ShowHauler problems

Matt295 · 05-25-2006, 06:49 PM

Just bought a new showhauler, before deal gets finalized is there anything I should be aware of. for this kinda money i want it to be flawless.

thanks

LooseClu · 05-25-2006, 09:29 PM

In view of some recently discussed cases, I think it would be wise to verify the engine's hp & torque (if the truck is new). I'm still in the planning stages but its one thing I will look at before handing over the $$$.
Roy

Warpath · 05-30-2006, 07:51 AM

Hey Matt congratulations!

Flawless? When you find that you let me know.

I will say that my 03 Show Hauler was darn near close. Can't even remember what issues I had, but they where few and far between. I am sure I posted them somewhere

The 05 had a bad circuit board in the fridge, leak in the shower, leak in the back slide and a electrical issue, oh and the wrong motor which was not a Show Hauler issue.

As always Show Hauler will definitely take care of any issues you have, none of my issues have warranted a trip to the factory.

I will say the first thing I want you to do is take all 8 screws out of the lighted entry handle by the door and replace them immediately with Stainless. I am sure Show Hauler uses the supplied screws that come with the handle but they corrode and with in a year they all break. This has happened to both my rigs, not a big issue but I procrastinated to long on this rig and now I have to try to relocate the handle so no screw holes show.

cjc · 06-26-2006, 10:23 PM

I have an 03 Showhauler and I had a shitload of problems with it. I'm out of warranty at this point and some of the problems are still occuring. Just as a for instance, the aluminum skins pop open at various locations and need to be reglued. I'm also continuing to fight an aluminum corrosion problem on the rear ends of the rig. It was blamed on inconsistent metal from their suppliers and wasn't warranteed. Nice, huh? After spending over $20,000 for a custom paint job. If I had to do it all over again, I would INSIST that when I return to Showhauler for warranty repair, that they give me detailed paperwork with regard to the repairs that were performed. I would refuse to take my motorhome back without repair receipts. They are nice people there, but they are still in business to make a buck and you need to protect yourself. They will always accommodate you promptly and take care of warranty work, however you might find yourself returning to their shop at your expense more than one time for the same repairs without the problems being resolved. They will tell you that they don't have any invoices for warranty repairs. In a worst case scenario, you might get stuck with a vehicle that qualifies as a lemon and without DETAILED invoices as to the mileage, date, problem, repair performed, etc., YOU will be S.O.L. when it comes to contacting an attorney and resolving your complaint. I've been there and know. My problems started the third day after I picked up my motorhome and the water pump crapped out. Ok, no big deal, but then a week later, I had a bad converter which shorted out both TV's, VCR, water heater pc board, CD player and almost caused the rig to go up in flames which in retrospect would have been the best situation, had the rig been outside in the driveway instead of inside the garage which is attached to my house. I don't want to put a damper on your enthusiam for your new rig, but I had to return to Indiana so many times that I got tired of hearing Lonnie tell me that in regard to my latest problem, "They had never heard of that happening before..." At this point, I have a somewhat happy marriage with my garage coach, but I'm always waiting for the next shoe to drop. I could tell you more, but I'm tired of typing. Good luck and make sure you get repair receipts no matter how hospitable they are to you.

Matt295 · 08-22-2006, 08:42 PM

that's funny you mention the aluminium popping off. It has happened to 2 of our panels. a friend of ours bought a showhauler 2 weeks after we did and they had teh same problem. Sure enough our dealer said "we've never heard of this problem before".

Our slideout power feed cable has been cut through basic operation.

Our roof has a slight leak in serious rain.

Our awnings BARELY come in. Sometimes they don't even retract all the way and we have to wait for them to "reset" before we can finish putting them in.

... She's goin in in 2 weeks to get all this shit sorted out.

cjc · 09-18-2006, 09:05 PM

Matt, I'd be interested to know if you followed my advice and if you did, were you able to get invoices for the warranty work that was performed? As far as the popped panels go, they probably opened the seam and squirted in some polyureathane sealer/glue. Right? Guess what? It will eventually pop open again. The shit doesn't work for very long, at least the two seams that Showhauler repaired for me. I fixed two of my own and made sure that I cleaned the inside of the panel as best as possible before I squirted in a similar sealer/glue. My repairs have so far held up for about 6 months. We'll see and time will tell. Keep an eye on your jacks and the welded tubular steel pieces that are visible underneath. Last year 3 of my jack cylinders were replaced because of broken welds. I now have another one that has broken welds and two that are slightly bent. One front jack is kicked out to the rear by 3/4 inch and the other side is moved forward by 1/2 inch. I also found broken welds with the tubular and angle steel pieces under the motorhome. I guess all those groans and moans that you hear when you raise the rig up on the jacks are actually welded body parts destroying themselves. I can only imagine what's happening with the steel pieces that are buried behind the walls. I reconfigured the back end of my rig so that I would stop dragging ass. When it came time to cut out the original steel and weld in the new stuff, I was able to break some of the pieces off by hand. The welds didn't have any penetration. They were only being held together by the filler metal rather than the metal parts being melted and flowing into each other. Shit work at best. Let me know how you make out with your rig. It's been an interesting 3 years and 66,000 miles.

Matt295 · 09-18-2006, 09:44 PM

woooow, sounds like your rig is NOT in very good shape!

we didn't get any invoices for the warranty work performed but we did get it in writing what they fixed and how they fixed it.

That noise you hear when the motor home levels is definately not music to your ears. I often wondered what it actually was that was squeeking. we have the 22-13 drop garage unit, and when you put your hand where the top bedroom meets the lower wall, you can feel it moving seperately. I am guessing its just common flex in teh metal though.

Who knows, maybe the 2006's have some of the problems you mentioned fixed, or maybe you got a lemon. our rig has 6600 miles on it, but I will check out the jacks and such.

When you are driving and you go over a semi-large bump, does your floor make a loud squeeking noise? It was only large bumps ar first, but now it seems to be more common.

as for the popped panels, we fixed them ourselves and they seem solid.

Oh, but all our problems got fixed without question. Service was excellent, no questions asked. Everything works A-1 now.

cjc · 09-18-2006, 10:26 PM

They will always fix your problems and will make you feel like you're the only customer that they've ever had. I never had a problem with service. My complaint is that a lot of these things shouldn't happen in the first place and you need to take the rig back to the factory in many cases unless you fix it yourself. For me, the factory is 1500 miles away. Figure out the fuel bill. Except for raising the entry door higher and changing the clearance lights, my garage unit of 2003 is the same as your 2006. They still make the back end too long and too low, but then again, so do just about all the other manufacturers. Conventional motorhome builders learned the lesson a long time ago and you don't see them dragging the back end on curbcuts and high crowned streets. One of the other problems everybody seems to have is with the exhaust pipe. They still haven't learned their lesson and just don't seem to care. You'll see other owners in here who've had to modify their exhaust pipe so it doesn't cause problems. If the problems pile up, just keep getting receipts in case it gets to be too much. My rig is in good shape now because of all the repairs that I've taken care of myself. I can't credit Showhauler's construction. I don't know what your squaky floor problem could be. I didn't have that one. Sorry. Good luck with your rig.

Matt295 · 09-19-2006, 09:10 AM

the overhang is not that bad, I think I measured it around 12', but I know that on our past motorhome it was about the same. we have scraped maybe twice so far? But thats only because the wheels at the back stick down 6" lower then the rear bumper.

What's the exhaust problem?

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