Details, Details, Details

[Grumpy374]

Installed my Progressive Industries Surge Protector today, under the rear bed where power cord is fed into the unit.
While there I had a chance to give the wireing and plumbing a good looksee and almost had a heart attack. Now mind you, the overall workmanship on my Forrest River Lexington is good, but a bit of common sense by the workers would have gone a long way.
I found water lines and electric cables, run properly, but rubbing up against sharp edged metal supports and bracing where over a period of time would chafe through. Visions of shorting and water flooding shot through my widdle brain.
Needless to say, I spent the better part of two hours tracing and finding any lines I could and protecting the electric wires with wire wrap and water lines with some pipe insulation, wherever they came into contact with anything.
Pulled drawers out, access panels out, got under the unit. Wherever I could gain access.
Just a heads up for all you maintaince and detail freaks out there.
Grumpy

[daveandviv]

I had an intermittent 12V short that drove me crazy. Turned out to be a light circuit wire that was wrapped around the metal bed slide frame and was getting squashed when the slide was in. Just poor workmanship from somebody who was probably in a hurry.

[tenbear]

wmoses wrote:
WIthout all these things to fix where would the fun be in owning an RV? 🙂

The trick is to do these mods BEFORE a problem develops because they were not done. On the Flagstaff forum we are all deciding to split loom all wires where possible. Makes for neater appearance and protection for the wiring.

My Four Winds has split wire loom on all the wiring. From what I see on the forum, Four Winds doesn't seem to have a very good rep, but they seem to have done a pretty good job on the wiring and plumbing in my rig. I'm very happy with it.

[myredracer]

Another thing that kills me is how they ram sharp-pointed screws in all over the place without regard for wiring that is in the walls or ceiling. While doing various mods on 3 TTs now, I've found lots of wires pressed up against the tips of screws. I've lost a lot of blood from scratches on my hands from the dang screws when reaching blind into spaces to do wiring mods.

I've also found lots of twist-on marrette connectors poorly tightened. When they run wiring in the walls and ceilings, the insulation often gets compromised from getting compressed and voids being created. Sometimes, there isn't any insulation anyway because there were too many wires in one area.

We have a brand spanking new TT. Took the cover off a dinette seat to install an EMS. Lo and behold, there's a PEX water line in there that is kinked at 90 degrees and collapsed just before it goes under the floor. I think it actually does a 180 turn to get to the water pump but can't see underneath. They saved a few minutes of additional work and a couple of fittings - nice... Not sure how they will fix that other than to take the underbelly off. I guess it gives the dealer a chance to make some money.

I hesitate to think it what is lurking behind all the enclosed underbellies out there. Maybe that's one reason they're so common now. They get to hide all manner of sins... It sure would be interesting to go to a plant and watch them build a unit from start to finish.

[wmoses]

WIthout all these things to fix where would the fun be in owning an RV? 🙂

The trick is to do these mods BEFORE a problem develops because they were not done. On the Flagstaff forum we are all deciding to split loom all wires where possible. Makes for neater appearance and protection for the wiring.

[Ron3rd]

BurbMan wrote:
What about the places where you can't see? Forest River has had some serious quality issues in the past, not sure how they are today.

Quality is hit and miss with all the big mfgs. Fit and finish on our new FR Windjammer is outstanding. I pulled some access panels off to check wires and water lines and found everything OK. Depends on the crew doing the work I guess. FR also makes several different quality level trailers, low end and higher end. Maybe that makes a difference. We've had our FR for about a year and so far, so good.

[Old-Biscuit]

When you are 'piece mill' fast is $$

It's a lot qicker to grab the end of wire and PULL
Same goes for PEX..........PULL

Boss "OK guys.....we have 14 units scheduled for today. Hit it!"
One worker to another "Bet we can get done by 1 O'clock"


When I had to get to a failed transfer switch (8 mos. old) I had to pull a false wall out of basement compartment. Behind that fake wall was where all the plumbing/electrical runs were. I spent several hours folded up in there redoing/re-routing.
Left that wall out....gained couple feet of extra space PLUS I can easily see every thing.

[Iraqvet05]

I know what you mean. I installed a Progressive EMS last fall and had to pull out my breaker panel for access. I found wires rubbing and some of the 12v wires hanging on by a few strands at the buss bar. Forest River isn't the only one that needs a little quality control.

[Andymon]

I opened up the step in the bedroom where the water pump is and there was but a handful of insulation. Not effective at all.

[Grumpy374]

I know the quality control issue has been discussed mucho times, and I'm not starting it again. I'm just talking about plain common sense that should be used when building these units. Just an extra 3, 4, 5 inches here and there on the lines and hoses would get rid of these stupid problems. A worker should see that the line or hose is rubbing, ect. ect. An extra two or three minutes taken at the build time get's rid of problems down the road that could take days to fix.
Luckely I too am a DIY and have "fixed" all of the small problem area's I could find. It's almost like a game, trying to find the hidden boo-boo's to make them right. This time I think I won.
Grumpy

[sparkydave]

My Rockwood popup had rubber gas hoses that eventually kinked because they were making sharp bends. Ended up putting some brass elbows in the fittings to take care of it. Inside the bench where the power converter was, about 8 negative leads were jammed under 1 wire nut that was only supposed to hold 2 or 3 wires. It was wrapped in miles of electrical tape to try to hold it together. No, I correct myself, there were 8 wires twisted and taped together with a wire nut added for decoration. I had to get some extra wire and wire nuts to split up some of those connections. Then there was the leaky gas fitting at the regulator, a leaky drain hose from the sink, a leaky supply line from the water pump, and a leaky filler hose at the water tank.

Kind of glad I'm handy with plumbing and electrical and I was able to correct it all myself.

[BurbMan]

What about the places where you can't see? Forest River has had some serious quality issues in the past, not sure how they are today.

[Turbo_Diesel_Du]

Don't you just love Forest River?