Roadtrek parts availability

[booster]

This showed up on the Roadtrek Yahoo board today, and is very interesting and bit hopeful. I put it here as a new discussion so it would be easier to find in the future and not buried in the other discussions. The poster is a long term Ecotrek owner who has had lots of replacements done of parts in the past.

ALL Roadtrek parts are available with the right resources. Most are off-the-shelf parts including the inverter (PowerStar), VoltStart (iDataStart remote start) and engine generator (Nations Alternator and Generator). The EcoTreks may be difficult to obtain since they were wholesaled to Roadtrek from China, but I know of at least one person who has them in stock purchased from the same vendor Roadtrek got them from. As far as the warranty, that’s pretty much defunct since there is no more company to honor it – unless some miracle happens.

If the parts are drop in or close to it, I would expect some ex-Roadtrek tech or engineer to get into the parts and repair business very quickly. Of course it won't be cheap, though.

[tkljr]

Thanks for that info. I've been considering going from a Class C (Forester 3011DS) to a B. I was leaning toward a Zion but was hesitant due to the uncertainty around Hymer NA. Now I'm thinking this may be an opportunity to get a great deal with the understanding that there won't be a warranty on the EcoTrek system (I assume the appliances, A/C, etc would still have their respective mfr warrantys and the chassis warranty from Dodge would still be in effect).

I've read about EcoTrek teething issues but can anyone comment on reliability for 2018 models?

It could also depend on who owns an unsold vehicle on a dealer lot, if it's still Hymer NA then I guess still considering a Zion is pointless


Tom

[wincrasher]

there is already a tech posting in the FB group that he can do repair and diagnose repair the Ecotrek/Voltrek items. He says he knows all the suppliers to Roadtrek.

That may very well be, but he may be intending to replace the proprietary circuitboards and programming with an alternate product, I don't know. Or maybe it's not all that complicated as we all assume.

[mumkin]

Originally Posted by tkljr

...I was leaning toward a Zion but was hesitant due to the uncertainty around Hymer NA. Now I'm thinking this may be an opportunity to get a great deal with the understanding that there won't be a warranty on the EcoTrek system (I assume the appliances, A/C, etc would still have their respective mfr warrantys and the chassis warranty from Dodge would still be in effect).

Tom

Check this Zion out. This is my very good dealership up in MN and they slashed their prices over a month ago when this news broke. I don't know if it has lithiums or not. Their website is often slow to update. You are correct that the normal warranty on platform and appliances would be good. And you could likely negotiate a long term 3rd party warranty on it. This is a fantastic price...

https://www.lakeregionrvs.com/defaul...=xNewInventory

[RV-RDer]

The company manufacturing lithiums for roadtrek is KS2 corp in Canada they might be willing to sell them directly given the current situation: ks2corp.com

[markopolo]

Hopefully some owners of problematic units see this as an opportunity to actually improve their units.

One improvement could be doing away with the modular approach of 2 X 200Ah battery packs and instead having 1 X 400Ah battery pack. That should result in a reduction of the parasitic losses we've heard about.

Another nice or perhaps even necessary upgrade would be to put a high end inverter/charger in and get rid of the little known brand inverter/charger.

At the same time they could add a good battery monitoring system so the the owner gets good and accurate information about the battery state of charge.

[GeorgeB]

Originally Posted by mumkin

Check this Zion out. This is my very good dealership up in MN and they slashed their prices over a month ago when this news broke. ... This is a fantastic price...

https://www.lakeregionrvs.com/defaul...=xNewInventory

If you're in for a purchase in the long term it might be interesting but be aware that the resale value might not be on par with other B vans conversion. It all depends if EHGNA gets dismantled or is bought by a competitor. One thing we can be sure of is that we are witnessing a major disruption of the B market in NA.

More than 25 000$ savings on all these Hymers!
https://rv.campingworld.com/product/...7QYKJy8yFPj6YA.

p.s.: My my! I wasn't expecting to witness this situation 5 years after canceling an order with Roadtrek. When we visited the company to confirm the specs of our SS AGILE we didn't have a good feeling. The mood at the company wasn't very positive. I understand now that they just started to work at that time with the infamous "Bud Wheels" trio! We had many conflictual information about their available systems, specially with their flaky electrical systems (even before the ecotrek revolution!). So glad we had a chance to cancel the order when our "BTO" van arrived at our dealer without the special requests we made at the factory and with many changes that were made without our consent!


Weird to see that it all disappeared from the web:
(My Flipboard app)

[Yoshimura]

Originally Posted by mumkin

You are correct that the normal warranty on platform and appliances would be good.

How warranty on appliance would works? You contact the manufacturer? What about proof of purchase?

