So...as you may know we planned this warranty work back in January and despite that amount of planning and thinking ahead the dealership was unable to address all of our concerns. However we did get a brand-spanking-new water heater! Hooray! We also purchased a vent cover and had that installed (not warranty) and that is good. The vent covers should come with the RVs, but they don't. If you don't have one you can't open your roof vent when it is raining (not a huge deal in AZ, but it does happen from time to time). Another thing that might happen is that a swarm of bees might decide to try to enter your RV that way...yes that did happen. While many of them perished in the attempt (chopped up by the vent fan) we did have a scary day one shining afternoon in Tempe when the orange tree behind us was especially fragrant and the dumpster so near. Yes a couple bees did get in and yes I was able to stymie their attempt after I realized what was happening - but it did point out the additional benefit of having the vent cover and now I will not have to clean up dead bees in the vent. Here is an example from doityourselfRV showing the part. They are not hard to install, but at this moment we don't even have a ladder available to get us up there!
We did have a breakthrough moment today when we learned that we were not utilizing the weight distribution hitch to its full potential - or actually, to say it more plainly, we were not getting any benefit from it because we were not hooking it up properly! Whoops. So...back when we took our first trip with the rig up the mountain to Flagstaff we stopped and had it weighed. We learned that we were towing our truck's capacity (6500 lbs) and that we were slightly overloaded on our rear truck axle (about 200 lbs). We also noted that the truck's rear seemed to sag and there was a slight V at the hitch. Since then we have been doing some research, reducing our weight (hopefully) and trying to figure out what our options are regarding taking some weight off of that rear axle. One possibility was that there was some adjustment that could be made to the weight distribution hitch, another possibility is that we could have an airbag suspension system installed (it would cost about $750). Since we purchased our hitch from the dealership and they installed it, we thought we would ask about whether it needed to be adjusted. While I kept the kids busy looking at fifth wheel trailers (OMG - nice!!) Husband worked through the steps with a technician who explained each step and what we could do differently to get a better outcome and a more level hitch (eliminate the sag/V issue)... The bottom line is that we were lowering too much trailer weight onto the hitch prior to attaching the weight distribution arms AND we were using too low of tension (the first chain link instead of the third) so it was not shifting the weight back to the trailer axle!
This is a picture of the exact weight distribution hitch we have - and this picture shows exactly how we were using it...the last chain link was the one we connected, but as we learned today the arms should be parallel to the trailer frame - not aiming towards the ground like shown here. In other words you have to use the third chain link at a minimum. In order to muscle that baby on you can't have all the weight on the ball, you have to lift the trailer and then attach the arms and then lower the trailer back down. These were the steps we were missing. Did we receive a tutorial about this? Yes, but on the day we picked up the trailer, it was BLAZING hot in June, we had the kids with us, we had to wait at the dealership for hours prior to our walkthrough....I was trying to record what was being said with my phone and my phone kept overheating and shutting down....the technician gave us the orientation to the inside prior to the outside because it was a million degrees and then by the time we got to hitching it up...crap - we were all ready to move on with our lives and get into some A/C...so yeah, it's no wonder we may have missed something....
It would have been better if I would have stood back further so that the sag was more apparent...this pic was taken last week when we moved to Mesa. You can see that the distribution hitch arms are aiming toward the ground (last chain link attached)... You can compare the wheel well height of the front vs. the back and see how low it is setting in the back. I should have taken a picture today after it was properly hitched, but I didn't of course. I was so glad to be heading "home" to Mesa and getting it all set back up.
The last thing I want to share is that we are now scheduled for our, hopefully, last trip to the dealership for warranty work in early May prior to departing for our cross country journey. I approached our salesperson today and told her about the drama with the exterior dented paneling and she promised to see what she could do on her end. I shared that I was disappointed we took possession without having that fixed. In June (2017) she told us, and I believed her, that it would be a warranty issue and would be fixed. So we will see if that gets us anywhere. It appears that they will need at least two days in May...oh, did I mention that this time they didn't even work on it on Monday!?! So we didn't even have to sleep over at our friend's house - they made a mistake in scheduling us overnight. SO frustrating. But all's well that ends well and we are back in Mesa, set, and cozy. The kids are snoozing peacefully after our adventure and their first sleepover at a friend's house!
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