New 2013 327RES Rust Bucket

[Scratch]

Picked our 'new' 5th wheel up yesterday and brought it home for a look-see before our planned trip to the Texas coast this weekend.

The entire underbody (Axles/slide gears/gas pipes/frame/scissor stabs) are caked in very heavy rust. I don't know how a 2013 could be rusted away like this. Put out the bedroom slide and the slide tore away from the bed frame pulling leaving holes where the attachment screws pulled out of the wall.

Called the dealer who said bring it in...

Question: How the heck could they have missed the rust when they accepted it as part of their inventory? The PDI guy was in a huge hurry to get rid of us. Guess it must have been his lunch hour. He left the propane vales open along with the exterior gas fitting that goes (I guess) to an outdoor grill. Anyway, when we walked outside this morning, we smelled strong propane odor which was coming from the fitting.

Heckuva hello...

http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_66717_0_7cccee1cd8b42c357fdab719ef500171.jpg

http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_66717_1_f07da0cfc77d86be849f242da5d7507e.jpg

http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_66717_2_4d9d0e0c5f1f24b1a411bc28dafcc580.jpg

Bed frame sheered from wall

http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_66717_3_7d70c8501de14d172944f69f66afa0bd.jpg

[Festus2]

Scratch -
It is not uncommon for rust to form on parts of the chassis, around wheels, suspension welds, iron pipes and anything else that is susceptible to rusting. If a dealership were to look under the unit and see rust, it wouldn't be something that they would even try to remove.
Your unit may have been driven over salted roads or sat out in the rain for an extended period of time (or both)--- it doesn't take long to form and some rusting is not usually a serious problem. It may, over the long term , affect the integrity of the areas where it has formed and I realize that it doesn't "look good" and should be cleaned up as much as possible. Get them to do this for you.

The PDI should have done on your time - not his and you should have kept him there until YOU had completed your inspection.

Did you run the slides in and out while you were doing the PDI or did you wait until you got home? If you had run them in and out at the dealership, the bed separation might have occured while the rep was standing there and seeing it all happen!
Did you take along the PDI checklist that is available on the forum?

While you have it at home, you might want to give it a thorough going-over since the PDI time at the dealership appeared to be rushed. Some items may have been missed and now is the time to check it over and get any deficiencies taken care of.

[JRTJH]

Scratch,

Sorry to hear aobut your rust problems and that bedroom slide. Seems that several people here have commented on the bedroom slide separating and there are some threads that talk about what they did to correct it or to reinforce it after the dealer fixed the problem. You might want to do a quick look-see and get caught up to speed on that, maybe you can discuss some of the fixes with the dealer and hopefully get a better outcome????

As for the rust, a certain amount of "surface patina" is common. But, our RV is 3+ years old, it's in northern Michigan where salt is all too common on the roads and we have nothing like what your pictures show on our frame. I don't know if there's much that can be done about it, but I'd sure be doing some talking to the dealer !!! It almost looks like it was towed from Indiana during a blizzard with all the salt on the roads and once it arrived "down there" nobody rinsed the underside. I'd at least have them clean the belly and get the current rust taken care of.

Good luck, I know it's frustrating, but hang in there and try to stay calm if possible :)

[Scratch]

More pics:

http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_66724_0_00aeb392872b3814454e01e6b440e60f.jpg

http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_66724_1_c3084e36be1a11df274dc3be6f845d27.jpg

http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_66724_2_5171b5b267647e426686de9982441b21.jpg

http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_66724_3_962a3e8c3b45dbdb2a324c93c9f2134e.jpg

[therink]

I live in upstate NY and plenty of salt here. My last TT was purchased new and I bought the rig that the dealer was taking to shows on the salty roads
Of course I was green and didn't do a thorough PDI when I took delivery. Shortly after I got it home I found that the underside had corrosion similar to yours but not as bad. I was furious. Long story short, I ended up sanding and repainting all exposed metal and restored it myself. It was obvious that the trailer underside had been exposed to road salt and was never rinsed by the dealer. It is a good example on how my dealer didn't really care. Just wanted to move it out. I learned my lesson.
I decided that it wasn't worth my time to take it back so I fixed it myself. The first thing I checked when I bought my current rig was the underside. I learned the hard way.
RVs are simply not built or protected to withstand salt.
I feel bad for you. I hope you find resolution with your dealer.
Steve

