2005 era arctic fox silver fox 990's
Just looking for a bit of info regarding the 2005 model years, I know that this was the begining of the aluminum frame. Is there anything specific to look out for when inspecting one for purchase? Any...
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Nothing special that I can think of. Even with aluminum framing it has to have maintenance.
There can still be delamination if the previous owner didn't do maintenance.
I picked ours up at what I thought was a good price because it had some delamination. Planned on repairing it all, but did a temporary seal up and have been using it since(about 6 Years I think).
I repaired a couple of issues with damaged plywood under the battery slide, under the gas bottle compartment, and the cover on the bottom of the basement. I replaced the marker lights across the front which were leaking.
The damage under the battery slide and gas bottle compartment was due to engineering issues. They didn't seal the bottom edge of the polyethylene underneath the gas door and there was no drain for water. Battery compartment had the bottom lip removed from the door frame, I assume to allow Hydrogen to escape, which allowed water to run in around the door and then there was no seal between the polyethylene battery box. In addition, the tech who cut the opening for the battery compartment door made a 1/2" mis-whack with the router and the upper left corner had a 1/8" hole that wasn't even caulked.
I about forgot another issue. This issue was not an AF. The company that made the slide was bought out by Lippert. So lippert didn't design it and of course they certainly wouldn't and didn't help with any information on fixing it.
The slide mechanism is a jury-rigged contraption that was a cheap mess back in '05 when designed.(Which turned out to be a blessing.) It is heavy duty except for the rollers. They used closed cap bearings as rollers. They aren't made to be rollers so can't handle the 2-300 pounds of the slide. They will crack and break and there are 20 of them. The blessing is that the mechanism is so simple that you can replace them with any generic cam-followers. And compared to the prices for "Brand Name" slide parts it cheap to rebuild. I bought my cam-followers on ebay for 3 or $4 each. Has worked great since. I didn't need it but found the gear reduction motor new on ebay for $30.
All this said, I can do this type of work and enjoy it. If you don't work on them(any kind of camper), it becomes kind of like a boat. You know, a hole in the water that you throw money into.
With this said, I don't think that the build is any worse than any others. I love our 990. Would do it again if I didn't have this one.
There can still be delamination if the previous owner didn't do maintenance.
I picked ours up at what I thought was a good price because it had some delamination. Planned on repairing it all, but did a temporary seal up and have been using it since(about 6 Years I think).
I repaired a couple of issues with damaged plywood under the battery slide, under the gas bottle compartment, and the cover on the bottom of the basement. I replaced the marker lights across the front which were leaking.
The damage under the battery slide and gas bottle compartment was due to engineering issues. They didn't seal the bottom edge of the polyethylene underneath the gas door and there was no drain for water. Battery compartment had the bottom lip removed from the door frame, I assume to allow Hydrogen to escape, which allowed water to run in around the door and then there was no seal between the polyethylene battery box. In addition, the tech who cut the opening for the battery compartment door made a 1/2" mis-whack with the router and the upper left corner had a 1/8" hole that wasn't even caulked.
I about forgot another issue. This issue was not an AF. The company that made the slide was bought out by Lippert. So lippert didn't design it and of course they certainly wouldn't and didn't help with any information on fixing it.
The slide mechanism is a jury-rigged contraption that was a cheap mess back in '05 when designed.(Which turned out to be a blessing.) It is heavy duty except for the rollers. They used closed cap bearings as rollers. They aren't made to be rollers so can't handle the 2-300 pounds of the slide. They will crack and break and there are 20 of them. The blessing is that the mechanism is so simple that you can replace them with any generic cam-followers. And compared to the prices for "Brand Name" slide parts it cheap to rebuild. I bought my cam-followers on ebay for 3 or $4 each. Has worked great since. I didn't need it but found the gear reduction motor new on ebay for $30.
All this said, I can do this type of work and enjoy it. If you don't work on them(any kind of camper), it becomes kind of like a boat. You know, a hole in the water that you throw money into.
With this said, I don't think that the build is any worse than any others. I love our 990. Would do it again if I didn't have this one.
