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This post is to make you aware of a potential issue with the construction of the trailers.
We own a 28’ 2014 Trails West RPM Gooseneck trailer with the heated floors and all the “stuff.” We bought it and were in LOVE with it and used it all last season. It was awesome! We were able to haul five sleds or 2 razors easily with plenty of room and nice options – the heated floors were fantastic!
We wanted to put a fuel cell under it, so we crawled under about a month ago to measure and see if we could fit something in between the cross members. While under there, I noticed a crack on one end of one of the cross members! I couldn’t believe it. Then, as we looked further, we found that ALL FIVE of the cross members that are in the area where the floor goes up and over the axles are cracked on BOTH ENDS! One side has multiple cross members cracked all the way through.
We called Trails West to see what they could do to help us out since there is no reason beams like that should crack. They never called us back, so we had to call a second time. They told us since we were the second owner, they wouldn’t do anything. The warranty only extends to the first owner. Of course, they “have never heard of this” in one of their trailers.
As a business owner in the snowmobile industry, if I had someone call me with an issue “I have never seen before” I would do everything I could to ensure it wasn’t our manufacturing process that caused the issue instead of completely dismissing them. And, I would do everything possible to make that customer happy again.
So now, we have a $25,000 paperweight – at least until we figure out how to tear it apart and replace the cross members ourselves.
We think the issue will probably only show in the trailers with the heated floors. We suspect it will come down to the way that the cross members were cut to put in the heated floor. We can’t see until we tear it apart, but we also suspect that the cuts put in were square, which means that the cracks occurred at the corners of the square cuts. We will be sure to post pics of them as soon as we get the spray in foam off to see what’s up. Take a look at the pictures - The one actually looks like two beams - it's actually a break all the way through - there are two of them in the picture.
As a fellow owner of one of these trailers – I would recommend you check yours before the season starts and if you find cracks - call Trails West no matter what. They need to know if this is an issue with other trailers.
If you are the first owner, congratulations! I hope they help you out and not completely dismiss you like they did us.
We were SO excited to have this trailer!
The first cracks we saw - all 5 cross members (Passenger side).
Then we looked at the other side - this is the driver's side - broken all the way through!
More on the driver's side
We own a 28’ 2014 Trails West RPM Gooseneck trailer with the heated floors and all the “stuff.” We bought it and were in LOVE with it and used it all last season. It was awesome! We were able to haul five sleds or 2 razors easily with plenty of room and nice options – the heated floors were fantastic!
We wanted to put a fuel cell under it, so we crawled under about a month ago to measure and see if we could fit something in between the cross members. While under there, I noticed a crack on one end of one of the cross members! I couldn’t believe it. Then, as we looked further, we found that ALL FIVE of the cross members that are in the area where the floor goes up and over the axles are cracked on BOTH ENDS! One side has multiple cross members cracked all the way through.
We called Trails West to see what they could do to help us out since there is no reason beams like that should crack. They never called us back, so we had to call a second time. They told us since we were the second owner, they wouldn’t do anything. The warranty only extends to the first owner. Of course, they “have never heard of this” in one of their trailers.
As a business owner in the snowmobile industry, if I had someone call me with an issue “I have never seen before” I would do everything I could to ensure it wasn’t our manufacturing process that caused the issue instead of completely dismissing them. And, I would do everything possible to make that customer happy again.
So now, we have a $25,000 paperweight – at least until we figure out how to tear it apart and replace the cross members ourselves.
We think the issue will probably only show in the trailers with the heated floors. We suspect it will come down to the way that the cross members were cut to put in the heated floor. We can’t see until we tear it apart, but we also suspect that the cuts put in were square, which means that the cracks occurred at the corners of the square cuts. We will be sure to post pics of them as soon as we get the spray in foam off to see what’s up. Take a look at the pictures - The one actually looks like two beams - it's actually a break all the way through - there are two of them in the picture.
As a fellow owner of one of these trailers – I would recommend you check yours before the season starts and if you find cracks - call Trails West no matter what. They need to know if this is an issue with other trailers.
If you are the first owner, congratulations! I hope they help you out and not completely dismiss you like they did us.
We were SO excited to have this trailer!
The first cracks we saw - all 5 cross members (Passenger side).
Then we looked at the other side - this is the driver's side - broken all the way through!
More on the driver's side
