Screws stripping out of cabinets

Has anyone had trouble with the screws on any cabinets? I have had one door fall off (W/D) while traveling and today when I opened my entry door closet I was left standing there with it in my hands. If it had been my wife I am sure there would have been glass all over the place. It seems the screws are stripping out of on a couple of other doors also. I know the quick fix is to put glue and toothpicks into the existing holes and rescrew the doors back on but this coach is to be used as a full time coach next year and just how long will that fix last? My guess the fix will last longer than the factory job done since I have only traveled approximatley 500 to 600 miles but have used the coach for 17 days since the beginning on May. Does anyone have any other fixes or other problems we are not aware of yet?

Hi Tom,

While I have not experienced stripped screws on cabinet doors, I have had drawers open up while underway.

When I was at the factory last, they gave me cabinet door catches that can be used on drawers to provide additional latching. Rather than have them installed on all drawers, I elected to just take a dozen of them and install them myself over time, on just the drawers that need them. So far in my Mt. Rushmore, I have installed them on the 3 drawers in the wardrobe cabinet next to the bed. It solved my problem with them. We hit some terrible roads coming into the Chicago area via Indiana and not a one of them opened up. Next up is to install the catches on a couple of the kitchen drawers.

I'd be pretty bummed if my cabinet doors started falling off. I'd give Scott Tuttle a call (574.262.5992) and ask him what sort of repair technique the factory would recommend.

Best of luck to you and please let everyone know how you come out on this.

For everyone else too, I am not trying to snuff out Tom's thread, only to convey my related issue and to give advice. By all means, please give Tom your input on how your cabinet door hinges/screws are holding up.

Jim

door

Hi Tom, I'm so sorry about the door.. but when I read your post I laughed so hard ( I could picture you there holding the door and cursing) ha Ha I know It's not a laughing matter but for that split second it was.... You have been a good friend on the post and I thank you for all your input as well as Jim's.... I am just about ready to pull the triggrer and place my order but "IT WON'T BE A HEARTLAND PRODUCT".....I have been watching for over a year now and I jut can't believe the reports on the poor quality ..... Thanks again and good luck....

Rosco,

What are you getting? I wanted to purchase a Big Horn 3500, but just couldn't make a decent deal with the dealer. We ended up purchasing an Open Road 357RLDS which we've had for almost two months and are thrilled with. We've only had it out once since we bought it, but haven't found anything wrong, which to me is amazing after reading some of the post here and on other forums. We'll be taking an extended trip in August up to Wisconsin, so we'll know more about how it handles the rigors of a long trip.

Rosco, I know that you and I have conversed privately and knew you were looking but did not think you were that close to buying. What have you decided on? Whatever you get hope you have no problems or minimal problems. Let us know and take care.

When that door came off I am sure I was heard all the way down to the factory. Fact is no one was around. Thinking about it now I wish I would have had a camera trained on my face to see what the reaction was. Funny now but not then.

Don, I hope you end up with no problems at all with your rig. I have already lost 9 days of camping, had to cancel because rig was in the shop. I have a 5 day trip in mid July followed by a 10 day trip 4 days later followed by a 9 day trip to two different cg's then 1 week later gone again for another 5 days. These are all paid for and I cannot keep having things breaking and taking the rig into the shop. I have plans to camp all the way into mid Nov then after the holidays we hope to go on the road.

??

