Aerolite-Kodiak-Coleman Slide Roller Issues?

[superslif]

Any Aerolite, Kodiak or Coleman tt owners having slide roller issues?

Long story short, From the start I noticed my slide was an inch lower on one side. Taking it in for the normal warranty items, the service technician said the trim around can be + or - an inch and be in tolerance. I took his word for it. But after some time the slide started to drag on the floor. The issue was a slide support roller was not engineered to support the weight of the slide. Fact there was close to "O" support holding the bracket that holds the roller wheel.

We have a 2013 Aerolite hybrid #236

[superslif]

Sorry I meant to say "We have a 2013 Aerolite #232ES" The #236 was my 2005 Aerolite #236 hybrid.

[rcharrette]

We have a 2014 Kodiak 240BHSL, knock on wood so far so good with the slide assy!

[bcs slc]

We have 2013 Kodiak and have had no problems with slide yet.

[superslif]

Later in 2014 after going back in forth with Dutchman who kept up the stance that "every RV rolling off our production line is 100% designed and built right". Hate to say it, but their wrong. After more investigation, the support board that the roller was supposed to be attached to was missing all it's screws the last 4-5', thus causing the roller that supports that end of the slide to droop. Plain and simple. There was nothing holding that roller. After taking many professional pictures with lighting to show exactly what was happening, they still stood by there statement "every RV rolling off our production line is 100% designed and built right".

They said take it to Camping World for further inspection. Took me 3 months to get a appointment (fall of 2014). Their tech, said Yes, this is a built / design issue. The roller wheel holding up that end of the slide, which is far heavier than the other end of the slide because it carries the weight of the kitchen cabinets was not supported properly. With that said, he (the tech) said when they communicated that back to Dutchman they still came back with there stand by statement "every RV rolling off our production line is 100% designed and built right".

I hate to say it, but that is piss poor customer support. So after further back and forth with Dutchman (now a part of Keystone), they as a good will gester said they would offer 3 hours of labor towards a fix. The fix was a bill for 6 hours labor. So in the end it cost me $350 and so far a year later everything seems to be OK. What really pissed me off was the tech who at that Camping World was their "slide issue" guy", wouldn't go to bat for me after he said it was actually a 100% design / build issue period. Most likely they can charge a high hourly rate to a customer as a walk in than they would get for warranty work.

In retrospect, all this was happening when or as Dutchman was being sold to Keystone. so I'm thinking the new Keystone didn't want deal with the old Thor customer problem.

That was our 2nd Aerolite product (both bought new). Our next RV will be someone else...Winnebago ?

[wahoonc]

Welcome to "customer service" gorilla style. Dutchmen and Keystone are both part of Thor along with quite a few other "brands" Currently there are two major players in the RV market; Thor and Forest River. What happened to Dutchmen was that the lack or management attention to QC (what little they have) got so bad that Thor decided to sack them and put the Dutchmen factories under Keystone control. From what I gather it is hit or miss on getting things repaired under warranty and has a lot to do with the dealer involved. Camping World is hit or miss also. I have been to some that appeared honest and willing to do a good job, I have been to others that made you want to take a shower as soon as you left the place. It has been suggested that the Dutchmen (and quite a few other brands) are "designed" by the sales staff, then the assemblers get to figure out how to make it work. Apparently there are no engineers involved, just bean counters, sales staff and blind drug addicted installers and assemblers. FWIW my next RV will most likely NOT be a Thor product.

Aaron

[superslif]

Dutchmen and Keystone are both part of Thor along with quite a few other "brands" Currently there are two major players in the RV market; Thor and Forest River.

Got ya. It just seemed like the answer to everything was deny deny deny and maybe they'll go away. The first time I went to winterize it, I couldn't find the water pump. I heard it, but couldn't find it. Here they never made it excess-able. It was under the frig all the way against the wall. There were no panels to get to it. But then again, "Everything that leaves our factory is 100% designed right and built right"The pit dinette seats all needed to be checked over with all the staples that missed there mark in the wooden cross-members supporting the whole sub-structor. That is something a 5th grader could have caught that was sub-standard. lf I wouldn't have fixed it myself the right way, I believe it would have fallen apart.

