| title | author | comments | |
| Re: Would you buy an RV made in China? | Kentuk | NO,NO.NO WAY. I HAD A 4wh drive tractor,(farm pro) made in china. It was CRAP! Within two years use about 150 hours on the meter, complete clutch assembly replacement, brakes, all elec. connections redone, switches, lights replaced, most all rubber boots, seals, gaskets and hoses replaced due to rot/poor quality/manufacturing. HARD to get parts for it. Impossible to get electrical parts and rubber seals and bearing seals and covers for tie-rods ect. Except for the light bulbs and some rubber hoses nothing else was interchangable with anything else. The manual that came with it was impossible. The importer/distruibuter was NO HELP. I found someone in Alabama who was importing a China made tractor and was able to get oil, fuel and hydraulic filters from him. When we sold our small farm I pitched in the the tractor and all attachments in the deal, even showed that yankee city feller how to start it and drive it. That was a year and two clutchs ago. SO NO WAY IN HELL WOULD I BUY A RV MADE IN CHINA. I have had six RV's and yepp most of them are apiece of s--T but I can get parts for them and get repairs done that I can't do myself. I do about 75% of my own maintenance/repairs AND MY MONEY STAYS IN AMERICA, If I have to buy junk I want it to be American junk. Well maybe German or Japan would be ok. I drive a Ford crown vic. and a Chevy pick-up, my wife has a Honda and a Audi TT Coupe (super-charged). All you people who want to keep America American please vote for the True American Man with the True American first name of John. The end | See RoTi item |
| Route 550 | Mad Jayhawk | Staying at walmart? Just two words that strike fear into the heart of any Class A driver - ROUTE 550.
(Or maybe that is 4 words.) Big time scary. | See RoTi item |
| Motorcoach safety - ask about it when buying an RV! | Ric | The flammability test FMVSS 302 provides very little fire protection. It only tests materials placed horizontally and most of the materials that pass this test burn like crazy when placed vertically. That's why fires in vehicles are so severe even though all the materials used pass this test. Depsite what is said here this test appears to afford little fire safety to motorcoach occupants. | See RoTi item |
| Hospital overcharges | Joan | We had bills of nearly $5,000 AFTER the insurance had paid their portion.
The insurance company said the reason they wouldn't pay any more was that the doctors' charges were above what the insurance company considered reasonable and normal. They were way above average and they were simply overcharging us.
We called the doctors' billing agencies and they just said this was our responsibility. Some of them said they'd put us on a "payment plan." The threat was that if we didn't pay, the bill would simply go to a bill collection agency and they'd ruin our credit. We really didn't know what to do. In one case - Mayo Clinic - we had no choice, they really threatened us with ruining our credit - blackmail of course - and we simply paid after they reduced the bill somewhat.
As for the others, we spoke to Southwest Medical who really helped. The advice they gave almost made the bills go away.
| See RoTi item |
| RE: FEMA trailers - became a nightmare | LOU | HI USE OZONE MACHINE TO KILL EVERYTHING I MEAN ALL THE BAD AND SMELLY STUFF . THAN KEEP IT GOING ON LOW TO KEEP SWEET RAIN SMELL HAVE A GREAT DAY.. ECOQUEST IS THE NAME HAD ONE FOR 9 YEARS. | See RoTi item |
| RE: FEMA trailers - became a nightmare | lou garou | shalom. im staying in south west arkansas, while coming back to my campsite about 10 miles from here i passed fema land with thousands of these trailers, not for sale but for destruction and they were still bringing them in. i wonder as they sit there how much polution is going into the ground and spreading to the local water wells and livestock feed.
be safe, lg. | See RoTi item |
| RE: Moldy trailer issues | lou garou | shalom, just did a search, lots of sites that may be able to help you. but i think your best bet is to get in touch with hazmat, there should be one in your area and write/see them about your problem. if they condem the trailer, you have something to bring to the people you bought yours from for a complete refund, and go someplace else for another trailer. AND STAY OUT OF THE TRAILER.
be safe, lg. | See RoTi item |
| RE: Moldy trailer issues | lou garou | shalom, new here, but not new to mold. as a former house painter i used to run across this stuff a lot, its not mildew and harder to kill if it doesnt kill you first. there are pros out there that can help,but its costly due to the risk involved. this is for hazmat, the company that wants to bleach and kilz it are insane. ive walked away from many jobs if i found it anywhere inside or out. its mostly inside where its warm and can breed and die and the residew thats left behind is the problem. you need a good lawyer.