[Scratch]

Must admit I'm partly to blame for not checking it thoroughly during the PDI. We were in a bit of a time crunch having to pick up our granddaughter from school and missed out on some things. The PDI kid was totally unfamiliar with the unit and relied on me to show him how several things worked. Thought we knew what to look for as the Flagstaff TT we traded in was clean as a whistle under there when we purchased it. I wouldn't think a 2013 5er could rust that fast and that badly in such a short time. I tried to replace a couple screws and they busted in two as I unscrewed them... No telling how long the thing will hold together as bad as things are under there.

Don't know how I can fix it myself with my back problems. We'll hope for the best from the dealer, but we're off to a bad start with them, for sure...

[SAABDOCTOR]

Wow scratch that is ugly under there. my 2010 has the same rust issue. the good news is when mine is stored it is on a concreat pad. i slowly get on a creeper and place a cooler near the camper. and i roll my way around under it and clean the rust and spray it with a good 3m brand under coating takes me about two hours as i do not move as fast as i used to. i do this every spring. oh i forgot the cooler... well that holds the 12 0z cans of motivation. hope you can get the dealer to take care of the slide issue and look at the threads on the forum about this.the rust.. that will happen it's too bad it was deliverd that way. Good luck hope you get to enjoy the rig soon!:USA:

[Scratch]

Called the service department this morning.. The fellow who answered said they do not correct corrosion. I asked to talk with his boss who said the same although he did say that if it is bad enough, he'll send photos to Keystone for a decision.

In the foreman's words, Keystone is responsible for cleaning/spraying salt away from the underside before the unit hits the road to the dealership. The dealership does not spray it down once it arrives. He said 90% of the surface rust claims are disapproved, but if it is bad enough, they may allow the dealership to sandblast & treat accordingly.

It is more than bad enough. So bad, in fact, I'm concerned about putting it on the road...

He said they should be able to take care of the bedroom slide discrepancy by replacing the bedroom wall and re-attaching the bed to the slide mechanism. When the wall separated from the bedframe, it also ripped a big hole in the underside of the mattress so it will have to be replaced as well...

I'll take it in next week...

[byrdr1]

Called the service department this morning.. The fellow who answered said they do not correct corrosion. I asked to talk with his boss who said the same although he did say that if it is bad enough, he'll send photos to Keystone for a decision.

In the foreman's words, Keystone is responsible for cleaning/spraying salt away from the underside before the unit hits the road to the dealership. The dealership does not spray it down once it arrives. He said 90% of the surface rust claims are disapproved, but if it is bad enough, they may allow the dealership to sandblast & treat accordingly.

It is more than bad enough. So bad, in fact, I'm concerned about putting it on the road...

He said they should be able to take care of the bedroom slide discrepancy by replacing the bedroom wall and re-attaching the bed to the slide mechanism. When the wall separated from the bedframe, it also ripped a big hole in the underside of the mattress so it will have to be replaced as well...

I'll take it in next week...
Sorry about the rust issues. I cant help with that other to say I do keep black paints cans around my house.
The bedroom slide wall does not need to be replaced, the bed slide needs to be reattached to the wall and surrounding floor. Have them cut the carpert and use angle brackets with good wood screws to reattach this all back together. I did my fix as have several on here. I wish webshots had not closed down as I had photos of the fix on there. Just make sure they dont use too long of screws on the bottom of the slide out wall, that could punch through the bottom. and on the outside also same issues. I used 3/4 inch screws on the floor and on the wall. i also had one corner of the wooden frame falling apart, the screws had split the wooden frame and just kind of rebuild it with more sheetrock screws. I will see if I can find the orginal pictures and you can see. Mine did come all the way apart like yours has. Sorry for the problems the 327RES is nice lay and we have really enjoyed ours. you can find my other problems on here also posted.
randy