We have used it now 4 seasons, about 200 nights. Were planning a Alaskan trip next summer, after that I think we will start looking for the "next" RV. I want to stay in the 26' to 28' range, molded front cap, 50 gallon+ fresh water tank, more of a 4 season RV/ better insulated. The wifey seems to think the "next" one can be as long as 32'. She wants a dedicated bed for my son. They seem to make RV tt's for 2 person couple, or a family of 4 or more. There are floorplans out there with a bed for my son in the 28' range, but that would delete the couch.
This is the first year in about the last 10 she wants to go to the next RV show in Jan. So I guess we're in the "kicking tires" mode. On the way to AK. next year
, I want to stop at a Arctic Fox dealer to check them out. They don't really sell them east of the Mississippi. The two Winnebago dealers we stopped at this summer where the factory rep said they carry the Winnebago Ultra higher end travel trailers. When we got to each, both said they were too $$$ for their market and no longer carry them, just the Mini's now.

IRV2 photo gallery link (camping trips 2005 thru 2015)

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

FWIW my next RV will most likely NOT be a Thor product.

Aaron

I'm glad I've reached the place where I don't have to think about buying another RV, but if I did I would definately not buy a Thor product.

Spent enough fixing their screw ups, so once I got everything working as it should.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by hddecker

I'm glad I've reached the place where I don't have to think about buying another RV, but if I did I would definately not buy a Thor product.

Spent enough fixing their screw ups, so once I got everything working as it should.

I'm not to that stage yet. However I have learned NOT to buy any more long term projects!

I don't mind fixing small things and doing modifications. But I have drawn the line at complete rebuilds of systems that should be operating correctly from the factory and don't. Several ways of insuring that: 1) Buy a brand that has decent quality control and doesn't change everything every year. 2) Thorough PDI and 3) Purchase from a good dealer with a competent service department.

There are several good manufacturers out there, just have to do your research and find the one that works best for you and your needs.

Aaron

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

I'm not to that stage yet. However I have learned NOT to buy any more long term projects!

I don't mind fixing small things and doing modifications. But I have drawn the line at complete rebuilds of systems that should be operating correctly from the factory and don't. Several ways of insuring that: 1) Buy a brand that has decent quality control and doesn't change everything every year. 2) Thorough PDI and 3) Purchase from a good dealer with a competent service department.

There are several good manufacturers out there, just have to do your research and find the one that works best for you and your needs.

Aaron

It's not that it's a long term project, it's stupidity in design and construction. Just looked at the cost of a new camper (Lance) and the cost to upgrade this POS. It was a lot cheaper to do the upgrades than to start all over again.

The upgrades I could do with my mad money, buying a new camper would have meant a big hit to our lifestyle (retirement savings) money. We get a sack of mad money every January when the divedends come in and now that the camper is where we want it we can really get MAD! Just not down south the way our dollar is sinking and it looks like it's going to stay down there for the next year or so.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by superslif

Got ya. It just seemed like the answer to everything was deny deny deny and maybe they'll go away. The first time I went to winterize it, I couldn't find the water pump. I heard it, but couldn't find it. Here they never made it excess-able. It was under the frig all the way against the wall. There were no panels to get to it. But then again, "Everything that leaves our factory is 100% designed right and built right"The pit dinette seats all needed to be checked over with all the staples that missed there mark in the wooden cross-members supporting the whole sub-structor. That is something a 5th grader could have caught that was sub-standard. lf I wouldn't have fixed it myself the right way, I believe it would have fallen apart.

Sounds about par for the course.

I made a suggestion on another board that perhaps some certain RV manufacturers might benefit from slowing the production lines by a couple of units a week to increase their quality. You would have thought that I had recommended incest. "Oh they could never do that it would cost them too much in profits, etc, etc." Unfortunately their current business model and the uninformed public works in their favor. So things continue along the current path. They apparently DON'T track warranty costs and attempt to minimize them at any cost. Unfortunately the standards for building an RV are pretty low and there really isn't any oversight other than themselves. The North American automobile manufacturers went through this back in the 70's and 80's and have finally gotten their mess together, they had to because they were loosing market share to Japanese imports that were much better built. Unfortunately I don't see that happening to the RV industry anytime soon.

So the best bet is to do your research, a thorough PDI and get a dealer that will go to bat for you if you have to have warranty work done.


Aaron

[superslif]

I don't mind fixing small things and doing modifications. But I have drawn the line at complete rebuilds of systems that should be operating correctly from the factory and don't.

same here..

It's not that it's a long term project, it's stupidity in design and construction.

agreed

I'm willing to pay for a quality product. I just have to find that "quality product".

I'll be entering retirement in a few months (age 53). Always been blessed with 6 weeks of vacation time, which meant 55-60 nights of camping a season. In retirement we will do many 2-4 week trips to places on our "bucket list": Alaska summer of 16' / 3+ month trip, National Parks of CO. & UT. summer of 17', UP Michigan, 1000 Islands NY., Nova Scotia, Maine....the list goes on...

