Dangerous RVs from Damon Corp.
Charlie Burke
John R. Adsit wrote:
>
> --
> Beware of anything made by Damon Corporation of Elkhart, Ind. They are
> selling extremely unsafe vehicles that not even be allowed on the road.
> Some are several thousand pounds over the GVWR of the chassis. Let the
> buyer beware.
> --
That statment border's on the libelous, would you care to be more
specific? Surely not everything they make is unsafe. They are after all
the 4th largest manufacturer in the industry. Is is possible the dealer
misrepresented the product??
John R. Adsit
Vince
On 24 Dec 1996 01:26:12 GMT, "John R. Adsit" <jad...@pacbell.net>
wrote:
John,
I have a 96 32.5 ft Intruder by Damon. I had my rig weighed after I
loaded with fuel, water, lp, food and what I intended to carry. The
weighing was performed by Certified Automated Truck Scale Company
(CAT) My front axle was 5310, my drive axle was 8500 and my gross
weight was 13,810. My rig is on a Chevrolet chassis and according
to the book, my GVWR should not exceed 14,800 and My GCWR should not
exceed 17,000. When towing my Saturn , I am still be below the
recommended GCWR.
I was 10 pounds overweight on the front axle and well below limits
overall. Jokingly, I told the wife she couldn't sit in the front any
more, until one of us lost 10 lbs.
At first I was afraid to get the rig weighed after hearing many
stories about rigs being overweight from the factory. I'm not
sweating 10 lbs and now have peace of mind. I called Michelin tire
company and they sent me some info on weighing. The one thing I did
not do was weigh side to side. They recommend this so you know what
weights are on all the tires.
The book indicates that Ford Chassis is allowed 2200 lbs more in the
GVWR and 8,000 more for GCWR.
I'm sure there are Damon products out there that are overweight as
well as fleetwoods etc. Especially those with Slideouts on the same
size chassis.
Vince
John Adsit
I purchased a 96 Damon Ultrasport 30' Model 3001B. The GVWR is 11,500# (95
ford chassis). The empty weight is 12,050# with absolutely nothing on or in
exc. house battery. With 4 pass. (2 adults, 2kids), fuel, propane, water,
some kitchen utensils, 3 days food, and 2 changes of clothes it weighs in
at 13,400#. That is 1,900# over the GVWR. I think Damon is pushing it a
little on this model. Email me if you would like to see the weight
certificates. John Adsit
Charlie Burke <bu...@micron.net> wrote in article
<32BF3F...@micron.net>...
> John R. Adsit wrote:
> >
> > --
> > Beware of anything made by Damon Corporation of Elkhart, Ind. They are
> > selling extremely unsafe vehicles that not even be allowed on the road.
> > Some are several thousand pounds over the GVWR of the chassis. Let the
> > buyer beware.
> > --
>
Vince
On 24 Dec 1996 06:00:43 GMT, "John Adsit" <jad...@pacbell.net> wrote:
>I purchased a 96 Damon Ultrasport 30' Model 3001B. The GVWR is 11,500# (95
>ford chassis). The empty weight is 12,050# with absolutely nothing on or in
>exc. house battery. With 4 pass. (2 adults, 2kids), fuel, propane, water,
>some kitchen utensils, 3 days food, and 2 changes of clothes it weighs in
>at 13,400#. That is 1,900# over the GVWR. I think Damon is pushing it a
>little on this model. Email me if you would like to see the weight
>certificates. John Adsit
>
John,
In my Intruder's manual, it says if you believe that your vehicle has
a defect which could cause a crash or cause injury or death, you
should immediately inform the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration in addition to notifying Damon Corp. I agree with you
that this is more than just a little over weight.
To contact NHTSA , you can call the Auto Safety Hotline at
1-800-424-9393. Perhaps if we complain loudly enough, laws to govern
the builders or RV's can be tightened!
Vince
Ralph Lindberg & Ellen Winnie
In article <32bf57f8...@netnews.worldnet.att.net>,
cwo...@worldnet.att.net ( Vince) wrote:
>
>I'm sure there are Damon products out there that are overweight as
>well as fleetwoods etc. Especially those with Slideouts on the same
>size chassis.
Generally the problems on over-weight RV's tends more towards the units
with slide-outs. There are acceptions, but it's still a problem.
The new RVIA weight standards will help, but they only apply to '97 and
on models.
--
Ralph Lindberg N7BSN
RV and Camping FAQ <http://kendaco.telebyte.net/rlindber/rv/
They call it "Sur'n the Net" 'cause you can wipe out so easy
wi...@epix.net
In Article<01bbf138$85501060$191caace@bosshog>,
<jad...@pacbell.net> writes:
> Beware of anything made by Damon Corporation of Elkhart, Ind.
>They are selling extremely unsafe vehicles that not even be
>allowed on the road. Some are several thousand pounds over the
>GVWR of the chassis. Let the buyer beware.
