how much will this cost to fix

[east lake hunter]

2007 Flagstaff 206ST

tired to raise roof with electric winch and forgot to unlatch one of the front roof latches.  now that corner of the roof goes up a little lower than the other three corners and it comes down a little after the other three corners.  And the roof latch will not pull the roof down tight.  The latch is bent slightly.

Besides the latch needing to be replaced there is a bracket under the PUP that's broken and bent.  It's the bracket that holds the cable tube in the center of the PUP.   The cable tube looks like it's okay.   It looks like the bracket could be straightened and the bracket rewelded.  But I'm sure the dealer will want to replace the entire bracket and tube.

My dealer has yet to look at my PUP to give me an estimate.  I would like to know if any one has any idea what I'm looking at cost wise.

Thanks.

[sacrawf]

I'm sorry that happened.  It is sure frustrating when we make our first accident as a new pop-up owner.  In the paperwork you got with the camper there is probably a breakdown of the lift system, made by Goshen Stamping Company for the Forest River popups.  It sounds like you are describing the master tube brackets that hold the master tube to the center of the camper.  I wouldn't think that the bracket would be too expensive, as it is just a stamped angled galvenized bracket.  The drawings of the lift system that I suspect is on your camper can be found at http://www.goshenstamping.com/content/lift_system.htm

The door latch and catch is $8.80 at tomraperrvparts.com.  The labor of the replacement and adjustment will probably be the biggest expense.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

[fallsrider]

I had the same thing happen to a Palomino I used to have. I unbuckled the two front latches, and my Dad unbuckled the two rear ones. He had never been around a pup before, but I saw him unbuckle the first one and he did it right. I assumed he did the 2nd right, too. He told me it was unbuckled. I started cranking and noticed the left rear corner of the roof wasn't rising. I quickly backed it back down.

He had released the buckle, but didn't pull the latch off the lip. It bent the bracket underneath that supports the lift tube. Fortunately, my dealer bent the bracket back and lubed the lift system for $45 I think it was. It never quite was the same, though, after that. It went up and down fine, but that corner never was quite as high. The reason I know is that I always put the safety supports on the right front and left rear corners (don't know why). The safety bar would no longer fit under that left rear corner. I am 6'-1", so I could reach up, lift up the roof with my left hand, and snap in the bar with my right. That way I always knew that corner wasn't sagging while set up.

[east lake hunter]

I'm sorry that happened.  It is sure frustrating when we make our first accident as a new pop-up owner.  In the paperwork you got with the camper there is probably a breakdown of the lift system, made by Goshen Stamping Company for the Forest River popups.  It sounds like you are describing the master tube brackets that hold the master tube to the center of the camper.  I wouldn't think that the bracket would be too expensive, as it is just a stamped angled galvenized bracket.  The drawings of the lift system that I suspect is on your camper can be found at http://www.goshenstamping.com/content/lift_system.htm

The door latch and catch is $8.80 at tomraperrvparts.com.  The labor of the replacement and adjustment will probably be the biggest expense.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Thanks for the info.  I'll keep you posted.

[east lake hunter]

Just got word from my dealer today that for a mere $375.00 my "accident" will be fixed.   Seemed awful expense to me for two pieces of conduit with a bracket welded on one end.   Oh yeah, they had to order the two pieces of conduit which will take two weeks to be delivered.   I guess taking the two pieces of conduit off and welding a new bracket onto the conduit was out of the question.   Let's see that's 10 days to get the problem just looked at another 14 days to get the parts, I bet it takes another 10-14 days to replace the parts once the parts come in.  Needless to say, I ain't happy with my dealer.

I would not recommend this dealer to anyone.   While Forest River makes a fine product, I am extremely upset with my dealer.  If you are looking for a pop up in Central AR, stay away from one RV dealer on I30 in Benton AR (the across from Browns Resturant).

[sacrawf]

While the delay in getting the estimate, shipping the parts, and getting the job done does seem like too long, the total price is probably not unreasonable.  I hear of RV dealer's shops charging $80 to $120 per hour for shop labor. I would have guessed about 3 to 4 hours of shop time for what you described on top of the price of parts.

Getting new parts instead of making repairs to the damaged ones should protect your Forest River Warranty for the lift system, and the additional labor of making repairs in-house may have ended up costing more.

Sorry this happened, though.  When you are hopefully again soon sitting under your awning in one of the great Arkansas campgrounds, the memory of this ordeal will quickly fade.

Just got word from my dealer today that for a mere $375.00 my "accident" will be fixed.   Seemed awful expense to me for two pieces of conduit with a bracket welded on one end.   Oh yeah, they had to order the two pieces of conduit which will take two weeks to be delivered.   I guess taking the two pieces of conduit off and welding a new bracket onto the conduit was out of the question.   Let's see that's 10 days to get the problem just looked at another 14 days to get the parts, I bet it takes another 10-14 days to replace the parts once the parts come in.  Needless to say, I ain't happy with my dealer.

I would not recommend this dealer to anyone.   While Forest River makes a fine product, I am extremely upset with my dealer.  If you are looking for a pop up in Central AR, stay away from one RV dealer on I30 in Benton AR (the across from Browns Resturant).

[east lake hunter]

While the delay in getting the estimate, shipping the parts, and getting the job done does seem like too long, the total price is probably not unreasonable.  I hear of RV dealer's shops charging $80 to $120 per hour for shop labor. I would have guessed about 3 to 4 hours of shop time for what you described on top of the price of parts.

Getting new parts instead of making repairs to the damaged ones should protect your Forest River Warranty for the lift system, and the additional labor of making repairs in-house may have ended up costing more.

Sorry this happened, though.  When you are hopefully again soon sitting under your awning in one of the great Arkansas campgrounds, the memory of this ordeal will quickly fade.

Thanks for the words of encouragement.   I keep telling myself the same thing.

[east lake hunter]

Still NO camper.    It's now been four weeks since my dealer got my camper to work on it and they still do not have it repaired.   They can't seem to order the necessary parts.   They hope to have all the parts next week.  We'll see.

Called Flagstaff.  They are of no assistance other than to tell me that my dealer needs to look at the staffing of his shop since they should have ordered all the parts the first time.   Heck, I could have told them that, and I ain't no RV expert.   Flagstaff did tell me that to fix my problem should only take 1 to 1.5 hours to fix, provided the dealer all the parts.

If you are thinking of buying a Flagstaff popup in Central Arkansas, think again.  There is only one Flagstaff dealer in Central Arkansas, so my recommendation is to buy some other brand that's not serviced by only this particular dealer or move to some where they have better dealer.

[east lake hunter]

Finally, the PUP is back home.  My wonderful dealer got her fixed last week.  We are taking her out this weekend.  You can bet I won't forget to undo the roof latches this time.  I'm glad to my PUP home.