How to tell a quaility RV

Depending on what part of the US you are located,
take a good hard look at the Northwoods Desert Fox line,
well worth the time and trouble, IMHO.

Tia,
Don

KimandChris,

In the first paragraph of your post you mentioned three respectable brands. I am personally familiar with DRV but they are all great brands. You can get a handle on quality by just looking at them. Warranty periods are sometimes longer too. If you've found a floorplan among those three that works for you- go for it. Don't beat yourself up about axle capacities, frame limits, etc.

Do and search for them on the Internet for Toy Hauler Reviews or Best toy haulers. I saw some on "Roaming Times" and somewhere else a while back. Not sure of any other place except here you could ask that question.

Do some factory tours and then suggest some changes to frame/susp and see how they react. I toured the new Weekend Warrior factory and was impressed with what all they told me they could do within the boundries of not having to redesign the whole toy hauler but just to add different things that I requested here and there to the interior and things on the frame. Going up this next week to tour the Forest River XLR factory and see the difference between the cookie cuter manufacturers and a factory direct like Weekend Warrior.

phillyg wrote:
Compare the frames and running components, including tires, from different mfgrs. to see if there are meaningful differences.

This is exactly what I want to do....having trouble finding this info on the net.

i just spent the last year looking at Toy haulers. I narrowed it down to Raptor, Voltage, Cyclone and Grand Designs. The quality across the board varies greatly from unit to unit. We bought a Grand Designs momentum and it arrives at our place today :) The easiest thing to look at on a lot of the units was simply just the caulking/alignment between panels both interior and exterior. Some of the cyclones i went into there were trim pieces falling off, lights hanging out et but some were pretty decent. We felt that the raptors were really nice as well but in the end it seemed and felt (to us - OP's vary) that GD was the best built rig. Also i went to the owners forums and read a lot on all these manufacturers to see what people dealt with. There is a ton of storage space in the GD Momentum line. My wife liked the voltage a lot but i couldnt get over the schwintek slides..I would say narrow it down to the floorplan that suits you and then find the manufacturers that built that style and check out the quality. Being a fulltimer i am sure your needs are more than mine! good luck! Split

If you are looking for quality frames and axles, look at the companies that make car and horse trailers with living quarters. These are built on a chassis that can handle more weight and many now are available with slides and upscale options that make you forget about the utilitarian underpinnings.

Other than price and weight, it's a challenge.

I know nothing about Toy Haulers but have you looked at Lance? They're mid-priced and constructed very well. I really like my newish Lance Travel Trailer a lot and I know that they started making TH's a few years ago, if I'm not mistaken.

Lance Toy Haulers

Some info on how Lances are built

I saw one at the dealership and I didn't care for the interior colors and the cabinet facings, but to each his own. Someone must like it!

I'm not a handyman by any means.....but I can tell when I step into most rigs. If the cupboard doors wobble wobble when you open and close, if the mouldings don't line up or are falling off (seen that in brand new rigs), if shower door is flimsy and doesn't seem to line up, the drawers are stapled together....badly, and if the outlets are set in crooked or the hole is showing around the outlet cover .....is ALL a sign to me. Yes, I've seen those mistakes (or lack of caring in new rigs). Don't be afraid to open and close EVERY cupboard door.... I saw one that looked so good for us, then opened the cupboard doors in the kitchen. They had NO cupboard space. Two of the doors actually covered the plumbing....NO place to put fry pans, etc!!!!!! If you REALLY look a rig over instead of looking at the pretty curtains or the glitz, you can tell. BTW -- a toyhauler we looked at one time had a hole in the bottom left side in the garage.....the hole was big enough for an adult to crawl thru. I asked what it was for....the vent the garage. Hmmm a small vent would have worked. The hole didn't have ANY moulding around it besides being a GREAT way for someone to break in and steal from you. Ironically, it also showed us just how THIN the wall was!!!!!! One sheet of wall panel and the outside covering.......NO INSULATION!!!!! I think that company went out of business.