What's the worst thing ever happened while Airstreaming?

[Isuzusweet]

Returning home from Sauble Falls Ontario, when 20 kms from home I heard the frap frap noise of a fan belt disintegrating. Pulled over to try and discern how much left of the belt, then tried to make it home with one jaundiced eye on the water temp gauge. The noise ceases and the water temp starts to rise fast; tranny to neutral, dynamited the engine and pulled over to let things cool down.

The DW and kids had to be home at a certain time so called them a taxi and I elected to wait until engine had totally cooled down to a point that with the one remaining fan belt intact on my Isuzu turbo diesel I could ambulatory it to a truck repair shop in Fergus. Almost 2 kms down the road, carefully watching the water temp, I detected a weird vibration in the accelerator pedal, which escalated into a hard pulsation and then a total lose of power.Looking deep into the doghouse I discerned that the disintegrating fan belt had dislodged my throttle cable which was being chewed up by the engine fan. A $500 dollar tow which was covered by CAA and thanking my lucky stars I didn't have a tag axle, the coach made it to the shop.

It turned out that a PO had replaced the belts with Gates belts which at 1/2" wide are far smaller than the factory specced Isuzu belts at 17mm or a hair bigger than 5/8" wide. The narrower belt rides lower in the pulley which doesn't allow for heat to escape. Since the throttle cable was Airstream specific I had to modify another type of cable to fit and wait a week for new belts.

Cheers
Tony

[BigButtUgly]

All the horror stories of problems of Airstreamers seem to relate to system failures, As one who can deal with problems from tires to frames to thermocouples to sail switches in a furnace to knowing about kinds of batteries and who built them, one needs to be a polymath to mitigate failures and the maintenance mechanic ( often totally inept technicians) one needs. The "average" buyer of any RV ( little alone an Airstream) is ill prepared to deal with what can happen. Here it is " You shall pay the price if you don't KISS" Buy and hit the road without proper prep and knowledge and you are screwed. Protagonist and awchief please weigh in.

[DavidsonOverlander]

Originally Posted by m.hony

"Bumper swing" is a principle that needs to be broadcasted. Everyone needs to be educated on bumper swing.
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I thought I was well aware of bumper swing, but still managed to hit the back of our Sovereign on a concrete wall when making a u-turn in long narrow parking lot. Fortunately it was the marker light that hit and while it created a bit of a dent around the light I was able to mostly pull it out and it's hardly noticeable. If the skin itself had hit it would have been much worse. The marker light needed to be replaced. The bumper also caught on the wall and was mostly pulled off but it was already damaged beyond repair when be bought the trailer so no great loss there. Now we have no bumper rather than one that looked bad. Will need to find a suitable bumper for our '74 at some point.

[cabinetmaker]

This is fun. Hearing of others difficulties and situations on the road makes me not feel like the Lone Ranger.

Here's a reason I like Airstreams (one of the many reasons).

Wife and I were camping in our large 5th wheel (house on wheels and looked it by the mass size of the beast) at a nice campground in the Rockie Mountains one summer many years ago. This thing had 4 slide outs! Got time to say goodbye and come home so started getting things ready to travel and my worst nightmare happened.

Bedroom slide (up high on top of overhang not the low ones in living area) was stuck and not going in. Tried everything. Nothing. Got the book out and read how to manually bring it in. No help. Wouldn't budge. Now this slide stuck out about 2ft so you can't travel with it out. Something had to be done. I fiqured out how to release the motor under the bed. Had my wife climb under there and hold the motor release open. Still the manual crank handle would not make it budge. So, I rounded up as many TALL guys as I could from the campground to come and help me. We pushed that slide back in while my wife held the manual release. Once it was in we blocked it so it couldn't get back out on our trip home. Made for tight sleeping with that slide not out and couldn't get to all our stuff in cabinets and closets but we made it home.

Slides are no fun. We experienced more than one problem and had several different RV's that had slides that leaked. No more! Our last three trailers have all been Airstreams! Never had a slide out problem since!

[Twinke58]

My parents had a 1973 A/S back in the late 80's and when we were moving from VA to Montana my dad was pulling the trailer and my mom and I were in the car behind them. I saw a small car pullin front of my dad put on the brakes and my dad pull
On the brakes and ending up jackknife the jeep and A/S. My dad hit a wall and I watched as the trailer went on its side then back down again. It caused a large dent on the front side passager side and the step broke. The only thing that was broke inside was a tv turning nob.
I haven't had any problem in both of mine that I had yet. I'm still in the learning on hitching up cause my 1st one I didn't take anywhere much. I use a check off list when I hitch up so I don't forget my steps. I mark as I go so I can remember.


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[robwok]

I was backing in with a ball on the bumper of my old F150. Jackknifed it in. I didn't realize it because before I had used a hitch with receiver. there were no tanks on the trailer so I bent the support for the propane tanks, and put a dent in my bumper. I didn't care about the truck, but I spent hours straitening the tank support back to the original oval shape. Sledgehammer, propane torch, etc. I did try to fix it using a steel landscape bar. It slipped, hit me in the forehead and left me dazed for a while with a big lump on my head.

Rob.

