Cardinal RV Club

Hello everyone.
As you can see in my signature I have a 1998 28rks. About 3-4 yrs after we bought our unit the wife and I noticed a crack starting under the bedroom slide at the front bottom of the opening and going down to the underside of the hitch platform or gooseneck as I call it. The sidewall would bulge out when hooked up and return to normal when unhooked.
We contacted the dealer and they sent a message to Forest River and got a reply back that they would repair it free of charge as a customer curtousy only if I took it back to the factory at Elkhart In.
Well I was not satisfied with this answer as it would cost a small fortune for fuel to make this trip not to mention time off from work. I phoned Forest River myself and asked if it could be repaired in Calgary which is only 120 miles from where I live but they were very adament about taking it back to the factory for repair so needless to say I just decided to live with it. I dropped the front panel down and checked for cracked or broken welds and found none so reassembled it and kept an eye on the crack.
This spring I noticed another crack starting at the bottom rear of the bedroom slide . Has anyone else had this problem and how was it repaired
Sorry this is so long.

me4260,
Welcome to the club. Other than the problems you listed in your post how has your unit held up?

The trailer has otherwise stood up very well and I would buy another one when this one is worn out. It is a little on the heavy side but I think that may be partly due to my wife trying to pack everything including the kitchen sink

Hello me4260,

You should take them up on the repair; it is very rare when the factory takes a unit back for repairs. When they go back to the factory most all the time you will come out with a completely rebuilt unit. The older the unit the more new colors you get because the old materials are not available.

I have seen them change complete walls because the walls are vacuum bonded as one and the factory knows how to build walls not patch or repair them, they will remove the roof and put new walls just as they are building a new unit.

A friend of mine had a Fleetwood brand and the factory took it back because the walls were coming apart, I am here to tell you they could have built a new unit for the amount of work they did with at the factory, all new walls and all new updated colors in and out.

FR must have been concern enough to think something is really going wrong within the structure to offer a repair outside of the warranty

I may have to rethink this and take you're advice Olbird. Maybe the wife wouldn't mind an extended vacation.
I heard some time ago that Keystone was having the same problem and had to restructure the hole for the bedroom slide to give it more strenght. Just recently I heard Jayco is also having problems with their Designer series again with the bedroom slide opening cracking but haven't heard about a cure yet. Maybe I should get in touch with one of them and see what solutions they have. I know one of the Jayco salesmen fairly well and he was also a tech before taking up sales so he may an answer.

Here's another suggestion:

I'd take them up on their offer, except you don't have to drive it down yourself.

Talk to your dealer and have them leverage their RV transport companies to take it down for you. You'll have to pay, but it'll probably be a lower rate than if you just went to them yourself.
They often have to make a return trip to Elkhart anyway after bringing up a new one.

By the way, we're practically neighbors - I'm just SE of Calgary.

Cheers.

Good Morning--

As they say--"add my 2 Cents"---

Had similiar situation--crack running up under bedroom slide and other problems in front area--due to "structural issues"---My unit is a 2003 Cardinal 33 RLBW (late 2002 Mfg)--This took place in late 2004--Unit was out of warranty--Worked with my local dealer and Forest River (R Batts)--Agreed to take unit to Elkhart for "Free Repair" as "Extended Warranty" in early May, 2005--due to winter weather--After repair date was established, we approached FR (R Batts) for "splitting expenses"--They agreed to split fuel & motel costs--

We took unit from Spring, TX (near Houston, TX) to Elkhart and stayed in motel for a week---FR took unit in for scheduled week--finished in time allocated--The folks at FR (R Batts, et al) were GREAT--Had a plant tour and enjoyed the Amish Country visit--They did not "go through unit" and repair everything--(in fact, they indicated they were only repairing the current problem as discussed---I guess if I had other problems, they would have handled?)--

In general, I was "satisfied" with my FR Experience----If the offer to repair your "98 Model" is still open--go for it!!!--and approach them for "expense deal"--

Good Luck--

Jim Dennis