Easy RV Repairs! (Smashed Window, Water Heater, WiFi, Frame Lag Bolts!) 

So that's how the window broke. I saw you guys camping in the Phoenix area and saw you two walking the campground too. I told my wife I spotted a couple of celebrities. Chad waved at me when he was on his one-wheel. Safe travels guys!

Dave here and glad that lag screws were installed in all the holes on your rig. IMHO, that supports my previous comment about a special rig getting special attention on the assembly line. I understand that GD says that lag screws are not required in each and every hole, but, if I owned a GD rig, I would want to see the design drawings for my rig stating that as fact. Only then would I consider pushing the "I believe button". I agree with most others that say you are nice people, but I still think that as brand ambassadors, you got better assembly of a showcase rig. Full disclosure, we do not own any RV but we were almost ready to purchase something, before changes in the economy changed our plans, and GD products were high on the list. That was based on many RU-vid channels, including yours. Safe travels.

IMO the way Grand Design handled the whole frame flex issue was pretty poor, until they were finally forced to do something. They were pointing the finger at Lippert, who designed the frame per GD's specs and requirements, and at their customers, claiming they overloaded their rigs. I'm sure in some cases that is correct, but not in all. We just noticed a crack in the sidewall (near our bedroom closet slideout in the front) of our Dutchmen Voltage Triton 4271. We baby our rig, no off roading, and no overloading, but we do have ~30k mi. on it in the first 3 years, and America's roads aren't exactly perfect. I reached out to our dealer, who said there could be frame and/or sidewall failure, so they had us test the frame flex, per Lippert's document, and we only measured 1/4" movement, which is considered normal. Likely we just have a broken weld in the sidewall near the slideout due to the flex from driving down the road in the nose. I also mentioned to them in passing that we had water damage on our 3 lower slideout floors where the water had wicked through the Darco wrap and into the OSB slide floors, but that I had dried them out, added hardener, slide skis, and rollers. Within a matter of hours, our dealer said they received approval from Keystone not only for the sidewall repair / replacement where the crack is, but also for all 3 slideout floors (which I didn't even ask to be replaced)! I was blown away, given that we only have a few days left on our 3 year warranty, but Keystone and our dealer definitely deserve kudos for standing behind their product and going above and beyond. We are taking our rig to them this weekend to start the repairs (within only a few days of notifying them of this issue). For what it's worth I checked our lag bolts in our sidewalls as well, all were in place, though some had loosened so I tightened those. I'm still not convinced that it's 'normal' to leave lag bolts out, GD is the only mfg I've heard of that does that. If there is a place for them, why would they not be installed, to have better attachment to the sidewalls? How many lag bolts are installed is 100% on the manufacturer, not Lippert.

Love how you break things down Chad on the water heater. I was always taught to start out by testing power then work your way from their. Thank for confirmation. The window was easier than I thought. Thanks for sharing.

Heavy duty Mr. Fix it, nice job on both items. Thank again for the invite, happy trails to you and yours.

All good fixes. Proving all anyone has to do is have some aptitude and knowledge and you can fix most anything. You going over the Watts and Ohms laws brought back terrible memories of my taking my A&P test in early 70's. Retired 45 year aircraft mechanic. And as you know most mechanics dont like electrical and most electricians / avionics techs don't like mechanical. Fortunately for me I had to learn both. The most important thing in all of this, you got Tara her hot water and all was Miss Daisy approved. Assuming she approved or you would be limping from the bicious ankle bites. LOL. Always a plus to keep the bosses happy. God bless y'all and stay safe out there on the road.

Another awesome video!! Thanks Chad & Tara!!!

As always, great video :)

You the man

Nice video on the window change, you're a handy dude, and a great teacher, I think I could handle a window change following your steps. Thanks for posting this, it's a great help.

Very good and informative video. Great job!

You guys are something. I need you as a RV neighbor

Nice projects. All successful.

Great job, Thank You for the content. Hope to see you guys on the road someday.

In my opinion Grand Design did too little too late, in coming out with their extended warranty. The only reason they did that was the tremendous heat they were getting on social media that they were not able to squash. I have owned three Grand Design campers over the years and the worst one was our 2020 Solitude 310 GK. It was literally falling apart from the center of the bedroom forward. We have since moved on to a different way of traveling the country and camping. My heart goes out to those who have serious issues with their campers from this company that will probably never get rectified correctly by putting a Band-Aid on a major wound.

Good thing you had help from members of the Holy Grail

Looks like petty easy fixes. Keep the good stuff coming guys.

Sorry you had to go through that , nicely done ,and thanks for step by step process. Safe travels, my friends

Good job

Ugh! Even a rig as new as yours still needs repairs. Thanks for sharing the good and bad. Good fixes! Safe travels- Mike and Shelley

I disagree with the lag bolt issue. "Missing" bolts regardless of specification is them cutting corners and being cheap. If it was me and the holes are there and they didn't use them "I WOULD". Bare minimum is not a way to build anything, you should ALWAYS overbuild. RV's should not be susceptible to tofu dreg construction.

Glad they did your lags correctly, probably as a result of you working with them on the design of your rig, it being unit 1, etc. The rest of us however have a really big problem and as the miles add up, they get even worse. My 382 was missing lags, they were too small, some were bent from the strain. I also had to replace my suspension similar to what you guys do with the system you put on. Sort of sad that a vehicle made for traveling needs to have aftermarket suspension put on, isn't it? Should I be expected to do this on my car too? Of course not. GD has big problems, I hope they solve them vs. profit and run from all of us owners.

Ohm MG!

