Awful factory service slide and electrical

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by DesertRatt

As a new owner of a 2004 Minnie Class C, my jaw has dropped to...
Shudder.

Keep in mind that a forum such as this is populated with people that have problems, issues and questions. Like any complex product things do break and things do fail.

People new to RVing tend to expect a “car-like” experience. Both in design and build plus dealer service. But that is rarely the case. It can be a surprise to learn this fact.

Relax, enjoy your new to you RV and learn as much as you can from the info posted here.

[DesertRatt]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Keep in mind that a forum such as this is populated with people that have problems, issues and questions. Like any complex product things do break and things do fail.

People new to RVing tend to expect a “car-like” experience. Both in design and build plus dealer service. But that is rarely the case. It can be a surprise to learn this fact.

Relax, enjoy your new to you RV and learn as much as you can from the info posted here.

Thank you! I was being a little facetious for an attempt at humor. I'm actually at least a little bit aware how different RVs are from car technology.

We bought a new Airstream trailer in 2011, and I was shocked to discover and learn how poorly made RVs were COMPARED TO CARS. Cars are made by robots for the most part to high precision. Our "new" Airstream taught me to always carry lots of tools, always be ready to improvise, never be disappointed by how stupidly something could be designed, and that RVs are mostly a collection of randomly chosen "lowest bidder" components that most people would never choose individually. I used to tell people, "If it was made for an RV, you can be sure no one would ever have it in their house."

See you down the road!

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by DesertRatt

always carry lots of tools, always be ready to improvise, never be disappointed by how stupidly something could be designed, and that RVs are mostly a collection of randomly chosen "lowest bidder" components that most people would never choose individually. I used to tell people, "If it was made for an RV, you can be sure no one would ever have it in their house."

^This needs to be handed to every RV shopper before they are permitted to discuss the purchase of an RV.

[puttin]

Desert Ratt,


I'd be proud to own your rig. It was built at the right time in my opinion. Take care of it and it will be there doing the things it was designed to do. Enjoy!

[DesertRatt]

Originally Posted by puttin

Desert Ratt,


I'd be proud to own your rig. It was built at the right time in my opinion. Take care of it and it will be there doing the things it was designed to do. Enjoy!

Happy to hear that! To be honest, RVs were selling so fast in my area, that we had about 5 minutes - literally- to make the decision. They guy's phone was ringing with other offers. After weeks of missing out by an hour on other RVs, I used my intuition, gave it a quick survey and shook the guy's hand!

This am, I crawled underneath for a detailed look and I was wonderfully surprised to find not a single drop of oil anywhere, no sign of any leak anywhere, no sign of covered up damage, no busted parts, no bare wires or coathangers wrapped around mufflers - - nothing. I hope that's a good sign.

I put new Michelin XPS RIBs on it. I will get new Bilstein shocks and Hellwig anti-sway bars put on, and have a thorough brake inspection before venturing out.

Inside, the only issue was 3 missing day/night window shades. I suspect they rotted off with time.

Today, I must get the smog cert. Then I can begin the important stuff.

I'm hoping for about 8MPG out of the v10. Does that sound reasonable?

[puttin]

8 MPG sounds right- it's what we averaged in our 31-M Jamboree with the same V-10. ONCE, I got 11 but frankly I can't remember why. We frequently towed our 24' cuddy cabin boat with it and got 8 as well. Can't explain it. Anyway, we didn't buy these things for gas mileage, right? Sometimes I wish we still had that rv. It was paid for. Our G-kids wanted to go with us so we got our current Winnebago with bunks in '08. We still have it and it's great but that Jamboree was fun too.

[DesertRatt]

Right - - we don't buy for mileage! I was just wanting to compare travel cost to my old Suburban+Airsteam rig, which was 11.5 no matter what.

I'm good with 8. Should give me 400 mile range.

[2cyber71]

20 yrs of RVing I guess I can say something here.
I wasn’t going to put my 2 cents in but I am.

