Quality difference between Forest River brands.

[llindiesue]

We are looking at Rockwood and Grey Wolf trailers for our first trailer purchase. Would like to hear comments on quality differences.

[grumpyer]

Rockwood is higher quality IMO Go look for yourself. find a floorplan that suits you and go from there

[RBDTx]

My wife and I are first time trailer owners. I am impressed by Rockwood features and design. Not so much with quality of construction. Time will tell, I suppose.
Construction is not quite so shoddy as many comments would have you think.

[Lifesavr65]

Purchased our 2020 Grey Wolf 23DBH back in August. So far all good. Build quality is not too bad. (my camping friends explained it to me like this: if you want solid HD quality, good luck pulling a house on wheels, RVs are made with lightweight materials so they can be towed and can flex- that made sense and I looked at the build differently).

We're heading out tomorrow for our second voyage (would have been sooner but got short term activation for 60 days).

Good luck in your purchase and dont rush.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by llindiesue

We are looking at Rockwood and Grey Wolf trailers for our first trailer purchase. Would like to hear comments on quality differences.

The first place to start, is price point. Rockwood trailers cost more than comparable Grey Wolf trailers.
Second, look at construction. Rockwood is filon-sided and aluminum framed. Grey Wolf are stick and tin.
Third, look at standard features and options. Rockwood has features that are standard, that are options or not available on the Grey Wolf.
Last, look at fit and finish of each line.

[Larry0071]

I wish that there were a rating system, say a 1 through 10 that was put together to sort of organize the quality/price levels of the many various product lines. Not just in Forest River, but use the same grade system across them all. That way, if you want a top end product you could see what lines fall in the 8 to 10 graded system and go explore just those. If you are looking for a basic, low cost product you may want to go to a 1-3 level on the scale. Maybe your moving on up and want to get a fancier and better constructed product so a 4-6 level is your huckleberry.... But as it is right now, people like me have no idea what the insider experts consider the top tier products or the low end junkers. I bought my Apex thinking that I was buying a higher end constructed but less flashy and fancy product. I did get the less fancy and flashy part.... but I'm undetermined at this point on the better construction. I honestly wish that I had spent $10,000 or $15,000 more (I'm in at around $27,000) and got something "better". I didn't know what I didn't know. I'm still learning.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Originally Posted by Larry0071

I wish that there were a rating system, say a 1 through 10 that was put together to sort of organize the quality/price levels of the many various product lines. Not just in Forest River, but use the same grade system across them all. That way, if you want a top end product you could see what lines fall in the 8 to 10 graded system and go explore just those. If you are looking for a basic, low cost product you may want to go to a 1-3 level on the scale. Maybe your moving on up and want to get a fancier and better constructed product so a 4-6 level is your huckleberry.... But as it is right now, people like me have no idea what the insider experts consider the top tier products or the low end junkers. I bought my Apex thinking that I was buying a higher end constructed but less flashy and fancy product. I did get the less fancy and flashy part.... but I'm undetermined at this point on the better construction. I honestly wish that I had spent $10,000 or $15,000 more (I'm in at around $27,000) and got something "better". I didn't know what I didn't know. I'm still learning.

But with the RV industry today, You see $100K plus High End units spend months in repair shops and $15k low end units spend zero time in a repair shop. So the cheap one gets a 10 and the Berkie gets a 2. Quality issues span from low to high and across the industry.

[Larry0071]

Originally Posted by TheWolfPaq82

But with the RV industry today, You see $100K plus High End units spend months in repair shops and $15k low end units spend zero time in a repair shop. So the cheap one gets a 10 and the Berkie gets a 2. Quality issues span from low to high and across the industry.

See..... That right there is just craptastic

I would hope that if I move from a FR Apex to a.... ???? and spend 50% more money on it, that I am moving from a Kia to a Ford.... or maybe Lincoln. I do not want to pay for a Lincoln and get KIA build quality.

[Tigger1]

Originally Posted by llindiesue

We are looking at Rockwood and Grey Wolf trailers for our first trailer purchase. Would like to hear comments on quality differences.

Although we are in the process of trading up to a new trailer, we’ve had two trouble free years with our Rockwood Mini Lite.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Originally Posted by Larry0071

See..... That right there is just craptastic

I would hope that if I move from a FR Apex to a.... ???? and spend 50% more money on it, that I am moving from a Kia to a Ford.... or maybe Lincoln. I do not want to pay for a Lincoln and get KIA build quality.

It really is a crap shoot on cars, RV's and other things. Had slightly used cars that gave me tons of trouble and had heavily used cars that I drove into the ground with no issues. You can get a lemon new, expensive, cheap, used or you get one that's trouble free. You'll always hear more about the "Bad" ones than you do about the "Good" ones.

