Drv , Redwood, or Something else? Buying tomorrow.

[Junk4u]

On final .. heres the deal..
Wife and I plan to travel a bit.. on a budget.. for 3 years, min.. maybe longer.. We plan to supplement income as "pickers" and ebaying.. which is what we do now .. on a big scale ( 12500 sqft warehouse )

I tried to find the time , and attention to sort through the maze of all the quality fifth wheels out there.I really didn't spend enough time. Long story short. Planning to order a loaded 43' DRV lexington in am from rvsforless Are we making the right move?
We had liked the redwoods, but they did not offer a good bunk house.. which will become our "mini warehouse".

From our quick looking.. Drv's are expensive , and heavy. But do offer all the features we want.. Appliances, Woodwork, tall slides, moryd suspension, spare room, looks, and size.. we are changing a few things .and they do that for cheap.

Pulling with my 2013 dodge ram long horn dually diesel w/ aisen tranny and 4.10's with the dodge fifth wheel hitch.Dodge says I am good to 27k lbs.. Adding a air bag system, and a autocrane in the bed.

Anyone have any comments ? see any issues or problem?

Thanks
Steve

[Gunship_Guy]

Ours was in that ball park too. Gotta tell ya though...no regrets. Be prepared to have people ask if they can take a tour.

Did they tell you about 3 months to build?

[Junk4u]

Just ordered with Karen.. Deposit in.. Alot of money for a trailer..lol
154k msrp.. wow..

The folks at RV'sforless are super .. straight forward .. and so far, seem very honest.. haven't seen any " fluff " ..

I guess there is no turning back now.. The adventure is on !!!

[Gunship_Guy]

DRV use to build a toyhauler. It was recently discontinued. Low sales, I guess.

It was a bit odd. No door from the garage into the house section. You had to go outside and around.

[Junk4u]

Alley Fox wrote:
This would provide a nice warehouse for your enterprise...

http://www.gatewayrvnevada.com/nevadarvsales/Grand-Design/Momentum/Toy-Hauler-Fifth-Wheels.aspx

Yea.. looked at them.. Voltages, cyclones... and couple others..
Exactly what we wanted.. except.. a little bit of quailty would be nice..If someone would build a voltage like a drv .. I would be first in line..

[Alley_Fox]

This would provide a nice warehouse for your enterprise...

http://www.gatewayrvnevada.com/nevadarvsales/Grand-Design/Momentum/Toy-Hauler-Fifth-Wheels.aspx

[Gunship_Guy]

Junk4u wrote:
I see a couple people are in florida..
I am in process of moving to FL.. North of Tampa.
So I called the local DRv guys .. lazyday or something like that..They offered like 10% off list.. and then tried to sell me on they don't offer big discounts.. we give the "crown club" .. i said keep it. round and round we went.. no go..
I can't believe these guys sell many new rv's... Then again , maybe older people fall for this sales move? Seemed they discount the stuff that has been sitting around.. pretty good though..lol

Lazy Days has huge overhead that has to be covered by someone. The customer. They sell a good number of rvs and I cringe at the thought of what people are being asked to pay. It certainly pays to shop around and not fall for their tactics. The Crown Club? Gimme a break.

On this side of the Mississippi, nobody deals like RVs For Less. I learned about RVs For Less from Dave Fought, the President of DRV. I asked him to recommend the best dealership for our DRV purchase.

They will let you stay on their property for as long as necessary for you to check out and feel comfortable with your coach. Then they pay for 2 nights at a campground in Sevierville/Gatlingburg. They give you a 1 year Thousand Trails membership and pay for a 1 year membership to the Suite Owners International Travel Club.

RVs For Less doesn't have a pool or library like Lazy Days, but I don't ever plan on having a dealership service my DRV so I'm not too worried about missing out on those exclusive luxury club benefits. People who like to have their egos stroked can pay for those.

Feel free to PM me if you want some specific pricing info.

[Junk4u]

Aridon wrote:
We looked really hard at DRV and New Horizons. We ended up going DRV.

We got to see two New Horizons units in FL and the quality was ok but both of the units looked a little run down and were only a few years old.

Also checked out some of the DRV's and even went up to the factory. We were pretty impressed with the number of changes they would make for us.

Bottom line for us was that there was no reason to drop another 50k on a NH unit we felt that we had everything we wanted through DRV. At some point you hit a diminishing returns and NH is certainly in that rage unless you are looking at doing something totally custom. With how well DRV works with you on making changes and the number of pretty nice floor plans they have we saw no reason to spend extra.

Our new unit DRV should be in this month.

Just curious..
Why did you choose the Atlanta vs the Lexington?

[Junk4u]

Gunship Guy wrote:

Aridon wrote:


Our new unit DRV should be in this month.

Did you buy in FL?

I hope you're as pleased as we are.

Just curious..
Why did you choose the Atlanta vs the Lexington?

oppps wrong person..

