Best brand 5th wheel

[fireboat0203]

Hi everyone, I have just bought a new f250 diesel and I am looking for a 5th wheel camper. Most reviews for the brands that I have been looking at are described as junk. What is the best brand for quality? Recommendations anyone?

[ChuckV1]

Kz only turned out 600 Durango Golds models last year, they run 7 to 9 trailers on the production line at one time, I wonder how many Grand Design Solitude, Mobile suite, Luxe ,DRV, New Horizons run on any given day on their production lines 🙂

The things I see mostly is not the MFG not standing behind the trailers themselves it the dealers that will not help the owners when problems come up ... Call your local dealer an ask for a service appointment, any bets he/she is is out 2 to 3 months now for a service appointment ... Our dealer sells nine different brands of trailers both from Thor an Forest River, they have two major lots, one to store trailers on an the other for service, new sales an prep, you can't move cross ways in the lot from all the trailers needing work of all sorts ...

Safe travels 🙂

[ol_Bombero-JC]

JIMNLIN wrote:


There are no best brands as every brand that will be mentioned will have someone who had issues with it.

I would search each 5th wheel mfg and look at their top line units.

I've owned them all, so I am an expert on which is best..:R..:R

The best brand is the one you choose to purchase!...:S

~

[jdb7566]

fireboat0203 wrote:
Thanks guys. I was actually leaning toward the Grand Design but I saw bad reviews for them too! I have air bags for my F-250 and I don't want a real long fifth wheeler. So I am thinking of the Grand Design 29RS, 303RLS or one of the 150 series.

I had a Ford F-250 with a 6.4L diesel when we bought our Grand Design 307MKS and it towed it real well. IMO, you wouldn't have any problem with towing the GD 303RLS. BTW, we bought ours in Sanger, TX.

[laknox]

ChuckV1 wrote:
We looked at a number of 5th wheel like, Grand Design Solitude, Mobile suite, Luxe ,DRV, New Horizons all seem to be dark inside an the floor plans really did speak to us like our Kz Durango Gold... It was well layed out, very light inside, could handle 2k in storage an gross was a little over 14k at 40ft long ... Our Gold has large black an gray water tanks with only one outlet instead of two to empty waste water tanks which in my minded is a plus ... Best of all the price was in most cases 30 to 40K or more below the price point of the higher end units an had most of the same features of those high end units ...

Even thought Kz is a small company they have been around for a number of years building TT an 5th wheels, they are one of the few that has a bumper to bumper 2 year warranty. The Durango Gold line is rated for full time living along with the same bumper to bumper 2 year warranty ... Now days it's hard to find a company that will warranty a trailer for full time living unless your paying thought the nose an then it may not cover everything were Kz will no questions ask unless it was of course your fault for braking such ...

Check them out at https://www.kz-rv.com/
Or the Kz family form at http://kzfamilyforum.com/

And Thor bought them in '16. 😞

Lyle

[laknox]

memtb wrote:

laknox wrote:

justme wrote:
Look for specifics for recomendations and be weary of brand loyalty. Be clear as to what you need and watch out for emotional response---

Choosing an RV would be =so= much easier if the mfrs would release at least half-way readable numbers. All we really want is 1) how many did they produce; 2) how many needed a) zero warranty work, b) "minor" warranty work, say under $2,000 total repairs, c) "major" warranty work, over $2,000 total, d) factory buy-backs. Also, what the "major" and buy-back claims entailed, at least generally. I know, I know, I got into the 'shrooms again...

Lyle

For our own good....they shield us from the truth! ??

And here I thought that was Uncle Sugar's job. Keep us in the dark and feed us b.s.

Lyle

[dlleno]

WTP-GC wrote:

goducks10 wrote:


I've been reading in the GD forum since it's inception. I was excited to see a new company enter the RV market. In the end they're just like the others. That means they can build some just as good or just as bad as the others. That holds true for all brands.
In some areas they're built better than others and some areas they scrimp more than others.
There's happy customers and unhappy customers in all brands.