I’m glad all you lag bolts where there because you guys are great people and great ambassadors for Grand Design.

A project is not complete until there is a flesh wound. 😅 great video!

You sound like a brand ambassador!

Check those lag bolt sizes. Your unit being older now probably has the little 3/8" and can be upgraded to 1/2" dia. Also, when reinstalling the lagbolts, inject an epoxy into the side wall hole then torque the bolts. That should stop them fro. Backing out. You can buy an epoxy that comes with a long mixing nozzle to reach the back of the hole.

Watching the video while sitting in a tractor plowing a field

No frame issues and attachment with the Riverstone’s. No problems with our Truma on demand water heater. But we are going to have two of our Schwintek slides replaced after two years and 80 or so campgrounds they are wore out. Oh well nothing is perfect.

You have the upgraded suspension,you also have an upgraded pin box and fifth wheel? You shouldn't be seeing frame flex beyond spec or welding defects that can lead to damage .If the hot water repair was on your latest RV ,wouldn't you challenge the longevity of accessories that are installed ? It seems to be a case of buying a new RV but be prepared to be a handy repair person , because they are and often rubbish and require constant attention. You put gloss on a problem that has now been exposed and it took them to long to set in place the actions to address it ,and it's proven with other brands that frames can be built by the main manufacturer but do not have the same issues,because the RV specs are greater than other brands .

Yeah! I just had a rock go all the way up into our frameless window on our Solitude $$$ 😪

Words that are almost never spoken---This was easier than I thought. Glad it worked out so well.

1:24 - Crimping is a “roadside repair”, like a doughnut spare tire. never rely on that as a permanent solution. When you get home, re-soldered the connection properly. I’m an old-school Harley rider and trust me, that’s what’ll get you by! Been a while since I’ve been able to follow your channel, but good to see you guys are doing great!

The frame issue I would assume would be fine on your new rig…. But what about your previous rig?

Re: water heater We recently upgraded to a Truma, worth every penny……. We never run out of hot water, it comes fast and its had minimal impact on our propane usage.

Chad those are not lag bolts, they are screws that go into some thin wood inside the steel tubing. There is no way that is going to last. That should be bolted into something threaded like rivet nuts on clip nuts but not some firring strips stuffed in the frame tubing.

Good video 😊 just saying winnebago owns grand design yes they say there going to fix frame damage it's out of control it's going to take years to fix reputation safe travels 😊

Where did you order the window from? We just got done replacing a frameless window after an attempted break-in and just finding someone to sell us the window was quite the task. Of course some of the camping stores were happy to sell it to us but at ridiculously high prices (>$1200), we ended up finding it for $340. (it was just the door window, so no opening or closing. Good job on the video, we always enjoy watching.

I am curious We have a problem with the IRV control panel and water heater. WATER AND tRV panel would malfunction when turning on propane. It turns out a harness is needed between IRV panel and water heater.

Hey Chad, did the shipping cost more than the window itself. I have a framelees window smaller than that and shipping was 250.00 bucks.

Great video. Looked like you have the 3/8" Lag Bolts instead of the 1/2" that Grand Design specifies in recent TSB. So when you talked with GD were they good with the 3/8"? Thank you.

Don't understand why Grande Desisugned would drill a hole for a lag screw to hold RV box to frame, and not install a lag screw. Also how would a lag screw back out on it's own?

I'm wondering if it would make sense to loctite every lag bolt since they tend to back out. The engineers must have a reason for not recommending it to the production crew. Maybe?

What do you do to keep your peplink router from overheating? I have to keep a fan on mine at all times in the summer as my last one overheated and crapped out on me and right now I just have it hanging from the cable bundle as if I attach it to the wall it overheats as well (don't know why there are no internal fans in this device)

Did you go back and add lap sealant to the new window?

Something is alway broken on tjese things. Just replaced my AC cover today. Unfortunately with the cover off it leaked badly. Lots of water damage to my cieling. 😢 I resealed the AC while I was up there and now 2 of the 4 lags that hold the AC in wont grab anything 🤦🏻‍♂️ lol

❤❤😮😮 C4YT

Was that a 2-pane insulated glass window?

Did your shower come with the wall panel? Did you install it yourself?

Do 5th wheels usually come with a map of their lag bolts? How did you know where to locate them?

That blows….Maybe time for some sandbags to hold the starlink down.

What happened at FireFly RV Resort? You said you all would say. in the next video what happened???

Not showing you peeling the protective film off the new window is nothing short of criminal

Could you have rolled your eyes any further back in your head when talking about frame damage-not flex but breakage. You are OWNED by GD. Sure you and your issues with little things, and bring that out, whoopee! Of course they let you talk about how they came out or how you fixed it. But for the rest of who have broken frames that were "fixed" by GD-like us, GD has done little to help us. No reimbursement for hotel, meals, or fuel. So, roll those eyes Mr. and Mrs. GD. Obviously, you tell the GD line well.

For a $9,000,000 Rv that window was pretty easy lol

Seriously? Hubbub? I can send you some families who are dealing with major hubbub. Denial much Chad, wake up to reality about what is really happening. No, GD has not stepped up as their warranty has so many holes in it. I can prove it but if you want to keep burying your head in the sand, I am not going to waste my time. Now your brand is attached to Grand Designs frame failure and you are letting a lot of GD owners down.

Come on man it's 85% grand design issue just because you collaborated with them you talk like they are the best,Secondly if you do your research they are suppose to have lag bolts in every hole starting this yr which they lie about from what other youtubers say so if you can't be straight with your viewers then nobody can trust your reviews on anything