Purchasing a New Fifth Wheel

[bapple]

We currently have a Durango Bunkhouse 5th wheel.which we no longer need. As a result we are in the market for a new 5th. The field has been narrowed down to a Keystone Avalanche 300RE and an Open Range 337 RLS. Any thoughts?

[Ralph_Cramden]

travelnutz wrote:
Having had a cable slide on 3 Carriage 5th wheels for 5, 16, and 24 years respectively and never had even one problem or any adjustments needed, We'd sure want another cable slide RV. From Lippert, not a chance though! Seems everything Lippert makes or sells is cheaply built and to the very minimum capacity or thinnest metal used. All the forums are ripe with Lippert components/products failures. Why play Russian Roulette with a gun with 5 bullets in the 6 barrel cylinder? I'm smarter than that and will only use a gun with no bullets loaded at all! MUCH longer life expectancy!

Lippert is a large percentage of the lack of quality in the entire RV Industry. A friend had a 2012 Keystone and I had a 2013, both the same model /floorplan. His 2012 frame was made by Dexter, my 2013 had a frame made by Lippert as Lippert had bought out Dexters frame division between when both were built. It was a night and day difference in both size of structural members, and thickness of the steel used. The Dexter frame had welds, the Lippert frame had something they claimed were welds that were done by a pre school class full of 4 yr olds.

Everything Lippert makes is cheap garbage and so is anything else associated with them, such as Furrion. Lipperts MO is buy out existing companies, cheapen the product, then increase the price of proprietary replacement parts. As an example look at Schwintek. It was a good system if installed and aligned correctly when installed. The along came Lippert. They cheapened the drive motors and gear assemblies. Before Lippert a replacement motor was $100 and today under the Lippert banner one will run you closer to $200. Same with the controller.

[travelnutz]

Having had a cable slide on 3 Carriage 5th wheels for 5, 16, and 24 years respectively and never had even one problem or any adjustments needed, We'd sure want another cable slide RV. From Lippert, not a chance though! Seems everything Lippert makes or sells is cheaply built and to the very minimum capacity or thinnest metal used. All the forums are ripe with Lippert components/products failures. Why play Russian Roulette with a gun with 5 bullets in the 6 barrel cylinder? I'm smarter than that and will only use a gun with no bullets loaded at all! MUCH longer life expectancy!

[TomC1216]

We have a 2011 Open Range 337RLS and love it! We have never had a problem with the cable slides. Built solid in Amish country in Indiana. We had a clip for the sliding closet door break, and when I contacted Open Range, they mailed a new clip out the next day, free of charge, no questions asked. The drain for the fresh water tank was a pain to get to. You need to reach deep between the driver's side tires to pull the gate valve open. Hard to do if the slide is out. Ours has the Carrier AC/Heat pump controlled by a remote. Carrier no longer makes these units, so we are crossing our fingers it remains trouble-free.
We go to RV shows every year, but always come back home to our Open Range. They did change hands from an independent company, to a Jayco subsidiary, called Highland Ridge. They introduced some Lite models since then.

[Nevadastars]

Duke-44 wrote:

Nevadastars wrote:
When we were shopping a few months ago, we looked at an Open Range. I thought they were very well made units. One thing I didn't care for was the cable operated slides. From what I have heard they need frequent adjusting. Although I still probably would have bought it if the dealer had been willing to deal, but wouldn't budge from his asking price.

I saw you have the Wildcat, which is made in Dallas, OR, I believe. How do you like it? If I can sell my 2012 Sundance 3200RE, I am looking at downsizing to that exact model Wildcat.

We really like it for the size. Especially after we got rid of the super uncomfortable loveseat and chair. Went to a real furniture store and got Lazyboy stuff. We liked it so much.....we bought the same type for the house......lol.

Wife really likes the spacious rear kitchen and "garden room" with the three long windows with table and chairs dinette. Like so many in this size, the bedroom is a bit tight on one side, but we aren't large people so it works fine for us. No drawers in the bedroom is kind of a downside.

It's a very nice 5'er for just the two of us. 16" wheels were an option, and I will be upgrading to those shortly with at least E rated tires. The stock 15's with D's kinda makes me nervous. I drove up to Bend Oregon and bought it at a local dealer.

[Duke-44]

Nevadastars wrote:
When we were shopping a few months ago, we looked at an Open Range. I thought they were very well made units. One thing I didn't care for was the cable operated slides. From what I have heard they need frequent adjusting. Although I still probably would have bought it if the dealer had been willing to deal, but wouldn't budge from his asking price.

I saw you have the Wildcat, which is made in Dallas, OR, I believe. How do you like it? If I can sell my 2012 Sundance 3200RE, I am looking at downsizing to that exact model Wildcat.

[Ralph_Cramden]

Nevadastars wrote:
When we were shopping a few months ago, we looked at an Open Range. I thought they were very well made units. One thing I didn't care for was the cable operated slides. From what I have heard they need frequent adjusting. Although I still probably would have bought it if the dealer had been willing to deal, but wouldn't budge from his asking price.

The cable operated slide system is made by Norco / BAL. Its a much better system than anything made by Lippert no matter if its their hydraulic system, electric/ gear driven system, or Schwintek. The Lippert stuff is true garbage, all of it.

The BAL Accuslide system does not need frequent adjusting with a disclaimer. The disclaimer is did the RV manufacturer install both the BAL system and the entire slide itself correctly and in alignment? Finding that is a crapshoot.

[Nevadastars]

When we were shopping a few months ago, we looked at an Open Range. I thought they were very well made units. One thing I didn't care for was the cable operated slides. From what I have heard they need frequent adjusting. Although I still probably would have bought it if the dealer had been willing to deal, but wouldn't budge from his asking price.

[ChuckV1]

I have to ask why not another Kz product if you going to down size ?

Safe Travels

[Merrykalia]

I have no experience with either, but we did look at an Avalanche when we were recently upgrading. We were NOT impressed with the quality of the build. DH was looking underneath at some of the weld points and the craftsmanship. We went with a FR product and we did the same with it. Looked in all the nooks and crannies that we could see.