First Shake Down Trip....

[notanlines]

Sorry, but somehow (my fault, I'm sure) the start of this post was submitted. Anywhoooo...Rdowns, can you tell us the part about your Dodge 3500 dually that won't "tote the load with your new Fuzion, but the airbags brought it all in line" one more time. I'm curious if you happen to have a really old Dodge or if you have a different Fuzion than I'm thinking of.....Dodge owners everywhere are interested in your answer. Thanks....

[Rdowns]

Originally Posted by notanlines

Sorry, but somehow (my fault, I'm sure) the start of this post was submitted. Anywhoooo...Rdowns, can you tell us the part about your Dodge 3500 dually that won't "tote the load with your new Fuzion, but the airbags brought it all in line" one more time. I'm curious if you happen to have a really old Dodge or if you have a different Fuzion than I'm thinking of.....Dodge owners everywhere are interested in your answer. Thanks....

I have a 2006 Ram 3500 Dually 4x4 quad cab sport model, cummins and auto tranny. My last 5er was a Thor Jazz 2980bh on the same truck.

Here are the specs on the jazz..
Hitch LBS - 1,822
Dry LBS - 9,200
GVWR LBS - 11,200

Here are the specs on the fuzion 371..
Hitch LBS - 3,030
Dry LBS - 13,140
GRVW LBS - 16,500

So I got to the dealership, traded in my Thor Jazz and when it was time to load up the new I noticed two things...
1) my last trailer had REAL SLOW motor driven landing gear, So the quickness of the new hydraulic landing gear was CRAZY how fast it puts the load on the truck and pulls up the landing gear. Which is an awesome feature, just shocking to see the truck react to it!
2) My last trailer barely made the truck sink at all in the bed. The new one drops down on the truck and sunk the bed down a good 8 to 10".... Made my jaw drop!! for a dually to do that.

Maybe I was just to used to my last 5er not even affecting the truck?? So I went out and purchased the firestone air bag kit and had it installed in an hour - very easy install and there was a couple items I noticed about the install that the instructions did not really make clear about the mounting brackets. I could not spend the extra cash on the onboard compressor at the time, so I installed the air outlets in the back next to the TT hitch and also installed a all weather 12v outlet right under the bumper. I have a Slime brand compressor and which pumps the bags in a matter of seconds. With about 70 LBS on the bags it takes the truck from sagging in the rear to being juuuusssssstttt a little raked. I have to say that the truck pulls it great, power is good, tranny feels ok, weight feels ok, but with the air bags added ..... it feels OUTSTANDING!!!! No side to side roll, I know the DRW helps but the air bags NAILED it!

I will post some pics of it when I get to the trailer next! Keep an eye out for them.

[notanlines]

I guess it is the 8 to 10 inches of drop that boggles my mind. We had a 2005 Dodge dually at the shop and 3500# would have made it squat a little, but not much. Thanks, and enjoy your new rig!

[Rdowns]

We did a dry shake down trip... to see if there is any other problems. Came across the issue with the fridge!! (see picture) Ground wires were not crimped in!! Crazy... but Im assuming that this was the problem, I didnt have chance to check if the fridge cooled down yet.

Everything worked great on the first night
Water pump was good, Generator was good - ran it for 2 hours, Batteries were good, lights, radio, everything functioned correctly!! Impressed... knock on wood!

Next morning... Generator would not start. Primed it as normal then hit the start button. It cranked, acted like it fired then shut off and was throwing an error code #36 (turned off with out telling it to). Started to dig into the issue and found that the fuel gauge was reading NOTHING, even though there is 20 gallons I just put in there. I recalled at the walk through at the dealer that when he primed it, the light stayed on all the way until he hit the start button(not sure if I remember correctly). Now the light comes on while you hold the off position stays on for a second then shuts off as soon as you let go. Still does not explain the gauge reading zero... odd. Next I looked at the hour meter, and even though I ran it for 2 hours previous the night before ... there was NO hours on the gauge. The gauge is blinking for empty, and showing Zero on the meter.