So I know the RV I have now (2013 Aerolite hybrid) will take some abuse on our Alaskan / Yukon trip next summer. That is a given, So no need to buy a new rig now and have her get dinged up.

My pension is crap, the health care part is very $$$. But I have some thing else that is the most important. Our health, might as well do or should I say still do all the things I have been doing like ski, hike, bike and go RVing now and over the next 20 years, than work another 15 - 20 years like most of my co-workers who's bodies are mush and broken down from the type of work we do...Makes no sense. I would say only 5% or 10% of the people at my place (food warehousing / loading docks) retire at 30 years of service. Most do 45....

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

Sounds about par for the course.

I made a suggestion on another board that perhaps some certain RV manufacturers might benefit from slowing the production lines by a couple of units a week to increase their quality. You would have thought that I had recommended incest. "Oh they could never do that it would cost them too much in profits, etc, etc." Unfortunately their current business model and the uninformed public works in their favor. So things continue along the current path. They apparently DON'T track warranty costs and attempt to minimize them at any cost. Unfortunately the standards for building an RV are pretty low and there really isn't any oversight other than themselves. The North American automobile manufacturers went through this back in the 70's and 80's and have finally gotten their mess together, they had to because they were loosing market share to Japanese imports that were much better built. Unfortunately I don't see that happening to the RV industry anytime soon.

So the best bet is to do your research, a thorough PDI and get a dealer that will go to bat for you if you have to have warranty work done.


Aaron

Add to that the RV buyer looking at all the glitzy stuff that Dutchmen installs and what a deal it is at that price!

There was a start up back around 2004 can remember the name, but they were making quality trailers. I had a look at one and you could see the quality they were building into their units. There was no cheap papered wallboard in them, it was some sort of light weight composite that didn't flex when you touched it. The cabinets were made of the same type of material

The salesman had me sold when he showed me the "utility closet" with outside access. They absolutely every utility that you need inside that closet. About the only thing that you didn't access in the closet was the sewer hose.

The thing that killed them was nobody wanted to buy a Cadillac RV when there were so many cheaper Toyotas on the market.

[wahoonc]

That was probably was a Heartland Landmark. I remember when those first hit the market. I had a Cardinal LE at the time, sold it the next year and decided not to replace it because my company had made us start driving company trucks and would not let us haul personal trailers.

Heartland built a helluva nice trailer, they are still pretty decent units, but they got sucked up by Thor in 2010.

Aaron

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by superslif

same here..



agreed

I'm willing to pay for a quality product. I just have to find that "quality product".

I'll be entering retirement in a few months (age 53). Always been blessed with 6 weeks of vacation time, which meant 55-60 nights of camping a season. In retirement we will do many 2-4 week trips to places on our "bucket list": Alaska summer of 16' / 3+ month trip, National Parks of CO. & UT. summer of 17', UP Michigan, 1000 Islands NY., Nova Scotia, Maine....the list goes on...

So I know the RV I have now (2013 Aerolite hybrid) will take some abuse on our Alaskan / Yukon trip next summer. That is a given, So no need to buy a new rig now and have her get dinged up.

My pension is crap, the health care part is very $$$. But I have some thing else that is the most important. Our health, might as well do or should I say still do all the things I have been doing like ski, hike, bike and go RVing now and over the next 20 years, than work another 15 - 20 years like most of my co-workers who's bodies are mush and broken down from the type of work we do...Makes no sense. I would say only 5% or 10% of the people at my place (food warehousing / loading docks) retire at 30 years of service. Most do 45....

You lucky bugger, I had to go to 55 before I could retire without taking a big hit in the wallet. You'll love it, it's the best job you could ever hope to have. Enjoy it while you can and have your health. The only real health problem I have is Arthur-itis has moved in to the old bones with a vengance in the last ten years.

Alaska is a great trip, we spent 6 weeks touring YT and AK this year. The roads aren't to terrible, but you do have to watch for frost heaves and there is a lot of road work during the summer months. You don't see vehicles with roof racks loaded up with tires and extra fuel cans like it used to be in the sixties. But it still is a looonnnnggg way between populated areas.

If you are planning on going up to Dawson City, then over to Tok AK you might want to take lots of the widest masking tape you can find. The Top of World Highway is a whole lot of miles of dirt road, my wife was not impressed when we stopped for the night. The vacumn had to be emptied twice getting all that dust that got sucked into the trailer.

