Hopefully I'm not kicking a sleeping dog here, but maybe I can shed some light on some of the topics discussed here.
1. DT's Lippert chassis's and hydraulics arrive preassembled and nearly ready to go.
2. At this point, any DT product that has hydraulic issues will automatically recieve the new updated "Enhancement Kit" that includes a pump assembly and a delay box for the front legs. The delay box removes the "dip" you get when you try to lift the coach. The issue was that the system had to build pressure to lift the coach and untill that pressure was reached, the coach would drift or drop down first. The delay box runs the pump first for a few seconds, then opens the valve for the jacks.
3. Some of the earlier DT's using the Lippert landing gear had issues with the chrome plating chipping off of the rams, tearing up the seals and causing external and internal leaks within the cylinders. If you've ever tried to raise your unit up, heard the pump run, but nothing moved, you've got an internal leak in either jack. Another symptom is when trying to lift the coach off of the tow vehicle, it will quit moving just shy of seperating from the hitch. The fix? Replacing the offending cylinder as a unit and a close inspection of the fluid in the tank. If there was a great deal of debris, the pump ass'y should also be replaced.
4.Lippert has gone through a pretty heavy restaffing. They also had a little problem with flooding from a nearby river last year (around this time if I remember right). It really threw them for a loop and made it difficult to do anything for a while, which brings me to my next point...
5. I too (or more specifically the company I work for) have had some issues with Lippert not paying their bills in a timely fashion. Though that has been cleared up for quite some time now (once those items I pointed out in #3 were squared away, it was back to buisness as usual), it made it very hard for us to help those that needed it. I can understand the dealers stance and not wanting to take on any unit that wasn't purchased from their lot. However, its not a decision that is taken lightly. Its really a double edged sword. You don't want to take a huge monetary loss because no one is paying for the work, but at the same time you don't want to dirty your otherwise good reputation (and losing even more money) by not doing the work in the first place. Ultimatly you have to make a buisness decision and cut the most painful losses and hope everything comes back around quickly. Buisnesses reserve that right to refuse to offer service at their descretion. No one likes to do it, but sometimes it has to be done.
6. Lipperts warranty on their systems for towables are 5 years from the
build date of the coach, not the purchase date. As far as I know, they are the only ones that do that. But still, unless you buy last years closeout, you still have 3-4 years before you'll be footing any hydraulic repair bills.
