cut pin at bottom to get out as when bent can not push it up past the sleeve it is in.
As a temp fix when the jacks are retracted you can push pin up slightly to activate the limit switch and push some paper(or something about 1/8") under the pin to keep the switch activated.

[Sagecoachdriver]

Originally Posted by HopHed

I have had the same issue. Had the pin replaced once by dealer. As Sage says if the foot scrapes it will twist and bend the pin. Mine scrape going in and out of driveway so working on something to keep it from scraping. Currently have bent pin now. Have found replacements at DIY centers for .95 each. Easy to replace but have to cut pin at bottom to get out as when bent can not push it up past the sleeve it is in.
As a temp fix when the jacks are retracted you can push pin up slightly to activate the limit switch and push some paper(or something about 1/8") under the pin to keep the switch activated.

Thanks HopHed- Good trick to know. I couldn't drive 2 blocks with that alarm going.
Read somewhere, about the plastic cap in the photo. Maybe there's less friction so they won't bend. But mine aren't level when looking at the feet and any striking of the feet will surely bend them.

[JimOneil43]

Originally Posted by JimOneil43

After towing our Honda CR-V from Ohio to Oregon, we discovered that the steering seemed to be all over the place on the CR-V. We took it in to the Honda dealer and they said that the front alignment was quite a ways off and also one rear wheel was out of line. Having towed it over 2500 miles on some of the worst Interstates in the country, mostly in the midwest, I asked them if that could have caused it. They said that yes it could have. I'm not wanting to pay for an alignment after every trip, but don't think I can avoid all the rough roads.

Has anyone else ever had this problem and if so, what do you do to avoid it?
Our Honda and I would really appreciate any help
Thanks

Anyone else have alignment problems on their toad?

[ORvideoguy]

Originally Posted by JimOneil43

We are planning to take our 3051 to Kaiser Brake & Alignment in Eugene, now that we're home. They do a lot of motorhomes and are the best around this area. Also will have them install a Roadmaster steering stabilizer and hope between that and the alignment the steering & handling will be much better. Does Carrier RV do all type of RV service and are they located in Springfield? It was pretty hairy driving down the Columbia Gorge with the strong crosswinds.

Carrier RV is on airport road in Eugene right off of 99. I think it used to be called Carrier and Sons RV Service.

They were the place that RV Wholesalers said was part of their service network in the area when I purchased from them. Then when I called to request warranty work RV Wholesalers said I could take it to Camping World and they would take care of the work. Because of mixed reviews I've seen of Camping World service I asked if I could use Carrier RV since that's who I was told was part of the service network. They had to call and confirm that they would do warranty work but I was able to take it there and they fixed everything we had an issue with.

[DaGrinch]

I've been watching this thread since the beginning, since my Sunseeker is close to the Forster 3051S. While I haven't had the pleasure of doing a long trip, most of mine being no more than 200 miles round-trip, I have found one thing in common; the steering wanders all over. After reading some posts, and communicating with a fellow Sunseeker owner, I replaced the so-called factory steering dampener with the Roadmaster RSSC. Installed it myself and it has greatly improved the handling of "Sunny". Made a couple of other suspension modifications and, boy what a difference. I am going to get the front end aligned some time in the near future, but want things to settle in after some more miles.
Sorry to hear about the quality control issues when you picked up your unit. I had a couple very minor issues, but my dealer is taking care of things.

[JimOneil43]

Our Forester "Farley" is going in this coming week to Camping World for some warranty issues. We discovered in addition to the scratches on the kitchen solid surface countertop, a long scratch on the dinette top, a scratch on the mirror in the vanity area and multiple scratches on the face of the mjicrowave/convection oven. Don't know who they had doing the interior assembly work at the factory on our unit, but they obviously didn't care what they were doing.
On the last night on our trip home, we pulled into the RV site, put down the Bigfoot levelers, which didn't sound quite right, then started to extend the slide. About halfway out, the kitchen cabinet under the cooktop area started rubbing on the floor step-up area that goes into the bedroom area. Looked like it was going to pull the face off the cabinet, so I stopped and put the slide back in. Retracted the Bigfoots, and tried again...same result. Put the slide back in and spent the night with the slide in and the Bigfoots retracted. A tight squeeze to get around!!
Don't know if anyone else has had this problem?

[Creativepart]

We have the same unit. And have had none of the issues you've mentioned. Best of luck. Why Camping World??

[benagi]

Originally Posted by DaGrinch

I've been watching this thread since the beginning, since my Sunseeker is close to the Forster 3051S. While I haven't had the pleasure of doing a long trip, most of mine being no more than 200 miles round-trip, I have found one thing in common; the steering wanders all over. After reading some posts, and communicating with a fellow Sunseeker owner, I replaced the so-called factory steering dampener with the Roadmaster RSSC. Installed it myself and it has greatly improved the handling of "Sunny". Made a couple of other suspension modifications and, boy what a difference. I am going to get the front end aligned some time in the near future, but want things to settle in after some more miles.
Sorry to hear about the quality control issues when you picked up your unit. I had a couple very minor issues, but my dealer is taking care of things.

What other suspension mods did you do?

[JimOneil43]

Originally Posted by Creativepart

We have the same unit. And have had none of the issues you've mentioned. Best of luck. Why Camping World??

That is where RV Wholesalers directed us to. They contacted them and made arrangements and CW was only about 2 weeks out to get us in. The other choice in our area, Sutton RV, was about 3 or more weeks and they seem to be more of a towable RV dealer, with a smaller service dept. We'll see what happens.

[JimOneil43]

OK, I just figured out our mileage on the trip home from Ohio. Drove 2863 miles and averaged 7.9 mpg. We were towing our Honda CR-V and going over the Rocky Mtns and Cascade Mtns to get home. I was hoping for 8.0 mpg, so I don't think we did too bad...I'm happy ! Tried to hold it to 61-65 mph, since Honda says not to tow over 65.
How's that compare with everyone else?

[Wandering]

Originally Posted by JimOneil43

OK, I just figured out our mileage on the trip home from Ohio. Drove 2863 miles and averaged 7.9 mpg. We were towing our Honda CR-V and going over the Rocky Mtns and Cascade Mtns to get home. I was hoping for 8.0 mpg, so I don't think we did too bad...I'm happy ! Tried to hold it to 61-65 mph, since Honda says not to tow over 65.
How's that compare with everyone else?

Wow. I'm kinda jealous I struggle to get to 8 without my toad. Once I hook up the toad it is closer to 7 or below. I drive a little faster maybe 70 but it doesn't seem to make much difference for my camper and it is smaller 27'.

Fun camping regardless!


Forester 2451s

[Beachfrog]

Put air in the rear air lifts. You will be surprised how it will stabilize the front end.
Lifts rear and puts more weight to the front. I run about 60 to 70 psi.