Not entirely sure it would have really helped that much, but a few bucks worth of masking tape over the doors and other openings and maybe I wouldn't have endured the rath of the master.

Plenty of good stops along the way to spend time at. Be prepared for quite a few of the attactions like Mt McKinley and the glaciers that require you to use a tour company to get to them. You can only go about 15 miles along the road to Mt Mckinley before you hit Check Point Charlie. Sorry folks unless you are driving a government vehicle or on a tour you can't go the rest of the 60 miles.

I hope you can sleep in the daylight. It didn't bother me, I spent a few years in the NWT way back in the mid sixties, but it took my wife 3-4 days to get used to the idea of going to bed when it looks like noon outside.

[lcv800]

Smart man Jim. I was retired at 52. Retire as soon as you can. Some people will "never have
enough money". Enjoy life while you can. Never know what tomorrow brings. Did Alaska on my Harley. While I'd love to go again in the RV, no way I'm taking my 3990. Good luck.
Rusty

[superslif]

You lucky bugger, I had to go to 55 before I could retire without taking a big hit in the wallet. You'll love it, it's the best job you could ever hope to have. Enjoy it while you can and have your health. The only real health problem I have is Arthur-itis has moved in to the old bones with a vengance in the last ten years.

This past January our union put in a age restriction of: if you didn't have 25 years in right now, you have to go to at least 62. If you were hired this year onward the age minimum is 65. So all these 18-22 years olds they hire are going to be expected to work 45+ years. I know the next step will be everyone will have a age restriction of 65. I get nervous every time a Union (Teamsters) letter or notice comes in the mail. I'm still under the "30 and out" with no age restriction. All I need is another 16 paid weeks next year.

If you are planning on going up to Dawson City, then over to Tok AK you might want to take lots of the widest masking tape you can find. The Top of World Highway is a whole lot of miles of dirt road, my wife was not impressed when we stopped for the night. The vacumn had to be emptied twice getting all that dust that got sucked into the trailer.

Ya, I get read a story the other week about all the dust finding its way into the RV. I have the frame-less windows that seem tighter than my 2005 Aerolite. I plan on caulking and undercoating the wheel-wells. Since I have a hybrid, I think I'll use your suggestion and get some 2" wide masking tape and run it over the 2 bunk end seals. As long as I take it off after a day or two it should not gum up the surface. I can see my Maxx-air vent getting loaded with dust. We have flown up to see my Sis-n-law many times over the years in North Pole. Have driven north as far as Circle, as far south as Seward and Valdez. So I kind of know what to expect. The TOW I'm going to make a judgement call depending on the weather. When my parents went up in a Caravan group back in 2003 on the TOW (in a MH) they said it was a shimmy mess. Plan to go up on the Alcan and down on the Cassier. Would like to leave Ohio the last day or two in May. I want to stay ahead of the Caravan groups. Plan 3 weeks to go up....Leave to come back Labor Day, again depending on the weather. Here is a good link to "Gone with the Wynn's" Their a young couple who did a AK. trip these year. Got caught in a snow storm in Denali Aug 20th. They do a super travel Vlog site and post top notch pictures, video's and reviews on everything about the RV lifestyle. I have been following them for about 3 years now.

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

That was probably was a Heartland Landmark. I remember when those first hit the market. I had a Cardinal LE at the time, sold it the next year and decided not to replace it because my company had made us start driving company trucks and would not let us haul personal trailers.

Heartland built a helluva nice trailer, they are still pretty decent units, but they got sucked up by Thor in 2010.

Aaron

I knew it would float back to the top.

It was Earthbound, I found 2 of them for sale, man have they ever held their value for a company that only lasted one model year. The one I looked at had a floor plan very similar to the Dakota, but it was 25-28'. The sticker on it was over $50K, it was an '11 in the summer of '12, I could have bought it for $35K, plus the dealer would have paid my provincial tax.

IMHO they had a fit and finish second to non. Real pity they didn't make it, but 2010 was not exactly the best time to try and launch a top end camper.

Earthbound Rv Earthbound - New & Used RVs for Sale on RVT.com - Page 1 of 1

[superslif]

I remember them...I didn't realize they were a one and done. Love that rack / aero front cap....

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by superslif

I remember them...I didn't realize they were a one and done. Love that rack / aero front cap....

Yes it is a thing of beauty, very European influence at work on them.

Dutchmen would like you to think that they build them like this, but Earthbound actualy did.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DSI5VBlk6KY