New to forum with purchase of used 36RL

[Gary Grove]

Purchase a 2012 36RL that's in really good shape. Original owners did not use it a lot, and appears to have taken very good care of it. It's been park under a cover, with tire covers. Any advice on stuff I should look for, or issues I should immediately address?

[travelin' texans]

The 1st thing I'd be checking/replacing before towing any distance would be the tires. In the '12-'13 models, those 2 for sure, E rated GY Marathon (China bombs) tires were standard on the RWs & are not nearly enough tire for these rigs plus yours are 6-7 years old if they're the originals. G rated is the absolute minimum I'd recommend & if you can find a good deal on wheels & tires I'd upgrade to the 17.5" H rated.
Next check would be the brakes. Also those early years had crappy grease seals & if the previous owner, or anyone prior to you, pumped grease into the EZ lube zerks on the spindles the brake drums will be full of grease rendering the brakes useless. A good hand packing, possibly replacing the bearings to Timkens, good seals & overall good inspection should be on the agenda very soon.

[katy4man]

Congrats....you will get excellent info on here from the redwood owners....

[r time soon]

Congratulations on the new to you Redwood. You didn't specify your year, but most 36RL's have problems with the Washing machine drain line coming apart under the bed. If you plan on using a washer I would definitely check the connections under the bed before you have a wet mess.


Hope you enjoy your Redwood as much as we do ours.



Chris & Maria
2012 36RL

[proteus]

i had my first fifth wheel push me into the intersection ,once!

figured it was brake service time, 1 side at a time up on jack and blocked up,

ok , a drum face was scored,magnet face slightly grooved and was uneven and drums were out of round egg shaped to due to brake shoe contact wear in center of shoe, shiny

40 bucks each for USA made dexter brake backing plates with new shoes magnets everything, from spring and brake shop
bolted them on, soldered and reshrunk connections 2 wire conductor

had drums recut at truck spring and brake clutch shop , 2 cuts on each drum,
drum and magnet face each drum, nice, looked mint, make sure spring and brake shop has the machine to surface face of drum for magnet surface too,

surfacer is the surface cutter for flywheel facing,

fresh seals also clean out old grease repack bearings, nice,

just did a seal and repack yesterday on a smaller light duty utility trailer yesterday, grease looked fresh but upon closer inspection could see some metal particles in grease, new grease and fresh seals , bearings races looked perfect, no scoring, should be good for around town after i dump old tires for fresh ones.

redwood has replacement kumho oversize 12 ply tires they r heavy guys,

that sucker would stop the truck now by itself bout 300 bucks to service everything fresh new round drums recut and surfaced and new backing plates with shoes, seals repack fresh grease ect.

my redwood needs all this too. on the list,

karl b.
Austin tx

[proteus]

Hope you enjoy your Redwood it is a nice rig,

youll be fixin stuff,


been there , washer machine and flex line was first disaster, first thing for me was trying to lift that washer , that heavy and awkward guy high enough with wood blocks to get at strainer assembly,washing machine had a ear ring in filter strainer and wouldnt drain, then drain hose too,

too,lived thru that mess, under bed pedestal , wet carpet and dryers replaced all plastic barbed fittings with brass sharkbite 90s for washer flex lines, bought one of those band crimpers also, put fresh 1.5" flex line and new sch 40 hose barb fittings , clamps ,

fixed, vinyl ice maker line too replace, they split open also

water heater bypass valve dripped at stiff vinyl line, retaped and then it split open, late in the day after work in 17 degree weather split open ,

bought all brass swan water heater bypass valve nice no more plastic crap there,

black tank gate valve and cable too stiff would not slide easily almost pulling bulkhead apart, and then began leaking, seals were all dried out and hard , all new now

plus etternabond tape and dicor sealer around tape edges on both end caps,

and cleaned and cut back skylight sealer due to a hairline crack in corner fixed, new skylight in box ready to go , other one is faded.

keep slide cyls coated with corrosion protection if extended for extended full timing my recent issue corroded rams , emery cloth and polished now , humid and coastal areas

karl b.

[Gary Grove]

Thanks for the pointers, looking good on these two items, previous owner upgrade axles, and G rated tires with rims. Thanks again!

[Gary Grove]

Thanks for the pointers, 2012 year, and it has washer and separate dryer. so I'll be taking a look at the plumbing! Thanks again!

[proteus]

the factory design was cheesy with that flex pool hose it has no barbs on the end just a microscopic ridges that wont hold s***, and compression fittings had no washers either. i put some rubber washers on it first time seemed better tighter , it pulled apart again.

tested again, i tugged on it lightly and it came apart in my hand after i just slightly retightened compression nuts on drain hose with washers, put it back together again seemed tight ,

then it came apart when washer was running when slide was out , junk concept from factory,

ordered 1.5 " schedule 40 female hose barbs and a piece of vinyl flex, 4 stainless clamps , and had primer and the blue pool glue i like to use .cut old connections with small sawsall off,

and installed plastic hose barb splices,first was tough to get hose over barbs down in pedestal tight fit without heat gun and soap it does not kink

installed brass sharkbites 90s on supply lines that were laying on the floor they swivel slightly too, and brass hose splices and reclamped or recrimped as needed etc dont leak no more had to use soap and heat gun to get new hose over barbs loose fit hose barb assembly outside of pedestal ,before gluing fittings in, it will be less of a battle

karl b.