Sierra problems and repairs in past 6 years.

quick83 · 03-01-2019, 10:30 AM

I just wanted to share and compare the challenges of owning a Sierra. It’s actually daunting when I look at my list now. What have you all been through? Just feels good to share.

This is a list List of all repairs done to our Sierra in past 6 years. Some under warranty, some by me, some were negligence , some were poor factory workmenship and some were bad repair workmenship, some were accidents.

One of the Wheels broke off inside on the master bed rm slide. I Bought home dept ones and had them Install under warranty. I Used Furniture sliders now with wheel. Works great.

Horrible squeal noise in bunk room slides. Needed lube where I could not get to and did not know. They lubed and Marked spot for me under warranty.

The Cypher lock broke. They fried 2nd one (installed batteries in wrong) 3rd one installed by me. Provided under warranty.

“Closet flex.” This is a problem where the Closet corner splits open and the Wall separates from the shelf.
They fixed under a warranty.

Steps weld broke(they hit them and said they did not)I took off got welded and put on. Now have moryde steps I installed.

Under my extended warranty had Slide out taken in 2 times for leak. Took back 2nd time, they said they had to remove slide and weld roller support. They put Bed back together wrong. I fixed it and reinstalled everything. Also a lot of trim was coming off. It started leaking again a year later after warranty was up. I tore all the outside slide frame apart and found was not sealed properly. No more leak!

Back Delaminated probably due to water leak from them replacing & not sealing good both rear led lights and license bracket under warranty. I disassembled and fixed damage and-reassembled.

I Did a roof repair on a corner cap area that factory did not seal properly. Redid this again 1 year later was leaking again [emoji849] think I got it this time.

I had to replace both outdoor kitchen slam door struts.

I fixed reefer. It Lost ground due to corrosion from condensation.

The Dealer hit front filon with a car and had to replace the whole thing. Trim work was awfull I redid all of it.

Poor re-paint job on front cap. I polished it to make as good as can.

Both front led lights burned out. They replaced under warranty.

Tv picture had distortion . They installed a new Tv under warranty, repair it fell off when I went to test it. They had Broke/ruined mount for Tv on the tv , I fixed it.

Roof Antenna o ring was the missing. Rebuilt it and installed o ring.

Awning clip came off and pin slipped. I fixed it. 4 hours to get back on. Also found all fasteners at top of awning mounts stripped and few pulling out. Put mollys in and redid all with oversized one in.

The Inside kitchen faucet leaked. I got free parts and rebuilt it.

Champagne Light above booth area one of the fixtures went bad. Had replaced under warranty.

Fantastic fan stopped working. Switch was corroded. I fixed.

Main Bedroom, side table very loose. I fixed it. They reinstalled crappy after slide repair.

Bunk room storage area had 2 separating shelves, I fixed all the separations.

Inside Reefer condensate drain not seal good. Fixed so sealed now and drains. Was Leaking out of reefer on to floor.

Light fixture in stove vent shorted out. Had them put in new fixture under warranty.

Main Slide carpet seam was fraying. I hand sewed it.

Main slide gasket was ripped. Had them install new one under warranty.

Wire came off to ground for hydraulic pump, landing gear and slides. All not work. Was poor crimp from factory. I found and fixed.

Externabond Tape on master bed slide, top seal for frame. Left off by Dealer when TRIED to repair slide leak.

Landing gear switch went bad. I Replaced.

Propane leak on drivers side I replaced hose and fitting.

Outdoor kitchen sink hose had kink in it. Kink caused a crack from opening and closing and then a leak. I Had to replace hose. I installed in a manor where when slide goes in and out there is no kink.

Water filt holder not stay on under pressure and popped off and broke plastic winter diverter valve. I Replaced housing, holder and valve. I Replaced plastic valve with brass one.

Out door kit flooded. By guest. Disassembled all and remove old laminate and install new laminate and reassembled.

One of the aluminum rims cracked causing a flat. Lions head gave us a new rim.

richp · 03-01-2019, 12:17 PM

Hi,

This strikes me as an RV version of, "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?"

Sure takes all the joy out of ownership to have an unending cascade of problems like this.

Rich Phillips

quick83 · 03-01-2019, 10:18 PM

Yes , but I’ve had so many opportunities to excel. It did really feel great the day I found the leak that the dealer tried to find twice.

