Grand Design

[Busdriver]

I am looking at a grand design 303 rls. What are your thoughts good or bad. The thing that worrys me is the lippit frame.

[tcamper]

topjimmy wrote:
On the Montana owners site I have Never seen anybody complain about THAT issue in 6 years on the forum and Montana outsells GD by a wide margin so I do not get why GD is having so many problems with it because we pretty much all use the same axles and frames etc..

I believe the difference is the broad open-forum concept. I have been in the RV ownership world for 17 years and have NEVER seen a more “open-on-all-issues” approach.
The owners of GD products have their own forum as well as their own Facebook groups. And both of these media’s are monitored by very active GD employees who support this approach and consistently assist the owners with their issues and problems.

[goducks10]

Also make sure you keep an eye on the street side of the 5er. It's a known issue that the 303's tend to lean to the left. IIRC they're around 800 lbs heavier on the big street side slide out. There's a few members over on the GD site that have done some spring tweaking.

[topjimmy]

On the Montana owners site I have Never seen anybody complain about THAT issue in 6 years on the forum and Montana outsells GD by a wide margin so I do not get why GD is having so many problems with it because we pretty much all use the same axles and frames etc..

[goducks10]

wilber1 wrote:

goducks10 wrote:
I wonder why it seems like there's more Grand Design built trailers having this issue. I read a couple other RV brand forums as well and hardly see the problem compared to GD. Is GD asking for something different?

s

I don't know if they are or it is because they have run a poll on their forum and it has become a big deal as a result. I would be interested in knowing if owners forums for any other manufacturers have kept track of how many owners have had this issue.

I don't know why Lippert would change the way they assemble the same axles for different manufacturers.

Thats kinda what I was thinking too. I know they have a poll on there site, but they had issues way before the poll. You would think though that if percentage wise another brand had that many grease seal failures that it would be posted a lot. I'm also on the Northwood site and they had a few but most were AL-CO brand. I haven't seen any recently. I think AL-CO was bought out by Dexter too.

[john_bet]

This thread has me interested in GD. Going to Indianapolis tomorrow to take a real close look at GD 337 as well as some others.

[wilber1]

goducks10 wrote:
I wonder why it seems like there's more Grand Design built trailers having this issue. I read a couple other RV brand forums as well and hardly see the problem compared to GD. Is GD asking for something different?

s

I don't know if they are or it is because they have run a poll on their forum and it has become a big deal as a result. I would be interested in knowing if owners forums for any other manufacturers have kept track of how many owners have had this issue.

I don't know why Lippert would change the way they assemble the same axles for different manufacturers.

[TBammer]

This is the one I am looking at. The price and financing are the impediments to making the deal.

[Veebyes]

My Alpenlite rides on a Lippert frame. Over the years some serious upgrades have been done to compensate for the deficiencies starting with the areas around the spring hangers which have been boxed in properly rather than have a simple gusset. Next came the upgrade in springs, going from a 6 to 7 leaf stack. Also installed the Equaflex centerpoint system & the alignment system.

No problem with the bearings. Trailer has the Nev R Lube bearings. Must be the better part of 100,000 miles on the trailer so it has had more than average of best & worst that the roads can give it.

The only addition that is non Lippert is the 5th Airborne air pin box. Don't like it. Better than nothing but nowhere near as effective as the Lippert airbag pin box. Huge difference in travel difference between the two. Had the Lippert pin box on previous near identical trailer.

[CWSWine]

My LIppert 6 point level up control wouldn't turn on. Called the dealer and they made me an appointment two weeks in the future. Call Grand Design and after 10 minutes on the phone with tech support trouble shooting they sent one out red and I had it the next day. Installed and cancel my appointment at the dealers.

[WolfFox]

DKRITTER wrote:
How has GD changed if any since the were bought out by Winnebago?

Yup, They haven't at all. Same great customer care and quality build. I think one of the reasons Winnebago bought them out was for GD to have a positive influence on themselves. Winnebago has been struggling they last few years. I think it will be a win win situation for both. At least I' hoping so.

[2008Wildcat]

DKRITTER wrote:
How has GD changed if any since the were bought out by Winnebago?

They haven't.

They are still working as an individual entity.

[DKRITTER]

How has GD changed if any since the were bought out by Winnebago?

[goducks10]

I wonder why it seems like there's more Grand Design built trailers having this issue. I read a couple other RV brand forums as well and hardly see the problem compared to GD. Is GD asking for something different?

[minnow]

Leaking hubs on GD RV's has been an ongoing problem since 2014. Lippert says they are changing the process for greasing the bearings during assembly, yet 2017 built RV's continue to have issues.
Other than that, GD built RV's are pretty solid.