3231CK PDI on Friday

[SSN609]

I appreciate being added to this club. We pick up our 2022 323CK Legacy on Friday and look forward to many happy camping days. I've been RV'ing a long time and I always find the owners forums useful. If anyone knows any areas of focus for the PDI, I would appreciate your insight. I've done PDI's before, but I'm looking for known problem areas that may not be obvious (maybe stuff you found after your PDI).

[DutchmenSport]

Oh my! Considering our current Montana is our 5th RV (pop-up, 3 travel trailers before), one would think you'd have some street-smarts..... WRONG! Here's some things that flew right over the coo-coo nest that took a couple or 3 years to finally unearth.

Things like trim, doors that don't shut right, light switches that don't work, and appliances that don't seem right are easy to spot during the initial PDI.

Crawl under the trailer, lay on your back on the ground and look up?

Screws wiggled out and underbelly literally being held on by nothing. Holes and gaps in the seams of the chloroplast, and where the J-wraps around the outside of the trailer and tucks underneath. Screws holding on the fenders, the edges of the slide out corners, under the slide out (main frame holding everything together), .... all screwed into NOTHING! TAKE A ROBERTSON HEAD SCREW DRIVER WITH YOU AND TEST EVERY SCREW ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE TRAILER. YOU'LL BE SHOCKED HOW MANY ARE SCREWED INTO NOTHING!

Check your closet shelves throughly. Our first trip out, we found out 4 flimsy screws screwed into 3/8th's inch luna plywood doesn't hold 100 pounds of clothes and bedding when bouncing down the road with G-forces many time more than normal. Shelves break. Check the screws.

Screws, screws, screws ... all of them go to nothing. Very few actually hit studs. Almost all of them will wiggle out after a couple trips on the road.

Things you will not be able to check are the brakes. We had one explode on us... yes, springs broke, crunched up everything in the drum and we were just fortunate to get it to a repair shop. Warranty fixed it, yes, but we had the trailer only 3 months when this happened.

How about your slide outs. OK, it took 3 years to find this one.... The motor was installed at an angle, causing the chains (cable driven), to pull incorrectly, which resulted in a gear cog breaking. It took 3 years for this to unearth.

How about your jacks? If they be electric or hydraulic .... TRUST THIS STATEMENT! They are positioned too low to the ground .... YOU WILL drag the rear jack, bend them, and /or loose the foot pads. After I raised mine as high as they'd go, I never had a problem again. This was a problem 30 seconds after we pulled out of the dealer lot, when the rears drug first off.

Cabinet doors. Get small bungie cords and bungie cord EVERY cabinet door you have BEFORE you hit the road. If you don't, they will pop open. When you get home, and open your slides, you'll be VERY VERY excited and proceed to open then, and then ... you'll hear a bad ... CRUNCH! And one of your doors just got destroyed by the slide out. Yes ... this happened when we got home from just taking delivery. Sitting on their lot, the cabinet doors seemed perfectly fine.... until frame flexing (which is normal), twisted the hell out of the camper and all those doors popped open... I've since corrected and we safe guard every door now. It never happened again. Bungie Cords, Child Proof catches, and some decorative hooks and catches, all our cabinet doors and drawers are now secured. YOU DO NOT SEE THIS sitting in the parking lot during the PDI .... it looks wonderful! So shiny, so exciting .... Till you get home and find everything plopped open!

Oh my, my list could go on and on. What I'm saying is, you will not see these things until you've actually put the trailer on the road the first time. All the PDI in the world won't unearth this stuff, until you've put a few miles on the camper!

good luck!

[SSN609]

That is definitely what I was looking for (unusual stuff). The brake issue is one I haven't heard. Thank you for all the information!

Originally Posted by DutchmenSport

Oh my! Considering our current Montana is our 5th RV (pop-up, 3 travel trailers before), one would think you'd have some street-smarts..... WRONG! Here's some things that flew right over the coo-coo nest that took a couple or 3 years to finally unearth.

Things like trim, doors that don't shut right, light switches that don't work, and appliances that don't seem right are easy to spot during the initial PDI.

Crawl under the trailer, lay on your back on the ground and look up?

Screws wiggled out and underbelly literally being held on by nothing. Holes and gaps in the seams of the chloroplast, and where the J-wraps around the outside of the trailer and tucks underneath. Screws holding on the fenders, the edges of the slide out corners, under the slide out (main frame holding everything together), .... all screwed into NOTHING! TAKE A ROBERTSON HEAD SCREW DRIVER WITH YOU AND TEST EVERY SCREW ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE TRAILER. YOU'LL BE SHOCKED HOW MANY ARE SCREWED INTO NOTHING!

Check your closet shelves throughly. Our first trip out, we found out 4 flimsy screws screwed into 3/8th's inch luna plywood doesn't hold 100 pounds of clothes and bedding when bouncing down the road with G-forces many time more than normal. Shelves break. Check the screws.

Screws, screws, screws ... all of them go to nothing. Very few actually hit studs. Almost all of them will wiggle out after a couple trips on the road.

Things you will not be able to check are the brakes. We had one explode on us... yes, springs broke, crunched up everything in the drum and we were just fortunate to get it to a repair shop. Warranty fixed it, yes, but we had the trailer only 3 months when this happened.

How about your slide outs. OK, it took 3 years to find this one.... The motor was installed at an angle, causing the chains (cable driven), to pull incorrectly, which resulted in a gear cog breaking. It took 3 years for this to unearth.

How about your jacks? If they be electric or hydraulic .... TRUST THIS STATEMENT! They are positioned too low to the ground .... YOU WILL drag the rear jack, bend them, and /or loose the foot pads. After I raised mine as high as they'd go, I never had a problem again. This was a problem 30 seconds after we pulled out of the dealer lot, when the rears drug first off.

Cabinet doors. Get small bungie cords and bungie cord EVERY cabinet door you have BEFORE you hit the road. If you don't, they will pop open. When you get home, and open your slides, you'll be VERY VERY excited and proceed to open then, and then ... you'll hear a bad ... CRUNCH! And one of your doors just got destroyed by the slide out. Yes ... this happened when we got home from just taking delivery. Sitting on their lot, the cabinet doors seemed perfectly fine.... until frame flexing (which is normal), twisted the hell out of the camper and all those doors popped open... I've since corrected and we safe guard every door now. It never happened again. Bungie Cords, Child Proof catches, and some decorative hooks and catches, all our cabinet doors and drawers are now secured. YOU DO NOT SEE THIS sitting in the parking lot during the PDI .... it looks wonderful! So shiny, so exciting .... Till you get home and find everything plopped open!

Oh my, my list could go on and on. What I'm saying is, you will not see these things until you've actually put the trailer on the road the first time. All the PDI in the world won't unearth this stuff, until you've put a few miles on the camper!

good luck!

[Spdrmn73]

Also thinking about getting a 2021 3231ck just got out of a Sabre 37fbt looks like a great rig and price seems right at 75k just looking for some tips on if price is good Andre anyone has advice on this model