Hondo Garage's New Thing

• Wiley’s camper is all original and zero problems.
• Wiley’s camper is resealed. Resealing solves everything in regards to hinges.
  
• Resealing, maybe grinding down the welds and a gasket to provide a flat hinge surface fix everything for hinges.
• No customer has side panels glued to the hinge (no rivets) since it is still being tested.
  
• A customer posted a picture of their camper with the side panel glued to the hinge (no rivets). Maybe they are an unwitting tester.
  
• Wiley’s camper has a glued side panel to hinge (no rivets).
  
• Original customers will always be taken care of for design and build flaws.
  
• Original customers were only taken care of as a favor and it isn’t sustainable without a cost even if the flaw is design or build.
• An announcement that a mobile repair service will be announced.
• This announcement was in no way due to customers causing a ruckus with complaints.
• Mobile repair will be a meet and greet as well. Great, just what I want, bsing with potential customers as a marketing opportunity to show everyone how good the service is. I just want a damn repair and not some feel good postable story for someone.
• Bolt corrosion due to water intrusion is an isolated incident.
  
• A newsletter is coming, again.

Not everything adds up to me. I hope it works out quickly and favorably for all, but not holding my breath.

• I am too afraid to open my remaining original hinge.
• My replaced hinges are warped due to the welds and no gasket spacer.
• I am waiting for the camping offseason for full repair.
• My front hinge tube is filled with water and leaking on the cab doing who knows what to the truck paint.
• My bolts on one side are corroded from moisture intrusion.

Don’t mind me, I am just venting

 

As someone who's experienced all this with you and more... I'm out. Found a buyer. They know about all of it but are willing to drive to Montana to get my, soon to be theirs, camper refinished/refurbished/replaced whatever it ends up being.

The straw that broke the camel's back for me was I didn't want to pay for any warranty work, especially with all the documentation and conversation confirming all my issues were not due to anything I did.

Having to take the time off and then drive up to Montana to me shouldn't be considered as "free".

 

I definitely get it.

I liked mine until the doors fell off. After repair I want to keep it, but only if confident on the repairs.

Leer or ARE or other camper shells don’t just have hatches fall off or the water intrusion.

 

Same. Until the doors fell off I was all in... Honestly for some time after as well.

Was just a sour experience after that.

We're planning on saving for an AluCab Canopy Camper now. Felt that burned that we're willing to spend that much more to have a robust, reliable system for the truck.

 

I replaced my original GFC with an Alu-Cab Kyaha. I sold mine this past summer before any problems popped up and I haven’t heard anything from the buyer so I assume (and really hope) everything is fine with my old unit.

My one major gripe was rusting/ water intrusion into the tubes on either end but during several conversations with Graeme both online and in person I was assured Aluminum tubes were “on the way”. If I still owned mine I’d be livid having never received replacements since it was promised to me more than 6 months ago... hopefully the new buyer got himself on the replacement list because I saw on the GFC forum a while back they “lost the list” and needed to be recontacted....

While I certainly enjoyed my GFC and I had it and sold it long before this hinge issue popped up I was VERY disappointed with GFC’s communication and delivery times. I waited 1/2 a year longer than originally stated when I made the purchase.

All that said Alu-Cab quality is AMAZING absolutely no regrets about the upgrade and I of course a larger dealer network (I live on the east coast) is a HUGE benefit to me.

I have and will continue to follow along with these forums as for some reason I feel connected to GFC and I do wish them the best but the constant stories of disappointment and Graeme’s history (NOT Wiley’s he’s awesome) with Aero-Continental gives me pause. Hope they get the bugs worked out and F’ing step up and get the original ones (you know the ones that paid for everything GFC has become) taken care of.

 

Yup. I have correspondence where stainless tubes were mentioned to fix my rusting issues, lol... I think they actually meant aluminium but the promises for a fix were happening early.

Still on the original tubes.