Hi Tom and Don... Yes I decided to move up my retirement again Ha Ha.... I am going to retire in October of this year no more waiting ... I took the last two weeks off and have been to almost every dealy in Florida... I even considered a Class "A" for a while but no its going to be a fiver....Right now I am strongly leaning towards the Jayco Legacy 36 rlts (loaded , I mean loaded ) I can get it for about 40.000 fron Rv direct.... It has the morryde suspension and the Insulation "R" factor is very close to the Landmark , those were two important factors for me......It appeaar to be well constructed and they have years of pretty good reputation behind them... By the way I just got a P.M. from someone who has had so much trouble with his landmark he stopped posting on the forum out of sheer frustration..... I would welcome any feedback .. Thanks and have a great day .... Rosco

Ford

Hi guys, its me again Rosco, Don I forgot to mention Yes Open Road was and is still on my list.. Good luck with yours ... I just think Jayco seems to have what I need ... Tom, Did you hear about the Ford recall the Diesel have something wrong which just shuts off the engine... and there I was ready to buy my Ford... Not lucky I guess.... Please call your dealer and have your truck check r ...Can you imagine going down a steep incline and the motor shuts off.. Boy Jim, will get a laugh out of this one .. now I have to reconsider a DODGE... .. What a life we have EH....

Our last 5th wheel was a Jayco. We ordered it in 1996 to have exactly what we wanted in it. The first year we took it out for 4 weeks in the summer. No problems. We then stored it in our garage for the winter. When we took it out the next summer, the slide-out leaked (I'm talking a flood here) while we were away from the campground. The leak was right above the dinette. That cushion was never the same. Anytime someone sat on it, it compressed so much that you might as well have been sitting on the wood. My husband had to get up on the outside of the slide and put caulk all around the seal. Even worse, the air conditioner didn't work. We were in Florida in July with NO air. Of course the warranty had run out, so even though it had sat in a garage unused for 11 months, we had to pay to have it fixed ourselves. Now for the really bad part, every other year, at least one of the tires, that Jayco installed on the unit blew. One year we lost 3 in one trip. We had to find a Goodyear, buy new tires and then after we came home call Goodyear Coporation to get reimbursed. There is nothing scarier than driving down a mountain and losing a tire!!!!! The "underbelly" was falling apart/off. The curtains constantly fell down. I think during the 9 years we had it, my husband had to replace the screws in every curtain and topper in it. The drawers guides came off of almost all of the kitchen drawers. My in-laws have had several different brands of Motorhomes throughout the years. They always had "kinks" to be worked out. Which bring me to the point. In my opinion, no matter what brand you buy, there are going to be kinks. My advice, whatever you decide to buy, go over carefully before you leave the dealer and be prepared for the unexpected. And most importantly, have fun camping!!!!!!

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Cheryl, Thanks for the info .. what kind of Jayco was it..

It was the Designer Series 34' rear kitchen, single slide, garden tub and queen bed. We liked it a lot after fixing everything, I was just pointing out that NOTHING is perfect. We didn't trade it in because of "it". We had some other personal reasons for making the trade. It had nothing to do with either manufacturer. I personally am much happier with the color scheme of the Landmark. Had quite enough of the floral! And, I'm definately not complaining about the 3 slides, especially the one in the bedroom. And, I certainly don't miss the sense of doom knowing that this was the summer for tire failure - happened every other year.

Nemo, I'm glad to hear that you've had no problems with the Open Road. Our friend bought one last Memorial Day weekend and by the end of summer every door in it had fallen off. They continued to use it simply because they didn't want to lose camping time they already had reservations for pretty much all summer. The problem was something about the kind of hinges they used. It was at the dealer's all winter long. They found a few other problems as well, but to be honest I can't remember what it was. I'm sure Michael knows but he's not here at the moment.

I don't care what brand or manufacturer you get there will be problems in them. I don't think any of them are perfect. They're man made you know?

Every trailer we've had (they're have been many as my husband wants to get a new one every 2-4 years it seems) we've had some problems with, either water leaks, or awning problems or something. Our last one was great the first summer but the slide somehow got bent and wouldn't go all the way in or out at the end of last year.

Either way, good luck with whatever you decide on and hopefully you'll get lucky and get one of the better ones with few problems.

mowmoney said:

I don't care what brand or manufacturer you get there will be problems in them. I don't think any of them are perfect. They're man made you know?

