FOREST RIVER Complaints

We purchased a 2018 Forest River Rockwood Windjammer 3006wk from a private seller on July 17th, 2021. Within less than five minutes of picking it up, the exterior kitchen door popped open, and hit a brick mail box near the side of the road. We are sure the door popped open, because the awning sticks out further than the door, and it was not effected. After the incident, I found a Windjammer forum with a post from another person who had issues with this same door popping open while the trailer was in motion. This was not a busy road, however if this had of happened on a highway or busy area, it could have caused serious injury. There was minimal damage to the mailbox, however extensive damage to our just purchased trailer. The exterior kitchen door was completely ripped off and unsalvageable. It is obvious that it had popped open, based on where the door shows impact. Also, when the door made the impact, it tore a small place in the side of the trailer body, again making it obvious the door had been pushed up and to an angle at impact. The front of the cabinets in the exterior kitchen flew off, and the refrigerator came open causing shelves from inside to shatter in the road. Therefore, in addition to the door being ripped off, there were a lot of debris flying out with it, which again could have caused serious injury. The trailer is available for inspection, however we will not be moving it again. Someone would need to come to trailer. Safety was put at risk because the door could have made impact with another vehicle, and/or the flying debris could have caused serious accident or injuries. It has not been reproduced or confirmed by dealer, as the damage is there and obvious in photos. We are not comfortable towing the trailer again. Police and insurance were not involved, because we were able to settle directly with owners of mailbox. There was no warning, and we were not aware of this being a problem, as we had just purchased the trailer.

On my 2021 Forest River Cherokee Wolf Pup 16TS, I observed on the passenger side frame where the wheel is that at some point the axle/leaf spring components came in contact (perhaps many times) with the frame of the trailer. This had made a noticeable dent in the frame. The trailer was not heavily loaded and within GVAWR, GVWR, & CCC limits. From my observations, had I not already changed out the brake assembly's after discovering a failed component inside them, it is clear that the axle collision would have severed the electric brake cables resulting in the trailer brakes being unable to respond and/or failing altogether. My personal assessment of this is that the combination of the 3500lb rated axle as well as the capacity of the leaf springs on these trailers is not sufficient enough to account for allowed cargo weight, plus standard road conditions to avoid having the axle come in contact with the frame above it.

Tire size ST225/75/R15 On 7/16/2020 we were travelling and our passenger tire blew causing damage to the side of our trailer. We were on the Antioch Bridge and when we heard the noise we had to travel over a mile to slowly reach a safe area to pull over. When we got home we inspected the other tires and found that another tire had a huge bump on it. We replaced both tires at Les Schwab. We were told that these tires were not recommended to be on a trailer. Then on 7/14/2021 we were travelling on the highway and we heard a loud noise. We pulled over and discovered that one of the other original tires on the trailer had blown now making 3/4 tires. The tire had completely come apart, again very unsafe. We decided to take that tire and the 4th and final original tire to be replaced, by Les Schwab, only to be told the 4th tire also had very unusual wire exposure and very unsafe. In neither of the incidents was there any impact that caused the blowout. Both times my family of 5 was travelling in the towing vehicle. These tires have very low mileage. We were refunded a small portion of the cost, by the tires manafacturer.

ST225/75R15 Tire delaminated on interstate. Belt separated from tire causing damage to vehicle. This was the second tire to fail on vehicle.

The contact owns a 2013 Forest River Cherokee. The contact stated that the trailer’s single axle was rated for 3,500 pounds while the dry weight of the trailer was listed at 3,069 pounds, not including the accessories on the trailer. The contact stated that the axle was not rated properly for the camper. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. There was no failure milage available.

The contact owns a 2013 Ford F-150 used for hauling a 2021 Forest River Cherokee Wolf Pup travel trailer. The contact stated that while driving at 5 mph, the trailer disconnected warning light was illuminated. The contact pulled over and inspected underneath the travel trailer and found that the brake line was fractured and had detached. The contact reattached the brake line with electrical tape however, the failure recurred. The contact noticed upon inspection that there were two brake lines that had fractured and were detached. The dealer was made aware of the failure but informed the contact that it would be several months before the RV could be diagnose or repaired. The contact left a voicemail to notify the manufacturer of the failure and was awaiting a callback. The failure mileage was 7,000.

2020 FOREST RIVER CHEROKEE. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO ROOF LEAKING IN RV. THE DEALER AND MANUFACTURER HAD BEEN NOTIFIED, BUT NEITHER OFFERED ANY ASSISTANCE.

The Rockwood 2608BS I was towing with my 3/4 ton pickup began to sway and I was unable to recover from the sway. In a matter of 4-5 seconds, the trailer lay on its side and i was at a complete stop on the highway. No one was hurt, and there were no other vehicles involved in this incident. Earlier in the day I filled the 60 gallon fresh water tank on this trailer, which is the first time I have filled this tank prior to a road trip. The tank is located at the rear of the trailer and the weight of the full tank along with a side gust of wind we experienced, in my opinion, were major contributors to the sway, I want to emphasize that the location of the fresh water tank poses a weight distribution problem when the tank is full. I purchased this RV in September 2019 and this trailer has always been prone to sway. I've had the proper safety equipment on it such as a weight distribution hitch and anti-sway bar. I submitted an on-line report to the NHTSA in early 2020 citing the problem with sway and reported I felt the axles were a bit too far forward on this unit. After our accident, I searched online and began reading the "Rockwood 2608BS Forum," searched for "Sway" and learned others who have towed this make and model of RV have experienced problems with sway and submitted their review to the forum. Sway and loss of control of this make and model of RV due to design is a safety hazard to the operator and passengers of the tow vehicle, and to occupants of nearby traffic.

The contact owns a 2017 Forest River Fury ToyHauler equipped with Power King tires, Tire Line: Towmax STR, Tire Size: 225/75/R15, DOT Number: 1ADB4-TBT1-4017 trailered to a 2002 Ford F-250. While driving approximately 65 MPH, the front passenger’s side tire experienced a blowout. The front and rear passenger’s side trailer tires were replaced by an independent mechanic. Approximately two years later, the rear driver’s side trailer tire also experienced a blowout. The contact had the driver’s and passenger’s side tires replaced by an independent mechanic. Recently, the contact stated that the same front passenger’s side tire experienced another blowout while driving approximately 60-65 mph. The contact took the vehicle to another independent mechanic where he replaced all four tires on the trailer. The contact stated that each blowout had caused severe damages to the rear portion of the trailer. The contact attempted to reach the tire manufacturer but was unsuccessful. The approximate failure mileage for the first tire was 2,000. The subsequent tire failure mileages were 1,000 and 3,500 respectively. The vehicle failure mileage was unknown.

I had tread separation issues with two of the four Castle Rock ST tires size 205/75/R14 on my 2020 travel trailer with less than 10,000 miles of use. One tire blew across the tire from side to side with complete separation of the tread. The second tire had a bulge lengthwise that completely wore the tread off an 8 inch section of the tire which was likely due to tread separation.