Side Wall Bulging

[ncitro]

Neil - great to hear that GDRV will be taking care of you......a wonderful unofficial ambassador (as many here are and have been for years) for the company ! I'm sure there are a few other things that will need attention and suspect that GDRV will be more than happy to take care of those for you. They will also take care of anything that they find which was a pleasant and much appreciated surprise for many of us who had the Factory CS Center work on our rigs. And, you are right.......it will probably be better than new in many ways.

Are they picking it up or are you delivering it and picking up when done ?

Dan

Yes that is what I have heard, they fix things you did not even know were broken. I am curious what they will think of some of my "upgrades" lol.

We are going to run it over, I live pretty close to the factory, three hours one way, so not a big deal. Plus I can chat with the service writer a bit when we drop it off in case there are any questions.

[ncitro]

Update for everyone following:

Got to the GD campground last night and was up and at em at 5:45 this morning (4:45 for me on central time lol) to meet the customer service staff. Went over everything with them. They are going to knock out a couple of recalls, as well as take a look at a window that will not latch as well as adjust my awning fabric so it will roll up all the way. Most importantly she confirmed they are going to replace the entire wall except the slides obviously) from front to back. This is absolutely amazing! I then went out to the rig with one of the managers to review everything in person, specifically the front bay battery and inverter arrangement, and showed them how the battery disconnects operate. I was a little worried there would be concern about some of the "modifications" I had made over the years, and was prepared to bed down in a hotel for a few days until they got it in and opened up in case there were any questions, but he was not concerned about any of it and said there would be no need. He was even complimentary of the setup and interior changes we had made. All in all it was an amazing warm fuzzy experience. and this quality of service is what I have come to expect from Grand Design and why I recommend them at every chance I get.

They were hoping to get it into the shop to start it in the next day or two (a bit backed up on a couple units ahead of me) so I headed home, and actually made it back before my wife and son were even up lol. One advantage to the time change and early start I guess lol.

Thinking of going out next week to get a look at it with no wall and take some pictures, they said that would be no issue, which is great as well.

I want to take a minute again and thank everyone here who helped keep this from falling through the cracks, and kept things moving along. Especially a big shout out to GDRV-Mariah Again I had always heard the stories of GD customer support (and seen it at the national rally), but never had a need (thank goodness) to experience it on this level. I am overjoyed to see it exceed all my expectations so far. I know I was a bit frustrated early in the process with communication and getting to this point, and I do still think that can be improved, but at this point it has been an outstanding experience.

[Canyonlight]

Wonderful news, Neil ! I can't say that I am surprised as many of us have experienced that outstanding and caring GDRV team support. Look forward to your future posts.

Dan

[OffToHavasu]

Awesome news!

[ncitro]

The service center sent some photos with the wall off. Thought I would share in case anyone was curious. Its mind blowing to see.

[Canyonlight]

Thanks, for sharing, Neil ! Val took pictures for me as well and shared those periodically. It is pretty amazing to see the process moving along and the various pictures taken at different angles/locations. These team members doing this work in Jerry's team are outstanding, caring, and talented folks.

Dan

[ncitro]

Thanks, for sharing, Neil ! Val took pictures for me as well and shared those periodically. It is pretty amazing to see the process moving along and the various pictures taken at different angles/locations. These team members doing this work in Jerry's team are outstanding, caring, and talented folks.

Dan

Yeah it is truly an amazing group for sure. I cannot wait to get it back.

[Country Campers]

Jeesh , that is amazing to see. You should see if they will put a door on that side while they have it off , might come in handy.

Brian

[ncitro]

Jeesh , that is amazing to see. You should see if they will put a door on that side while they have it off , might come in handy.

Brian

We had a few off the wall random requests like that lol. My wife had just painted the rig and we thought it would be nice to paint the new wall before it went in to save time lol. Unfortunately not possible. Its amazing to see the job being done though. I had no idea they would pull the nose cone off and it looks like even a bit of the roof fabric got pulled back. Absolutely crazy.

[Canyonlight]

Jeesh , that is amazing to see. You should see if they will put a door on that side while they have it off , might come in handy.

Brian

Now that's funny right there, Brian.......great idea !

Dan

[Dirtbiker70x]

Hi Neil! Any updates as to the progress of the repair? Did they determine the root cause of the bulge/cracking?

[ncitro]

Hi Neil! Any updates as to the progress of the repair? Did they determine the root cause of the bulge/cracking?

I’ve been meaning to post an update but we were just going nonstop to get it ready and get back on the road. They had it fixed up and ready for us on the 13th which was about two and a half weeks. Everything looked great, we walked through it with one of the techs that did the work on it. As everyone says they do great work I’m really impressed. No report on what caused it, they pulled the nose cap as well as the wall to check for water damage and everything was fine except for right around the bulge. All I can assume is a weld in the wall broke loose which caused the wall to bulge out.

[Dirtbiker70x]

Thanks for the update Neil, it's great (and comforting) to hear they took good care of you! The reason I asked is I'm thinking I may have the same issue brewing. On my last trip, I noticed what appears to be a crack forming in the same area yours bulged out. When I took it off the pin, it seems the crack closed up but the decal is still torn in that area. If I shake the trailer while standing in the bedroom, I can hear a stud rattling around in the wall at the same spot. 2021 Momentum 397TH that I bought in August, I'm trying not to freak out about it! I need to get it back on the pin and see if what appears to be a crack opens up under load. I'll document it with photos just in case.

[ncitro]

For sure I would document it and reach out to them. The repair didn’t take long (compared to the norm for RV service) but there were a lot of phone call’s and being the squeaky wheel as well as waiting for an appointment.