Sorry We bought a Redwood unit!! - Page 2

sinder · 01-03-2014, 04:10 AM

RIM1227 - if your dealer is unable to resolve your issues, I recommend you contact Ron Howard or Bill Hodge at Crossroads Service Center 1 260-593-3850 to work out a remediation plan.

johnboytoo · 01-03-2014, 02:37 PM

AA, no @ the mesquite store - went by there yesterday and the 5er is out in the boonies not being worked on... gggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrr - about to give up on them...

Bill Hodge did email me yesterday and KNOWS my frustrations ! he had the same reaction when I talked to him as the Egytian in this commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny_G0nG8qJI

however, we did go by the canton store yesterday...
the wife HAD to go to 1st Monday Trade Days to pick up something she 'forgot' last time out

martaz · 01-04-2014, 12:58 AM

Many, many, many times we/I feel the same way as rlm about our FL. At first it was so bad I was horribly disappointed, all I did was fix things. Never got to enjoy the rig. I don't take it to the local dealer as they are idiots there. I realized this after the walk thru when a few of the lights wouldn't come on, I was told to pull up a chair, climb up and tap on the fixture, that's how these type of lights are; when in reality the bulbs were just old and ready to burn out, many times then they will come on a few more times if you tap them before finally burning out completely. My dealer finally cemented their idiocy when I asked the repair guy about my living room slide out struggling hard when retracting....he told me it did this as it was last in line on the hydraulic system, hence worked slowly.....BTW, it is an electric slide out!!! Morons. Lippert is no better. My leveling system quit on me, I called them and was told to open valves no more than 2 or 2-1/2 turns when manually running the pump. Well the thing still wouldn't retract, in reality you have to open the valve all the way. This was after multiple calls to them where they suggested adding more ATF to system or bad wiring being the culprit. I then called one of the local mobile expert RV men out, he didn't have a clue either! In the end I just said the heck with it, broke out the meter and troubleshot the thing myself, found it was what I had been saying all along, to both Lippert and the RV repairman...bad controller, I ordered a new one and it now works like a champ! This incident happend shortly after my World Friendship piece of junk converter burnt out....no time to do the warranty thing as after batteries died fridge quit working...no 12v control power....so I overnighted a real converter(not WIFCO!!!) to me. Should I go on, and on, and on and ????? On the bright side, since owning the FL Ive found Im a very good RV tech!!!

lwg · 01-06-2014, 04:06 AM

Dealers seem to be the key problem with all this. Luckily our PDI was pretty good, took them over two days to fix most things. We found a couple more that we're fixed the following days. All in all the process took about a week. Keep in mind we Fulltime so we were living in it onsite for a couple of days checking everything out. We still have a couple of minor issues (bedroom slide works intermittently) but Redwood has been great working with us to resolve everything. I think patience on behalf of the buyer regarding the product, not the dealer is key. We had to raise a little hell with the dealer to speed things up a bit.

Your mileage may vary, but in my experience the Redwood is as good as it gets without spending $150k+, however I've seen DRV's have issues when new as well, so you never know...

mhs4771 · 01-06-2014, 02:32 PM

lwg, check the connections to the bedroom slide controller in the basement. We had an issue last spring where it wouldn't work. Everything looked OK, but finally traced it down to a pin in one of the connectors that plug into the controller. The pin wasn't seated all the way and just barely making contact and finally totally lost contact. Simple seating the pin all the way into the connector and no problem since.
Just something to check. Plus if you read the operations manual, you can put that slide into manual operation, which is what we did so we could bring the slide in to move until we got it straightened out.

lwg · 01-06-2014, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhs4771

lwg, check the connections to the bedroom slide controller in the basement. We had an issue last spring where it wouldn't work. Everything looked OK, but finally traced it down to a pin in one of the connectors that plug into the controller. The pin wasn't seated all the way and just barely making contact and finally totally lost contact. Simple seating the pin all the way into the connector and no problem since.
Just something to check. Plus if you read the operations manual, you can put that slide into manual operation, which is what we did so we could bring the slide in to move until we got it straightened out.

That's a good idea. One side of our slide wouldn't pull in all the ways. It was like it used a friction switch of some sort and was hitting the "stop" portion a little early leaving about 1-2" of the slide out when stopping. Kind of had us in a predicament as we were ready to leave for our next destination. Good thing is when I called Redwood they were ready to send out a mobile tech to fix it if needed. We managed to get it in for the trip.