I wonder how many repairs of Winnie MH and Trailer slideouts are repaired at Forrest City.
Since there is a long wait for appointments I guess lots and lots.
I’m sure almost all of the time the repairs are done correctly and they have a happy customer.
But, as with us humans, not everyone is a clone, sometimes a repair just didn’t get it done correctly. It’s probably small number leave with a unhappy outcome.
But here is the real kicker, if it’s you it’s 100%.

Everyone I know that had service or repairs at Forrest City was very happy and kept RVing and almost all bought another Winnie.

I have been a General Surgeon for over 35 years and as we know in my business you can perform a perfect operation but something out of anyone's control can kill the patient.
Bad things happen, as I always tell the young surgeons. No one, no business, no nothing is perfect. The only perfect surgeon is one that doesn’t perform surgery. The only perfect RV manufacturer doesn’t make RVs.

The RV industry isn’t equal to the aircraft industry. Which buy the way (BOEING) has showed it isn’t perfect too.
Comparing them to cars is not fair.
I haven’t seen any car as complicated as a 43 ft DP with 3 slides.
Even Marathon Coach's beautiful $2,000,000 MH have problems right from delivery.
Winnie is a good company that stood the test of time.
I’m sorry that someone here had a bad outcome.

One more example, my 15 year old Brake Buddy's break away Unit broke last month. I had a hard time finding a replacement. But I got lucky and found one.
Otherwise I would need to spend much $$$ to replace a working unit.

As RV age, parts are hard to come by, the requirements are 10 yrs for RVs, if a improved part was created the manufacturer many not even know if they don’t have a relationship with that company anymore. It’s like when Direct TV change their receivers, well my old 2007 Ellipse automatic satellite wouldn’t search with the new receiver. So who should I blame, Winegard? They told me to buy another $1500 dish they didn’t do the change DirectTV did.
As long as your slide out is fixed and you can go RVing that’s the goal.
I’m sad you had a bad experience, but happy it’s all fixed.

[DesertRatt]

I believe RVs of all kind could easily be made more reliable if they took the priority away from the interior decorators and hire more engineers. If they established an aesthetic utility and purpose, and backed way off on the superficial decor.

I suspect the decorators are in charge because men aren't allowed to spend that much money without the wife's approval, and women want endless miles of fabric, wrapped, twisted, roped, draped, pleated, swathed and stapled onto so many slabs of particle board. They want chandeliers, mirrors, shag rugs, tile floors, draperies, and "kitchen style" wood cabinets all hung on a violent shake machine. Wood and screws are for stationary furniture, not trucks that must traverse an ever worsening road network. How how much 'wood and screw' furniture is in a basic 4 x 4 truck? A big sedan? Why would any engineer in his right mind agree to putting grout and tile on the floor of an RV?

The only RV I ever seen that was made to a utility aesthetic was the absolutely magnificent Westfalia. We need more space shuttle, and less French Boudoir. More stainless steel, less hickory and oak. More integrasted plug-in modules, less cut-and-fit-on-site piecework. More leather, less chenile. Get rid of all the staples, all the wood screws, all the butt joined wire, all the wire nuts, and at least 99% of the fabric wraps. Particle board should be illegal. Need shades? See how they do it in airplanes. And for the love of the gods, PLEASE, PLEASE, I beg you RV industry...stop putting those hideous, classless, grotesque, obscene "swirly vinyl graphics" all over the outside!
Build me a spaceship on wheels!

/s

[akeagle]

Originally Posted by DesertRatt

Thank you! I was being a little facetious for an attempt at humor. I'm actually at least a little bit aware how different RVs are from car technology.

We bought a new Airstream trailer in 2011, and I was shocked to discover and learn how poorly made RVs were COMPARED TO CARS. Cars are made by robots for the most part to high precision. Our "new" Airstream taught me to always carry lots of tools, always be ready to improvise, never be disappointed by how stupidly something could be designed, and that RVs are mostly a collection of randomly chosen "lowest bidder" components that most people would never choose individually. I used to tell people, "If it was made for an RV, you can be sure no one would ever have it in their house."