The Khaya was on our radar till I saw the hitch tensioner bracket. I'm not a fan because I know I'd hit it. If we had a longbed though, I'm pretty sure the decision would be much harder.

We do like the canopy camper though giving us continued use of the bed. Gonna have to figure out a heater though for the wifey

 

My Khaya has a Planar Diesel Heater, it’s simply amazing warm dry air sips fuel uses almost no electricity. 100% recommended without question. Worth every penny.

 

Still not “on the way” at this time. Something about the front tube being too complicated for a field repair, waiting for instructions, or some similar hold up that always seems to occur. I don’t remember the exact details. I think rear tubes are available. Maybe I have it switched.

Looks like they are experimenting with using adhesive instead of rivets to attach the hinge to the panels. If it works there are some advantages. However, it would make some things even less field repairable. If they go sans rivets, the hinge issue better be 1000% resolved.

I worry about what other issues may show up after a couple years and 500 units in the field.

I hope they read this board still as well for feedback.

 

I don't know anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the hang up is fitment related. I'm sure they're figuring out how to guarantee fitment across all the iterations of camper they've shipped.

Steel vs Al, coatings, etc. Different materials and coatings have different clearance and tolerance considerations for proper fitment.

These materials often have different typical tube sizes and wall thickness as raw materials.

As a design engineer, I know I would've designed differently for steel v aluminum tubing and their respective coatings.

As for the gluing of hinges, I'd rather they kept the original design and figured out how to sandwich the hinge so that the design would structurally support the hinge, and continue with the rivets, as I think an easily field repairable camper would be more appealing given the intended usage.

But I'm also admittedly biased against glue in their design.

 

So I was on the NYS thruway today at around 0930 coming back from my parents in CT and I saw a MGM long bed with a GFC headed East... pretty close to the MA boarder. Besides @macdadmorgan and @Photoweekender I didn’t know there were any others in the North East. I was in driving my wife’s RAV4 adventure though so I’m sure they didn’t notice me. Who was it???

 

Oh man I feel like I’ve found this forum too late I just paid my deposit the day before yesterday for the GFC.... so is this thing not worth it?

 

The alu-cab kyaha is def bad ass I just wish you could keep your tailgate

 

My experience with mine was 100% worth it.

 

Yeah it’s amazing I love it. No complaints and I don’t miss my tailgate one bit. Though the Khaya comes off in 10 mins and it’s easy to put the tailgate back on.

 

Now I’m looking at the canopy camper!!!
What was the cost of you don’t mind me asking

 

Love mine.

 

I don’t mind at all. But realistically the beauty of Alu-Cab is they’re made to order so you can spec them out however you’d like.

https://ok4wd.com/brands/alucab

The Khaya starts at 15k (+1000 freight) and goes up to 35k-ish, though I was answering a few questions from a guy on ExpoPortal and he said prices have gone up and his with tax was VERY close to 40k... they’re a lot of money. Mine has all the bells and whistles except the rear tire carrier and shovel...

The canopy starts around 10k and you can spec it out pretty well and spend a lot more if you want. I’ve seen a few Canopies in person and they’re awesome. Rin (head Alu-Cab guy at Ok4WD) even has a Dickenson marine fire place in his it’s very cool. Worth checking out for sure, keep in mind they’re a bit different purposed than a GFC, more comparable to a 4Wh Camper. I won’t be jumping my truck with an 1100lb Khaya.

FWIW, I REALLY enjoyed my GFC while I owned it and experienced no issues.

 

I still love mine and haven't had a single problem mentioned in this dumpster fire of a thread.

 

@OverlAnderson if you're not on the GFC forum you should check it out. Most folks have left this dumpster fire as @thesloppy1 pointed out. The discussions over there are certainly honest with folks venting/talking about any issues but GFC's team answers questions etc. There's still some good info here of course but don't let all the negative bull shit get you too worked up.

 

I love dumpster fires.