TheWolfPaq82 · 03-01-2019, 11:04 PM

No thanks. I would've dumped it long before all those repairs.

quick83 · 03-01-2019, 11:18 PM

Disagree. I would Get burned on a trade or selling to someone. Im upside down about 12,000 now. I hardly paid any $ out of pocket it was mostly labor by me or warranty work. No way I’ll ever get rid of it now. It’s the devil I know. I think most are made poorly and are accidents waiting to happen if used a lot. And boy do we use ours.

TheWolfPaq82 · 03-01-2019, 11:47 PM

We've decided to bail on our 2018 Cherokee this spring. We bought it in April of 2017 and for the most part it's only been to dealer for one electrical issue the first summer. We purchased a cabin and acreage last fall, so between that and the fact that I don't have much confidence in the quality of the TT compared to the 2007 Jayco we sold in 2017, we decided to bail on the TT scene and we'll spend most of the spring, summer, fall and hunting season at the cabin now. Best part...."No Reservations Needed."

fredcrowley · 03-02-2019, 03:13 AM

Ditto to Quick83.

We are full-timers travelling throughout North America, so all my repairs, modifications, etc are done where ever we've dropped anchor. I do have a good set of tools.

Bought the rig new in early 2014, and was an RV neophyte - meaning we had never been in an RV. Sold the house and everything else. I already had a Ford F350 dually diesel, so no problems from a tow vehicle perspective.

Needless to say my learning curve was almost straight up. Learned real quick that the dealer and warranty were not worth the trouble to fix things.

1. Front closet wall separated and pulled away from shelf after about 2 years on the road. Fixed it myself. Removed the wallboard, mounted 1" x 2" to the wall sub-frame on either side, then mounted 1" x 2" to the closet side wall (used a router to make it decorative), then bolted everything together. That sucker ain't a movin' again! Got some 1/8" decorative plywood, stained it, and replaced the shelf wall. Cost was the material. Much better looking that the factory build.

2. Had to replace the outside kitchen fridge and microwave, the inside kitchen microwave, fireplace, and the 120v control board for the dual mode kitchen fridge - all due to low voltage at an RV park. Surge protector only kicks in at a 100v (way to low a voltage to prtect elctrical stuff). Problem solved by using a Hughes autotransformer (voltage booster). Thank the Lord the ACs were switched off!

3. Tagged the rear outside corners of the rig maneuvering in tight quarters early on in our travels, and did not properly account for tail swing. Actually pulled the back outside wall corners away from the wall frame by about 1/2-3/4". Using some stainless steel strips and long stainless steel lag screws, and lots of caulking, I was able to close up the back wall to the corners. I then bought some stainless steel diamond plate corner brackets (about 2' long x 3") for each corner, and trimmed them up. Looks better than new, and a lot stronger.

4. Of course, I had the common problems of tread separation of the factory China bomb tires. Tore up the lower aluminum skirting behind the wheels and fender skirting, and ripped up the wiring for the living room slide (of course the wires broke off in the slide wall). Ed comment: Stupid design by FR to route the wiring behind the wheels. Went on-line, found some heavy duty coiled wire, then re-wired the slide in front of the wheels. Drilled a hole through the slide floor, used a wire fish to bring the wires up through the wall to a new brass switch plate that I made. FR had the lower aluminum skirting, but it had to be ordered through a dealer. The dealer in the town we had dropped anchor in said they could order it for me (with a huge mark up from FR price plus of course truck freight - FR won't ship or drop ship to an RV park). They never ordered the part (razzle, frazzle, etc), even tho' they said they did. Found a local sheet metal shop, bought the correct gauge of aluminum, and they cut it to size for me (actually I got 2 pieces to account for Murphy's Law). Went to Home Depot, bought a 4' length of 5" PVC, and used that as a template to make the lower curved part of the skirting. Primed and painted and you would never know that the skirting had been damaged. Found new fender skirting on line and had it shipped to an RV park. Straight screw on. Not forgetting Murphy, I had the same thing happen about 10 months later. Good thing I had the spare aluminum sheet, and knew how to do the repair.

5. By then I had also realized that it might be worthwhile to upgrade my tires and rims. Went from the factory Westlakes LT245/75/15 10 ply, to a Goodyear G114 215/75/17.5 load range H 14 ply, and alloy 17.5" rims. Same overall profile. Tire problem solved!

