25,000 mile check-in: Everything that has gone wrong in our ATC Gamechanger Pro
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One of our favorite parts of the Florida RV SuperShow was talking with other RVers about our ATC Gamechanger Pro toyhauler. We've put about 25,000 towing miles in since we picked it up in October 2021. ATC – Aluminum Trailer Company – began as a manufacturer of car haulers and utility trailers before it segued into building recreational toyhaulers. Because of this, we are usually the only one of our kind at any campground we go to. In fact, during one conversation with ATC, we racked our brains to figure out if we've ever seen another one in any campground. Not counting for RV rallies/events (we saw one at the Escapade last year and think there was one more at the Balloon Fiesta), we have remained our one-of-a-kind selves. That could mean some bad news for ATC because I'm sure they want nothing more than to sell tons of these trailers, but it's not all bad. We've seen quite a few on the road, passing by our "trailer twins" on both interstates and backroads alike. I made two jokes with ATC that day. 1, we know we're near an ATC dealer because we start seeing more on the road. And 2, we always want to beep our horn and wave, but then we realized lots of them might actually just be people transporting them to the dealers. Perhaps those jokes were not in the best taste, but it is true that, in the RV world, we are not common. In the utility trailer world, we even saw other RV manufacturers using ATC trailers to haul their equipment to the RV show! Ah, the irony. Personally, I love being out-of-the-box and always have. I hate following trends. The more popular something becomes, the more I have an adverse reaction. Case in point: You will never see me drinking out of a Stanley cup, bopping around to Taylor Swift. So the ATC fits me to a T.
All that said, what this company lacks in quantity more than makes up for it with quality. Many people we've spoken to don't own an ATC, but when they find out we have one, they rave about it. We've noticed that at campgrounds, and we saw it again at the RV show. People always ask us if the quality is as good as they've heard, and we say yes. There is a reason ATC can offer an unprecedented 10-year structural warranty. These babies are definitely built to last.
Our conversations led us down memory lane, as we recapped what we've needed to fix in the 2+ years we've had our trailer, and what we chose to upgrade. We told people that most of the repairs were third party items and appliances which would be found on any RV. We also shared our story about how we opted out of using ATC furniture and instead brought in our own. All in all, we proudly tell people that, in 25,000 miles, our trailer has held up incredibly well. And for the things that have broken, we always try to use these instances as an opportunity to upgrade or get something that we really want.
This is our list of what has broken or caused us problems since we took delivery, not counting the few accident-related issues, which were our own fault.
The coupler on our tongue
Starting at the front, we first have our coupler. We spent the first 3 months of our full-time life having the hardest time hitching up our rig because our coupler wouldn't cup our hitch ball properly. The latch mechanism works by closing a "jaw" around the ball when we lower the latch, only our latch was loose and jiggly, causing the jaw to shift as it closed. Thankfully, we never needed to worry about coming unhitched while towing because we could always tell when the ball wasn't latched in properly, but this issue would add several minutes to our hitching up time. So in May of that year, when we got to our first maintenance appointment at our dealer, we switched out the coupler and, unbeknownst to us, got our first forced upgrade. We thought we'd get an exact replacement, but the coupler we got instead is so much sturdier and works amazingly.
Our generator
Our on-board Cummins generator is great. The COVID era was making these generators hard to come by, so initially we thought we weren't going to get one right away, but they scrounged around and found us one. Having an on-board generator is super bougie. All we need to do is push a button on our control panel, and on it goes. Plus it's much less noisy than the external ones. That said, we have had some issues with our generator. First off, the exhaust pipe might as well not even exist. It doesn't route the exhaust far enough away from our rig, so when the air breezes in the right direction, the fumes travel right back into our rig via the storage bay. We've looked into solutions for this and think we found one. We just haven't applied it yet. Besides that, we've had some minor issues with the generator not working due to heat and general maintenance, and when it needs professional maintenance, it's a nuisance because we can't just take it off and bring it somewhere. We need to cart the whole rig. But this is a small price to pay for the ease of the on-board generator.
Speaking of our storage bay, we were having serious ventilation issues due to our generator exhaust and heat. These issues were exacerbated when we upgraded our inverter, which does not run well unless it's nice and cool. We call this a forced upgrade, simply because we can't run our inverter without it, but last fall we added a fan to help ventilate the storage bay. So far on hot days it's worked like a charm, and we hope it stays that way as summer rolls around.
