Any warnings on brands to beware of?

[kbtravels]

I posted a few months ago about looking to upgrade our 2015 Jayco 19FRB to a similar size trailer but with one slide. After hours looking at floor plans, I've found a few that would work for us, from lots of different manufacturers. I've tried looking for reviews and it seems you can find both glowing reports and horror stories for everything, even the really expensive ones. Hard to know what to believe. Does anyone have experience, either positive or negative, with any of the following brands? Winnebago Micro Minnie, Coachmen Freedom Express Ultralite, Cruiser RV Fun Finder, Palomino Palomini, Forest River Flagstaff MicroLite, Keystone Premier Bullet, or Pacific Coachworks (they have a bunch of different names with basically the same floorplan - Tango, Panther, Sea Breeze, etc. Not sure what the difference is, All are Pacific Coachworks)
Thanks for any advice. I will probably be looking to buy a lightly used one. Partly to save money and partly because we live in NM and only a few of these are carried by a dealer anywhere close to us.

[TeryT]

I think what many have said here about finding the floorplan you like and getting a good dealer who will honor repairs is probably a good approach. As stated above, we've been real happy with our FR Rockwood ultralight all these years. But like I told an Air Force fellow recently who just bought a nice, new Arctic Fox TT, be prepared to find a few things here and there that are not perfect. Then it's up to you whether you want to fix or take it to the dealer. (and maybe Arctic Fox owners might want to chime in - if their brand in fact didn't have these "little" issues like other brands)

I think that's true of most everything - houses, vehicles, RVs . . . You get what suits you the best, try to have as much fixed as possible before you possess, and then be prepared to do many little things yourself.

If one has too high expectations, then one won't be very happy. (this is what my wife says about me - what do you think she means?)

[ktmrfs]

based on all the folks I know with trailers

a) we've all been happy with the quality of the trailers we have from varous brands. Yes minor issues but nothing major.
b) IMHO what's more important is the dealer quality and floorplan. Find a decent dealer that will (a) do a very good PDI (b) have qualified service personel (c) willing to actually get the mfg to cover warranty issues if they arise. Then find a floorplan you like.

c) There are two big mfg. Thor: makes airstream, keystone, crossroads, cruiser, drv, dutchman, heartland, highland ridge, jayko, k-z, living light, redwood, starcraft, venture.
Forest River: makes Forest river, cardinal, cedar creek, rpod, cheroke, flagstaff, salem, rockwood, sandpiper, sierra, wildwood and more

and for each "brand" underneath are more brands. For example keystone has 24 brands, which include outback, montana, cougar, sprinter, hideout, larado, impact, and more....

and then you will find that as an example sprinter and outback have models that are almost identical. Why? One reason is that a franchise may have sprinter but then another franchise has outback. A way to keep dealers happy.

[myredracer]

Ditto on avoiding Lippert frames. We had a previous TT with a Lippert frame and the entire TT ended up being replaced under warranty due to a crappy Lippert frame. OutdoorsRV/Nash/Artic Fox use their own in-house built heavy duty frame which is great and would be my top choice of brands if ever buying a new TT. A few TT brands/models use the BAL/Norco frame which would be my #2 pick.

All TTs use the same components - Suburban, Dometic, LCI, Norcold, Carefree of Colorado, etc., etc. from things from stab jacks to AC units. It boils down to how well the factories assemble their units and how well the manufacturers & dealers honor the warranties and provide support. If you go to an RV show and wander around, it isn't long before they all look the same and the only thing to differentiate them is the logo on the outside.

Also, companies like Thor and Forest River have been gradually buying up all the independents over recent years and there are very few independents left. The big corporate umbrella companies care most about their bottom line and not producing higher quality RVs.

Our dealer got so tired of us wanting to get things fixed under warranty that they ended up claiming that some LED lights I installed voided the factory warranty in it's entirety. They were next to useless fixing things anyway so no big loss. Even several visits to fix a few issues were fruitless so just fixed them myself, properly and permanently.

Some people have better luck and some have worse luck with different brands & models. Met a Keystone TT owner in a CG who had a roof that leaked like a sieve from day one. Dealer couldn't fix it so got sent to the factory who only made it worse. He fixed it himself... Some Keystone TT owners have never had issues tho.

Most important thing with any TT is keeping on top of maintenance, especially the caulking on the exterior to prevent water intrusion which can be the kiss of death on any RV.

Choose wisely... 🙂

[trail-explorer]

kbtravels wrote:
Any warnings on brands to beware of?

Yes, anything with a Lippert Chassis

[tragusa3]

I have a Forest River Surveyor. We've spent over 500 nights in it and 30k miles without a single major issue. Only a handful of small issues. I've been impressed and would buy one again.

My recommendation would be less about brand and more about targeted buyer. Don't buy models that are intended to entice new buyers shopping price alone. We did and were sorry. The Surveyor we have now is 20-30% more expensive than a comparable floorplan in a budget minded brand and you can see/feel the differences everywhere. We are about to sell it and can honestly list it as "close to new".

[RockDodger]

It isn't so much the quality these days, as they are all manufactured about the same. The hard part is finding dealers that will honor manufacturer's warranties and do the work. This really blows! Be prepared to work on your own rig or pay through the nose and leave your trailer sit for months at a time for warranty work.

That being said, we're just going to draw a name from a hat, I guess. Our old trailer is getting tired now, but I am really hesitant on buying a new one. I am considering Northwood. They have a good rep and great customer reviews.

