Cracking RV body

[Dave6532]

Hey Guys!

I recently have had a crack appear under the bedroom slide. I have had trouble since I put a washer and dryer in with the slide. The slide may or may not retract or extend each time I try. I ended up taking out the washer and dryer just to get the slide to go in. The crack appeared when I was traveling. I am so upset!!!! I hate to take my RV back to Explore RV because it will take another 3 months to repair it. Any suggestions of why this would happen? What can be done to repair it. please see pics.

Dave

[Blenhardt]

Sorry that you have a problem. From what I have seen on the forum this is a first. Can't really tell from the photos where this crack is. A few others have cracked just under the bedroom slide but this looks like a different problem. Don't really have any answers but it is my guess that your dealer can not fix this and the coach would have to go to the service center in Indiana. Sorry.

[Dave&Ginny]

It looks like to me that the picture you're showing has been turned vertically. If that's the case don't worry about it too much. They've been putting "H" trim pieces in there after they cut a groove in the fiberglass. Mine wasn't cracking but when it was at the service center they put the "H" in it as a precaution.

Apparently, several RV companies are having this same issue.

[UNDRPSI]

That looks just like how ours cracked. A slight angle towards the front and down. Crossroads service center cut the crack on the driver side and added a channel then I had them do the same on the passenger side at the same angle as that had not crack yet. We were on our way there for first year inspection and Rally anyhow. But the first time you see this its like my coach is breaking in half. But if you think about it it is not a stress crack per say because if it was it would have started from the bottom and went up. Because all the pressure is in the upward motion because of the pin weight. But very scary first time you see it.

[atom ant]

At least the crack is pretty straight. They may be able to cut in the H channel without too much gel repair. More concerning would be the issue with the slide not operating correct with the washer and dryer. That may have contributed to the issue.

[Dave&Ginny]

The washer and dryer wouldn't have an issue with the slide. Just spray silicone on the tracks of the slide and watch the video on lubricating the motor on the lippert website. The silicone makes a world of difference on how the slide works.

[lwg]

I've noticed each time I hitch up and start to raise the front legs on the Redwood I get a terrible creaking noise. Keep wondering when I'll see a crack as well...

[Rick]

I too have the crack. But frankly the crack is smaller and I think the H fix looks worse. Doesn't really matter. I am across the street from Noble RV in Minneapolis and after 3 visits and 3 phone calls I cannot get hold of the service manager. We will let it go a bit and see how it goes. I did report it to Redwood so at least there is a record of the crack.

[atom ant]

Every once in a while I get that big "pop" in the night from the jacks and the wife nudges me and says "side cracked! " and smiles because she knows that is exactly why I bolted upright in bed

[dieseldave]

After using my Redwood this past weekend, I noticed something that I didn't have before.

Dave6532 - Did Explorer USA get yours fixed? I'm debating on taking it to them or the service center. I just hate to have to leave it at Explorer for at least a month.

[johnboytoo]

Welcome to the stress crack family !!!

Ours is in the shop for that...

Been told it is just cosmetic and they will put something like a highway 'expansion joint' there...
we'll see !

[Grandpa]

The stress joint was added to our 36RL about four months ago. It seems to be working fine. The fracture we experienced was not as pronounced as the one in the picture. But, I monitor this forum regularly which alerted me to watch for this problem. One word of warning, this may be an isolated incident but shortly after that stress joint was added, the slide mechanism just above the repair 'broke a tooth' and had to be replaced. $1100 for that dude!

[spindrift]

Does anyone have a good pic of the fix?

[atom ant]

Keystone suffered from this issue a decade ago, so they started adding the flex joint in production.

I'm just not sure why it took so long for Redwood to learn this. As I understand the new models have this joint.



I think Dave has pictures of his fix from the service center.

[lwg]

I'm sure mine will eventually crack. I've noticed a lot of cracking noise the last few months when hooking up the Redwood to the truck. It's definitely from the flexing stresses that's involved when attaching the pin to the hitch and supporting the trailer from the nose.

My luck it'll happen when I'm far away from a Redwood dealer...

[atom ant]

I'm not sure if it comes from the deflection up from suspending on the pin box when hitched, or if its just the weight and action down from the slide.

[spindrift]

That Keystone fix won't work on the RWs because our cracks go off at 45* angle, more or less.

[atom ant]

If Redwood had the flex joint at the factory, they wouldn't crack at all. Without the flex joint, the cracks pick random directions.

[TNTBaker]

Well if they do have the joint, it's concealed, at least in ours. I hope it IS there.

[spindrift]

Believe me, it's not. A flex joint is visible.