Yes, we get mold
One of ATC's claims to fame is that, because it's all aluminum, there's no risk of mold! YAYYY! Only this isn't quite the whole story. We do get mold. The trailer is not well-insulated, so moisture gets into the windows and crevices, and we've even noticed mold buildup when one of our belongings, like a pillow or something, is sitting against the wall for too long. What we don't get, however, is rot. The mold we get is not detrimental to the integrity of our RV, and most of the time it gets killed with a Clorox wipe and degreaser. Wood RVs are much more susceptible to rot, and we really don't need to worry about it. Again, they're built to last.
But we have found wood!
We have had a couple of discoveries over the past couple of years, where despite being a no-wood trailer, we have still found wood and wood-related products. One was behind our headboard. We didn't like the aesthetic of our headboard, and so we cut fabric to serve as an upholstery cover. Months later, we got sick of the cover constantly bunching up and falling off, and I had reached the end of my rope. I wanted that headboard out of there and didn't care if it meant ripping it off the wall and leaving holes. Well, good thing I let my rage win, because the headboard was attached via wood particle board - GASP! - and even worse, there was tons of mold growing between it and the wall. Right where our heads had slept for about 15 months at that point. Ew. So we threw that headboard in the dumpster and scrubbed the mold away, which thankfully came off easily. Now, no more particle board, and we've replaced our headboard with some beautiful adhesive headboard cushions that we love...when they're staying up successfully, which is 95% of the time. To complete the look, we also purchased this headboard cushion, because we're bougie...and because it's way more comfortable because we're no longer trying to sit against a curved wall.
The other time we found wood was when we switched out our front door lock for an RV lock with a keypad. I'll talk about that upgrade in detail in the next post, but to our surprise, when we took the old lock out, we found that a piece of wood was being used as a shim to keep it in place.
Speaking of the front door...
We have a whole plethora of front door problems. Neither door is aligned properly, so when the screen door is shut, it leaves a hole in the top right corner – enough for fairly sizeable bugs to get through. We don't typically leave our front door open anyway because the wind often blows our door so it slams, and we keep it closed as extra security for the pets, but it would be nice to have a screen door that actually fits properly. One of our door screens also came out because the netting was too short to be secured by the spline. I fixed it. Now we're having the same issue with one of our window screens. I haven't fixed it because, unlike the door, that would entail popping out the whole window, and that's a job I don't want to undertake.
But back to the door. The screen door has its problems, and so does the actual front door. It also isn't aligned properly, so for months the bottom of it kept scraping the plate where our steps rest over our door frame. We thought it was a steps problem, which it partially was, but replacing our steps only resulted in a partial improvement. We ended up needing to remove one of the screws holding the door trim to the bottom of the door (don't worry, there are still two more), and we have to regularly lubricate the bottom of the door with WD-40 to keep it from sticking.
From the door to the window
These are really tiny, but we have one window where the arm (that little bracket that expands when it's cranked open) has detached from the rest of the window, making it hard to open and close. We also have one cabinet door latch that busted and needed to be replaced, and a few others that seem to be hanging on for dear life. That said, these latches have worked incredibly well for keeping our doors and drawers shut and locked on travel days. That's a huge deal. Even the broken latch broke in the closed position, so we didn't need to worry about those cabinet contents spilling out.
From the window to the wall
When we picked up the RV, we noticed a few spots where the Azdel (our wall material) had been gouged. It was disappointing in a brand new trailer, but fast forward 2+ years and we have gouged, peeled, and torn so many parts of this Azdel that it's all just part of what makes the trailer feel lived in. And one of the OG gouges is now covered up by our new kitchen backsplash.
Sometimes aluminum isn't all its cracked up to be
Because much of our rig is made out of aluminum sheets, sometimes those sheets are a little too skinny and flexible for their own good. We want cabinets, not a ballerina! Our bed platform is comprised of two thin sheets of aluminum with styrofoam shoved in between them. The platform is riveted together, but on two occasions, the rivets have come out and our platform has separated. We're patiently awaiting a third time, but now we're ready, as we bought a riveting gun for Christmas. The second that thing starts to separate again, we'll quick draw that gun faster than Clint Eastwood.
The cabinet above our bed also has some sheet aluminum that's supposed to be attached. We initially thought that was riveted too, but it turns out it was only attached with adhesive, and that adhesive has worn off. We inspected it very closely and it's not at risk of falling down or anything, but this caving effect isn't really what we're going for. We already tried to fix it ourselves once and asked ATC to fix it once. It's only gotten worse.
