Towing miles on your RiverStone

hutchman · 05-10-2018, 11:28 PM

Just wondering how many of you are putting a lot of miles on your RiverStones and if you've had any towing related issues?

dblr · 05-11-2018, 07:27 AM

So far I would say since we got ours in August of 2016 we are just around 4,000 miles and all is well, now let's not jinx that

clr · 05-11-2018, 07:51 AM

I have a close camping buddy that has a Riverstone RV. They bought it because his wife wanted all the bells and whistles associated with it. I know he has towed it to Texas twice and to the East coast a couple of times.
On one of his trips to the East coast he hit the auto level on the jacks and it lifted much of the weight off the wheels on one side and his axle fell to the ground. Of course he had to contact Forest River and a mobile RV tech. When they exam ed the hanger brackets for the axle they had never been fully welded to the frame only spot welded.
So be sure that yours are fully welded. Could not image what would have happend if this had occurred while they were on the road.

Cypressloser · 05-11-2018, 02:24 PM

About 2000 miles since late July '17, no issues towing related.
We had planned to go south for the winter but had to cancel the trip due to health concerns of a family member, otherwise we would have put another 3500 miles on.
We live in our RS full time.

Albertaslim · 05-11-2018, 04:09 PM

Have put on just under 6,000 miles in 10 months with no towing related issues.
Really pleased with the Goodyear 17.5" tires and the disk brakes.

Have had a couple of minor issues which were handled promptly by the dealer or Forest River.

We are full time.

hutchman · 05-13-2018, 01:53 AM

Just wondering.....I noticed the spring mounts do not have any reinforcement/bracing. They look somewhat underbuilt to me. We have only towed ours about 300 miles so far but may put more miles on it this year. We'vebeen in one spot, close to the grandkids, since last August.

Overall we have been very happy with ours. I replaced the water pump last fall and the microwave last week. Otherwise it has been near perfect.

TRiver · 06-05-2022, 01:58 PM

Dealer had hangar bolts mounts lengthened after losing two bolts. Have list 2 more since. I look at them before we go anywhere, and when we get there.

Try avoiding tight turns.

lcv800 · 06-06-2022, 05:06 AM

10,000 miles in 3 years. No tow related issues. Don't even know it's behind my F-350 dually. I don't tow over 67 mph. FYI.

rpowers2021 · 06-06-2022, 01:58 PM

Have towed our Riverstone Legacy 8500 Miles in year and half. First tow after Picking it up, the plastic tray under the front broke and dropped down. Factory sent a new one and I installed it. Next trip same thing, the new one broke and dropped down dragging the road. took back to dealer and they had to install a board across the front so it would not flex while going down the road. No problem with it since then.

Can't say the same thing for the front kitchen slides. been having trouble with both of them since day I picked it up. Got LCI involved now and hopefully they can figure out what is going on with them now.

MichaelA · 06-09-2022, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rpowers2021

Have towed our Riverstone Legacy 8500 Miles in year and half. First tow after Picking it up, the plastic tray under the front broke and dropped down. Factory sent a new one and I installed it. Next trip same thing, the new one broke and dropped down dragging the road. took back to dealer and they had to install a board across the front so it would not flex while going down the road. No problem with it since then.

Can't say the same thing for the front kitchen slides. been having trouble with both of them since day I picked it up. Got LCI involved now and hopefully they can figure out what is going on with them now.

What kind of slide issue?

rpowers2021 · 06-09-2022, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelA

What kind of slide issue?

The slides will bind going in or out. They seem to be moving in their holes when traveling. One time they work fine and next stop they bind. The only way to get them in or out is by moving them two inches one direction and one inch the other until they are out or in. This has been happening from day one but when I would take it to the dealer, they would work fine and the dealer could not figure out what was going on. Now it’s at a service shop in Missouri and they will not go out. Shop is in contact with Lippert. Hopefully they can get this issue figured out.

MichaelA · 06-09-2022, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rpowers2021

The slides will bind going in or out. They seem to be moving in their holes when traveling. One time they work fine and next stop they bind. The only way to get them in or out is by moving them two inches one direction and one inch the other until they are out or in. This has been happening from day one but when I would take it to the dealer, they would work fine and the dealer could not figure out what was going on. Now it’s at a service shop in Missouri and they will not go out. Shop is in contact with Lippert. Hopefully they can get this issue figured out.

Oh wow. Sorry to hear this. Have them test drive it as often as they need to. The dreaded "can not duplicate" is a total pain.

darrellr · 06-09-2022, 09:55 AM

I am having an issue with the front DS slide on my 42FSKG. Same thing, out of the blue (we have not had it too long, just one trip out other than bringing it home, and the slide bound. It has ended up chipping some of the gear track and as of right now will not extend out. So frustrating. Having to scrap July 4th plans because the shop cannot even look at it until July 8th. And who knows how long it will take to get corrective parts. The joys of RV life.

BessieHunter · 06-09-2022, 04:41 PM

We have just shy of 20K miles in the 6 years of ownership. Only major issue was the axles. Had MorRyde IS installed in October of 2020 and was told by the Technician, the axles were 1 1/2 inch out of parallel with each other. Other than the axles, this has been a great unit.

RVRAngie · 07-05-2022, 08:31 PM

We just picked up our new 42fskg. The one thing the technician told us in the walkthrough on the slides is to make sure we run them all the way in and all the way out and not stop it intermittently as it can throw off the track synchronization with the lippert slide systems. As this is a new rig, we will see with time how they perform.

filthy-Beast · 07-11-2022, 10:55 AM

Got our 2 year ago, my F350 says it has gone 6000 miles towing that trailer. No issues towing other than idiots merging or cutting me off and hitting the brakes.

Rich River · 07-18-2022, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rpowers2021

The slides will bind going in or out. They seem to be moving in their holes when traveling. One time they work fine and next stop they bind. The only way to get them in or out is by moving them two inches one direction and one inch the other until they are out or in. This has been happening from day one but when I would take it to the dealer, they would work fine and the dealer could not figure out what was going on. Now it’s at a service shop in Missouri and they will not go out. Shop is in contact with Lippert. Hopefully they can get this issue figured out.

Hello,
We went through this in February with our new 3950 Reserve. Side did not work correctly on our PDI. We were at Lazydays in Tampa. They got a whole new Swinteck slide system and when they installed them our tech who was very good made some custom support bracket to support the slide rails that the motors are on. Made perfect sense to me. He said the River Stones Slide boxes are really heavy and when those motors get moving they will torque the rail and then start grinding the rails on the slide and keep getting worst the more it is used.

rpowers2021 · 07-24-2022, 10:34 AM

Update on slide problem. Had it back to the factory and they replaced swenteck system on both front slides. They said when this unit was built that the H-channels were to small for the weight of the slide out box. they installed the larger H-channels. Drove 7 hrs to next stop, same thing slides bind and will not go out.

Now Lippert is sending a transport driver to come and get it. They had me take measurements from the pin box to the frame were the jacks are located with the unit on the jacks and then loaded on my truck. Now they think that the frame is flexing to much and causing the slides to bind after it's towed. So they believe that they will have to weld extra supports on the frame to stiffen it up. This has been a nightmare since I purchased it. If it wasn't for Bob Zurbuch and all the help he has been doing to trying to get this repaired I probably would have already filed for the lemon law. Hopefully this is the repair that will finally remedy my situation. Fingers crossed!!

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