be safe, lg | See RoTi item |
| RE: Why can't anyone back up any more? | lou garou | Shalom; even in my little airstream i have the same problem, hey i admit it. after the first time and scaring the hell out of some poor tree i learned to always pull as far as i can to the front, and just pull straight out. getting bigger mirrors hasnt helped my situation i think the disabled plates plates and a little sign that says 'i weigh 10,000 lbs, good luck' has prevented a lot from happening, plus a lot of praying.
be safe out there. lg. | See RoTi item |
| FEMA trailers - became a nightmare | Ed | A lot of people bought these FEMA trailers on GSA Auction site thinking they were getting a chance to own an RV that otherwise would be impossible to afford. Some of the trailers were in good condition and others needed repairs. I bought one of these trailers before news of the toxins were released. I always wanted a camper and thought it would be a perfect oppurtunity to buy something that I otherwise could not afford. My bid price considered the repairs and what we could afford. After repairs were done the Toxin news was released and I was afraid to use the trailer especially with a 6 year old with asthma. Now I have to take the refund and take a loss on the expenses incurred while the trailer sat unused and repaired for year. What was a dream come true has become a Nightmare. Not happy about it. | See RoTi item |
| Re: RV awnings may be dangerous | frank | Lost our's in Arizona. Went over top of trailer and broke window on drivers. No other vechicles involved. | See RoTi item |
| No brakes | riggarob | Lost our brakes leaving the east gate of Yellowstone, last year. SCARY !! My wife and I ended up changing out the pads and fluid at the RV park in Cody, WY. Took 9 hours in 109* weather. | See RoTi item |
| RV awning story | Trevor | I had my awning out last summer in Washington state, the weather was warm and there was very little breeze. I drove to town about 15 minutes away and noticed it was breezy in town. I hurried back but to my amazement the awning had blown over the trailer even tho I had it weighted down with cement blocks. Bad choice, one ended up on my roof poking a nice hole in it and the other came thru my door window. Thank God no one was hurt and it was still calm and sunny when I got back with no wind. What a freak that was. | See RoTi item |
| RV fires and electrical systems | Mac | I teach fire safety to RVer's. My biggest concern is the 12v wiring. Over 75% of the rv fires are started by a failure of the 12v connections. The wire runs are too long without being fused. Diesel pushers have more fires then any other RV for right now. Someone said if the manufacture keeps building junk, we keep buying it. They won't stop, until we stop them. We have no help from the NFPA or RVIA who make the standards for safety. Someone from the RV buying public needs to be on the committee with the support of the RV buying public. Like that will ever happen. | See RoTi item |
| Clunking U joint could have rolled our motorhome | Susan M | We have the 2005 Alpine and still like its features and have driven it to and through Mexico and back this year without problems. However, in 2006, on the way back from New England to Florida, we were driving on the interstate and suddenly heard a loud metallic clunk. Amazingly, we were able to steer to a flat shoulder and pull out of traffic. The U joint had failed, and our drive shaft broke off completely. If we had been driving in the mountains on two lane roads -- which we had been doing for the four weeks prior to the incident -- we could easily have rolled the motor home. We have noticed on the internet that several other Alpine owners have had problems with the U joints failing, something which should not happen with proper maintenance. Someone suggestedd that Western RV received "a bad batch of U joints." However, there has never been a recall or a suggestion that customers have their U joints checked. We spoke to Western several times during the incident and later, and they were unconcerned. At an Alpine rally we spoke to a vice president, who was equally unconcerned. We have told our adult children that if anything ever happens to us in the RV, get an attorney and make sure an independent person evaluates the cause of the accident. Meanwhile, we keep checking the U joints before we travel. | See RoTi item |
| Re: Arizona Ghost Stories | Prescott ghost hunter | As a native Prescottonian, i can attest to the stories at the Hotel Vendome, being one of which late at night, i could hear the cat mewing, and upon inspection, there was no cat to be found, also, room 16, sometimes, you can hear the faint sobbing of a females voice, going up the stairs it gets louder, but then stops when you reach the door of room 16. | See RoTi item |
| RE: Why can't anyone back up any more? | Wolfie | Not only cant they back up, a lot of times they can't manouver around turns. Very scary for a new dealership to hand the keys for a rv to the customer without making sure they can even drive or tow it. Seen accidents happen many times after a new purchase. | See RoTi item |