6. Upgraded the suspension to a MOR/ryde SRE/4000. Had a mobile shop come to an RV park and do it for me. In the process of doing this, I found that 2 of the factory welds for the spring hangers were poorly done (not enough penetration), and had weld cracks, plus the factory nylon bushings were destroyed (with only about 6K miles on them). The mobile welder made up stronger brackets and reinforced them. Used bronze bushings and grease-able bolts. Solved suspension issues.

Lessons learned:

1. A brand new and pricey RV doesn't mean a quality product. Things will go wrong.

2. Don't rely on a dealer or warranty to correctly fix problems or do repairs, etc in a timely manner.

3. Pretty much everything is fixable by yourself, or with other helpful suck..., errrr RV friends. There almost is always someone in an RV park who has experience (see definition at bottom of post) with the problems you are dealing with.

4. Learn how to fix most problems yourself. I talked to a lot RV'ers in RV parks, subscribed to a number of RV forums to learn about how to fix things, and had mobile repair shops fix things that I felt were beyond my abilities.

5. Having sold all my tools when we sold the house and stuff, be prepared to go back and buy new tools to replace those that you sold for pennies on the dollar!

Experience is a $0.10 word for saying you screwed up a lot. I've got lots of experience!

Larry-NC · 03-02-2019, 02:59 PM

Quickride, do you see the pattern here? After two bad experiences at the "dealer", why did you ever go back again? There are lots of alternatives.

Larry

upflying · 03-02-2019, 03:45 PM

Wow, I haven't used my TT yet other than to pull it from the dealer to storage.
After pulling it 15 miles, I found the bathroom door latch/handle assembly lying on the floor. I hope it's not a premonition of things to come.
I fixed it myself.

quick83 · 03-02-2019, 06:36 PM

Wow holly crap Fred. U r the man. What scares me I knew most of what you were talking about. You have to be either mechanical or rich to own an RV, especially if you’re going to go out on the road and travel with no house. I’ve collected almost everything I need to do at most repairs, for example pex crimping tools voltmeter, pex tubing and lots of other stuff. Wow Fred!!!! Thanks for sharing all that. I’m gonna check my welds again now! I got hercules g rated 14 ply. Had that cracked rim and the TPM and those tires saved our ass!! Tire held up low on air! I changed my bushings out with neverfail. I will see if suspension gets loose now. Hope not a mistake not doing brass. I heard very good things about them. Hang in there and keep up your diligence.

Dakota EV · 03-03-2019, 11:57 AM

I have had to make most of the same repairs on our 2015 Sierra. But we still love this camper. I got tired of taking it to the dealer so I started doing a lot of the repairs myself. I have also completed some minor upgrades to our unit that helped us to enjoy ourselves while camping. Yes, we use our camper a lot and we will continue to use it. We enjoy camping and going different places every time. That is hard to do if you always go to the same place for your trips. We used to call our trips vacations but now that we are retired we just call them trips. We have 6 trips planned for this year. We spent 4 months on a western trip in 2017 that hit 17 different states and boy was that a lot of fun. I have no idea exactly how many miles we have on our camper neither do I care. It is in great shape for a 2015 and we plan on keeping it for as long as possible. Will it break down, heck yes. Will I fix it, Yes if it is humanly possible. Will I trade it, not in the foreseeable future. I plan on have a lot more fun in this camper before I retire it. Enjoy your camping......

Okiefatman · 06-07-2019, 03:29 PM

DW and I purchased a used 2016 Sierra 355re in January 2017. We replaced the tires right off the bat with Sailun`s 235/85r16 14 ply all steel. Next we noticed the staples that hold the flashing down to the roof are pushing up against the roof membrane this will be a very expensive repair. The interior door`s are covered with paper they are starting to peal back along the front edge, the ice maker quit working. The floors in every room squeak when you walk sometimes they pop and snap. The water filter cartridge cost $30.00, the holding tank gages are way off. The propane detector goes off all the time sometime it`s ok for two or three month`s then it will start acting up. I can`t afford to trade so I guess I am stuck. Anyone one have any suggestions on how to stop the squeak in the floor`s? There is also a low place in the roof of the main living room slide, the bathroom slide will leak if the trailer is not lower on that side.

