More Screw Issues!

J

Jeff

Guest
Hello Folks:

Everyone needs to check all the Screws on their Slide Outs.

Today, while preparing for our trip, I had all 3 slides out and doing my normal check everything walkaround I spotted several screws missing or sheared off on all the slides.

Now, these are the screws that hold the side walls on the trailer. You can see all the screws when the slides are open, they border the slides. Also, check behind the Rubber Seals on the slides too. I found 4 missing screws there!

Seems Heartland is using one type of screw, a self-tapping aluminum alloy piece of crap. I'm sure the screws in quantity are cheap, that's why they use them.

At any rate, ended up replacing 8 screws that were either missing (hole was there, but no screw) or was simply sheared off. Re-drilled the holes as necessary and replaced the screws with Zinc Plated ones, that should last alot longer.

Now, I know what Heartland is gonna say: A couple of screws doesn't matter! BULLSHIT! The screws were meant to be there and not be missing or sheared off. Missing screws or anything that was designed to be in place only causes more problems as the trailer gets older.

Since my dealer is 180 miles from me, I don't have time to spend a whole day, possibly 2 taking my trailer in for maintenance and repairs.

Heartland needs to be doing a better job on quality control, rather than just letting these units out the door and marking off another one!

Sorry for being so BLUNT about all this, but I'm tired of having to fix these things that should have been originally done at the factory and done right!

Looks like I need to invest in a Zine Plated Screw Company!

You all take Care.

Jeff
 

davebennington

Senior Member
Screws

Jeff

You are so right if the hole is there then something needs to be in it!!! Our trailer has not come in yet, however I will be looking for these type of problems. I am disapointed in Heartland it is beginning to look like they are all fluff. We are starting to have second thoughts about the purchase when you spend this kind of money you expect a quality coach not something that is put togeather with inferer parts.

Dave
 

DJGood

Member
Okay, guys, I was not going to mention anything, thought it was just us, but after reading these, it is time for me to speak up. And I'm sorry that I am on the Landmark and not the Bighorn section, but I'm sure like me everyone reads both. We picked our rig up on Saturday before Mothers Day. # 452! It looked wonderful, things seem to work okay, so after a short walk through and a basic understanding of push this and that, we were ready to go. Now you have to remember, we are newbies. Never been camping in a 5th wheel, never pulled one, never set one up, nothing.....but hey, it can't be that hard right? We arrived at our campsite that was recommended by our dealership. The guys helped Chris back it in, no problem, helped us hook up, we are ready to go. He takes off, Chris is outside just making sure it looked right. Inside, I noticed the microwave was not on. I checked with Chris, yes, everything is hooked up, turned on the TV, nothing...the central vac system, nothing....the ceiling fan, it worked. The ceiling fan came on extremely bright and than faded slowly. So Chris went back out to check the connections and so forth. So I continued to unpack all our goodies, made the bed, we are ready! The owner of the campground came over and tried to help us again, he brought over a meter, things looked fine, but things were not right. About this time, we decide to go get something to eat instead of trying to cook on the stove. When we came back, of course it was dark, turn on the lights, and walked over to the TV to check it, all of a sudden, there was smoke in the living room! Chris hit all the breakers, we called the Sales Manager at our dealership and told him what was happening, he said he would come over to us on Sunday morning at around 10:30. Need I say, I was not real thrilled to be sleeping in something that had some problems that I considered to be major, but we did it anyway. Just turned everything off and went to bed. The next morning, Richard came over from the dealership like he said, he and Chris checked everything one more time. They came in, Chris turned on the TV, nothing happened. Turned on the air conditioner, the TV came on! Then we heard a loud POP and the TV went out. Richard just stood there and said, I can't believe this! HE CAN'T BELIEVE IT, WHAT ABOUT ME! THIS IS CRAP! We took it back to the dealership on Mother's Day, and drive back to Dallas from Oklahoma City.....4+ hours later. The next day, Chris spoke with Josh the Service manager for all the Walker RVs in OK. Great guy, very knowledgeable, couldn't find anything wrong that would cause all this. Thought it had to be the power at the campsite.....GREAT....this is the campground THEY recommended......whatever! So, they went through it very thoroughly this time again, replaced the TV, microwave, central vac system and the circuit board. 2 weeks later, we drive back to Ok to pick it up AGAIN! This time, we had a very good walk through, everything was explained in detail, things all worked and we are ready to go again. Josh did find that the pantry door would not close properly, so he spent about an hour working on it. Finally ended up putting a bolt from the cabinet above it, locking it from the inside. Good deal. So off we go to a different campground. We did invest in a meter so we could test the power at the campsites......made it with no problems, set everything up, the only problem we found was the door into the bedroom came unlocked and was open when we entered. We just thought, okay, it wasn't locked, we have to be more careful....but hey, everything worked this time....we were thrilled! The next morning we decided to go to another campground. Packed everything up and moved to the other side of OK city. Back to our original campground from 2 weeks ago. This time, before we did anything, Chris checked the power, looked good. Here we go again. Opened the door and again, the bedroom door was open.......but it was locked! Chris took it off and notice there were 3 screws missing, they had fallen out and were lying on the floor under the door. We called the dealership and someone came over and put them back in. Looked good and were really happy they came out to the campsite AGAIN. Things went great the rest of the evening and the next morning. Packed everything back up and headed home with our new baby! One final check around the unit and Chris found missing screws and some that were just holding on on the side areas......he was not happy, but got his screwdriver out and fixed all the could. Will need to stop at a hardware store and get more screws for this missing ones. Stopped for lunch at a McDonald's and decided to take a peek to make sure everything was okay. Well, the pantry door was standing open and the bedroom door was open again. We closed everything up and put a roll of paper towels between the bedroom door and casing. Got home without any problems, got it parked in the storage place. Took one more look inside, everything was okay, except the bedroom door. This time, the hinge on the bottom was completely pulled off the door! Needless to say, Chris was ****ed! So, when you say, this is BULL----, I have to say I agree with you. What happened? I thought the people at Heartland were top people, only made quality product with all their experience! Some how someone missed something here.....why would a brand new unit have so many problems......is it us or was there really a problem here! Granted, these problems were not major and the dealership was able to correct everything, but I don’t think we should have had near the problems we did. Did anyone else have the same type of problems?

