Factory wiring craftsmanship is poor

[woodyrock1]

I want to add before I get bashed. I know you cannot start taking things apart during a PDI to look at the wiring. My last post was not regarding the OP's complaint on the wiring.

[Tireman9]

When questions of quality and short warranty time come up the standard answer is the RVs har basically having your house run down the road at 50 miles an hour. I would challenge any RV company to have the work they do pass code for electric or plumbing required in every stick built home.


An RV is a shack built to 1890 quality and safety standards bouncing down the road at 70 mph.

[TheGerman]

Originally Posted by Tireman9

When questions of quality and short warranty time come up the standard answer is the RVs har basically having your house run down the road at 50 miles an hour.

But it's a recreational *vehicle* and not a mobile *home*. Ironically the mobile home is probably built better....

Some of the highlights of my (small) trailer, besides the usual assortment of construction debris:

Microwave almost fell out on a campground access dirt road. Turned out it was only held by the flimsy sheet metal frame in the front with no support on the back.

A gas line under the trailer went right by the clamp that was supposed to hold it to the frame.

The furnace was not mounted to the trailer, no kidding. There's a three legged support just sitting behind the opening and two screws hold the furnace to it. The support is *not* mounted to the floor or anywhere else so the furnace just bounces around on rough roads. I used a couple of angle brackets to fix this but it's a pain to get to.

I do think though that the plastic disc left in the black tank actually serves a purpose, it keeps the poo pile in check

[ramit315]

Doesn't seem like its getting any better from 12 yrs ago. When I bought my 2006 Surveyor it had less construction debris in it than my 2017 Sandpiper. We vacuumed out all the drawers cabinets and closets. Had at least a 5 gal bucket of sawdust at the end and from what I'm hearing that wasn't too bad.

[Jack Larson]

I'm not sure but I think I paid more for all the extra holes and field of debris scattered from one end to the other. It was part of the "Limited" package that adds all the extra stuff on. You paid for it, so they include it.

[JJaxon]

These are not built by Electricians, they are factory workers. They do what they are told. The lack of pride comes from the board room of corporate. As for skills, well, it factory work.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Had a recall on my 2018 Cherokee where they "double tapped" neutrals on the neutral bar of the breaker panel (illegal in most home wiring, but still is done) the real problem was that the "double tap" was a 12 gauge and a 14 gauge wire....BIG NO NO !!!! Luckily I had already caught it while trying to solve an electrical problem that took out all my 115v outlets in the entire trailer. Neutral wire came lose from a junction in the ceiling. Was told it was a 7 month wait to get trailer in for recall fix...I did it in 5 minutes.

[Tireman9]

In the overhead part of my Coachmen Class C There is a 12v socket. I would like to use it but there is no power.
You thnik the workers in Elkhart simply forgot to connect the wires?


Can someone from FR please identify which wires I need to check?

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Tireman9

Can someone from FR please identify which wires I need to check?

Tireman, you do realize that the Forum has no affiliation with FR.
So no one from FR will be seeing this post or identifying the wires.

Your best bet will be from another Forum member that owns the same RV as you.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Tireman, you do realize that the Forum has no affiliation with FR.
So no one from FR will be seeing this post or identifying the wires.

Your best bet will be from another Forum member that owns the same RV as you.

I was being sarcastic. I know that no one from FR would ever want to visit this forum to see what their customers think about their products.

[Bluepill]

Originally Posted by cavie

And what did you do about that frame rail connection?

I chose just to inspect the frame connections twice a year. Many of the frame connections are sub-standard, and to completely upgrade them would probably be an 8 to 12 hour ordeal. The lack of quality of Lippert frames pretty well matches the FR junk.

[Rick the Rocket]

Believe me the list of quality issues I have fixed would be too long to list. I have found examples of everything listed in the replies. Apparently today's rv is just a starter kit. To be finished at home.

I didn't find these things on my 2000 Trail Lite or my 2007 Coachmen. I'm sure they were not built that much different.

I worked in manufacturing all my life and I know quality starts at the top of the organization. In the RV industry evidently throughput is king.

[jaherbst]

Originally Posted by jake wolfpack

They definitely dont have a shop vac!

To clean and shop vac would be an extra $5000 and they would have to get

approval from the union shop steward!

Jack

[jake wolfpack]

This forum needs a like button you guys are hilarious

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by MR.M

This is more common then not . the goal is get them out the door and cross fingers it holds together till after the warranty period .

Sadly this is nothing new. I bought a 1995 Fleetwood built trailer brand new and saw the same things. Unsecured wires, tons os sawdust in all the spaces behind and under appliances. Only wiring that looked like someone. Knew what they were doing was the 120 volt wiring.

My Micro Lite is a little better with the wiring and they've stepped up their game with the sawdust. The amount has increased.

Wasn't unexpected and I had a plan from the beginning to rebuild the 12v system in the first year of ownership.

[Escott]

I just bought a 2018 Wildwood 230BHXL. I wanted to install a 4UCam instead of a Furrion. After removing the sharkfin gasket I pulled the wires up through to reveal the wire nuts. They sparked on the aluminum siding. That's when I found out that the camera is wired directly to the battery AND that they stripped the original camera 12V wire too long and it as sticking out of the nut. Also, there as a strand sticking out of the ground nut. This was a fire waiting to happen. You might have to zoom in on this picture to see it. BTW, this is my first camper and my first post to the forum.

[Tireman9]

If a safety issue is discovered it should be reported to NHTSA. I bet if every issue from every FR owner was sent in there would be some repercussions.
However if all we do is "preach to the choir", no improvement is likely.

[Boyd]

Right on Mr. Rocket, my EXACT thoughts after two new Forrest River Class C's. Sloppy/dangerous electrical work, like quality control is a joke. And no Shop Vac, if it's not showing, "F" it.

Originally Posted by Rick the Rocket

I purchased a new Cruiselite 241qbxl. I was looking into wiring the bedroom ac outlets to an inverter.

The first thing I noticed was that only 1 of the 15 amp breakers was wired to the branch that it was labeled for. Not a big issue but this is indicative a greater quality problem.

Another problem that I found after I pulled the panel enclosure out was that the LCI control board was not mounted it was just placed on top of the wiring behind the panel.

This just plain laziness and could result in shorted wiring if insulation was worn thru or just plain shorted out.

Apparently the factory doesn't own a shop vac either. There is saw dust and metal shavings everywhere thru out the unit, including on the control board.

The poor quality of these units is really disappointing. It doesn't have to be an expensive unit to put pride of workmanship into your job.

[rivraton]

RV and craftsmanship are incompatible terms...

[john lennon]

I vented on one of these forums four years ago six months after we bought our new Wildcat and was fixing numerous issues that should not of been if there was a quality control department. Like I said then, these guys will be in big trouble when they figure how to ship these from China.