Anyone ever take a Livin Lite back to the factory for repair?

[ADR]

Discovered a potentially major issue with our 2018 16TBS.  Went to put the slide in and heard a scraping noise-  found the membrane roof on the slide is getting bunched up- pic below.

Ran it over to our local RV repair place which does do warranty work for Thor products.

I thought it was improper install of the membrane, but no..

Their initial inspection indicates either the slide out is too large or the hole in the side is too small

Spoke with a CS lady at Livin Lite that thinks it is probably just an adjustment but I'm not so sure....

So if it is in fact a dimensional problem, while these local guys are good, I'm thinking it ought to go back to the factory for the proper repair..especially if the hole is too small..
I suppose in the off chance the slide out is actually too large a replacement of the entire thing could be shipped here for install.  Or maybe if the hole is too small they could manufacture a new slide out with smaller dimensions to fit the hole.

While the factory is 775 miles away I'd be willing to take the trailer to the factory if that results in a better outcome.
Which brings me to my question-  has anyone ever done that for warranty work?

Pic of membrane damage>

[Merlin]

Sheesh.......

Not sure what to offer for advice. There have been instances of trailers going back to the factory for major work. One member had failed frame welds that needed re-welding and as I recall, that was a factory repair. If that ends up being the case with yours, you should not have to provide the transport. I suspect LL will have you work through the dealer first. I sure hope it's an adjustment/installation issue and it gets fixed quickly, including repair of the slide roof membrane.

[ADR]

Working through the dealer isn't an option- he is farther away than the factory!  Factory 775 miles/dealer 1100.

This is very upsetting- after going through all the hassle to even GET the trailer with the wreck and all, now this.

I had hoped I was getting away from Forest River crappy workmanship...

If it does indeed have to go back to the factory-

To have it sent back via one of their contract delivery trucks then return it to me would cost FAR more than I'd be willing to do it myself  for.

Plus if I take it back then I'll just wait on it and the entire process would be MUCH quicker than having  them transport/fix/return I'm sure.

[Merlin]

It was @Powder Hounds that had the frame re-welded at the factory. It might be worth a quick check with them through a forum message about how that process worked. Shipping to/from the factory was at LL's expense, but they did have to pick it up and drop it off at the dealer. If your local place handles Thor equipment warranty, perhaps that would work for everyone?

Crappy worksmanship shows up a lot in the RV industry, unfortunately. There's an on-going side discussion in Trailer Life magazine about the real need for an independent rating/review/evaluation system for QA/QC of manufacturers to help consumers make better informed purchasing decisions. It won't happen in Trailer Life, because they are invested in sales, not QA/QC. But it would be great if some organization picked up that need and ran with it.

[gglkap1]

I have a 2015 CL21RBS that had a couple of cracked welds. The SouthlandRV dealer got on the phone with Livin Lite and they arranged to pay the shipping back to the factory and inspect and repair, and then delivered it back to my house at not cost. While it was at the factory they upgraded the 2" ball hitch to the newer 2 1/4" ball hitch. That was back in May of 2015 when Scott Tuttle was still manager.

Hope you get this problem taken care of.

Gerald

[Pinstriper]

Wasn't the Thor acquisition supposed to open up Camping World as a service channel ? One should never be more than a few hours from a CW, I would expect.

Not that they could do the work - they absolutely disavowed any knowledge of what to do with this new-fangled aluminium stuff when I talked to them about changing out the stairs - but they should at least be able to push the paperwork.

[ADR]

I have a repair shop that is handling the work- they are an authorized repair facility for many manufacturers including Thor/KZ/Livin Lite.
I have spoken with a Livin Lite CS person about the issue.
This particular place does excellent work- my father had a couple of $10,000 motorhome repairs there before we made him quit driving

The issue I'm concerned about is if it is truly a dimensional issue then aluminum will have to be cut.   I'm pretty sure the opening is framed with hollow square tubing so one can't just slice, say 1/4", off one side as that would remove an entire face, leaving a very weakened structure.
This wouldn't be such a big deal if it was solid wood for example.

