Issues with a Braunability XT 2014 Chrysler Town & Country

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Issues with a Braunability XT 2014 Chrysler Town & Country

Postby F3Head » 10 Sep 2017, 19:14

Hello All,

I have a Braunability XT 2014 Chrysler Town & Country minivan. I bought the minivan in May 2016 with 2200 miles on it
preowned. It now has 5900 total miles. It is a side-load with the kneeling feature. I have a couple of quick questions
for the experts out there and anyone else who might want to comment.

First Issue: I am having a problem with the ramp not deploying all the way. The ramp hangs up in midair halfway down. If I hit the key fob
or the button on the door panel or even the dashboard switch the ramp starts to deploy and then stops. The minivan also stop
squatting about halfway. Oddly you can push the ramp down with one hand rather easily. Furthermore if you hold the end of the
ramp up with one finger the ramp will also deploy completely. As of now the ramp has always retracted properly and the door slides automatically shut. I tried resetting the van's brain box or CPU by pressing the reset button behind the rear seat and rebooting it but it didn't make any difference.

I have an appointment on Wednesday with Mobilityworks to look at it and possibly fix the issue. Personally I think it's an adjustment problem with one of the limit switches. Nonetheless I'm rather pissed off that the minivan needs service after only 5900 miles. I'm concerned because I don't want to get ripped off. I was quoted $900 for the ramp motor alone. According to yelp Mobilityworks is very expensive when it comes to service. Naturally it's just out of warranty. It expired in April 2017. I expected more out of Braunability and plan to write a bitch letter
after I get it fixed.

Second Issue: since I've had the van it has always been a bouncy ride and rather rough on the questionable roads of PA. I believe it has the stock KYB shocks. I am assuming the gas shocks but I don't know for sure. It has the Kumho Solus KH Sixteen inch Original tires. Although it is rather quiet and smooth on smooth roads, it bounces rather hard and rides harsh over anything but smooth roads. The rough ride issue or problem appears mostly in the rear end of the minivan. It's not a dealbreaker but it's a pain in the ass. The minivan rides worse when I'm not in it in my wheelchair I assume it's because it's lighter. I was wondering if changing out the rear shocks with something better than the stock KYB shocks would improve the ride quality? The improvement has to be rather significant because I don't want to spend money on shocks for just a minor ride improvement. Beware it does have traction control and antilock brakes etc. and I don't want to switch out the shocks and have it affect these features by messing with the suspension. I hear some shocks with the self-leveling feature can mess up the antilock brakes etc. and/or the traction control and trip a computer error code in the minivan.

If anyone has any suggestions or comments about my minivan I would appreciate hearing about it and or their experiences.

F3HEAD
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Re: Issues with a Braunability XT 2014 Chrysler Town & Count

Postby Burgerman » 10 Sep 2017, 19:53

Personally I think it's an adjustment problem with one of the limit switches.


sounds about right.

As for shox I dont know what braun do to the suspension. But rollx fit the tow kit, and raise it. Which makes it a little bouncy. As for tyres it drives TONS better for accuracy, control, body roll, with a set of 19 inch 255/45 runflat pirelli p zeros. But it makes ride worse over rough roads but not by enough to matter.
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Re: Issues with a Braunability XT 2014 Chrysler Town & Count

Postby F3Head » 10 Sep 2017, 20:40

I've had good luck with Pirelli's with our previous minivan. But I have too many miles left in the tires to give them up so soon.
Still looking for answers if anyone has any ideas please post them.
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Re: Issues with a Braunability XT 2014 Chrysler Town & Count

Postby Burgerman » 11 Sep 2017, 10:03

I actually meant both the size and tyre type/profile.
Like these viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2132&start=80

And viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2132&start=60

Drives like its on rails but still smooth. And of course punctures dont stop you driving home either. But not a cheap mod.
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Re: Issues with a Braunability XT 2014 Chrysler Town & Count

Postby rustyjames » 11 Sep 2017, 13:15

$900.00 for the ramp motor? That's nuts, I'll bet there's nothing special about that motor and it could be bought for a fraction of that price. If you decide to have them make the repair tell them you want the old motor so we can find out what they really cost!
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Re: Issues with a Braunability XT 2014 Chrysler Town & Count

Postby F3Head » 16 Sep 2017, 21:33

Okay here's the story for anyone who wants to hear it concerning my ramp deployment issue for my Braunability XT 2014 Chrysler Town and Country. I took my van to the closest mobility dealer MobilityWorks. Of course the day I have to go for service it's pouring rain from the remanence of hurricane Irma. I was surprised after arriving at the Mobilityworks shop that it was so busy. The place was very busy with people needing service on their mobility vans. It was a rainy day and I didn't think there would be that many people there with it pouring rain and storming outside. They also had a lot of vehicles in the parking lot lined up for repair. Mostly they were mini buses and larger public or nursing home style cube vans with a few minivans in the shop bays. The facility had at least five shop bays with mechanics in most of them at the time I was there.

I also had a chance to see a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica rear-load from Braunability. Window sticker price of $44,900. It was actually pretty nicely done. Workmanship and materials are the biggest improvement I saw both from Braunability and Chrysler. I also had the opportunity to see a 2017 newly improved Toyota Sienna minivan sideload Braunability. I looked at Toyota's a couple of years ago before I purchased a Chrysler and I found it to be a little tight inside for my Permobil F3. The new 2017 Toyota is a bit larger inside after a fresh makeover. It was a much needed and nice improvement in the vehicle except for the sticker price of $70,000! I know Toyota's and Honda's are expensive and considered premium vehicles but that price is outrageous.

It took about an hour for the tech mechanic tell me what the problem was for my Chrysler minivan. Of course he said the ramp motor was shot. I was ready to raise a big stink because the vehicle only had 5800 miles on it. Luckily my patience paid off and I didn't badmouth or blame anyone. The mechanic also said he made a phone call on my behalf to Braunability in which said they said they would cover the cost of the new ramp motor as a courtesy to me. I only had to pay for labor. In fact the mechanic said that Braunability was aware that they had a number of bad ramp motors that went out the door that were poorly manufactured. He also indicated that they were really not robust enough for the job. So as I was told by the mechanic Braunability changed manufacturers of the gearbox and motor-set making it quite a bit more robust. They also replaced the plastic motor shroud that goes around the gearbox and motor with a slightly different one. Furthermore, they also replaced the plastic spade fuses in the computer brain box beneath the rear seat with new fuses. Updating them from 20 amp to 25 amp fuses. I wasn't able to take the bad motor part with me. They were all being returned to Braunability. For what it's worth, labor costs at Mobilityworks for the repair was $115 an hour and similar to the wage rate at the Chrysler dealership when they replaced the oil pressure sensor under warranty. In the end I have to say in my situation at least Braunability stood by their product. I wasn't about to fight them over the labor because the vehicle was out of warranty and I was the second owner. Hats off to them for doing so. Total cost with maintenance check and tire rotation that I had requested $247.50.

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Re: Issues with a Braunability XT 2014 Chrysler Town & Count

Postby Burgerman » 16 Sep 2017, 21:52

Not bad. You would think that they would have figured all this motor stuff out by now.
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