R-pod Owners Forum Homepage

This site is free to use.
Donations benefit a non-profit Girls Softball organization

Forum Home Forum Home > R-pod Discussion Forums > Warranty, Service and Recall Bulletins
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed: Many Issues with 2019 R-pod 180
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Calendar   Register Register  Login Login

Topic ClosedMany Issues with 2019 R-pod 180 - Event Date: 01 Jan 2019 - 14 Mar 2019

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1234>
Author
Message
mcarter View Drop Down
podders Helping podders - pHp
podders Helping podders - pHp
Avatar

Joined: 07 Apr 2016
Location: Greenbrier, TN
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3419
Direct Link To This Post Calendar Event: Many Issues with 2019 R-pod 180
    Posted: 16 Mar 2019 at 4:46pm
+1 to SH, I also drilled and bolted my tank supports to frame. The sheet metal screws used at OEM were not adequate, I had loose screws, gaps and missing hardware. No issues once I modified the install.
Mike Carter
2015 178
" I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability."
Back to Top
lostagain View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 06 Sep 2016
Location: Quaker Hill, CT
Online Status: Online
Posts: 2583
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Mar 2019 at 6:19pm
Turning out trailers with inadequate quality control makes little sense to me.  If you give your employees adequate time to do it right the first time, you have happier customers and lower costs in the long run.  It is much less costly to use care to build something right than to pay a dealer to go back and tear something apart to do it over again.  The dealers have to be paid for their warranty work and the more errors are made, the more it eats away at the bottom line for the manufacturer.  Would it really be that much more expensive to give the employees 2 or 3 hours of additional assembly time to allow them the ability to avoid mistakes and save 3  or 4 times as much time for repairs at the dealer.  I suspect, even thought the dealers don't charge their full shop rate to FR, they are receiving more than the average hourly worker in the factory.  Go figure. Confused
Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
Sonoma 167RB
Our Pod 172
2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost
Back to Top
offgrid View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 23 Jul 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5290
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Mar 2019 at 7:37am
I thought this article was interesting and might give some insights into the work culture in the northern Indiana RV industry.

1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
Back to Top
Richand Cindy View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 16 Apr 2016
Location: New Jersey
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 328
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Mar 2019 at 8:43pm
Good article. From our trip last summer to RV country we learned the following.  The Amish mostly do the woodwork (cabinets, bed etc).  The reason why the day starts so early is that there is no air conditioning in the factories.  They are paid on a unit basis.  They must build a minumum number of RV's (at the plant we visited it was 12).  Then for every unit over that they are paid a bonus (the highest number at our plant was 17!!!).  That is the major reason why there are so many mistakes, they are rushing.  The more they build, the more they make.  Would you want your surgeon paid on the number of heart bypasses they do a day!  In addition, they do not have extra helpers.  So if a person calls in sick there is one less person working the line that day and the remaining workers have to make up the slack.  So for all these reasons it is amazing that RV's do not have more issues.  But again this is industry wide and not an RPOD issue.
OLD 2017.5 RPOD 180 + 2015 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk
NEW: 2018 Passport Elite 23RB + 2017 Ram 1500 Diesel
Back to Top
StephenH View Drop Down
podders Helping podders - pHp
podders Helping podders - pHp
Avatar

Joined: 29 Nov 2015
Location: Wake Forest, NC
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6283
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Mar 2019 at 9:25pm
If the bonus were dependent on the units passing inspection (a real one, not a cursory once-over), then quality would possibly be better since there would not be the incentive to do shoddy work just to slap it together and get it out the door in order to get the bonus. 
StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,...

ouR escaPOD mods
Former RPod 179
Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS
Back to Top
lostagain View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 06 Sep 2016
Location: Quaker Hill, CT
Online Status: Online
Posts: 2583
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Mar 2019 at 9:39pm
In my experience, paying piecework usually leads to shoddy craftsmanship, injuries, and long term development of disabilities that cut one's work life short.  I suspect that if someone made a study of the correlation between piece work and quality, there would be an inverse relationship.  But it is a way to drive the bottom line for manufacturers, as long as they don't mind paying very high workers' compensation rates and dealing with high turnover.
Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
Sonoma 167RB
Our Pod 172
2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost
Back to Top
Richand Cindy View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 16 Apr 2016
Location: New Jersey
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 328
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Mar 2019 at 8:37pm
I actually was very surprised that a factory tour would discuss how the workers were paid. They even had a large blackboard with the number of RVs made that day and the record holders.  I agree that paying piecework (although it is only piecework above and beyond the normal number that their salary includes) would lead to shoddy craftsmanship.  Next time in the area I will tour one of the more upscale RVs (e.g. Airstream) to see how they are made.  But to be honest to be able to buy something at a more than fair price and American made, I can live with having problems that need fixing as long as they are not major.
OLD 2017.5 RPOD 180 + 2015 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk
NEW: 2018 Passport Elite 23RB + 2017 Ram 1500 Diesel
Back to Top
ribet View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie
Avatar

Joined: 26 Aug 2016
Location: Hillsboro, Oreg
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 64
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Mar 2019 at 11:12pm
The trailer you got was the one I was trying to buy from Harrison Marine.  I put a deposit on it but you had first choice over me.  I could not wait for the next shipment so I got a r180 in Sacramento.  I bought my 171 from Harrison and I was happy with them.  Sold it after 2+ years for the same price I paid for it. 
I think you saved me a lot of grief.  Smile 
Back to Top
texman View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 24 Jul 2014
Location: TeXas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 446
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Mar 2019 at 8:50am
i added an 1/8" piece of flat aluminum to each end of the support and added a third bolt to each end.  so i added 1/4" total and it torqued down nicely. 

Did i see some of you have drilled all the way through the frame and bolted these supports ?  

i would have never noticed this had i not removed the water tank twice now.
TexMan 2015 182g
2018 Sequoia
TexManMods
Back to Top
wvanauken View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie


Joined: 13 Mar 2019
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 29
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Mar 2019 at 10:25am
I understand and this has been my sad introduction to the world of RVs. With regards to quality control, Forest River brags about their QC right on their website and points out their QC procedures. Yes, it shouldn't be this way as you said, but I hope that more people like myself don't settle for this and contact FR with their issues. Maybe if more people did, there wouldn't be as many issues. I don't know...just speculating a bit. In my case I wrote detailed letters with pictures to all the FR locations in Oregon and one to the main headquarters in Indiana. We'll see what kind of response I get. At the very least, I felt a little better just by taking the action and expressing my frustration in writing. Thanks for you input.
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1234>

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Bulletin Board Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 9.64
Copyright ©2001-2009 Web Wiz