But something is definitely wrong.... ANY ideas??

[gtsum2]

GREAT looking spot you have there!

Sorry I cant help you on the generator thing. Mine acted up briefly after I shut it off (after running for 5-6 hours), but primed it until light went out and then it fired right up. Hope it is something simple for you

[Vastdavidson]

Originally Posted by Rdowns

We did a dry shake down trip... to see if there is any other problems. Came across the issue with the fridge!! (see picture) Ground wires were not crimped in!! Crazy... but Im assuming that this was the problem, I didnt have chance to check if the fridge cooled down yet.

Everything worked great on the first night
Water pump was good, Generator was good - ran it for 2 hours, Batteries were good, lights, radio, everything functioned correctly!! Impressed... knock on wood!

Next morning... Generator would not start. Primed it as normal then hit the start button. It cranked, acted like it fired then shut off and was throwing an error code #36 (turned off with out telling it to). Started to dig into the issue and found that the fuel gauge was reading NOTHING, even though there is 20 gallons I just put in there. I recalled at the walk through at the dealer that when he primed it, the light stayed on all the way until he hit the start button(not sure if I remember correctly). Now the light comes on while you hold the off position stays on for a second then shuts off as soon as you let go. Still does not explain the gauge reading zero... odd. Next I looked at the hour meter, and even though I ran it for 2 hours previous the night before ... there was NO hours on the gauge. The gauge is blinking for empty, and showing Zero on the meter.

But something is definitely wrong.... ANY ideas??

My tanks were miss labeled. My Gen tank and my Aux tank are swapped from the labels above the fuel port. I looked under the trailer and verified that the front tank is the Generator tank and the back is the extra tank.

[Rdowns]

Originally Posted by Vastdavidson

My tanks were miss labeled. My Gen tank and my Aux tank are swapped from the labels above the fuel port. I looked under the trailer and verified that the front tank is the Generator tank and the back is the extra tank.

I had a feeling this might be the issue, Thanks for the help! The stickers are labeled incorrectly!! The back tank is labeled Generator... which is what I put 15 gallons in and the front tank is labeled Auxiliary which I put 5 gallons in to test the hand pump and such(so I thought).

Odd part:
1)If the tanks are mislabeled, My gauge for the AUX tank only shows an 1/8 of a tank...and if I had put the 15 gallons in the AUX tank shouldnt it show more on the gauge where the gas pump switch is??
2)If I put 5 gallons in the GEN tank and only ran the Generator for 2 hours shouldnt I still have gas in there to use? I would hope that the gen does not use that much gas that fast. I did read somewhere that the pump tube might not hang all the way down in the bottom of the tank... not sure though??? The Gen was acting like it ran out of gas though!

[Vastdavidson]

Haven't heard if the tube doesn't go down to the bottom or not. But I read it uses about a gallon an our at full load.

[GaryWT]

Glad it is going well.

[gilpinbrewer]

Originally Posted by Rdowns

I had a feeling this might be the issue, Thanks for the help! The stickers are labeled incorrectly!! The back tank is labeled Generator... which is what I put 15 gallons in and the front tank is labeled Auxiliary which I put 5 gallons in to test the hand pump and such(so I thought).

Odd part:
1)If the tanks are mislabeled, My gauge for the AUX tank only shows an 1/8 of a tank...and if I had put the 15 gallons in the AUX tank shouldnt it show more on the gauge where the gas pump switch is??
2)If I put 5 gallons in the GEN tank and only ran the Generator for 2 hours shouldnt I still have gas in there to use? I would hope that the gen does not use that much gas that fast. I did read somewhere that the pump tube might not hang all the way down in the bottom of the tank... not sure though??? The Gen was acting like it ran out of gas though!

This is interesting because I just looked at my 371 and the rear tank is labeled as the Gen and is the 18 gal tank which is correct. The forward tank is 30gals and is connected to the pump. Weird that they would change this?

