I had to call them and their response was nothing more than "you are out of warranty sorry. We can't tell if you had you rig or hitch setup correctly or not or if there was something else that you may have caused." These were not exact words from them, but you can see Andy's quotes here which very much duplicate the words that were given to me over the phone.
Krazyjohnny. That stinks man. I am going to the Mothership around the middle of December mainly just to see the place, stay at the tera port, etc, as I don't have any issues that need warranty work just yet. If I get a chance, and the nerve, I will ask them about their lack of customer service to those that are having what I consider pretty serious issues with nearly new trailers.
Krazyjohnny. That stinks man. I am going to the Mothership around the middle of December mainly just to see the place, stay at the tera port, etc, as I don't have any issues that need warranty work just yet. If I get a chance, and the nerve, I will ask them about their lack of customer service to those that are having what I consider pretty serious issues with nearly new trailers.
You might as well start at the "top" of the list.
Ask for Dave Schumann, when your at the service department.
You can also call ahead and make an appointment with him.
Jim is the guy my service folks have been dealing with. I called him directly and spoke with him. He is a nice guy. No complaints about his demeanor at all. Their policy is the stinker. They got my 50 large and seem to left me on my own. Everyone here has been extremely helpful.
The owners manual needs some serious updating and editing to the specifics of each trailer model. I have heard just in this string about running gear balancing, tires, suspension of the trailer, suspension on the TV, hitching, type of tow vehicle, etc. that could have caused the problem I am having repaired. Some of this is mentioned in the manual but nothing on details on some of this stuff. Ther was info on caster and camber of the axles, tire maintenance, wheel bearing packing, hitch heights, and washing and waxing the trailer.
What brand hitch do you have? If it's a Reese, all the trunions are the same size that go into the ball mount. The different in size is the square hole for the bars.
Airstream switched to Goodyear Marathons, many years ago, and still use them today. Make sure you get the running gear balanced. If you can only get the tire and wheel balanced, there are other options available to complete the balancing setup.
Andy
Hi Andy,
The photos should show the difference in size of the trunions on my 600# Reese dual cam anti sway bars. Should I take up a link on the small trunion?
After I switched out my 1200# bars the ride in our 3/4 ton 4x4 softened and the trailer floats along the hi-ways (except I-5's concrete washboard north of Seattle) compared to the ride with the 1200# bars.
Jim
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1983 31' Limited
Hope
British Columbia
The photos should show the difference in size of the trunions on my 600# Reese dual cam anti sway bars. Should I take up a link on the small trunion?
After I switched out my 1200# bars the ride in our 3/4 ton 4x4 softened and the trailer floats along the hi-ways (except I-5's concrete washboard north of Seattle) compared to the ride with the 1200# bars.
Jim
Jim, you would have got the same effect decreasing the tension (load) on your 1200# bars. The rating of the bars is irrelevant. The force that you transfer is what is making the difference; 400# of force transferred with 600# bars is the same as 400# of force transferred with 1200# bars...
Only your wallet would still be heavier...
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Life is Good-Camping all around New England
Good people drink good beer-Hunter S Thompson
Driver only carries $50...worth of ammo.
Jim, you would have got the same effect decreasing the tension (load) on your 1200# bars. The rating of the bars is irrelevant. The force that you transfer is what is making the difference; 400# of force transferred with 600# bars is the same as 400# of force transferred with 1200# bars...
Only your wallet would still be heavier...
You would "NOT" have gotten the same effect.
You would not have transfered the proper weight to the front of the tow vehicle.
A proper rated hitch, must be properly installed, "AND" properly adjusted, for the purpose intended.
The rating of the bars is "everything".
Violated anyone of those and the hitch torsion bars, will not do what it's supposed to do.
The end result of that might be, what you hope will never happen to you or your Airstream.
The more I research this the more it sounds like it could be filed as a Class action, especially since this has been well documented and known for at least 2 model years prior to mine and there were no design changes made.
Just FYI, I checked my trailer after seeing your pictures and found identical fractures. I'll be following this thread--please keep us updated.
We should get together sometime and make a you tube video. Maybe that would get some attention. The whole spring bar thing is totally baffling to me. Kind of like quantum mechanics and "anti-matter". Distribution of weight is distribution of weight. The size of the bars shouldn't matter as long as you do not use the bars to their complete rated capacity.
Andy,
You or Airstream got some splainin' to do. (in my best Ricky Ricardo voice)
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