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dolbsss's avatar
dolbsss
Explorer
Jan 17, 2017

Forest River Salem 27DBK

Looking to buy our first travel trailer in the next couple of months and after about 6 months of shopping around my wife and I are most interested in this model for multiple reasons. But, like all things I'd like to get some opinions on the purchase. 1. Anyone own the brand? What are your experiences? 2. Anybody pulling a 6500 lbs unloaded trailer with a 2500HD? How does it do? I plan on the WDH but what will it be like going through mountains? windy plains? etc?. 3. Is this a good FIRST trailer? 4. whatever advice and suggestions for a noob you have would be great.
  • We have a 2015 FR Wildwood 28DBUD, which is basically the same as the Salem models and have been happy with it. Is it perfect? No, but none of the travel trailers in this price range are. I had a few minor problems, all of which I fixed myself. It would have been more trouble to take it back to the dealer than just to do it myself. I also chose to do some upgrades like better tires and installing Dexter's EZ Flex suspension since I plan on towing a lot of miles.

    After 2 full years of camping now which included over 60 nights of use and many thousands of miles of towing, I'm not seeing any signs of wear or other problems. So at this point I would say I'm totally happy and would buy it again in a heartbeat.

    Btw, I also tow with a 2500 truck and it tows very well.
  • We have a new Wildwood and I would never buy another.
    Way too many things have gone wrong to list here.
    The latest is the water pump which we are waiting for a new one right now.
    Each warrantee item will take three weeks to get taken care of.
    If you buy a new Forest River, in my estimation, you are buying a lot of trouble.

    Jack L
  • We haved a 27' Wildwood RKSS, pull it with a F250. The trailer pulls just fine. We like the rear kitchen because there is a lot of kitchen counter space to put the coffee pot on and to cook. The only issue that we have had, is when the floor furnace gets ready to turn off, the relay in the circuit board located in the air conditioner unit, does a lot of clicking (5-40 times)when the heater gets ready to turn off. I replaced the T-Stat, control board and the clicking still happens. I expect a few clicks but not 20 or so (dometic brand). Go ahead and buy a thick foam padding for the bed. That will make it feel like your sleeping at home. We Love our trailer......