[Rdowns]

Originally Posted by gilpinbrewer

This is interesting because I just looked at my 371 and the rear tank is labeled as the Gen and is the 18 gal tank which is correct. The forward tank is 30gals and is connected to the pump. Weird that they would change this?

This is odd! Yours is a 2015, is it white or gray? I noticed that the gray ones have subtle differences. Like the gray ones have a concealed master control panel built in a cabinet where as the white ones have them built right on the wall. I was also told that both tanks are 30 gallon on mine, and the tanks do look the same size from underneath. It was like they switched up the design for early 2015 models compared to the later 2015's.

Can anybody else shed some light on this with the Fuzion? What tank is what ????

[gilpinbrewer]

I have an early 2015 model that is white. It says right on the tank what size it is on mine with the label from the mfg. And my control panel is not hidden by a cabinet.

[sw342]

Originally Posted by Rdowns

Hi All,
We picked up our trailer last weekend, we bought a fuzion 371 from BestRv in Lodi Ca. The experience was well, with as many bad reviews that they had on the internet...it wasn't that bad.

With best RV the fun is just beginning for you.. The buying is easy. Its the after sale service that will have you pulling your hair out. Good luck.

[Rdowns]

Originally Posted by sw342

With best RV the fun is just beginning for you.. The buying is easy. Its the after sale service that will have you pulling your hair out. Good luck.

I have read all the reviews and knew what I was going into with them. So before we purchased there we researched and found that we can take it to Happy Day'z RV in Livermore CA (which has been EXCELLENT/just a long lead time for appointment).

I was not intending on staying with Best RV!!! Screw that place, they are horrible on the service side when it comes to being professional and organized. There sales is ok, nothing stellar but not bad. But we noticed right of way when doing the PDI that they were going to be no help for future work- rear awning did not work, tried to fix on the spot (service techs were GOOD and quick) but then the lady came out and said they would have to warranty it. She provided NO paper work saying anything regarding "work to be done" per the purchase.... and continued to tell me this is how it works. NOT professional!

Any Hoo... side note check out Best Rv on you tube being raided by DMV!!! pretty funny

[Vastdavidson]

On my 2015 371 the front is the Gen and the back is the Aux (even tho they are labled wrong). Both tanks are 30 Gallon's...Which I thought was weird but that's what they say on the tanks themselves.

[Learnites]

Originally Posted by Rdowns

Hi All,
We picked up our trailer last weekend, we bought a fuzion 371 from BestRv in Lodi Ca. The experience was well, with as many bad reviews that they had on the internet...it wasn't that bad. The rear awning over the garage door did not work right off the bat so they ordered us a new one....the only thing we found on the spot. Got it back to our storage and of corse in the excitement of buying the new and trading in our old 5er.... We overlooked that the it was to long for our storage spot by 3ft. Storage place surprisingly did not care. Next issue the tongue weight was just to much, even on my ram 3500 drw. So the next step... Add rear air bags!!!

Shake down:
I will never tow without airbags again!!! Very impressed with the improvement with the firestone air bags. The trailer tows very well. Only complaint is when backing up it doesn't break as fast into the turn as some of the other 5er's I have towed, but I will get used to it lol!

With a little arguing with the wife (standing behind the trailer out of sight)...we got her parked in the sight and got to setting it up. With some of the neighbors already set up, they sat and watched as I hit the auto level button and sat down and watched as I relaxed, and all I heard from the neighbor sitting and watching was......."A**hole". I felt a little guilty having this ridiculous trailer that people were envying. But It felt

Power hooked up.
Water hooked up.
No sewer hook up. Gonna put the tanks to test.
Awnings out.
Radio on.
Patio set up.
And check the fridge to see if it's cooling down....and low and behold......the fridge is out... Lights work, temp set works, modes work on the screen, but it does not cool down! So I tell my wife to give it time, 6 hours goes by, NOTHING STILL. Flip it to LP to see if a change? Heck no,overnight stayed hot, in fact the door seals and handles were all very warm to the touch like it was over heating. So we killed it after 24 hours and called the dealership. They said... Make an appointment to bring it in and we will fix it. I thought to myself... Good! When's the next available appointment? June 6th!!!! ....Wow ...that far out??? But I will have to live with the date and for how use a cooler.