Dakota EV · 06-07-2019, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Okiefatman

DW and I purchased a used 2016 Sierra 355re in January 2017. We replaced the tires right off the bat with Sailun`s 235/85r16 14 ply all steel. Next we noticed the staples that hold the flashing down to the roof are pushing up against the roof membrane this will be a very expensive repair. The interior door`s are covered with paper they are starting to peal back along the front edge, the ice maker quit working. The floors in every room squeak when you walk sometimes they pop and snap. The water filter cartridge cost $30.00, the holding tank gages are way off. The propane detector goes off all the time sometime it`s ok for two or three month`s then it will start acting up. I can`t afford to trade so I guess I am stuck. Anyone one have any suggestions on how to stop the squeak in the floor`s? There is also a low place in the roof of the main living room slide, the bathroom slide will leak if the trailer is not lower on that side.

We have a 2015 and have had some of the same problems. The staples on the roof was fixed by FR. This is a known defect for these models. I changed my water filter out for a standard filter from the local hardware store. Our floors squeaked for a long time but they finally quit or we just got used to the sound. There are additives on the market to help clean the tanks and this will help with your sensors unless the control panel is defective. I had to replace the panel in my camper two years ago. I contacted FR Sierra support and they sent me a new panel. It was very easy to exchange. Can't help with the other items. contact FR Sierra support and maybe they can help even though it is out of warranty.

Scrapper · 06-07-2019, 09:11 PM

The tank gauges are nothing more than 4 bolts stuck through the side connected to wires. They are hardy ever accurate. SeeLevel makes a very accurate setup that can use the original wires and lights but it is very expensive. You say the LP/CO detector goes off every so often, some cleaners, hair spray and even dog farts can set them off. The LP detector also detects CO (carbon monoxide) and should be changed every 5 years. Depending on how long the detector was on the shelf before being installed it could already be 6+ years old. You have to remove it and look at the date tag on the back.

Okiefatman · 06-11-2019, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dakota EV

We have a 2015 and have had some of the same problems. The staples on the roof was fixed by FR. This is a known defect for these models. I changed my water filter out for a standard filter from the local hardware store. Our floors squeaked for a long time but they finally quit or we just got used to the sound. There are additives on the market to help clean the tanks and this will help with your sensors unless the control panel is defective. I had to replace the panel in my camper two years ago. I contacted FR Sierra support and they sent me a new panel. It was very easy to exchange. Can't help with the other items. contact FR Sierra support and maybe they can help even though it is out of warranty.

How did they repair your roof? I am going to have to foot the bill myself. Thanks for your help.

Dakota EV · 06-19-2019, 05:21 PM

Sorry for the delay but we have been camping without internet. The dealer told me that they had to lift up each side of the roof material and then replace the staples and then reattach the roof material. I did not see them do this procedure so I can't tell you any more. But I would not want to try to repair this on my own. Have you contacted FR Sierra support to be sure that they can not help you with this. My dealer said at first that FR would not repair my roof but I kept talking to people at FR until I finally got the right person to agree to the repairs.

Okiefatman · 06-23-2019, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dakota EV

Sorry for the delay but we have been camping without internet. The dealer told me that they had to lift up each side of the roof material and then replace the staples and then reattach the roof material. I did not see them do this procedure so I can't tell you any more. But I would not want to try to repair this on my own. Have you contacted FR Sierra support to be sure that they can not help you with this. My dealer said at first that FR would not repair my roof but I kept talking to people at FR until I finally got the right person to agree to the repairs.

Thank you for responding to my question. I purchased my trailer used so I don`t know if Forest River will repair it or not. We had a repairman look at it he said the same thing you said about how to repair it. I am going to call Forest River tomorrow and see what they have to say.

OKI Marine · 06-16-2020, 06:54 AM

I have a 2010 Sierra 355QBQ. Our biggest issue out the door was the axles. We kept getting bubbles on the side walls of the tires and resulting in blow outs. One blowout did $3700 damage. Contacted Forest River several times. Finally got a response of yes your camper should have had bigger axles. Out of 1 year warranty. Sorry your cost. I replaced axles, Springs, shackle kit, rims and tires. No issues afterwards. I put disc brakes on last summer. Wow, what a difference. The front landing gear was single motor. It was awful. Broke a gear twice. Bought Bulldog dual motor system. No more issues. There have been lots of other issues to many to list. I have just sucked it up and fixed myself. I will say terrible craftsmanship. One of the toilet areas has 3 different trims that come together and do not match up. Two of them were cut short and have gaps in between. I don't plan on buying another as I don't want to start upgrading and or fixing like I have before. I enjoy what we have. When you drag your home down the highway at 65-70 mph stuff breaks

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