Every trailer we've had (they're have been many as my husband wants to get a new one every 2-4 years it seems) we've had some problems with, either water leaks, or awning problems or something. Our last one was great the first summer but the slide somehow got bent and wouldn't go all the way in or out at the end of last year.

Click to expand...

Exactly what I have been saying. When you think about the logistics of it, you are actually pulling a "house" down the road. Things are going to happen.

??

Cheryl, Thanks... I know nothing is perfect and believe me I wanted the Landmark from day one..... I have been watching it since the 1st or 2nd one was made... but the feed back is not isolated to one or two items and when you consider they only made 600 or so , you can project that WOW.. something is seriously wrong back at the ranch ....and since I can't afford a mistake ...I have to move on ...thanks again for the input...Rosco

You're welcome. I'm not trying to sway you one way or the other. I don't own stock in Heartland, so it's not like I have a vested interest.
You gotta do what makes you and yours happy - life's too short not to. Whatever you do buy - I hope you enjoy it as much as possible!

/

Cheryl, I hope so.... but with my luck who knows... if it wasn't for bad luck, I would have no luck at all...Ha Ha.. Have a nice evening ...

Jayco Designer was on my short list as well, until I saw a post on the Open Road forum about Jayco voiding the warranty if the unit is used for more than "vacationing" use. Not believing all that I read, I sent an e-mail to Jayco and the response confirmed that Jayco would indeed void the warranty for other than "vacationing" use. If you want to see the response, send me a PM with your e-mail address on it and I will forward it to you.


I am also starting to wonder if I have made a mistake on the Big Horn that I have ordered. I thought that Heartland made good units, but threads like this and some others that I've seen make me wonder if the QC is lacking in both Heartland factories.

As you can tell by these posts, there are glitches, but everyone seems to have been able to have them fixed by the dealership. I know, I know a pain in the ____. But at least they are fixing them. Better now than after the warranty expires. And, look at it this way, by reading these posts, you know what problems to look for so they can be taken care of before instead of during a vacation/trip. Big thanks to Jeff and Jim, for running this forum.

Nelson and Cheryl,

You are so right. The important thing is how does the company back them up when something does go wrong and it seems that Heartland does an excellent job of that. But, so much of that depends on the dealer. I would buy a Big Horn today even with the posts on this forum about problems because of Heartland's commitment to customer service. I'm not being smug when I talk about having no problems yet with my Open Road. I know how lucky I am. But, Pilgrim Int'l seems to be one of those companies that cares about fixing problems promptly and our dealer seems to be a good one, from talking to other people that have dealt with them. If I could have made a deal to my liking I'd have a Big Horn 3400 right now.

Don

Well the first line is for Rosco, like Cheryl said, no matter what you buy you are bound to have problems at some point. I have had my Grand Canyon since Nov of 04. Had more than my share of problems, but everything is working as it should be and my wife and I have been full timing since March of this year. My last unit was a Carriage, did not have one problem in the year I owned it, but like a frien told me when I had problems with the Landmark, I quote " you just got lucky, now you know what RV'ing is really all about."

Now for the Screw problem, I am retired from building custom cabinets and if you can find hardware screws that are course threads they will hold in the fiber board the the face frames are made of. The new units are now all wood, go figure. Hope this will work for you.

Srews

Hi guys... I agree... I agree... I agree... Like you I am a carpenter (hobby wise) I built most of my furniture.. I agree that moving a house down the road will cause leaks and squeaks and I plan to carry a full complement of tools and parts and bits of everything.... My point was when you pay 60,000 to 80.000 for a rig, one would expect that somebody took a look at it to make sure most of it is ok....Most of what I read on this forum and what I saw at the dealer was poor workmanship and poor quality control .... it had nothing to do with subsequent usage and normal wear and tear damage....and yes they fix it.. but a lot of it could have been prevented don't you think??? Scott in one of his replies said they grew so fast they had hired poor workers and subseqently fired them... but that does not explain the quality control guy at the end of the line....or did they fire him too.....Bottom line is I AGREE.. Have a nice evening....