We tested the rest of items.
~AC blew out so much saw dust and metal shavings! It was crazy!
~Furnace ....same thing!
~Rear toilet, my 10 year old daughter sits down and snapped the seat clean in half right at the connecting pins.
~Some of the graphics on the side are pealing up
~The sound bar did not function correctly
~The quality of cuts on trim and such was not good, some of the cuts on aluminum trim on the outside by the front bottom corners were so jagged and bad that it looked like their blade had probably got stuck in the cutting process.
~Debris, saw dust, electrical connectors, screws, nails, all over in hidden spots....in the cabinets, the rear ramp door, rear bathroom, under the couch.
~the rear ramp door has a big wear mark in the grip tape from the folding handrail rubbing against it where collapses to the inside.
~kinda disappointed with the stereo! no speakers on the inside of the living room?? Any where the heck is the sub woofer?? Outside... Speakers were great!!
~exhaust for the generator straps broke(watch the screws under the belly... A lot were loose or broken already!!)

All and all ... It went well! Lol. We really loved the lay out, design, colors, comfort options, fireplace, tvs, kitchen was great, and the garage was the best.....everything was amazing in it!!!!!!!!!!

Fuzion 371
I purchased the same trailer in October 2015. I found the sub woofer back behind the hot water heater. How did I find it back there??? Well, on our 1st trip when I hooked up the city water to flush out the black water tank, water came pouring inside the cargo bay. When I removed the access panel to see where it was leaking from I found both the sub woofer and the water leak. The back flush line was only finger tight. Water was pouring from the loose connection. There must be 10 or so plastic connections back there and 4 of them were barely finger tight.

I agree, it is so crazy there are no internal speakers for the radio. You would think on such an expensive vehicle there would be speakers throughout the trailer. My workaround is just to connect my phone to the Bluetooth sound bar and stream music that way.

Other issues I have found:
- roof antenna hold down bolts were never tightened which causes the antenna to make a racket in the wind. (Tighten the bolts and it's now quiet)
-screws on my tailgate handle were stripped. (Replaced with slightly oversized stainless steel screws)
-armor plating in the garage pulled away from wall (replaced with slightly oversized stainless steel screws)
-the party deck railings will rub against the screen door unless you throw blanket over them.
-the biggest pain in the butt---***** the check valve on top of the hot water heater fell apart the 1st time I connected to city water without a pressure regulator. (The plastic check valve easily snapped back into place once I found out what the problem was through deductive reasoning, no one at Keystone or the dealer knew why the hot water tank was full of hot water but no hot water would come out of the faucets. I finally called the manufacturer of the hot water heater to find out if there was an internal check valve and he told me about the external check valve installed at the top of the hot water heater) << It was a major pain
-the main slide out with the couch rubs against the entertainment center when fully retracted.

Everything else has seemed to be okay. The generator has 15 hours and seems to work flawlessly, The refrigerator works well and the auto leveling system has been perfect. I've only had the unit out 4 times and I'm sure we will discover more issues.


To make life easier, I just installed a SHORELINE 50 AMP RV POWER CORD REEL MODEL CL50D02L-SR right in front of the gas tank and an 8ft 5x5 vinyl fence post cover to store the sewer hose.

Jim

[ri_truck_guy]

Originally Posted by Learnites

To make life easier, I just installed a SHORELINE 50 AMP RV POWER CORD REEL MODEL CL50D02L-SR right in front of the gas tank

Could we please get pictures of this?