Then we have the constant aluminum oxide that seems to rub off on everything. We have put contact paper in most of our drawers and cabinets, but it only partially helps. The oxide has left stains on clothes and has even gotten on some of our plates and bowls. We've looked up ways to remediate it, but all the scrub solutions we've tried haven't helped enough. I mean, it happens literally when the aluminum is exposed to air. We kind of need air in our trailer.
Two water pump deaths and a lot of comas
This is one of the more common RV problems, but our water pumps do not like to work properly. We've already replaced ours twice, and now we have one that's supposed to be better, but it falls out of proper adjustment every time we travel. Sometimes it readjusts itself on its own, which is kind of weird, but we just go with it.
The toilet
We have talked about our toilet woes until we're flushed in the face. After problems with our foot pedal that we failed to repair, we ended up buying a whole new toilet in what was one of our biggest forced upgrades. Since then, our toilet woes have been mostly behind us, but we think something might be wrong with our black tank. We can't say more about it yet, but we're hoping to get to the bottom of it during this season of travel.
We thought the toilet was a big upgrade
Hey, remember when we discovered that our axles were bending and we needed to get them replaced, and then we got stuck in Utah's deep earth and then really needed to get them replaced? That was our biggest forced upgrade. Technically, our old axles were rated for our rig, but they were not rated as high as we were led to believe. Now, we have heavier-duty axles that we think are working great. The jury is still out on that one, too. But we are happy to have these better axles. Speaking of which, unlike most RVs, ATC trailers use torsion axles, so that means we have less maintenance and don't need to worry about leaf springs breaking as we barrel down the road. The downside to that, though, is that if something happens with our axle, it's not as simple as just replacing a part. It's a small downside, because we'd much rather have the smooth ride that we get with our torsion axles. Our travel-day earthquakes are bad enough.
That not-so-fresh feeling
Early on in our travels, our fresh tank heater burned a hole into our fresh tank, which began to leak. We got that repaired and it became a distant memory, until we set out for our 3rd year of travels and immediately started having issues with one of our fresh tank brackets coming loose. I always say, I'd much rather have it be fresh water than gray or black!
It's electric
We have heated tanks and lines, which have come in handy when we winter camp, but last year we discovered that our line heaters weren't working due to a faulty connection.
We also had a severed wire that caused our driver's side blinker to stop working. That took a lot of troubleshooting to diagnose, and eventually we needed to call in a mobile tech.
We will never complain about our little electric problems though, because our ATC went through this and came out unscathed. You should have seen the other guy! And by other guy, we mean the electric cord. And the extension cord. And my parents' garage doors.
The kitchen
Our only kitchen problems have been with the third-party appliances. The seal around our fridge door keeps coming off and we haven't found a more permanent fix than just shoving it back into place each time we notice it. It's not a top priority at the moment. A higher priority appliance problem was when the door to our microwave broke and we needed to find a new microwave while we were in the middle of nowhere in Montana. But we got our new microwave, and while it's the same model as the old one, we bought silver instead of black, which we love. Only, the clock has never worked on this microwave. At least the door does.
The patio
We are so glad we got the patio package with the upgraded screen, but unfortunately, the screen is just a tad too small to adequately fit into its frame. That seems to be a theme with screens on ATCs. We almost got it replaced once, but then more issues took precedence. We haven't decided if it's worth the time and effort. When we have our patio down on a windy day, we just keep an eye on the screen to make sure it hasn't blown out of its holds.
Our railings tuck inside our trailer when not in use, and when we set up our patio, we wheel them out on casters that are screwed into the bottom rails. These casters fall off constantly, to the point where we just stopped screwing them back in. The railings still have enough wheels to move in and out fluidly, so we just keep the other ones in a box where they will stay forever because we will never actually put them back on. The railings latch into little brackets that line our patio, and one of these latches has busted too. It's small potatoes and our railings are still secure enough, so we don't bother putting it on our fix-it list.
All the small things
A few small things have gone wrong, like the window arm and door latch mentioned earlier. Neither of them derails our travels in any way. Added to the small problems are our bathroom light switch cover that doesn't stay on, and one of our cabinet shelves that was bent out of shape when we picked up the rig. Easy solutions to both. For the light switch, I used Nano tape to stick it back on. For the shelf, we threw it out! We were putting the pets' food bags in that cabinet anyway and needed the space. Problem solved!
This might seem like a long list, but when we break it all down, most of these problems are miniscule. Very few forced us to change our travel plans, and many of them are problems with third-party products that are used in all RVs. The things that matter, like structural integrity, we don't have to worry about. We always feel safe on the road, and that is of the utmost importance to us.