I do have a Camping World 30 minutes from me- they would be my absolutely last resort

[Merlin]

If you look up Youtube videos of the Camplite frames, those that have a slide show extra heavy aluminum framing around the slide. I can imagine that being necessary to control the leverage the slide has on the side of the camper. The frame on ours would be almost the top and all the way at the bottom of the slide.

That being said, I'm still in the camp (so to speak) of an incorrect install. If the space in the camper side were too small for the slide, it seems we would have been seeing the slide roof problem show up as soon as they went with the TPO roof. Yours is the only case to date.

Maybe in sloppy roof install? Maybe a bottom track install issue? Maybe an in/out alignment issue? Anyway, some straightforward measurements (and check for squareness) should point to the cause.

[ADR]

Yes- the shop was going to measure it and call Livin Lite to see what it is supposed to be.
I'm going by there tomorrow as it will have been there a week and see where they stand on doing that.

I'm a little puzzled by the CS person at LL saying it might just need adjustment-  as I could see no place to adjust anything, maybe it is hidden somehow.

In any case the TPO needs replacing since it got all bunched and stretched.

[ADR]

Update-  while waiting on the repair shop to determine what's wrong I called LivinLite about coming up to the factory to get this taken care of and a couple of other small issues-
Their repair department cannot schedule it until mid June!
Unacceptable.

Anyway the repair place did in fact determine the opening needs to be enlarged vertically about 1/2"- apparently someone at the factory screwed up.

They are awaiting LivinLite's approval-   due to the aluminum frame the estimate to correct is over $1600!

[ADR]

The plot thickens>  CL wants the repair shop the "cheat" the upper seal a little higher.   They (the shop) claim that won't fix it the roof is actually dragging on the upper framing of the opening.
I wish that would fix it and it was that simple...

[Capt J-rod]

Really sad...

[ADR]

UPDATE-
Got my 16TBS back a couple of days ago. 
Slide issue fixed- they did indeed have to enlarge the opening by 1/4" or so.   This was a pretty extensive repair due to a simple screwup.  Should never have happened but...
They did have to weld a new piece of aluminum in to replace one side of the square tubing that was cut off.
Big question now is-   original estimate was for $1600 which was eventually approved by LL.   Actual repair cost was $1900.

Shop told me I'd be on the hook for the additional cost if LL does not approve the increase.

If that happens we are in for one heck of a fight with LL.

I did offer to bring it back to the factory and they essentially declined by telling me it would be 6 months until they could get to it.
Hopefully they'll cover it without a problem.

Stay tuned!

[Merlin]

Time to go camping! Find some good places and get some fun behind you.  You deserve it more than most! If you're ever up north in the direction of Michigan, it would be great to meet you.

[ADR]

Same here-  if you ever make it down to the NC mountains or SC let me know!

The majority of our camping is in the NC mountains- at least for week or less trips.

I'm likely heading out first part of June for Canada taking my 11 yr old grandson along- we'll be gone about a month or all summer if he wants.  Figure I'll spend all the quality time with him I can- any moment those teenage type brain cells will change to "wanting nothing to do with stupid adults"

The 2 of us went on a 9,800 mile excursion last summer out west hitting 11 national parks.
When it is just the grandson and I we make do in the Transit van, not taking the trailer on long trips.
I like to be very mobile on trips like we took.

If the wife and dog go, then we take the travel trailer, formerly the Rpod and now the CL.

Now off to get the CL prepped- we never got to use it except for the night I spent in it on the return trip from the dealer...I basically drove all day then crashed in it that night never even putting the slide out.

Just found LL had stripped 2 of the 4 screws in the bathroom mirror-  reason was they attempted to shoot them through too small of holes in the frame so the threads were locked in place by that and likely spun in the Azdel wall and just "drilled" holes with no grip.
Going to go with something that expands behind the Azdel panel to provide grip.