See you down the road!

Dang, Ratt. You seem to have an awfully bad attitude toward RVs for someone who had just joined this forum only three days ago. As with most walks of life there are those who like bare bones and those who like luxury. Why can't we be tolerant of the preferences of others?

You do know you can order a rig built to your specifications, right? It would cost major bucks, but it can be done.

[DesertRatt]

Originally Posted by akeagle

Dang, Ratt. You seem to have an awfully bad attitude toward RVs for someone who had just joined this forum only three days ago. As with most walks of life there are those who like bare bones and those who like luxury. Why can't we be tolerant of the preferences of others?

You do know you can order a rig built to your specifications, right? It would cost major bucks, but it can be done.

I apologize for offending you. It was just a sarcastic attempt at "RV Humor".

I should have included the " /s " indicator at the end.

I love RVing, I am very critical of RV manufacturers.

[Phil-T]

Originally Posted by DesertRatt

I believe RVs of all kind could easily be made more reliable if they took the priority away from the interior decorators and hire more engineers. If they established an aesthetic utility and purpose, and backed way off on the superficial decor.
Build me a spaceship on wheels!

The manufacturers are building what the market demands. They are in business to make money, not friends. It's the buyer's responsibility to pick an RV that satifies his/hers desires and nedds. They are out there, you need to pay.

[DesertRatt]

I doubt if the market is demanding poor quality and poor reliability.

Ref:https://www.curbed.com/2019/9/18/208...s-poor-quality

I've bought two new RVs at a dealer and both were a bag of problems. No one wants problems, but in RV's the conventional wisdom is: "Expect problems, be willing to deal with them, that's the best they can do."

The RV industry needs a "Elon Musk" sort of character to re-envision what is possible and bring the industry into the 21st Century.

Of course, that's nothing more than one man's opinion.

[akeagle]

Originally Posted by DesertRatt

I apologize for offending you. It was just a sarcastic attempt at "RV Humor".

I should have included the " /s " indicator at the end.

I love RVing, I am very critical of RV manufacturers.

And I'll apologize to you too since I may have come off as "holier than thou".

So far I've had exceptionally good experience with the 2016 Minnie Winnie 27Q we bought a couple years ago. It had been in a rental fleet for three seasons and per the company's policy, at that point they spruce them up and sell them for roughly 60% of their original cost. When we got it, it was near perfect. All I had to do was fix some loose drawer slides.

Since then we've added many modifications, accessories, and other improvements. Whatever it takes to make everything more comfortable and convenient!

From reading many of the posts on this site and one other, I must admit that RV manufactures do often have some shortcomings. While a house also consists of many systems, so are RVs, but those systems must not only compact, they must also be as lightweight as possible.

Tradeoffs - that is the name of the game, for both RV manufacturers and RV owners. In reality, there is just no way around that, even for those who have tons of money.

By the way, if you've never visited the Winnebago plant in Forest City, Iowa, I think you would be impressed.

[DesertRatt]

I would love to visit the "mother ship" in Iowa. I'm definitely into that sort of thing. But, most of our RVing is out West, and it may be a while.

Right now (after 2 days!), I'm happy with what we bought. It's 16 years old and looks about 1 year old. This model new today sells for $99,000 and we paid $23,000, With only 12k on the ODO, I'm feeling pretty good.

Can't wait to roll down the road.

[Phil-T]

That's good. Wish you continued good luck. We were at the Forest City plant last summer and did the tour of the ClassA plant. Impressive. A lot of hands on personal work, not a lot of automation.

[Beanlady]

Yes, the Forest City plant tour is wonderful. We did both tours! Like I posted, everyone in Forest City was wonderful! Just had service problems. It’s worth a trip if you ever get nearby.