Forum Discussion

anaroll123's avatar
anaroll123
Explorer
Jun 11, 2013

Lifestyle Fifth Wheel/ Steel Frame

Any comments or knowledge would be appreciated! We are buying our first fifth wheel. We are full timing 5 to 8 years. Putting on approx. 7 thousand travel miles each year touring the country and the rest we will be parked. Using a one tone desiel to pull. My question is this. In searching for our rig, we have looked at Forest River Cedar Creek, Keystone Alpine, and yesterday we found a new breed called the Lifestyle. Lifestyle bought Carriage. I toured the manufacturing plant and they showed me that it is built on a SOLID steel frame and showed me how the other fifth wheels are built. How can it be that this is the only steel frame out there. We are talking head to toe steel frame. The man of course selling his product was quit biase however he made great points on the construction and durablity. The weight actually is not an issue either. So how is it that so many other companies can get buy with less? The man explained to me, if i am going full time for that long i need this base structure, Help, now i am really confused. thanks
  • Lantley's avatar
    Lantley
    Nomad
    Jun 11, 2013
    As other have mentioned Lifestyle is the reincarnation of the Carriage brand. It appears to be a decent product but it is still a relatively new Co.
    They are a high end RV. In my opinion a step up from keystone and Forest River.
    You need to compare them with DRV,Excel,Redwood and some of the other higher end makers.
    They do build there own frames, but there are others that build there own frames as well. For the record I believe everyone uses steel frames. How well they are assembled, welded and designed is the issue.
  • Alley_Fox's avatar
    Alley_Fox
    Explorer
    Jun 11, 2013
    We tested the frame on our Arctic Fox a couple of years ago by doing a coast to coast/North & South 3 month trip. The ultimate test was traveling all the back roads in Vermont. They focus all their maintenance resources on the main interstate highways and little, if any, on the picturesque back country roads. Everything in the AF held up very well in spite of the brutal road conditions.
  • Traveler_II's avatar
    Traveler_II
    Explorer
    Jun 11, 2013
    Our last fiver was built on a Lippert frame and didn't hold up. Like you we put from 6-7,000 miles on a year. We looked and looked and I wanted a frame that was going to hold up and went with the "double stacked box steel tube frame". My wife picked the liveablilty and I went after the durability. What I've seen of the Lifestyle I like.
  • NC_Hauler's avatar
    NC_Hauler
    Explorer
    Jun 11, 2013
    RVcrazy wrote:
    Another company that makes their own heavy-duty frames is Northwood mfg. They produce the Arctic Fox. Construction details are on their website. Less $ than Lifestyle.


    true, donn stated such in his post, (3rd. one down)
  • RVcrazy's avatar
    RVcrazy
    Explorer
    Jun 11, 2013
    Another company that makes their own heavy-duty frames is Northwood mfg. They produce the Arctic Fox. Construction details are on their website. Less $ than Lifestyle.
  • Jim_Cindy's avatar
    Jim_Cindy
    Explorer
    Jun 11, 2013
    Lifestyle hired many of the former Carriage employees and they build their frames in house. Artic Fox is the only other manufacturer I know of that builds frames in house. You must have misunderstood about other frames not being steel. All 5th wheel frames are steel, just different grades of steel and quality of design and manufacturing. Lifstyle also has the unique rear basement just like our Cameo.
  • donn0128's avatar
    donn0128
    Explorer II
    Jun 11, 2013
    Take their BS with a grain of salt. All trailers are built on a steel frame! It comes down to design and who builds their frames. Almost all trailer frames are now built by Lippert Components LLC. There are a few exceptions, but darn few. One I would suggest you look at is Arctic Fox. Great build quality and they build their own frames. There are a few others out there, you just have to search and ask questions.
  • CoMoCo's avatar
    CoMoCo
    Explorer
    Jun 11, 2013
    We purchased a Lifestyle earlier this year and are happy with it. I think what your tour guide may have been saying is they use a "double stacked box steel tube frame". All of the cross members of the frame are also steel whereas other manufacturers may use aluminum cross members - just a guess on my part.

    Take a look at the Lifestyle web site and you can see what the frame looks like: http://www.lifestylelrv.com/index.php/walkaround/construction

About Fifth Wheel Group

19,006 PostsLatest Activity: Jan 29, 2025