Don’t get me wrong, we love our Bighorn and are thrilled with it, but there were problems with it and we are not happy about that at all.

Chris will post pictures soon, and I apologize for the length of this………once I get started, I can’t seem to stop!

Everyone have a safe and happy holiday, we are staying home! Too new to be out with all the crazy people! Maybe the following weekend.

Enjoy! Debi
 

BigBlue

BigBlue
Update on our slide topper screws. The dealer checked them and said they did not find any more broken. They replaced the screws on the slide where the screws had sheared. I'll have to check the slides themselves now.
I'm getting a little irritated myself with all that I've found wrong. This is supposed to be a quality produce. What gives?
 
J

Jeff

Guest
Hi Dave, Debi and BigBlue:

WOW! I didn't mean to start a Forest Fire, but looks like I did.

But, you all know, that is one of the reasons this Forum and Website was started, to share information and ideas.

Dave:

I truely hope Heartland isn't all Fluff! The Biggest problem I see is there QUALITY CONTROL, plain and simple. These coaches should not be getting out of the factory with broken, missing parts or things that don't work......PERIOD!

Now, I've been told, somethings will break when they are hauled from the factory to the Dealership. WHY??? These trailers are meant to be towed on the Open Highways, at Highway speeds, rough roads, crappy Campground roads and whatever. Parts shouldn't be breaking or falling off! If this is the case, then maybe someone in Engineering needs to be looking at why this is happening.

Look at Debi's Coach, #452! Again, WHY?? I'm sure there are plenty more out there that fall in this catagory, but no one is speaking up or simply take it back to the dealership for repairs.

Now, my first leg of our trip tomorrow will be about 350 miles. After we set up and get everything going, I'm gonna be doing an inspection of the whole coach and see what else has "Popped" or "Busted Loose"

More on this report later!

Everyone have a safe and good weekend.

Debi: We'll be setup in Branson early on Friday and won't leave till next week sometime, so we'll miss most of the "Looney's" out there too.

Everyone take care.

Talk to you all soon.

Jeff
 

davebennington

Senior Member
screwed

Jeff

I agree with you 110%. Please keep us informed as to the condition. As a side have you addressed these issues with Scott? If so what does he say? I am of the belief that the dealerships are to few and to far apart, the dealer we bought from is 2 1/2 hours away to hook up and tow for a simple/small problem is crazy, therefore it does not get reported back yo heartland.


Thanks for your input so far.

Dave
 
J

Jeff

Guest
Hi Dave:

Jim and I both have tried PMing Scott, Emailing him as well. In most cases, he either ignores the messages or just refuses to answer.

This time I'm not gonna even bring it up!

I figure, someone has to be tracking the labor payments to the dealers. These Dealers are charging an hourly rate, plus parts costs, I'm sure. So, Heartland must be knowing about this stuff.

Your guess is as good as mine. My 1 year Warranty is up in about 4 months, then the repair bills will be on me totally and Heartland is off the hook for my coach. (They can Celebrate)

Take Care.

