Thinking about buying a Trailmanor, concerned about lift system

Shandysplace! Good luck, and welcome. Our 3326 has been splendid. Our 2720SD was great. 2720SD came from a dealer who was not familiar with TM, but they had "learned," and presented/demonstrated it very well. We're anxious to hear your reactions after tomorrow.

The Forum has an answer to almost every concern, and all members are ready and eager to help.

[grill-n-go]

In the "Frequently Asked Questions" of the TM website:

- What kind of warranty to I get with my Trailmanor? Trailmanor offers a limited lifetime warranty on our torsion bar lifting mechanism springs.

My Winnebago dealer had no clue about the TM on their lot. I had to put it up for them so we could check it out. Once you figure it out it is quick for just one person to operate. It's faster than any tent trailer I've seen but more work than a travel trailer because you have to put all personal items away to fold it. A TT is always a box that doesn't need cleaning to move it.

[B_and_D]

I've been out in our TM for the last hour just lounging in the front bed, listening to a CD, listening to the rain gently falling on the roof, and anticipating our next trip. I can't wait!

I took a look around. I noticed a couple of dirty spots, used a scrub-brite pad along with a little Lava soap, and cleaned off what little dirt had accumulated on the inside from our last long camping trip during the summer. If you keep your TM clean and well-maintained, it will look and perform like new for a long, long time.

Hi Scott:
Our TM is relatively new, so I can't really comment on it's longevity. Seems very stout and I don't anticipate any problems. We moved to our TM from a Starcraft popup and I can assure you it is night and day. The Starcraft wasn't that big a deal to set up (if you don't mind bending over and cranking for awhile) but the take down was a massive pain. Wife and I got very good at it and it still took a half hour. The TM is much faster and easier, and it doesn't really matter if it is raining or not. Should you decide to get one I can't imagine you would be sorry!

On an unrelated note, I am jealous of B and D...Our TM is kept in the garage so we can't go out and lounge in it and listen to the rain on the roof. I would imagine that it would be significantly fun! I need a taller garage!

I agree with all the above positive posts. I moved from a Jayco 18 foot tent type trailer to the Trailmanor 2720SL. The Jayco was really okay and I took many trips in it but set up and particularly take down was a pain. The Trailmanor lift system is sort of like the way the trunk of a car (now a days) is counterbalanced. There really is nothing much that can go wrong. I have some issues with sliding out the front sofa area as that is kinda hard (probably need to lube the rails) but the shells always go up and down quite smoothly.

My wife and I have a 2000 3124 KS we bought used and I can tell you it had some rough use. The torsion bar bracket on the left front was bent and it suffered from at least 6" of solid ice on it's roof the first year we had it. Unfortunately, it was set up and the roof flexed quite a bit. We had a slight water leak around the front vent when the snow and ice thawed and refroze. This caused the ice to be pushed up under the overlap when it refroze then it melted again. All I can say is that it was the hell of a winter and the TM survived admirably.

Now for your question of the lift system. It survived the bent bracket incident and I don't know how much weight was on it with the ice but it was significant. Afterwards, it operated just fine and the two shells popped back up to normal without any further maintenance.

The bent front bracket however was another issue. Apparently the previous owner hit something with it like an curb and hit it pretty hard. There was slight damage on the two inside rear panels just over the bed by the rear windows likely caused by the jolt it received. We straightened the bracket out after we bought it and set about re-leveling the two shells. It took some effort and calculations to get it right but, everything came together and we can now open and close it without any problems. The TM support staff helped us over the phone and did a great job. This happened before the ice storm hit us and the settings remained good even after the storm.

All in all,the TM has served us very well and we continue to use it with trips planned from Missouri to Atlanta and Florida next year. Perhaps someday, we will consider fixing the two rear panels but since you can barely notice the damage, the simple solution was to just cover the area with a nice wall fabric and forget about it.

And no, there were never any other leaks plus, the heater worked great is 10 degree weather and once we were able to get back to the campground and fire it up, it melted the ice on the roof.

One thing though, it is noisy inside in heavy rain. We like it but you might not. LOL