| Why can't anyone back up any more? | rv man | Why cant any one back up any more? I see it all the time in parks. Every one wants a pull thru. They run in to planters,walls water sewer,electric you name it . Pretty scary for park owners and the general public. Try that rig before yoyu buy it and destroy all the parks in the United States. Concerned RV Man | See RoTi item |
| Moldy trailer issues | Carbill | My husband & I bought a brand new trailer last year; have used it one week last summer. Went to pack it to go camping this last July (2007); camper had quite a bit of mold under the dinette seat. The camping business we purchased it through cut a hole in the wall under our direction to find mold in the frame work (2x4's). Our daughter has a medically diagnosed mold allergy. The mold is in the slide out part of the camper. The manufacturer wants to wash it off, put some killz on it, fix the hole in the wall and give it back to us. There are also stains under the carpet by the dinette that apppear to go further along the outside long wall of the slide out. The carpeting also had mold on it. We feel they should give us a new camper - we paid almost 20 thousand dollars for it. The camping place we bought it from said that we could trade it in but we would loose alot of money on it because they would have to tell future purchasers about the mold problem. Why should we take the hit? Are there any other people out there having mold issues such as these? HELP!!! | See RoTi item |
| RE: Motorhome walls dropping down | SRP | I have a 1993 Coachmen that had the same problem. The screws that hold the walls together were coming loose. I could see the ground from inside the coach. I contacted my insurance company thinking it might be covered. Of course it was not but the agent did say Coachmen RV's are known in the insurance industry for this problem. I had all of the screws replaced with longer ones glued in place around the entire RV at the floor line at a cost of $3000. The rig feels solid once again. Otherwise it has been a good rig for several years. Just passing on my experience. | See RoTi item |
| RE: Road getting narrower and narrower ... | Linda | So that was you all that came up our road with your BIG RV. We all came out on the porch and watched you all turn around. You liked to have scared our dogs to death. Glad you made it back to the highway. | See RoTi item |
| Buyers beware | MaryKamper | I worked a brief time last for RV world and it's awfully scary the awful new and used RVs they sell to people. Trade ins are never checked out by service before placing them on the lot. Water damage is covered up, wires are cut, vandalism is covered up. Buyer beware when you are shopping for any RV's. Do your homework. Hire a reputable RV mechanic to check the rv out first. Don't believe that just because an rv dealer is next to Camping World does not make them any more reputable than the next. | See RoTi item |
| DEALER FALSEIFIED MANY THINGS | THE OLD FOLKS | WE RECENTLY WENT TO AN RV SHOW..WE HAD A BRAND NEW TRUCK AND FIFTH WHEEL..THEY USE OUR AGE AND HEALTH TO TAKE THAT FROM US AND PUT US IN A MOTOR HOME WE COULD NOT HANDLE | See RoTi item |
| I got both of my hands stuck in the awning | Dan B | Windy days are not friendly days for RVers. A big wind can take your awning (which can be 30' long' and lift it like a parachute right off your RV and away. To avoid this destructive problem you usually retract the awning before it gets too windy. It rolls up with its aluminum arms at the end folding into each other. On this day I was in an RV park that was pretty empty in the winter. Over time my awning didn't always retract straight up, which caused the arms not to fold correctly into each other (apparently a common problem with RV awnings). To remedy this I would push on the arm from right to left while it rolled up. Problem today was the wind caused the awning to roll much faster then usual, and while I was pushing my hands slipped...directly into the space where one arm fits into the other. Within a second my fingers were crushed in between the two arms. To make matters worse, I had successfully aligned the arms, so they did align and locked when the awning retracted. As hard as I tried I could not free either one of my hands. I was stuck and there was nobody around. The pain was really starting to make itself known. I did see someone walking there dog a good 200 yards away. I called as loud as I could for help and they seemed to hear. They slowly started making their way toward me, but I was hurting pretty bad now. I screamed again 'Hurry Up'. They replied, not realizing my predicament yet 'Ok, Ok hold your horses, we are coming'. Another minute went by before they understood and started running to me. Problem was they did not have an RV and didn't know that the awning locked. So they are pulling and pushing, and hurting me even worse in the process. I am trying to tell them that there is a little lever at the top of the awning, which you have to use a specially made rod to reach, that has to be moved clockwise to release the awning. But I cannot point since both of my hands are stuck over my head in the awning track. And I am probably not speaking this clearly at that moment. After what seemed like an eternity (and in retrospect a real comedy show) my hands were released. And the good news is that even though they were purple I didn't have any broken bones and didn't lose even one fingernail. Just another mis-adventure!