[CPK]

Traveled to Florida to buy a new airstream. 16 ft Bambi. Worst experience in my life. Threaten the dealer with a lawyer to fix things that did not work because they told me it was a warranty problem not theirs. (It was brand new) take it up with the manufacture of the item. Got that problem fixed and left to drive home to North Carolina. On I-95 driving 65mph in between two car carriers I see a blown tire ahead of me in my lane. Started braking and could not steer out of the way because of the trucks along side of me and the tire hits the 3" cap on my dump valve and blows it off. Pulled off the side of the road and saw little damage. Lucky. Get home and made an appointment 5 hrs. away for warranty work that took 3 weeks to get. Left trailer there for 3 weeks and picked it up. Got home and saw a few things not fixed I did not noticed before. Called them up and they said take it some where else don't come back. Called factory and awaiting answer. So far I would never buy another airstream. Can't believe how I was treated.

[mayco]

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[mayco]

Thread "classic motorhome get together "
Post #87

Story of the great ball joint incident for pictures above

Mike

[AtomicNo13]

Originally Posted by mayco

Attachment 249475Attachment 249476


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Ok so that looks pretty bad....

[FreshAirStmr]

What exactly is bumper swing? We'll be picking up our AS next month, have never towed anything, and so we need all the help we can get.

[cwf]

Originally Posted by FreshAirStmr

What exactly is bumper swing? We'll be picking up our AS next month, have never towed anything, and so we need all the help we can get.

Bumper swing.... Well, you only get introduced to that after we get to know you better!!! Let's not go there....

Actually, ok, Bumper Swing is the distance from the center of the trailer to the stern(back bumper) that "swings" as your trailer is turned. Get a small toy truck and trailer from toy store and watch. Also some videos on YouTube...

Usually as you "guess" you have cleared an obstacle and the trailer is still "straightening out". The back is not quite done moving. Check out:
http://youtu.be/lzlOfBGr1i4

[m.hony]

Bumper swing-
If you are turning very sharply and very slowly, the trailer wheels are sitting still and the trailer is pivoting on the wheels. The rear of the trailer swings closer to whatever is next to it- car, tree, fence, house, bush, etc.
To overcome, you either drive past the obstacle or gradually pull away from the obstacle before turning sharply.


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[Bowmans]

@CPK
Last summer we had a similar incident. We were on i64 heading east near Norfolk heading to the eastern shore. Where we were at, there was 5 lanes and it was a weekday and no traffic at all. Way off in the distance, I see something in our lane so ease it over a lane. As we get closer, I notice it is a full sized car time and wheel just sitting in the center of the lane, sitting upright, pointed down the road. My head was filled for the next 100 miles with what kind of damage and wreckage that would have caused.

[CPK]

I reference to bad experience buying the airstream I still think its a great product. Just think quality control at the factory could be a little better. Things that are wrong I can fix myself, just thought that if its under warranty let them do it. Bad mistake. Need to find a reputable dealer in the future. I live in eastern NC.

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by CPK

I reference to bad experience buying the airstream I still think its a great product. Just think quality control at the factory could be a little better. Things that are wrong I can fix myself, just thought that if its under warranty let them do it. Bad mistake. Need to find a reputable dealer in the future. I live in eastern NC.

Sorry for your bad experience. Map out a drive to Colonial in NJ or the factory in Jackson Center, OH. You shouldn't have to do a ton of repairs but go to either place with a full punch list and have it done right. I live in New England and have been to both - totally worth it to me. Good luck.

[CPK]

Originally Posted by SteveSueMac

Sorry for your bad experience. Map out a drive to Colonial in NJ or the factory in Jackson Center, OH. You shouldn't have to do a ton of repairs but go to either place with a full punch list and have it done right. I live in New England and have been to both - totally worth it to me. Good luck.

SteveSueMac, Thanks for the info. Daughter lives in Jersey about an hr. from there.

[Easyrider06]

CPK,
I hope your AS experiences improve, if nothing else there are a lot of folks on this site that will try to help you. I've owned 5 SOB RVs and this site is probably the best brand specific one you will find. I think its nice to know that your not "alone" out there and you have a bunch of new friends nationwide (and Canada) plus overseas. My wife and I looked at new ASs at the Hershey, PA RV show this Summer before we bought our new-to-us AS and weren't real impressed for the price they were asking of any of the AS models. Insofar as QC, we have owned Thor Industries TTs(not AS) and still have issues with that company and that was one of the reasons we bought an 80s vintage pre-Thor Industries AS. Not to say that the QC in our unit is much better when it comes to repairs, but we won't feel so bad in the pocketbook and we can pick the quality of the items we replace. Anyway, good luck and don't be shy about asking for help, this site is surely helping us with our unit...
James and Rebecca

[BigButtUgly]

We shipped our 31 footer to Germany in 1975 and lived off base in the small town of Bickendorf. Landlord wanted his house back so had to move . Airstream was in a "camping platz " near Luxembourg. It was winter. Eventually found home in Sulm, but that was not until April. Furnace quit and had to diagnose . Sail switch failed so had to construct a new one. Furnace then worked. Fond memories of changing one of the two propane bottles daily. Made it through- wife, 4 year old child and 5 cats-fond memories. House in Sulm was well worth the wait. Assigned to Turkey in 1981 so sent wife and Anastasia back to Sulm for a visit. It was Sulm's !,000th birthday. Bergermeister made them guests of honor. My Airstream made it all possible. TG

[m.hony]

450 miles of bad road-
Badump, badump, badump all day till my neck is stiff!


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