Thanks,

[Rdowns]

Originally Posted by Learnites

Fuzion 371
I purchased the same trailer in October 2015. I found the sub woofer back behind the hot water heater. How did I find it back there??? Well, on our 1st trip when I hooked up the city water to flush out the black water tank, water came pouring inside the cargo bay. When I removed the access panel to see where it was leaking from I found both the sub woofer and the water leak. The back flush line was only finger tight. Water was pouring from the loose connection. There must be 10 or so plastic connections back there and 4 of them were barely finger tight.

I agree, it is so crazy there are no internal speakers for the radio. You would think on such an expensive vehicle there would be speakers throughout the trailer. My workaround is just to connect my phone to the Bluetooth sound bar and stream music that way.

Other issues I have found:
- roof antenna hold down bolts were never tightened which causes the antenna to make a racket in the wind. (Tighten the bolts and it's now quiet)
-screws on my tailgate handle were stripped. (Replaced with slightly oversized stainless steel screws)
-armor plating in the garage pulled away from wall (replaced with slightly oversized stainless steel screws)
-the party deck railings will rub against the screen door unless you throw blanket over them.
-the biggest pain in the butt---***** the check valve on top of the hot water heater fell apart the 1st time I connected to city water without a pressure regulator. (The plastic check valve easily snapped back into place once I found out what the problem was through deductive reasoning, no one at Keystone or the dealer knew why the hot water tank was full of hot water but no hot water would come out of the faucets. I finally called the manufacturer of the hot water heater to find out if there was an internal check valve and he told me about the external check valve installed at the top of the hot water heater) << It was a major pain
-the main slide out with the couch rubs against the entertainment center when fully retracted.

Everything else has seemed to be okay. The generator has 15 hours and seems to work flawlessly, The refrigerator works well and the auto leveling system has been perfect. I've only had the unit out 4 times and I'm sure we will discover more issues.


To make life easier, I just installed a SHORELINE 50 AMP RV POWER CORD REEL MODEL CL50D02L-SR right in front of the gas tank and an 8ft 5x5 vinyl fence post cover to store the sewer hose.

Jim

Jim,

So I want to install some extra speakers in the trailer right behind the couch, I have 2 extra - small nice looking surround speakers that I will use some Velcro sticky back tape and hung them right behind the couch in the corner of the wall. Then I will put a small speaker switch in the corner right arm rest cubby hole and then tap the speaker wires into the outside speakers. Not sure how good it will sound... but worth a shot.

-My roof antenna had the same problem in the wind. The slightest breeze would make it bounce around and squeak. Tightened down the bolts and fixed the problem.
-I had the same problems with the deck railings. Ours are the kind that fold outward from the trailer/not attached to the ramp door. But when the door was closed the gates would rub against the grip tape on the door and was starting to make marks on the door and the gates! So I throw a towel over ours before the ramp is closed.

I am going to pull the basement access panel and check out the water connections in there! I have had this problem before on another trailer- fittings being finger tight... not fun!

I heard to that we should always drain the water heater after every trip. But did not see an easy way to drain it??? Unless there is something I am missing.

[Festus2]

Originally Posted by Rdowns

I heard to that we should always drain the water heater after every trip. But did not see an easy way to drain it??? Unless there is something I am missing.

I'm not sure where you heard this but I see no reason why it is necessary to drain your HW tank after every trip. Unless the water that is in the tank is "hard" or extremely high in certain mineral contents, I'd leave it. After a "few" years of RVing, I've never drained it that often nor have I had any issues.

If you decide to drain it after each trip, your tank should have a drain plug at the very bottom of the tank which is easily seen and quite accessible (from the exterior). On Suburban HW heaters, the plug is 1" - hexagon shaped and also doubles as an anode rod. When removing, loosen slowly and don't stand too close or you might get an unexpected, sudden cold shower. Other heaters may have a plastic or nylon drain plug without a rod on the end.

The Suburban HW plug/anode should be inspected once or twice a year and replaced if it is badly corroded. Be sure to replace the anode rod type plug with the same type -- don't use a plastic/nylon one.

[chuckster57]

I agree, no need to drain the HWH. If you do, the nylon plugs are 15/16" and the metal(anode rod) ones are 1 1/16".