Jeff
 

Tom of Ypsi

Well-known member
Hi Everyone, Heartland will not be celebrating when I take mine back in. I am making a list and sometime in June I will be taking it in with several needed fixes. One will be the drain for the w/d (wife does not want me to fix it), warped cabinet door, the front of the trailer (driver side) where the nose cone and trailer come together is gapping, sag in floor where the optional island counter is suppose to be (did not order), furnace is louder than I think it should be and louder than everyone else who has heard it says it should be. I just know there will be more but I sure hope not.
I was at the dealer on Tuesday to pick up a replacement spray port (fixed it myself) and there was a brand new Grand Canyon. It was unlocked and I walked in and if this would have been my unit I would have asked for my money back. This thing looked like it was a used unit, fit and finish was terrible. Outside was no better. Maybe we should just all caravan to Heartland one weekend with our problems and lets see how much we get ignored then. I think it is time for Heartland to take care of the problems that are on the road and slow down on production and start getting it right. At this point in time I cannot recommend a Heartland, too many problems for such a new company.
 

rosco

Active Member
problems

Tom, sorry to hear about all your problems and thank you for the heads-up... And as I recall you had a major plumbing problem didn't you ... Please keep me posted because I will make my decision probably in January ...
 

BigBlue

BigBlue
I checked my slides today and didn't find any missing. This was only a visual check. I'll probably get a screwdriver out and try some of them to ensure they aren't sheared off like the slide topper bracket screws were
Jim
 

nemo45

Well-known member
I didn't end up buying a Big Horn 3500 like I really wanted. We purchased an Open Road 357RLDS which is basically the same floor plan as the 3500 but with the sofa and entertainment center slides on opposite sides. After hearing some of your complaints I'm kind of glad I didn't. I'm not going to dis Heartland, but I kind of thought quality was going to become a problem after the introduction of the Big Horn and the pressure of having to keep up with the production of many more units increased. We've had our new unit for just over a month now and we've gone over it with a fine tooth comb and we've found nothing wrong with it. I know that's hard to believe. I guess we're just lucky because I know that's not the industry standard and monitoring Pilgrim Owners Forum no one gets a unit with absolutely nothing wrong. We've operated almost everything for extended periods and all is well. Hey, I'm not gloating just feeling really lucky. I'm hoping things work out for all of you and am interested to see how Heartland handles your problems cause I may be still interested one down the road.
 

rosco

Active Member
Clad to hear your Open Road is great... It's nice to hear of a smoth deal and a nice problem free unit...That's what we all wish for ... I am still considering "Jayco" any opinions on that brand...
 

Cheryl

Well-known member
Our last 5th wheel was a 1996 34' Jayco. We used it 4 weeks the summer we bought it, stored it inside a garage for a year. Took it out the next summer and had no air conditioning. We had to have it repaired at our expense because it was out of warrantee- even though it had only been used for 4 weeks. The slideout leaked majorly. Soaked the dinette cushion which never did bounce back into shape. My husband had to apply caulking to all the edges of the slide. We had various lose screws. I believe over time, every single curtain bracket fell down and had to be remounted. The underneath (enclosed underbelly) came off in different places several time. And last but not least, we blew out tires every other summer due to the weight of the trailer exceeding the load rating of the tires Jayco put on it. One time we lost 3 on one trip. After getting all the kinks worked out (other than the continuing tire saga), we really liked the camper. I guess what I'm trying to say is that nothing is perfect, including Heartland.
 
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BluegrassMan

Well-known member
Nothing's Perfect

Hi Everyone:

Cheryl, you're right nothing's perfect including Heartland. BUT, When I saw the factory Rep. at the Harrisburg Pa. RV show, he talked like everyone with the company could almost walk on water !!! These Coaches were the state of the art.

Well I took the bait and ran with it, I own one now and I'll get the BUGS out of it. My 98 Sea Breeze 37footer by National RV. Had it's share of problems too,
( 2 slides had to be taken out, all the carpet down stairs had to be replaced, due to the Refrigerator panel outside was never sealed around and the water poured in,the roof had a leak at the back corner. The closet doors the mirrored ones didn't stay latched, Bang Broken Mirror doors.)