We still need to address this to make sure things are ready when we head off to our next destination in the coming months.

travelin' texans · 01-06-2014, 08:43 PM

To calibrate bedroom slide, pull slide in then run it out about 2-3 inches & back in 2-3 times & after in completely continue pushing switch for a few seconds. This the procedure recommended by service techs at the service center.

lwg · 01-06-2014, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelin' texans

To calibrate bedroom slide, pull slide in then run it out about 2-3 inches & back in 2-3 times & after in completely continue pushing switch for a few seconds. This the procedure recommended by service techs at the service center.

We did that. It did not fix our problem. I think it needs some adjustment, just haven't gotten around to having it done yet.

mhs4771 · 01-07-2014, 12:22 AM

The two motors work together, but each is controlled by it's own torque sensor. That was the problem we had. The unseated wire was the torque sense wire for the aft motor. Slide came almost all the way in then stopped approx 3 or 4 inches out.
There is a Red LED on the control module that will blink a trouble code, plus there's a small push button that can be used to put the controller into manual mode, which over rides the torque sense. This allowed us to bring the slide in the rest of the way as we had an appointment at a local dealer for our annual inspection and replacement of a leaking jack.

**Dave&Ginny** · 01-07-2014, 02:40 AM

Don't forget to spray your tracks with silicone before you try to recalibrate your electric slide. This will help reduce the friction.

sinder · 01-07-2014, 03:50 AM

I had a loose connector on the bedroom slide controller creating a similar problem when I first brought the RW home. I re-crimped the connector and it has worked for the past 1.5 years.

atom ant · 01-07-2014, 04:22 AM

I'm glad this thread turned into something more productive than the drive by bomb the OP left and never came back to participate in.

lwg · 01-07-2014, 03:29 PM

No doubt Atom. I'm starting to understand why people end up hating their RV's or brands. It seems attitude is everything and if you're not handy with tools these things can be overwhelming. Having owned Land Rovers for years I can appreciate RV's. If your not handy with tools Land Rovers will absolutely eat your pocket book up!

I appreciate all the feedback on the slide issue. I'll double check all the wiring this weekend and give it a try a couple of times. I've already lubed the slides with silicone, probably should do that again along with using pledge for the slide seals.

DonMac · 01-07-2014, 03:58 PM

I have an idea. Just buy a used one and all the bugs will have been worked out and everything fixed. The rig will then be in ship shape condition. Actually I just happen to have a 2012 Redwood in ship shape condition for sale. :-)

mhs4771 · 01-07-2014, 05:21 PM

DonMac, while your RW may be in great shape, not all used units are that way. Many end up on Dealer's lots because of the mountain of problems the original owner had that they couldn't get resolved and just gave up. Especially if it's a fairly new unit, you have to wonder why it was traded. Granted some find out they made a BIG mistake and go smaller or larger, but the new buyer just never knows for sure.

**piper guy** · 01-07-2014, 06:03 PM

Have to disagree a bit Michelle. We may very well be trading our '13 36RL and ordering a new 38GK. Absolutely nothing wrong with my RL that I know of and in fact had very few issues at all since we've had it and towed more than 5000 miles in a year. It's just we fell in love with the GK floorplan and a few other features. If my dealer puts numbers ($$$) where I told him - someone will get a VERY nice 36RL.

homeguy · 01-07-2014, 06:12 PM

We also got luck on a used 2012 RL. It was used about 3 times and the owner traded it in, with his truck, for a class A. Very few issues to date.

DonMac · 01-07-2014, 09:19 PM

Michelle........could be true...buyer beware whoever you buy from.

mhs4771 · 01-07-2014, 11:14 PM

I didn't say all, but I still bet that a lot of several year old units are dumped because of problems, was sort of thinking of several former members on here.
That's how we got our Montana, the TT that we had turned out to be a piece of junk. On a rainy cool afternoon at the local state park in Oct with the furnace and electric space heater going and couldn't get it warmed up we decided time to dump it and get something bigger.
On the other hand there are some excellent deals out there. I think I would get the VIN and run it by the guys in the service center to see if it had a history.

RCAircraft · 01-08-2014, 11:21 PM

Having issues such as your Redwood is not fun especially far from "home". My 2013 36RL has been trouble free. We have been RV'ing for about 30 years and this is our fourth RV and the most trouble free. When we went to take delivery at the dealer I went over ever area I could think of. A few items were in need of attention however they were minor. We have camped in temperatures down to near zero degrees and as hot as 115 degrees without issues. The heating and air conditioning systems worked properly and did a great job.

In the long run I believe you will be happy with your Redwood. I have shared experiences with owners of large RV's. Many swear they would not purchase their brand again. RV's are complex and being built by humans could have assembly line problems however a good shake out at the dealer and some local RV trips to check out all the systems should catch any issues prior to debarking on a long trip.

I trust all is working out and you are enjoying your RV'ing.

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