Grand Design Solitude 369RL Quality
We full time in our MH but are considering going back to a 5th wheel for the extra living and storage space. One consideration is the Grand Design Solitude 369RL. I would like to hear from any Grand D...
Forum Discussion
I follow the Grand Design forum pretty closely as well as the GD owners Facebook page. The issues I see crop up most commonly are grease leaking from the hubs(by far the biggest issue across the entire Grand Design lines). These are Lippert supplied frames and axles. Lippert has finally admitted that they have an assembly issue which was caused by overpacking the hubs with grease which as it gets hot, expands the grease which then seeps past the seals onto the brake pads. Apparently the assembly process is suppose to be changed in November to address this issue according to a Lippert customer service rep. If you do buy one, make sure the dealer pulls the hubs and checks for leaking seals and/or overpacked hubs.
Another issue reported is waste tanks dropping out of the frame. These tanks are designed with a lip on the perimeter of the tank and fits in between the RV frame rails. I saw how these are unstalled during a recent tour of the GD factory. Some tanks have flexed from a combination of being full and being jarred down the highway to the point that the tank kind of folds in on itself and drops out of the frame rails.
I wouldn't say that it's a widespread problem, but one that does get reported on from time to time. Certainly the wheel grease issue is much more commonly reported than the tank issue.
A third issue I've read others reporting is the Schwintek slide issue. Mostly has to do with the slides not going out or coming in evenly.
Two issues with this; early on, the Schwintek system not being heavy duty
enough for the size and weight of the slides and secondly, end users not deploying or retracting the slides correctly. The Schwintek requires the slides to be completely extended or retracted in one complete uninterrupted movement. The two motors need to be synced to each other so that one side does not move faster or slower than the other side. It seems a lot of the issues with the Schwintek is when users only deploy part way or start/ stop the process which throws the motors out if sync with each other.
Lippert redesigned the Schwintek motors so they are now more robust and I haven't seen many reports on the later models about motor failure.
Another issue reported is waste tanks dropping out of the frame. These tanks are designed with a lip on the perimeter of the tank and fits in between the RV frame rails. I saw how these are unstalled during a recent tour of the GD factory. Some tanks have flexed from a combination of being full and being jarred down the highway to the point that the tank kind of folds in on itself and drops out of the frame rails.
I wouldn't say that it's a widespread problem, but one that does get reported on from time to time. Certainly the wheel grease issue is much more commonly reported than the tank issue.
A third issue I've read others reporting is the Schwintek slide issue. Mostly has to do with the slides not going out or coming in evenly.
Two issues with this; early on, the Schwintek system not being heavy duty
enough for the size and weight of the slides and secondly, end users not deploying or retracting the slides correctly. The Schwintek requires the slides to be completely extended or retracted in one complete uninterrupted movement. The two motors need to be synced to each other so that one side does not move faster or slower than the other side. It seems a lot of the issues with the Schwintek is when users only deploy part way or start/ stop the process which throws the motors out if sync with each other.
Lippert redesigned the Schwintek motors so they are now more robust and I haven't seen many reports on the later models about motor failure.