When we were in process of getting a new rig, I had a candid conversation with a tech at the dealership (very large dealership, MANY brands). He had no skin in the game regarding any particular manufacturer, but he said that of all the units that come through there for any kind of service, GD is by far the one they see the least. If I remember correctly, he said the ratio is like 1 GD coach for every 10-15 Forest River products. Now I'm sure his math isn't exact, but the point is that he had no reason to tell me this or make up a story a that time.

While Im sure the above is true, the numbers may be simply tracking the mfgs sales volumes. Fewer coaches sold = fewer seen in the service bay. But let's challenge that assumption as well: Are there 10x as many forest river coaches on the road, compared to GD?

[ChuckV1]

We looked at a number of 5th wheel like, Grand Design Solitude, Mobile suite, Luxe ,DRV, New Horizons all seem to be dark inside an the floor plans really did speak to us like our Kz Durango Gold... It was well layed out, very light inside, could handle 2k in storage an gross was a little over 14k at 40ft long ... Our Gold has large black an gray water tanks with only one outlet instead of two to empty waste water tanks which in my minded is a plus ... Best of all the price was in most cases 30 to 40K or more below the price point of the higher end units an had most of the same features of those high end units ...

Even thought Kz is a small company they have been around for a number of years building TT an 5th wheels, they are one of the few that has a bumper to bumper 2 year warranty. The Durango Gold line is rated for full time living along with the same bumper to bumper 2 year warranty ... Now days it's hard to find a company that will warranty a trailer for full time living unless your paying thought the nose an then it may not cover everything were Kz will no questions ask unless it was of course your fault for braking such ...

Check them out at https://www.kz-rv.com/
Or the Kz family form at http://kzfamilyforum.com/

[2012Coleman]

CA STORM wrote:
All the people pointing out how much better Grand Design is are failing to point out the founders of Grand Design were all executives with Thor. Not saying that's necessarily a bad thing just don't think GD is much different than anything Thor is building.

I had a Thor product, and now own a Grand Design. There's a difference between thinking something and experiencing something.

Maybe those Thor execs saw the issues and thought they could do it better. Seems to be working from my perspective.

[CA_STORM]

All the people pointing out how much better Grand Design is are failing to point out the founders of Grand Design were all executives with Thor. Not saying that's necessarily a bad thing just don't think GD is much different than anything Thor is building.

[Cummins12V98]

rmalik1 wrote:

Me Again wrote:

fireboat0203 wrote:
Hi everyone, I have just bought a new f250 diesel and I am looking for a 5th wheel camper. Most reviews for the brands that I have been looking at are described as junk. What is the best brand for quality? Recommendations anyone?

Ones not towable with a 2500/250. New Horizons, DRV and Spacecraft.

I would not put DRV in with the other two.

I would not either and own a DRV. BUT the other two are MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE!

[rmalik1]

Me Again wrote:

fireboat0203 wrote:
Hi everyone, I have just bought a new f250 diesel and I am looking for a 5th wheel camper. Most reviews for the brands that I have been looking at are described as junk. What is the best brand for quality? Recommendations anyone?

Ones not towable with a 2500/250. New Horizons, DRV and Spacecraft.

I would not put DRV in with the other two.

[rmalik1]

fireboat0203 wrote:
Hi everyone, I have just bought a new f250 diesel and I am looking for a 5th wheel camper. Most reviews for the brands that I have been looking at are described as junk. What is the best brand for quality? Recommendations anyone?

The one u like and can afford.

Do your do diligence, shop many brands and travel to them, ask them many questions about construction and remember they all want to make a sale, u have to double check , triple check the answers they give. What we did was looked at the brands (New Horizon on down)that were most expansive and figured out why they cost so much. Then we looked in the price that we were going to buy and tried to find the most comparables. Then find they floor plan u or ur better half likes.

[Cummins12V98]

Cummings is a town in GA.

[WTP-GC]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"An apparently common myth, which belongs right alongside Lippert owning Reese."

How about Ford owning CUMMINS!!!

There is a sister company called "Cummings" that may be owned by Ford...or Lippert I suppose.