considering buying a 2011 Heartland Northtrail 28 BRS... NEED ADVICE

Hi All!! We are new to all of this TT world and camping, we love it and we are finally able to purchase one, but need advice.. We found a 2011 brs that was listed at *****, but got them down to **k otd.. Is this a ok deal?? Also, we are a family of 6. myself, hubby and 4 boys.. will this be ok for us? also my hubby will be towing with a 2005 dodge ram 4.7 v8, no hemi and 6ft bed. will this work? what all extra would we need to tow?? they also said they would throw in some towing equip too.. if we dont buy this we also are looking at a 2012 apex coachmen.. same layout 2k more.. what do you all think?? advice?? ty so much!!

Hello and Welcome to the Heartland Forum. As you can see I have edited out the pricing in your question. Per Forum guidelines, pricing of trailers is not allowed. It's a long standing rule and it just keeps everyone on a level playing field. I also moved your question into the North Trail Prospective Owners section. Here it will be seen by NT owners and they may respond by Private Message regarding pricing.
We hope to have you folks as new Heartland Owners soon.

I don't know much about the 28 BRS, but I have an NT26LRSS and towed it for a short time with a Ford F150, 4.6 L V8 and felt that it was marginal. It towed all right, but boy did it suck up the gasoline and don't get in a hurry going up long hills. Made me wish I still had my Ram hemi. Just thought I would mention it.

Your truck may be o.k. on flat land, but probably underpowered going up elevations. We tow a 21ft north trail (6,000 #s when loaded) with a 2003 Dodge quad cab with the 5.7 hemi & tow package, and it does great until we get into the mountains. It will "do it", but I would love to have a diesel goin up the mountains.

Does your Pick-up have a tow package on it already? If so, your Dodge should be fine. If not, then you'll have to make it tow ready and go from there. You will also need to have a Weight Distribution Hitch and sway control. The WD Hitch and sway control are for safety reasons. I will never pull a Travel Trailer without them.

The NT (North Trail) is a high quality trailer which you will love. You won't find a higher quality trailer. That's my opinion. We did a lot of research before we bought ours. The 28 BRS should be big enough for you, the hubby and the kids. Our old TT was 18 feet, slept 10 and was big enough.

As for Price there are many tools out there to help guide you down the path. Google NADA, select the NADA guide, select RV, travel trailer, Heartland and then go from there. This will help you with your selection.

Before we bought our BC 3250TS, we has the NT 26RKS. It weighed in the 5400 to 5600 lb range. I had a 2008 F-150, with the 5.4L engine and the 3.53 rear end if I remember correctly. We are located in SE Georgia and the truck towed very well on the flat lands around here, but when we would go to our property in middle Tennessee, it would strain in the hills.

Archie

I can't speak to the issue of your pulling capacity, I pull with an Excursion with a 7.3 diesel, no problems at all. But, regarding price, I have heard the 30% discount off of list price thrown around quite a bit. I bought mine with a 38.8% discount off of list. As for quality, I won't take a chance on anything else. Our 2011 Caliber 265 rls is built very well. We have put 10,000 miles and over a 100 nights our first year. Zero problems (other than a minor water leak in the outside shower at 3 in the morning...OK, so it was a major leak, but nonetheless, a minor problem!). Go write the check and get those boys out to the campground!

As stated in an earlier post. If it does not have tha OEM tow package. Install a good trans cooler. Yes it will pull the trailer but will struggle on hills. Also might be a bit lacking in the brake department also. JMHO, it hard on the drivetrain pulling a somewhat heavy trailer with a small gas V8. Do your homework regarding weights that your current TV is rated at. It should be in the owners manual or talk to someone at a Dodge dealer.

Make sure you have a tow-haul shift, tranny cooler, and 3.92 gearing. You need these.

You will be fine, once you enjoy a season or two you will upgrade to a truck with a Hemi.

bkkalk6 said:

Hi All!! We are new to all of this TT world and camping, we love it and we are finally able to purchase one, but need advice.. We found a 2011 brs that was listed at *****, but got them down to **k otd.. Is this a ok deal?? Also, we are a family of 6. myself, hubby and 4 boys.. will this be ok for us? also my hubby will be towing with a 2005 dodge ram 4.7 v8, no hemi and 6ft bed. will this work? what all extra would we need to tow?? they also said they would throw in some towing equip too.. if we dont buy this we also are looking at a 2012 apex coachmen.. same layout 2k more.. what do you all think?? advice?? ty so much!!

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I cannot speak to the fact of value, but I will speak about the towing. I bought a 2011 28BRS last year. Towed it all year with a 2000 GMC 1500. It did ok, but I only got about 6-7 mpg with it and it just didn't handle it the way I wanted to at all. I just recently bought a 2007 2500HD with the 6.0L gas motor (couldn't afford a diesel yet). I pulled my buddies camper to his storage facility last night after the dealer got it fixed. It is a 29ft Jayco trailer and probably weighs about 2000lbs more than my 28BRS does. My truck has absolutely no problem pulling it at all. I was actually getting 13mpg while pulling it down the interstate. I can't wait to hook my 28BRS up to my truck this spring. It is going to be a world of difference.

Your current truck may handle it ok, but you will soon realize that you would like a bigger truck.

Thanks.

I really do not think you'll (or your husband) will be happy with how it tows, from a performance perspective or a suspension/handling one. It's a worse tow vehicle than my 03 F-150, and I only lasted 2 seasons before I wanted more power and more payload.