[Bama Rambler]

We bought a Salem Stick & Tin in 2015 and have had zero problems with it. We also bought a Grand Surveyor in 2006 and had zero problems with it. Our first RV was a 1973 Country Squire and it had no problems. In fact out of all the RV's we've owned we only had one that had serious issues, and it was bought back, and the replacement didn't have problems. So we're one of the majority that doesn't have problems, and we don't jump on the interwebs telling how great our units are, though maybe we should.

I said all that to say that the perception of how bad rv's are is a bit skewed because people that don't have issues don't post much.

I've looked at many RV's and I believe that both Rockwood and Grey Wolf are both good units. Can you get a bad one; sure, but that could happen to any unit.

I also don't subscribe to the Filon sided units being superior to the aluminum sided units. They're just different.

[Feel Swift]

Originally Posted by Larry0071

I would hope that if I move from a FR Apex to a.... ???? and spend 50% more money on it, that I am moving from a Kia to a Ford.... or maybe Lincoln. I do not want to pay for a Lincoln and get KIA build quality.

Whats hilarious about that statement is I have a 2017 Kia Soul I bought new for less than $18K just as a drive to the office and back beater. It's never been back for anything and never had an issue other than a flat tire, 65000 miles on in two years. First Kia I ever bought or even drove and would buy another. I looked at the similar size / level / price offerings from just about everyone else at the time and did a ton of research, Kia wins.



My coworker has an 18 Lincoln MKZ that's a POS and cost at least 2.5 + times what the Soul cost. It has been back for an ECM, constant issues with Sync and the audio system, you name it. It seems like he always driving a rental or courtesy car. He actually was talking lemon law at the bar a few weeks ago. 13000 miles on the ticker.


It does have a better ride than the Kia, and comes with better bragging rights if that gets you off, at least when it's not in the shop lol.

[Larry0071]

We've had 3 Lincoln's and really never had anything wrong aside from a late 90s Continental that had the air suspension go out at around 120k miles. I've been pretty lucky with most vehicles aside from a 2005 Ram 2500 Cummins/automatic that ate 7 transmissions and one engine in 80,000 miles. That vehicle turned me off of the diesel thing forever. We hated that truck.

[JWood422]

We bought a 2016 Rockwood this year. Part of our reasoning was we figured the warranty work was taken care of already. Seems to have worked out well so far.
As far as rating systems, I kinda figure the only way to know is to rate them based on your own experience. I know that’s not helpful but that’s my take on it.
Bottom line is we’re happy with our purchase and would buy Rockwood again. But hopefully we’re old enough to not want to do that again.

[5picker]

This is our 1st Flagstaff. (Rockwood sister)

We really have had no complaints.

[Blairmaster]

In two years and over 5K miles put on her ( 9-Camping trips ) No issues with our Grey Wolf. Sometime paying more is just that : Paying more .

[JayArras]

Originally Posted by Larry0071

I wish that there were a rating system, say a 1 through 10 that was put together to sort of organize the quality/price levels of the many various product lines. Not just in Forest River, but use the same grade system across them all.

I hear what you're sayin', but that would be a nightmare to maintain, as trim lines change every year and the quality control in the RV industry is so variable (or nonexistent), even from unit to unit of the same model! Your best line of defense is to educate yourself on what quality should look like and arm yourself with that knowledge when you go RV shopping.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by JayArras

I hear what you're sayin', but that would be a nightmare to maintain, as trim lines change every year and the quality control in the RV industry is so variable (or nonexistent), even from unit to unit of the same model! Your best line of defense is to educate yourself on what quality should look like and arm yourself with that knowledge when you go RV shopping.

Agreed!
If you ever visit a R/V factory you'd see.

If all goes well during assembly and fits, there are few issues.
If it doesn't fit or gives the worker a problem, it gets cobbled together (or not) and sent down the line.

The 1st one would get a good grade, the 2nd a bad one.

[frank4711]

When I was shopping I was dealing with a wholesale dealer and the sales person was a tech before he went into sales ... first thing he said was buy a Rockwood/Flagstaff and the only reason he kept saying was in 5 years in the shop they just do not come back ... sure he has fixed them but not often ... we bought a Rockwood so far so good. Best of luck

[jd4010]

Originally Posted by 5picker

Agreed!
If you ever visit a R/V factory you'd see.

If all goes well during assembly and fits, there are few issues.
If it doesn't fit or gives the worker a problem, it gets cobbled together (or not) and sent down the line.

The 1st one would get a good grade, the 2nd a bad one.

Well I guess my 2019 Cedar Creek was the bad one. It's been at the dealership now for almost 6 weeks with a boat load of warranty items. Dealer called me Monday and said all the items were approved by FR and now they can start ordering parts. And, just my luck, this was one of the most complex and long warranty lists they've ever had to deal with.

Example: our Furrion Oven was/is terrible. Flame always going out. Temp out of whack. It was crooked in the cabinet. The dealer pulled it and found that the oven was installed at the factory without a base. Seriously FR? So many things that should have been caught by QA.

And...now I'm w/o a camper for 12 weeks while all these items get fixed. UGH.