I don't think I'll have that much with our Grand Canyon, I Hope

Denny
 
S

Scott

Guest
Quality

Friends,
First of all, I apologize for the troubles that some of you have experienced and expressed in this column.
Obviously, we have failed to meet both ours and your expectations in some of the coaches we have produced. With nearly 600 coaches out there now, I do take some solace in the fact that I am contact almost daily with many Heartland owners who have had nothing but great experiences with their uints.
We are not at 100% customer satisfaction, but I can assure you that we are not happy when even one has problems with our coaches, and are going to repond to make it right asap.
As an owner of this company, I can tell you that we are not here to just sell coaches and move on. We are in this business to build a better fifth wheel make people's RVing experiences more enjoyable.
That being said, we have real human beings putting these things together and they make mistakes. Our quality control inspectors catch the VAST majority of them; our good dealers catch the vast majority of the rest.
With the Bighorn, it has been more of a challenge as the numbers have increased, but we continue to raise the bar for quality in that plant and have just hired a very well qualified mid-line QC guy from a high-end motorhome company who is going to help that line a lot.
And as soon as we find out about issues or design flaws, we address them. We are not perfect, but I know too much about how fifth wheels have been and are being built in this county to not have the confidence that we are on the right track.
The fact is, we go through workers left and right who we cannot allow to continue to work here because of the way they have been trained to accept the lower quality standards of their previous employers.
We hear it all the time, "Well it was good enough at brand X..."

We are not where we want to be - but we are committed to getting there and along the way - we continue to stand behind our products and repair anything that needs repaired.

Complaints centering around components that we simply install in our coaches and happen to fail or become inoperative is something that RV manufacturers will always have to deal with. The only thing that we can do until that time is try to purchase the best A/Cs, Awnings, Refers, Ovens, Furniture, etc. that we can.

That being said, again, I apologize for what some of you have had to deal with on your coaches, and want you to know Heartland will continue to stand behind our coaches and provide the best customer service that we possibly can - while monitoring our dealers to make sure that they do the same.

I Hope you had a good Holiday weekend. My family and I went camping in our pop-up and had a great time.

ST
 

Fordsd250

Well-known member
I also cheked out my BH 3500 for loose/missing screws and forund one missing and one broke off. Not bad considering all the screws put in this thing. My brother got a used Hitch Hiker and had several broke or missing. He is going over it and replacing with stainless steel. Still love the Big Horn.
 

DJGood

Member
Hello Everyone
Just wanted to give ya'll an update on our BH 3500. If you recall, we had major problems with the electricty/appliances. We spent Memorial Day working on and in our BH, just checking to make sure all is tight and secure.
We think everything is ready and even with the problems of the electricty, we still love our baby. It is perfect for us.
So while it started on a rough foot, we are very excited and look forward to our next trip. Like is good with our Big Horn 3500 - # 452.
None Chris and Debi
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Screws OK on my unit but I have a fresh LP issue I am working through

Hi guys,

Just back from our long weekend to Door County, WI and I am happy and relieved to report that I do not have any broken screws on my slide awnings. My s/n is 378 and it sounds like we have heard from owners across the serial number band. Hopefully this issue has since been isolated and rectified at the factory going forward.

We do have some sort of an LP gas issue that appeared recently. We used out furnace the night before we headed out for the Memorial Weekend trip and the furnace gave out in the middle of the night.

The next day, I noticed that the auto-changeover was red on both sides. Sure enough, both 40# tanks were empty already. I did detect a faint smell of gas outside too.

Had both tanks filled then went on our trip. Furnace quit again and so did the hot water heater. Stove worked fine through. Checked for leaks and found 1 on each side in the LP compartments. I was able to fix 1 but not the biggest leak. No matter how I tried, I was unable to get the furnace or water heater to work from LP. I used electric for the water heater and we used the heat pump and a small ceramic heater. Both nice backups to have!

On the way home, the refer worked fine on LP! Crazy. All I can think of is maybe there is not enough pressure for the hot water heater and furnace?? Maybe a bad changeover?? I will have this looked at soon. I have both tanks shut off now while the trailer sits on our seasonal site awaiting our next trip 10 days.

Jim
 

Stella

Rally Survivor
Major water damage in slides

I hadn't thought about the missing screws, but our unit too has at least 10 holes where screws should be. We even brought the unit back to the dealer about that. Our latest problem is that we have major water damage from the rear two slides. The entire underside of the slide is delaminating. Our kitchen floor is popping up. We get water in through the refridgerator and from under the front door. We have replaced our shower valve because the original one had a crack in it, I wanted a pressure balancing valve so I wasn't really concerned. One of our windows wasn't completely installed. Apparently our unit needs to go back to the factory for repairs. The dealer has been hosing our unit down from every angle and can't make a leak, maybe it is the missing screws. We'll see soon how the factory deals with problems. Sure hope I'll be singing in praise of them, time will tell.
 

Tom of Ypsi

Well-known member
Stella, Exactly where are your screws missing from (slides, awnings, doors, etc)? Mine is in storage at the moment but I have to go out and look at it tomorrow so I will check the areas you say and see if any screws are loose or missing. Last check on my coach all the screws were ok but I made one last long trip before putting it to bed for the winter.
 
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