Hello from fairly new Redwood owners

Bob & Mary · 05-23-2017, 08:49 PM

Hi everyone! We took delivery of our 31SL in August of 2016 and love the RV. We have had more issues than we expected but our dealer has been super to work with. That's why we have purchased our last two 5'ers from them. We expect to pick it Friday after having some more warranty work, including a new axle, completed and are looking forward to spending the next three weeks in it! We are not retired yet so we can't stay out too long. We have some questions so you will be hearing from us fairly soon. Thanks in advance!

shrode · 05-24-2017, 01:49 AM

I'm curious about the problems you had, but particularly what was the problem with the axle?

texastbird · 05-24-2017, 02:05 AM

Yeah, what Shrode said.
Welcome to the forum from another newbie.

Bob & Mary · 05-24-2017, 04:04 AM

We brought it back home from having some warranty work. Did my normal walk around and noticed that the back axle on the drivers side had slid back 2'-3' inches. Further investigation revealed the axle had slid backwards on the spring stack and the pin that goes thru the spring stack was completely missing. The brake caliper on that side was also missing two bolts and the remaining bolts were not the finer thread like the rest. As to what happened and when, we are not sure, but it definitely happened on the way home. Redwood replaced the axle, spring stack, bolts, and a brake hose that was rubbing a tire. Alas, the "new" axle was out of camber on the drivers side so they have shipped a second axle. Keeping our fingers crossed.

As to other issues, the living room TV mount wasn't sturdy. Some reinforcing of the wall behind the fire place / TV cabinet solved that issue. We had issues with the closet doors, a broken nightshade, a slide topper, and lights and rubber straps on the Uniguard awnings. And a few other, mostly minor issues.

I am interested in what kind of issues you all have had with your rigs.

texastbird · 05-24-2017, 04:15 AM

I'm going to look at our axles again very closely as soon as it gets bright enough. That's pretty scary.

shrode · 05-24-2017, 03:55 PM

We’ve had some minor problems with our 2017 31SL, but nothing like your axel. That’s scary! One thing I’ve learned from these forums is that we all need to keep a very close eye on our wheels and suspension. I’ve seen pictures of separated tires, broken leaf springs, cracked mounting welds, and of course worn bushings are to be expected until they’re upgraded.

We had the dealer replace the Tri-Glide pin box with a Flex-Air before we took delivery. So we dodged that bullet. However, there was a small air leak at the valve stem. I tightened the stem last weekend, and think that one’s fixed, but haven’t towed with it yet. We had a list of small things that were loose, incomplete or needed adjustment. The dealer fixed some of them. We’ve just done many them ourselves. We had a window shade replaced because it wouldn’t retract. The TV lowered too far into the cabinet and warped cover piece. The dealer replaced it after I reminded them the second time to so. They said they tried really hard to re-adjust the TV mount lower stops properly, but just couldn’t get it right. I pulled the fireplace and set the stops in about 5 minutes. The only problem I could see was that you actually have to do the job in order to fix it.

The main problems we’ve had were wrinkles in the ceiling fabric and a short circuit in the dining table light circuit that showed up after the first time we towed. I’m also monitoring the bubbles in the roof cover. They only appear occasionally, but I’m wary.

The ceiling wrinkles are apparently a common problem. The dealer repaired several Redwoods ahead of us. They replaced the ceiling trim with wider material that basically just hides the wrinkles. It actually turned out okay though. We switched from the original white trim to the redwood stain color like they install in the later 2017-2018 models. It looks nice. The short circuit was a wayward strand of wire at the light switch connection. The dealer found the short and cleared it.

So in summary, we haven’t had any serious problems (knock wood), but we’ve only been out a couple of times, and only have a few hundred miles on her. I have been under whelmed by the assembly quality: stripped screw installations, wrong length screws and nails (one of the TV speakers just fell out because the screws had only about one thread of engagement, the fireplace trim is held in place by a finishing nail that goes about 1/8” into the mating cabinet), incomplete assembly (the caulking around the shower was only partially done)…. They are clearly built too fast with little regard for quality control on the assembly line. The break whistle blows or they run out of material, the job stops as is, and on to the next task. Overall I like our trailer, and think the Redwood is as good as any 5er out there. There are features that set the Redwood above many of the other brands, but at the end of the day it’s just an RV, and this industry sets the bar at a level that’s pretty darn easy to crawl over.

I will now step down from my soapbox….

texastbird · 05-24-2017, 08:10 PM

That's a great post, Shrode. Amazingly, I will probably have to adjust the TV stop myself, too, if I can get the trim off the fireplace. That, and about 3/4 of the shades don't even come close to centering over the window. We didn't see that during the inspection and I kick myself for being so inattentive. Can't see the forest for all the trees, I guess.

shrode · 05-24-2017, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texastbird

That's a great post, Shrode. Amazingly, I will probably have to adjust the TV stop myself, too, if I can get the trim off the fireplace. That, and about 3/4 of the shades don't even come close to centering over the window. We didn't see that during the inspection and I kick myself for being so inattentive. Can't see the forest for all the trees, I guess.

There's a lot going on during PDI, so I wouldn't beat myself up over missing a few things. It actually worked out well for us that the pre-delivery work (the ceiling trim) wasn't complete when we were scheduled to pick it up. So, we picked it up anyway, went camping, made a list of problems, and dropped it right back off at the dealer. It only took another month for them to finish the repairs.

The TV lower stops are essentially shackles bolted to the threaded rods. They're easy to set. I ran the TV down to where I wanted it to stop, and then tightened shackles into position. I discovered after the fact that the fireplace trim does not just pull out to remove it, but needs to lift up. No damage was done, but I had to remove the wood trim above the fireplace in order to reinstall the fireplace trim. Fortunately, the cabinet trim was installed using tiny finishing nails that barely held it on. Made it real easy to remove.

It was when I was tapping it back into place that the TV speakers fell out.

I reinstalled the speakers with longer screws, and shot some screws from inside the cabinet to the backside of the wood cabinet trim to secure it. On to the shower caulk….

Dart540 · 05-25-2017, 06:46 AM

To Texasbird,
I had the same issues with the shades. I took one apart thinking I would have to remount them all. However after seeing how it mounted, I discovered the shades just slide in the mount. Easily slid them all into center.

texastbird · 05-25-2017, 06:54 AM

That's great information, I'll check them out tomorrow. They are about to drive my wife crazy looking at them.

Ford truck guy · 05-25-2017, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texastbird

That's a great post, Shrode. Amazingly, I will probably have to adjust the TV stop myself, too, if I can get the trim off the fireplace. That, and about 3/4 of the shades don't even come close to centering over the window. We didn't see that during the inspection and I kick myself for being so inattentive. Can't see the forest for all the trees, I guess.

Once I REPLACED the stock, half plastic mounts I used black zip ties in an X pattern on EVERY bracket.. This will eliminate the chance of the bracket falling, and it will also hold them CENTERED in the window..
The minor cost of 2 zip ties per bracket was priceless ! ! !

texastbird · 05-25-2017, 05:29 PM

Thanks for the info on the shades, I had looked at one, and it happened to be jammed to one side but with a little nudge, it moved on over. Now, they are all centered, and my wife is ecstatic that we won't have to get all of them taken down and remounted.

Bob & Mary · 05-26-2017, 03:02 PM

An update on the axle - delayed in shipping so we are going to pick up our rig and head to the park. We will have to return it to the dealer at a later point for that work. I wish it didn't take the factory so long to address issues like this. But this is a issue with the Industry and not just Redwood.

Shrode, great post on issues and build quality. Your post was spot on!

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