Franklin Furniture

[SuiteSuccess]

The Franklin Furniture in our new to us camper is junk.  The camper is a 2017 Mobile Suites 39 DBRS3 and had only been out three times prior to our purchase.  We noticed on our first outing flaking on the headrest of the recliners which has now proceeded to complete dissolution of the outer leatherette covering down to the underlying fabric.  Since the furniture is by age two years old, don’t expect Franklin to do anything.  We like the double wall hugger recliner with console concept so what brands would you replace with?  We are leaning towards Lazy Boy or Flexsteel.

[SWharton]

We put Lazy Boy in our RV and have been very happy. Put in inexpensive recliners and they are still fine after 10 years.

[billr]

We put lazyboy in our last unit about 6 yrs ago and the leather peeled off badly. Denied warranty claim even with extended.

Still have over 20 yr lazyboy in house and it’s ok. Guess they put cheep leather in now. 

Try Lambright furniture in Topeka Indiana. Amish owned and hand built stuff. He has all sizes and types colors etc. tables too. Matches DRV stuff well. He is well familiar selling lots to RVrs   

Lots of folks recommended them to us  we ordered and pickup end of month  

We spoke with at least four others while in the showroom that we’re replacing DRV furniture or ordered without furniture like we did   

 

See link here http://rv-dreams.typepad.com/rvdreams_journal/2014/09/visit-to-lambright-comfort-chairs-goshen-in.html

[solo318]

Any good upholstery shop can reskin them in quality material. I can recommend a good one in Central Florida if you're in the area.

 

[SWharton]

We used the fabric Lazy Boy and no wear after 10 years. We have cats so leather-like isn't an option.

[Rover]

The leather (like?) material on our recliners in our 2015 Forest River is also peeling. But as all the mechanics still work and they are very comfortable, we decided to buy covers for them until something else comes up that would make us replace them. 

We got the covers from Amazon and they work really well. They have a non-slip backing that keeps them in place and are a soft almost velour type fabric. Figure it will give us a couple more years usage out of the recliners.

Vicki

 

[RV_]

We buy top grain cowhide or top grain leather only. The composition of "bonded" leather is ground up leather mixed with glues and some type of urethane or other vinyl like substance. Those will peel. Top grain leather is one piece animal skin and will not peel. Poor quality processing may result in cracks or seams that break but none of the things described here which I did have happen to a cheap Office Depot $99 on sale Executive office chair I bought here. I switched to Sealy big man office chairs for only twice the price. Same bonded but good quality bonded as it has lasted longer than the other with no signs of wear. Read the material tags.

[MWA]

We traded out our furniture from our 2004 in 2012 at the rally with furniture from Lambrights. The furniture is now in a 2014 DRV and is working well and the fabric is still great, still like new at 6+ years. Great stuff and we are full timers. Best of luck.

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Carl, RVs for Less at one time was ordering all there new DRV's without any furniture and adding Lambright at their place.

Lazy Boy and Flexsteel RV are also good choices but we had ours built by Bassett to fit our trailer.

[Zulu]

Look at Bradd & Hall too.

[SuiteSuccess]

17 hours ago, GeorgiaHybrid said:

Carl, RVs for Less at one time was ordering all there new DRV's without any furniture and adding Lambright at their place.

Lazy Boy and Flexsteel RV are also good choices but we had ours built by Bassett to fit our trailer.

Thanks for all the input.  Lambright looks interesting.

[MnP]

1 hour ago, SuiteSuccess said:

Thanks for all the input.  Lambright looks interesting.

We bought a couch and 2 end tables from Lambrights this spring. Excellent quality and prices are in line with Lazy Boy, etc.

[SuiteSuccess]

To cap this discussion we contacted Franklin.  Their response was to distance themselves from the issue by referring us to a third party supplier who never responded to voice messages or emails.  Repeat attempts to contact Franklin via email were unanswered.  Seems to be the nature of businesses today, once they have your money, don’t want to hear from you again.  I will say our coach was used but only out three times before our purchase.  If I were to ever buy new would not come with furniture.

[SuiteSuccess]

On 10/1/2018 at 4:44 PM, solo318 said:

Any good upholstery shop can reskin them in quality material. I can recommend a good one in Central Florida if you're in the area.

 

Solo,

Should have responded earlier.  This is not the only issue.  Fasteners are backing out and overall build does not justify recovering.

[jerryneal]

We took out all of the RV furniture from out 5th wheel.  It took several months to find a couch.  Finding something that would fit through the door was most challenging.  We ended up with an apartment style sofa that's very well built and ordered with a durable weave fabric that matches our decor.  We also dumped the over sized recliners and replaced with 2 Euro cloth covered recliners found on Wayfair.  It made the entire space more home like (direct quote from Joan) and opened up the living space.  

Edited October 4, 2018 by jerryneal

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Jerryneal, we ordered our DRV without furniture and our dealer removed the rear window to put the sleeper sofa and loveseat inside. If it ever needs to come put, I will use a reciprocating saw and take it out in chunks.

[SuiteSuccess]

In our former trailer we ordered a Flexsteel sleeper sofa that was built so the back could be removed.  DW and I got it through the door.  My little 5’2” wife military pressed her end of that sofa to clear the island and it was heavy.  That’s why I don’t p**s her off.

[solo318]

When I built mine I bought a used jack knife sofa and dinette cushions had them re upholstered.  (in ostrich skin)

You can buy commercial grade fabrics from a wholes sale place in Ga for a great price.

[SuiteSuccess]

3 hours ago, solo318 said:

When I built mine I bought a used jack knife sofa and dinette cushions had them re upholstered.  (in ostrich skin)

You can buy commercial grade fabrics from a wholes sale place in Ga for a great price.

Thanks for the help.

[jerryneal]

On 10/4/2018 at 1:41 PM, GeorgiaHybrid said:

Jerryneal, we ordered our DRV without furniture and our dealer removed the rear window to put the sleeper sofa and loveseat inside. If it ever needs to come put, I will use a reciprocating saw and take it out in chunks.

You should have seen the expression on the faces of the 2 delivery guys when they asked where I wanted the new sofa placed and I pointed at the front door of the 5th wheel.  The looks were priceless.  They bet $20 bucks if they got it in the door, they wouldn't make the turn.  It fit and paid for pizza the night. 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2018 by jerryneal

[Darryl&Rita]

Nice upgrade.

[travelinbob]

When time came to replace our sofa we had a heck of a time finding one that would fit in the rear of the 5th wheel due to the slide outs coming in from both sides. In fact we only found one in the city of Albuquerque and we looked at many with a tape measure in hand.  When removing the old sleeper sofa we removed the metal bed part inside first and it made it much easier to get it out the door.  Campground worker wanted the old one so he helped get it out. It would have been impossible to get old out and new in if we wouldn't have brought the door side slide out in about a foot at the exact time to squeeze it though the doorway.

[Jim Gell]

On 6/15/2022 at 6:43 AM, travelinbob said:

In fact we only found one in the city of Albuquerque and we looked at many with a tape measure in hand.  

travelinbob, I am curious what you bought and where?  The depth of our rear most area is limited due to the slides as it sounds like yours was. 

[travelinbob]

Sorry, I can't remember the name of the sofa but it was purchased at American Home Furniture in Albuquerque. It is also long enough that I can lay right out on it without having to scrunch up. It fits window to window across the back with about 3" on both sides. The slide outs do touch the front edge of the leather but not enough to matter.