| See RoTi item |
| I watched my car on TV | Dan B | We were going to stop by Woodland Hills, CA to say hello to my brother's family. The roads were a little narrow in his neighborhood and of course there are hills. Our RV was a beautiful 35' Safari motorhome and we were towing our convertible Toyota Celica on a tow dolly. Well, at least when we started up the hill. In a motorhome like this, your rear-view mirror is also your 20" TV screen, mounted above your head at the front. So you get used to glancing up to see what is going on behind you. In this case I glanced, like I always did, but something was different. So I glanced again. This time I realized that my car was not on the dolly. I stopped immediately and stared into the TV screen. It was like I was watching an action adventure movie, only my car was in it. It was rolling backward down the hill with other cards dodging left and right to avoid the out of control car coming toward them. It was completely surreal and all I could do was sit there I and watch this unfold on my TV. A minute later my car veered toward the curb and 'beached' itself. I ran outside to find that everyone had successfully avoided collision and my car lay waiting for me with just a flat tire. Amazingly no other damage and no injuries. | See RoTi item |
| HughesNet - beware - a scary company | Jimmy D | I have a MotoSat Datastorm RV satellite system (cost $5000+) and the internet service provider was Optistreams ($100 per month). Optistreams passed it over to HughesNet and HughesNet sent me an invoice for 3 months overdue ($70 per month) and de-activated my system. I paid the bill (I must be crazy) and they said they would re-activate the system within 24 hours. It didn't re-activate and I called them. They sent me to technical support (in India) and the Indians said they didn't know anything about mobile systems and I should go back to my installer (?). I called and called and talked and talked, and pleaded to no avail. Nobody could or would help either in India or with Hughes. Nobody knew and nobody cared and day after day the system was down. Finally I said enough and co-incidently we sold the motorcoach. I then phoned Hughes billing and said cancel my system. After a long long runaround they said they couldn't cancel it and that I needed to go to ... runaround runaround runaround. In the end they cancelled it but said I would still need to pay more charges until the date of the cancelation even though I wasn't activated and using it. Beware Hughes. Beware satellite internet for RVs. Very expensive, not really high speed and not very good. And a scary company. | See RoTi item |
| RE: Motorhome sitting for 5 months - we don't dare drive it | Steve | Normally 1 Lug missing wouldnt stop you from taking to a Local Truck repair.But in Your Case 1 Lug came off,and ,The Others Have Probably been Loose, Dangerous Damage may be present to the wheels and the studs the lug nuts screw on to.
You should Locate a Mechanic that will come to your house to determine what Damage may have done already, before moving RV another inch . The Repair Cost could escalate Very Quickly ,But more Importantly, Damage or Personal Injury to you or others if more than (1) Lugnut is
Loose is a Definite Immediate Concern.
This Repair is probably best done by Ford, Chevy ,or Whoever made drive chassis , or a Truck Repair Shop.
