Upper Shell adjustments

Has anyone ever adjusted the lift systems? It seems there are four bolts on each leg that would be used to adjust the height and clearance.

[OneMoBear]

Hang in there. Someone will post the most wonderful set of instructions imaginable. It's here. I'm too tired to find it after a really long day but it is here and someone will help you out!

Malinda

[MudDog]

I'd start here

Not sure if you are a site sponsor or if your trial has expired...If you're not a member, the nominal annual fee is well worth it.

[Joesjunk]

TrailManor factory has a spring special going on at a special price. If you are anywhere near the factory, it is worth a check. They did a super job on my 2720 I owned previously and I just conformed my appointment to have my 3124KS tuned-up.

[ShrimpBurrito]

Originally Posted by Joesjunk

TrailManor factory has a spring special going on at a special price. If you are anywhere near the factory, it is worth a check. They did a super job on my 2720 I owned previously and I just conformed my appointment to have my 3124KS tuned-up.

I unfortunately did not have a similar experience with my tune up at the factory.

Dave

Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito

I unfortunately did not have a similar experience with my tune up at the factory.

Dave

Some details if you can. I am going there in June and if I am parting with the money, gas, and miles I want to be sure they adjust things correctly...

[ShrimpBurrito]

Originally Posted by ng2951

Some details if you can. I am going there in June and if I am parting with the money, gas, and miles I want to be sure they adjust things correctly...

I hesitate to post the details here for the same reason I did not post them at the time: I was hoping I had just caught them at an off day. I visited them last summer (2010) when production was way down, the plant was actually in shut down, and production staff had been significantly reduced. So I'm thinking morale may not be tip-top. I think Ed in general is a nice guy, makes a good effort at his job, and there are alot of things he may want to do better for the customer that are beyond his control or influence. However, there are alot of compliments and recommendations about going to the factory for repair work, and so upon further reflection, I feel it is not out of line to talk about those experiences that might not be so rosey.

I went to the factory with high expectations, in part based on what I've heard here. I am a do-it-yourselfer generally, except when it comes to transmissions, and I consider myself a fairly intelligent guy. So when I go to a shop, it often is because I have attempted to correct a problem and have been unsuccessful, and I expect to be met by the shop with competence and experience that exceeds my own. After all, the shop has the experts. Am I a typical customer? Probably not. But I had a broken Trailmanor, with problems that I do not believe are unique, and I simply wanted them corrected. So did I have typical Trailmanor problems? Yes, I believe so.

On the day I was scheduled for service last summer, this is what happened -- below is a copy of a message I sent a forum member at the time, so it was written at the time all the details were fresh in my mind. I just added text in italics.

I dropped it off by 9am and Ed called me around 3pm and said it was done. Great. When I had initially contacted him to schedule, I told him I wanted to do their "tune up" special, but that my main concerns were the misaligned axle (the left side of the axle was not attached to the frame at the same position as the right side), the front slide needing adjustment (it was hard to pull out), the front shell being both too hard to lift, and the latch catches not being aligned with the latches. He said no problem.

He did fix the axle, but he charged me for it, I think about $100. I understand the manufacturer's warranty is long over, but this is such a glaring manufacturer screw-up that I felt a bit perturbed that I had to pay for their sloppiness. And what did I pay $100 to do? They simply elongated the holes in the bracket on the axle and frame. My brother, a mechanical engineer, was with me, and suggested that would probably be ok as long as the elongation was in front of the bolt. While going down the road, the axle would naturally want to slide backwards, so if the bolt was already at the back of the slot, no big deal. Well, that was not the case. Since Ed had already said he had been consulting with their engineer, and the engineer was the one to measure the axle to begin with, I asked Ed if the engineer specifically thought that torquing down the bolts was sufficient to hold it in place. He didn't really answer at that point, so I pressed the issue again later in the conversation. He then finally went to the engineer, in a bit of a huff, and came back and told me they would tack weld it in place. I told him I thought that would be a very good idea.

As to the latch catches not being aligned with the latches, the tech had absolutely no clue as to what to adjust. He didn't know where to start, and didn't suggest anything to try. And at one point, there were 3 of them working on the trailer. Then Ed came out and said that wasn't a problem -- the latches only need to mate with half the catch, and since that was about what the latches were doing, there was no need to fix it. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about the details of their "tune up", where they specifically say the shells will be adjusted.

They adjusted the front shell so that it was slightly easier to open, but it is still much harder than the rear, and not even up to the engineer's standards. Ed told me the reason why the shell is now harder to open (vs. brand new) is because the shell "gains weight over time." Initially, I'm thinking, ok, perhaps that is a valid reason. But then I think about people installing solar panels on the front shell, and while they have to adjust the torsion bars, they are able to adjust the shell so that it opens pretty much the same as it did before. Assuming the panels weigh 30 lbs, that means Ed is trying tell me that my shell has gained that much weight by way of wood absorbing moisture. So after I suggest to Ed that 15-feet of 2x4 is unlikely to gain 30 lbs of water, especially after being in a semi-arid desert (LA) for the last 3 years, he snips at me -- "so you want to analyze this, huh?" I couldn't believe it. I'm thinking, yea I do want to analyze it -- how else do you expect to solve the problem? Throw my money at it?

Finally, he suggests that I install a new more powerful torsion bar. First, I am not seeing how that will really solve the problem; while it may provide more lift, it is going to be more difficult to lower the shell, and it already requires a fair amount of force. Second, he tells me it's going to cost $200 for parts/labor. I asked him why it wasn't covered under the lifetime lift system warranty -- he responded that the warranty ONLY covers the torsion bars in the event they actually break. No other part of the lift system is covered. So while they may wear out, which according to my brother they should not with that kind of duty cycle, if they don't break, you are SOL. Furthermore, the lift system warranty, just like the 1-year bumper to bumper warranty, only extends to the first owner.

As for icing on the cake, they adjusted the slide so it was easier to pull out, changing out the swing arm (for which I was not charged) and adding some new bolts and spacers. I thought they did a good job until I set up the trailer and found that the velcro on the flaps were not even close to reaching the velcro on the slide on one side. My brother and I spend an hour messing with it after picking it up, and determined that the slide on that side was too high, and actually a different elevation with respect to the ceiling compared to the other side. It was about 1.5" high. At this point, I am ticked -- here I am at a campsite with my brother UNDOING the work I PAID for them to do THE DAY BEFORE. I called Ed and told him to ship my old swing arm back so I can at least get it back to what it was before I brought it in.

They also installed an $18 pocket stop repair kit, and the service "special" was $169. The total bill was ~$380.

Dave