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by mumkin

Check this Zion out. This is my very good dealership up in MN and they slashed their prices over a month ago when this news broke. This is a fantastic price...

https://www.lakeregionrvs.com/defaul...=xNewInventory

I hope they are ethical enough to tell potential customers that as of this moment Roadtrek is out of business and the warranty is zip.

Originally Posted by Yoshimura

How warranty on appliance would works? You contact the manufacturer? What about proof of purchase?

Appliance manufacturers should still honor their warranties. However, most are only a year or two, versus Roadtrek touting their six-year warranty. Quite a difference.
.

[wincrasher]

I wouldn't count on any honesty from dealers. It's definitely "buyer beware" time.

Folks that do what they call "research" by looking at a few facebook pages and maybe looking at a few rigs on an RV lot or at a show and trusting what dealers say are going to get screwed and most likely pay too much.

I find it still amazing that some people still walk in and pay full list or think 5% off RV show prices are a good deal. But it happens every day! They are what we used to refer to as "suckers".

[gregmchugh]

Posted today by Tony Pineda, independent RT service provider in CA...

Please don’t tell anyone the following:
I’ve been performing Lithium battery repairs for over a year now and have a stock of amp sensors, BMS and other related parts.
I can purchase lithium’s and inverters from the same people that Roadtrek did.
I have lithium’s in stock
I have inverters in stock
I’m fully certified with Alde and stock parts
I have all the diagnostic tools for lithium’s, Espar and VoltStart
I also do any and all custom work
I can repair some GUs and have them in stock
I work closely with all the suppliers to continue to supply parts and service to Roadtrek owners
Remember, it’s a secret

[Bud]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

I wouldn't count on any honesty from dealers. It's definitely "buyer beware" time.

Folks that do what they call "research" by looking at a few facebook pages and maybe looking at a few rigs on an RV lot or at a show and trusting what dealers say are going to get screwed and most likely pay too much.

I find it still amazing that some people still walk in and pay full list or think 5% off RV show prices are a good deal. But it happens every day! They are what we used to refer to as "suckers".

Not a very nice name for folks that subsidized your B!

The same with gym memberships.

[avanti]

I wouldn't lose too much sleep about parts availability, except perhaps in the very short run. Obviously, RT must have a significant inventory of parts, and it is going to go somewhere (and not the landfill). One way or another, they will end up available. Clearly, very little is actual proprietary, and even the exceptions will take care of themselves.

It has been more than 30 years since DeLorean went out of business, and there is still a huge warehouse of NOS parts down in Texas. You can literally build a new one from parts if you want to.

Knowhow is another matter, which is why I limited my previous rosy recommendation to DIYers.

[mumkin]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

I hope they are ethical enough to tell potential customers that as of this moment Roadtrek is out of business and the warranty is zip..

I can damn near guarantee that this dealer would inform any buyers of the situation and will very likely include an extended warranty. I have purchased 4 RVs from Lake Region RV and they have a sterling reputation that they have earned since the day Dale Borstad started it. Rare these days... but there are good dealers out there... and tend to be the smaller, family owned, business.

And they have a great service department. When there was an issue with the fridge in my new rig, they didn't go to RT, but properly to the appliance company.

[stevebass]

FWIW, lots of Dodge and Chevy parts are available at Parts Geek:
http://bit.ly/2DZ2vg1

[blueridgetraveler]

This is what is being displayed on a NC dealer's website so at least they are making people aware of the issue. In my opinion, they are still asking too much for the Axions they have on the lot though.

[RossWilliams]

Originally Posted by RV-RDer

The company manufacturing lithiums for roadtrek is KS2 corp in Canada they might be willing to sell them directly given the current situation: ks2corp.com

There was a report that ks2 announced it is warranting the lithium batteries.

[RossWilliams]

"there are good dealers out there... and tend to be the smaller, family owned, business."

I think people underestimate that importance of the dealer. They buy on price and then get what they pay for. Both of the Roadtrek dealers we dealt, Lake Region RV and Steinbring Motors were great. Steinbring sales guy flat out told us to go with a used Roadtrek RS at a different dealer if we could get it at the same price as the new Zion they had on the lot.

On the other hand, we basically took the Hymer Activ off our list because of the dealer.

If the Roadtrek receiver is smart, the first thing they will do is get their parts department up and running and work on repairing their relationships with dealers. I think we forget, dealers make up the bulk of their customers even if we are the ultimate buyers.

[mumkin]

Originally Posted by blueridgetraveler

This is what is being displayed on a NC dealer's website so at least they are making people aware of the issue. In my opinion, they are still asking too much for the Axions they have on the lot though.

What are they asking? See Grins is selling theirs for $48K... if they have any left.

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by RossWilliams

There was a report that ks2 announced it is warranting the lithium batteries.

They are giving a 3 year warranty on new ones bought from them but are not providing any warranty on the ones they produced for Erwin Hymer that are already installed in vans. They will be providing spart parts for service of the Ecotrek batteries also.