| See RoTi item |
| Check your U-joints | DSue | For several weeks we had strong vibrations in the coach each time we accelerated, particularly when we were going downhill. We should have taken the coach in to be checked, but several people told us the problem was a computer chip error in the transmission, and that the manufacturer was "working on" solving the problem. So we continued on our trip, which included many two lane mountain roads in NY, VT and NH. Finally, we were 3 hours out of NH, headed home, and suddenly there was a loud metallic "clunk." We were driving 65 mph on the interstate and managed to pull over to the shoulder at a flat area. We had a lot of trouble getting someone to come help us, and we were about 18 inches from heavy traffic, including semi's. As each truck passed, the RV rocked and shuddered. We were there for 6 hours before a towing company came, and he rolled under the coach and found the problem: the drive shaft had cracked at the U-joints and completely separated. Fortunately, it didn't tear up anything else or bounce out from under us and take out our tow car or someone else's. We had followed the guidelines for routine maintenance, but this still happened. If you have any strange vibrations which seem like they're coming from the transmission or drive train, get it checked out. And keep your U-joints greased. Ours were greased but they still failed, so insurance covered it as a mechanical failure. Also, ask state troopers for recommendations for towing. They know who can handle big rigs. | See RoTi item |
| Ice in Utah | Joyce Space | All week we debated whether to take the tunnel route or a longer route to go from Zion to Bryce National Park. We decided not to chance the tunnel. Perhaps we should have. We took a route that looked perfectly all right. When we started up the road to go over a pass, the 8% grade was not a problem. We’d driven plenty of those. One sign said, “Possible ice or snow October 1 – March 31.” It was May 10. Another sign said, “If lights are flashing, conditions may be icy or snowy,” or something to that effect. The lights were not flashing. The sky was blue and it was a beautiful sunny but cold day.
About five mile up the pass it began to get colder and colder. We watched the thermometer in the truck drop closer and closer to freezing and began to see snow on the road. By that time there was no place to turn around. The temperature stabilized at 27 degrees and the road was now solid ice. Four-wheel drive is useless in those conditions. Larry was doing all he could to keep the truck and trailer going up and on our side of the road. A truck was off against the guardrail ahead of us so Larry pulled into the left lane (no traffic was coming down at that time) to try to go around him, but we just started sliding so he stopped totally. That blocked traffic in both directions for a bit until we started sliding some more – back down the hill and toward the guardrail. (The ten to twenty-foot drop-off was on our right and the mountain on our left and the road was banked to the right.)
I decided to get out of the truck because if it went against the guardrail or over it, I didn’t want to be in it, but Larry had to stay in to keep his foot on the brake to keep the trailer from pulling us back down the hill. It weighs 16,000 pounds. (He was so glad that we have hydraulic disc brakes. Otherwise he would have had to hold his finger on the brake controller all that time.) When I got out it was so icy that I slid right across the lane to the edge of the road. I worked myself back up to the trailer to get the chocks out to put between the trailer tires to help keep it from sliding. I just hoped and prayed that the trailer wouldn’t slide while I was doing it. It didn’t.
Eventually the trailer slid enough toward the right lane that cars could go around us if they stayed on the left shoulder. Some of the people who were stopped behind us got out to help me direct traffic one lane at a time. (I was freezing cold in a light jacket that I had in the truck. There was no way I was going to go into the trailer for my winter coat.)
All this time I was enjoying the beautiful white snow on the trees and clear blue sky thinking how lovely it all was. I missed those crisp winter days, so I wanted to savor all of it I could because, other than Vermont at Christmas and a few hours on route 40, it was the only winter I got to experience this year.
The man whose truck was against the guardrail got a ride back to town to call the highway department and the Utah State Police. Finally a snowplow with sand came. He couldn’t get around us so stopped and shoveled sand all around the truck and trailer so Larry could back up and pull forward totally in the right lane. By then it was safe enough that the trailer wasn’t sliding anymore and Larry could get out. Whew!! The snowplow driver said someone was supposed to have done the road at 7:00 that morning but had never come to work so they didn’t know it hadn’t been done! Great! We almost lose our home because someone didn’t do his job!
The policeman had come so he and I directed traffic around the trailer. Once all the traffic was cleared and the ice had melted (2 ½ hours later) the policeman told us to drive three miles up the road where we could turn around and come back down to take a different route. When we got to the huge parking/turn around area, a man was there waiting for the road to clear. He told Larry that we’d be better off waiting awhile than turning around to take the other road because construction was terrible on that road. So-o-o Larry took a nap and I read and had lunch. After an hour I flagged down a motor home coming from the other direction and asked how the roads were. They said, “Fine. Why? Is there a problem?” We continued on our way and the roads were clear. It was beautiful.
| See RoTi item |
| Hang in there ... | chelli | My husband and I sold our home to become full timers and travel. Two weeks after we began we found out he had prostate cancer and had to have surgry. The IRS came after us for 17 grand and his ex wife of 10 years decided she wanted part of his pension. We are still full timing and traveling, working were we can. Its been three years and we are still hanging in there. Full timeing isnt all that it can be at times. Things happen and life goes on...hang in there!!! | See RoTi item |
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