Buying a new Forest river toy hauler

[Dennis1336]

Fellow toy hauler owner, I am about to purchase a new toy hauler and looking at one of the Forest River ones. To be more specific 30 foot 2018 Forest River Shockwave T24RQMX. I have a new 2500 HD Chev diesel and a Polaris 570 rzr, any comments?

[flhtci2006]

I have a 2017 Shockwave T24RQMX. I don't want to get involved with comments on the forum but if you contact me, I can give you some info.

[JAC1982]

Bumpyroad wrote:

JAC1982 wrote:
Forgot the biggest QC issue we had.... they swapped the labels for the black and gray tanks.

messy and inconvenient but a lot of folks would trade their "biggest QC" issue for yours.
bumpy

Very true... and sort of my point... the biggest issue we've had is not that big of a deal at all! 🙂

[Bumpyroad]

JAC1982 wrote:
Forgot the biggest QC issue we had.... they swapped the labels for the black and gray tanks.

messy and inconvenient but a lot of folks would trade their "biggest QC" issue for yours.
bumpy

[Doughydman]

Not trying to push you one way or the other. I bought a grey wolf 26rr in June of last year. Took it out 7 or 8 Times. Not my first trailer. Owned several before this. Anyways long story short is that toilet kept clogging. My dealer told me there wasn’t enough gap between where toilet pipe drops into black tank. Dealer sent request off to forest river they said this was as per design. And there was no fix for this. Dealer had no reasonably priced options to fix this. Wouldn’t even give me fair trade to get different trailer. Traded for pretty big loss for Jayco. They might not be any better but I’ve been stuck by forest river once. Thought I’d share my experience.

[JAC1982]

Forgot the biggest QC issue we had.... they swapped the labels for the black and gray tanks. That combined with us not knowing there was a second gray tank with the valve left open, located under the slide, made for a really eventful first dump. We pulled the cap to attach the dump hose and tons of water came pouring out since the rear gray tank valve was opened without us knowing At the time, we thought it was the black and my husband freaked out and I had to jump in to put a bucket under it and get the lid back on, all while thinking it was the black water.

A few days later we discovered the valve labels were switched and it was just gray, but I had to give myself a good wipe down with lots of lysol wipes before I got in the truck to continue home that day since we thought I was covered in black water LOL (funny now, notsomuch back then).

[JAC1982]

Yup we love our Impact, and we also had another Keystone product before this one (Raptor bumper pull). I'm not going to say it's the best quality, but it's a lot better than many based what I've heard from other makes.

We haven't had it quite a year yet. The front air conditioning unit broke already (of course while boondocking for 8 days in 90 degree temps over the 4th of July out in the middle of nowhere), and it took nearly 3 weeks to get Keystone to authorize the replacement under the warranty, but they did replace it.

There have also been a few other minor repairs we've had to have done, such as the seal above the microwave exahust vent on the outside wasn't done on the top of the vent, so we had some water come in during a rainstorm, and one of the ceiling speakers in the living room wasn't screwed in all the way, so it came loose while traveling, and then got stuck in the slide because it fell down behind the decorative wood trim piece on the slide wall. Also there were some staples sticking up from the carpet in the bedroom. Again, nothing major, just annoying, and probably will happen on any rig these days. I can't also say enough about finding a good dealer close to home if at all possible, we've had a good experience with ours.

[Moosehead05]

I have a 15 26rr, very sloppy workmanship in this toy hauler

[tinner12002]

You might also check the Impact toy haulers as Keystone seems to be running pretty good at the moment. They also offer a 2 or 3 yr warranty on models manuf after 11/17.

[Dennis1336]

I want to thank you for your comments, I have one more dealer to look at, a Jayco dealer. The Jayco dealer offers a 3 year warranty on their units. Thanks again.

[2001400ex]

I updated from the 2013 Shockwave 21 bumper pull to the fifth wheel in my signature (same as Shockwave just called a stealth). I do agree that the newer forest River products definitely don't have the same quality as the older ones. Don't let that deter you, in that, in my research, all the brands in that price range have the exact same issues. Pick the floor plan you like and colors and such and ensure you do a good PDI before you take delivery. In most states, FR allows you to pay $250 for a second year is warranty.

I would consider a fifth wheel tho. Moving from the 21 Shockwave to my fifth wheel, mileage is about the same and the total length is about the same. But you get 9 feet now interior room. You have a 3/4 ton so if check on weights, just throwing out that you should consider it.

[seagrace]

I'm happy with my 2017 FR. YMMV

[Shawnattitude20]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

boogie_4wheel wrote:
I'll go against the flow and say that I love my FR Shockwave. I bought it brand new, last one on the lot, for a steal of a price. I never had to return for warranty items.

That's good but a unit built in 2009 or 2010 is not a unit built in 15/16/17 when they are enjoying record sales and can not push them out the door fast enough. Back then Lippert did not have as large a hand in the kitty, only the best workers were retained from the recession and slowdown, and sales were 50% of 06/07/08 and 14/15/16.

No one ever takes that into consideration.

Agree 100%. Current production practices are totally different than units built pre 2015. I do not have an FR product and own a 2013 Eclipse Attitude. Mine has been real good with no major issues.

[Ralph_Cramden]

boogie_4wheel wrote:
I'll go against the flow and say that I love my FR Shockwave. I bought it brand new, last one on the lot, for a steal of a price. I never had to return for warranty items.

That's good but a unit built in 2009 or 2010 is not a unit built in 15/16/17 when they are enjoying record sales and can not push them out the door fast enough. Back then Lippert did not have as large a hand in the kitty, only the best workers were retained from the recession and slowdown, and sales were 50% of 06/07/08 and 14/15/16.

No one ever takes that into consideration.

[boogie_4wheel]

I'll go against the flow and say that I love my FR Shockwave. I bought it brand new, last one on the lot, for a steal of a price. I never had to return for warranty items.

Issues to date after 7+yrs ownership...
2-3mo after I bought it I lost a tire going down the road because of a rotted valve stem. I replaced all of them and the tire on my dime.
One of the drawer slide mounts in the kitchen busted because a little plastic piece broke that supported the rail. Bought new plastic piece.
Aligned a couple cabinet doors over time.
Replaced the 30A receptacle on the trailer (and on the shore cord) because of a weak connection.
Fresh water cross support bolt (self-tapping) busted that I found during inspection. Replaced with bolt/nut.
Replaced the rubber seal/weatherstripping on the ramp.

With my previous job I used my trailer numerous times for a place to stay, one time being 26mo straight. That's pretty much daily use of all of the appliances and hardware (doors, drawers, faucets, ect). Experienced from over 110* down to -20*. Hauled as much as an 800lb street bike, or hauled multiple dirt bikes for long weekends with friends at Moab. Everything still works as it should.

Just inspect everything closely. Look underneath and behind everything you can get to for shoddy work. My inlaws got a 'brand new' Winnebago One 30RE that hadn't sold, and they've had more problems in the last 6mo than I've ever had.