[Junk4u]

I see a couple people are in florida..
I am in process of moving to FL.. North of Tampa.
So I called the local DRv guys .. lazyday or something like that..They offered like 10% off list.. and then tried to sell me on they don't offer big discounts.. we give the "crown club" .. i said keep it. round and round we went.. no go..
I can't believe these guys sell many new rv's... Then again , maybe older people fall for this sales move? Seemed they discount the stuff that has been sitting around.. pretty good though..lol

[Gunship_Guy]

Aridon wrote:


Our new unit DRV should be in this month.

Did you buy in FL?

I hope you're as pleased as we are.

[Aridon]

We looked really hard at DRV and New Horizons. We ended up going DRV.

We got to see two New Horizons units in FL and the quality was ok but both of the units looked a little run down and were only a few years old.

Also checked out some of the DRV's and even went up to the factory. We were pretty impressed with the number of changes they would make for us.

Bottom line for us was that there was no reason to drop another 50k on a NH unit we felt that we had everything we wanted through DRV. At some point you hit a diminishing returns and NH is certainly in that rage unless you are looking at doing something totally custom. With how well DRV works with you on making changes and the number of pretty nice floor plans they have we saw no reason to spend extra.

Our new unit DRV should be in this month.

[Gunship_Guy]

Junk4u wrote:

Gemstone wrote:
DRV has had plenty of issues in the past, like all manufacturers. Another DRV group here:. Personally, I think you are making a mistake attempting to use a LDT for that rig. I tried using an 05 SRW Dodge with my rig, which is a lot lighter than a 43 footer, pulled fine....stopping...not so good. I understand that ratings on newer LDT's have increased....but I would not be comfortable doing so...just me.

Good Luck
Gemstone

Thanks all !

I don't think the 05 is the same as the 2013 3500 diesel Rams..
plus mine has the aisen tranny, 4.10 rear, Dually, Long box..
The trailer has disc brakes as well on 3 axles..( not 2 )

I called dodge ..live.. and walked through it.. we came out with 27000 lb capacity. If dodge warranties it.. I will run it.. lol.

I regularly run 12-14k on a bumper pull flat bed. Truck does not know it's there in Tow mode , and the Exhaust brake on. Handles fine on the highway and city..

And we plan on staying in areas maybe a month at a time.. If i was constantly on the move.. I think I would get a Used class A pusher.

Thanks..

Having towed our previous DRV with a Volvo 770 and this one with a '13 Ram, I can honestly compare the experiences. You will have absolutely no issues towing with your Ram. The 43' DRV you're considering is well below the Ram's tow rating.

The new Ram's exhaust brake is amazing and will easily slow down a 20,000# trailer. I've had to add throttle going down hills and exit ramps. I'm sure you've experienced that with your current towing.

[Junk4u]

Gemstone wrote:
DRV has had plenty of issues in the past, like all manufacturers. Another DRV group here:. Personally, I think you are making a mistake attempting to use a LDT for that rig. I tried using an 05 SRW Dodge with my rig, which is a lot lighter than a 43 footer, pulled fine....stopping...not so good. I understand that ratings on newer LDT's have increased....but I would not be comfortable doing so...just me.

Good Luck
Gemstone

Thanks all !

I don't think the 05 is the same as the 2013 3500 diesel Rams..
plus mine has the aisen tranny, 4.10 rear, Dually, Long box..
The trailer has disc brakes as well on 3 axles..( not 2 )

I called dodge ..live.. and walked through it.. we came out with 27000 lb capacity. If dodge warranties it.. I will run it.. lol.

I regularly run 12-14k on a bumper pull flat bed. Truck does not know it's there in Tow mode , and the Exhaust brake on. Handles fine on the highway and city..

And we plan on staying in areas maybe a month at a time.. If i was constantly on the move.. I think I would get a Used class A pusher.

Thanks..

[Gemstone]

DRV has had plenty of issues in the past, like all manufacturers. Another DRV group here:. Personally, I think you are making a mistake attempting to use a LDT for that rig. I tried using an 05 SRW Dodge with my rig, which is a lot lighter than a 43 footer, pulled fine....stopping...not so good. I understand that ratings on newer LDT's have increased....but I would not be comfortable doing so...just me.

Good Luck
Gemstone

[Gunship_Guy]

I'm on my second DRV. I came back for a reason.

I looked extensively at Excel and chose not to go that route. I'm not going to criticize them publicly. Several key things I didn't like.

I suggest taking a DRV factory tour before ordering. You'll see how they're built. You'll also see they only work on 4 at a time. The employees know who works on each part of the rv. If someone notices an error, the original employee is required to stop what they're doing and fix the problem before other work continues. This practice has resulted in employees doing it right the first time because it highlights employees among their peers. Can issues still sneak through? Yes. Human error can occur regardless of what's being built.

I can only recommend 2 DRV dealerships. RVs For Less and Rolling Retreats. You'll get equal pricing and treatment from both. Both owners are highly ethical and extremely customer focused.

Your post indicates that you're aware these units run around $140-$160K. DRV knows they need to justify that price. I think they deliver. Having worked on so many different rvs, I'm impressed with the attention to detail on our coach.

We built our order sheet at the factory and DRV was excellent throughout the process. We customized based on our needs.

When it's time to buy another 5th wheel, it will definitely be a DRV.