While the caution is GENERALLY valid because the problem of
overloading is widespread, it is unfair, IMO, to claim ALL
Damon's products are "unsafe". Every buyer of an RV should
carefully check the weight question before paying the money.
1) Check the weight rating plate to see what the ratings are.
Not just GVWR, but axle ratings. Do they add up?
2) Check the tires. The fine print will tell what the TIRE is
rated to carry. Don't be astonished if you find a mismatch!
3) WEIGH the rig... advertising literature is notoriously
unreliable, for both good and bad reasons:
a) A good reason is that makers have a hard time
giving a useful weight figure when there are so many
options that affect the weight.
b) A bad reason is that marketers want to appeal to the
largest possible group of buyers, especially those who
want light weight!
4) Make allowances for what you REALLY want to carry. We have
seen several rigs with ADVERTISED carrying capacity of less than
500 pounds! Not that they bragged about it, but the difference
between the claimed weight and the GVWR was that -- or less!
Will KD3XR
Richard Hart
I have a 96 Damon Daybreak 2740 (on a Chev) and it handles worst than
either of two Class C's I have had (on Fords). The tag indicates max.
GVW of 12,300 with front axle of 4800 and rear of 7500. I checked it a
few weeks ago with no water in any tanks, half full fuel tank and half
full propane, but with sone food, cloths and other gear. Total was 11,
900, with front axle 4000 and rear 7880. I feel it would be very
difficult to carry a reasonalbe load and be legal on the real axle.
In my opinion the vehcile should have been on a longer and higer gross
weight chasssi. The propane tank, genrator, water and waste tanks are
all on the left side and to take care of this they have put a rear spring
with one more leaf in it on that side. I've wondered if they had to get
some type of approval to do this? There seems to be a problem
especially when other vehicles pass me. The wind strikes the rear and
because of the short wheel base, it twists the front very noticeably
towards the other vehicle.
I wonder if Damon checks the front alignments after building the coach.
I had to buy new front tires and get an alignment recently.
Danny Hanna
John Adsit wrote:
>
> I purchased a 96 Damon Ultrasport 30' Model 3001B. The GVWR is 11,500# (95
> ford chassis). The empty weight is 12,050# with absolutely nothing on or in
> exc. house battery. With 4 pass. (2 adults, 2kids), fuel, propane, water,
> some kitchen utensils, 3 days food, and 2 changes of clothes it weighs in
> at 13,400#. That is 1,900# over the GVWR. I think Damon is pushing it a
> little on this model. Email me if you would like to see the weight
> certificates. John Adsit
>
> <32BF3F...@micron.net>...
> > John R. Adsit wrote:
> > >
> > > --
> > > selling extremely unsafe vehicles that not even be allowed on the road.
> > > Some are several thousand pounds over the GVWR of the chassis. Let the
> > > buyer beware.
> >
> > That statment border's on the libelous, would you care to be more
> > specific? Surely not everything they make is unsafe. They are after all
> > the 4th largest manufacturer in the industry. Is is possible the dealer
> > misrepresented the product??
> >
ba...@eskimo.com
wi...@epix.net wrote:
>
>In Article<01bbf138$85501060$191caace@bosshog>,
><jad...@pacbell.net> writes:
>
>> Beware of anything made by Damon Corporation of Elkhart, Ind.
>>They are selling extremely unsafe vehicles that not even be
>>allowed on the road. Some are several thousand pounds over the
>>GVWR of the chassis. Let the buyer beware.
>
>While the caution is GENERALLY valid because the problem of
>overloading is widespread, it is unfair, IMO, to claim ALL
>Damon's products are "unsafe". Every buyer of an RV should
>carefully check the weight question before paying the money.
<Snip>
The problem of overweight RV's has been of concern for several years.
Most manufacturers are implementing the new weight labeling for 1997
but it is a voluntary effort by those wishing to take action before
legislation is forced upon them.
With the current knowledge of the weight problems, IMO, Damon Corp.
should be suspect for producing ANY vehicle that is already overweight
before there is any liquid, people or belongings loaded.
John
Ray Bailey
Vince wrote:
>
>
> I'm sure there are Damon products out there that are overweight as
> well as fleetwoods etc. Especially those with Slideouts on the same
> size chassis.
>
> Vince
I know you're right about your conclusions, Vince. I recently visited a
dealership that specializes in Fleetwood motorhomes. Now I obviously
didn't weigh any of the units on display, but there was an indication of
not-too-far down the road troubles for the new owners of a number of the
slide-out units.
Being particularly familiar with the GM chassis, I crawled under the
front-ends of a couple of those units, each with leveling jacks deployed
to some extent. Both new coaches were already nearly bottomed-out on
the front suspension. These coaches were completely unloaded.
Next thing the purchaser wonders, some 15,000 miles later: "I wonder why
the MH is lower on the left (or right) side now?" Answer: overloaded
springs collapse quickly once on the road.
Been thru all that and fixed that before.
Ray
George Lowry
Everybody with vehicle that are overgross should consider contacting the
National Highway Transportation Safety Agency (NHTSA). They are
interested in these type of problems.
George