[TeryT]

We've had a FR Rockwood 2502 for 13 years now and not a serious issue yet - everything original still works just fine (including the roof, HVAC, fridge, furnace, water heater - you name it). We just got back from a 2.5 week trip around Colorado and are thinking of putting a few bucks into it for things like a new awning and quieter water pump. This thing is dirt simple with no slides, but has a decent walk-around queen & sofa and also a small dinette (smallest trailer we've ever found with that combo).

Now do I keep up on all the little maintenance things religiously? You bet! It's not luxury, but it's 3600 lbs. dry and certainly gets the job done for camping several weeks out of the year. (BTW - Paid $17k for it new in 2005)

[carringb]

Most of them are garbage. Only Northwoods and ORV make my list, but I'd consider a Winnie or Lance as welll. But all for of those will still be more problematic than the worst passenger sold today.

Speaking of Fleetwood.... The ORV factory is the former former fleetwood factory, and they continued most of what fleetwood started that worked well, but also upgrading what needed upgrading (like the chassis).

[Gdetrailer]

JIMNLIN wrote:
This thread reminds of the our local tv channel new girl reporter. She did a survey around town of auto repair shops on which car had the most customer complaints...the Ford Taurus had the most complaints by 20 percent.
Old reporter on another tv station made another survey about which car had the most sales in the same city....the Ford Taurus had the most sales by the same 20 percent margin.

Finally, someone posts the true reality of how folks opinions can bend the truth.

Honestly, OP if you are still with us, FORM YOUR OWN "OPINION".

ALL RVs are built the same way with the same materials and construction, employing manufacturing methods going back to Henry Ford with an assembly line. RV manufacturers pump out thousands of units per yr using teams of workers who do small parts of the assembly. Not one person works from start to finish on all units, each team builds a part, that part gets integrated into the assembly and it is moved to the next station where the next part is installed.

Once all assembled, it may or may not be fully "inspected", depends on the plants QA policy.

What I am getting at is that there will be good units and there will be a few bad units.

There tends to be MORE good than bad for any manufacturer.

The bad ones do eventually get fixed under warranty.

If buying used, pretty good chance that the previous owner shook out most if not all the issues and now you are left with a unit that if the previous owner took care of it will be fine. If the previous owner ignored the routine maintenance and water damage has happened then you may have a problem to deal with.

Best bet is to find a RV that MEETS YOUR NEEDS whether it is a specific layout design, color, decor and size.

Once you find what you like, then make a deal and go camping..

No need for all the fence sitting and drama of peoples opinions of what they consider quality or best..

You can read opinions until you are dead and never get the chance to go camp if you let others decide for you..

[JIMNLIN]

This thread reminds of the our local tv channel new girl reporter. She did a survey around town of auto repair shops on which car had the most customer complaints...the Ford Taurus had the most complaints by 20 percent.
Old reporter on another tv station made another survey about which car had the most sales in the same city....the Ford Taurus had the most sales by the same 20 percent margin.

[Gdub2]

Went online and found hundreds of complaints
about keystone rvs about the crappy workmanship
on their rvs.worked in the construction field
for 20years just because you say you can build
a house doesn't mean you can.

[SoundGuy]

BurbMan wrote:
Information gets outdated very quickly as the industry changes....Forest River was complete junk in the early 2000's when Sunnybrook was considered the quality standard....then they started making junk, went out of biz, then FR quality started improving. Fleetwood was good for many years, went to junk, made a brief comeback and then folded their towable division.

A gross oversimplification that may read well here on the forums but is about as far from the truth as any statement could be. In reality corporate Fleetwood simply decided to get out of the towable trailers market for a variety of reasons, including Fleetwood Folding Trailers which they had owned & operated since 1988. Travel trailer / 5th wheel manufacturing facilities were sold off while the folding trailer facility in Somerset, PA was sold to Blackstreet Capital Management, an equity holding company with a history of eventually closing down companies. Their new acquisition continued to manufacture folding trailers in Somerset just as it always had, operating under the name FCTA, but anyone with any knowledge of the industry knew it was only a matter of time before the doors would close, which indeed did happen in Jan 2011. This decision had nothing to do with so-called "quality issues" but was strictly a matter of a dollars & cents. The market had changed, there wasn't the demand for folding trailers approaching anywhere near the level there had been in previous decades, and labour costs had driven the selling price of these units to the point where few would buy them. In the meantime more and more manufacturers began to offer smaller, lower priced, single axle hybrids and travel trailers that were priced not much more than a Fleetwood folding trailer. The die was cast and Blackstreet decided the time had come to close down - a business decision, nothing else - just as it was corporate Fleetwood's decision to get entirely out of the towable market.

[BurbMan]

Information gets outdated very quickly as the industry changes....Forest River was complete junk in the early 2000's when Sunnybrook was considered the quality standard....then they started making junk, went out of biz, then FR quality started improving. Fleetwood was good for many years, went to junk, made a brief comeback and then folded their towable division.

As rvparkowner noted, pay attention to components....stay away from cable-driven slides, undersized axles and without self-adjusting brakes, etc. If you want to see how a TT is made, look in the dead spaces behind cabinets where pipes and wires are run to see if holes were cut or just made with a hammer, see how many screws are driven straight vs on an angle, etc.

[old_guy]

mobilefleet wrote:
I've rehabbed and flipped over 200 trailers. From my experience the top 2 would be winnie and keystone. Don't even look at forest river. This is my opinion

that is my opinion also when it comes to forest river. we were working on a brand new forest river at the lot and the service tech put his hand on the wall and it broke into pieces and we had a heck of a time replacing that wall. all TT manufactures have entry level TT's. but in saying that Rv building is not rocket science so do a very intense inspection before you buy. I for one would not buy an entry level TT. if it were up to me I would buy one with a metal frame as opposed to wood