My wife (the boss) and I drove up to Heartland's assembly plant in Elkhart, In. Thursday, 3/6, to watch our new Bighorn 3600RE being built (ordered 1/19 with gel coat, fireplace, electric awning, queen size bed and Goodyear G614's).
We were very impressed with the facility and the red carpet treatment we received on arrival. Our private tour guide was Tim Kauffman, Regional Sales Manager for Heartland, he was as excited about showing us our new fiver as we were about seeing it. He first took us through all of the construction steps before showing us our unit. Wow! I am the mechanical type and really appreciated being able to see first hand how the coach was built. This floor system is awesome! When we stepped into the 3600 I couldn't believe the number of workmen in there. I counted 8 at one point! Our 5er was a couple of stages shy of completion when we left.
I always had a mental picture of the assembly process which turned out to be nothing like the actual one. The fifth wheels are lined up sideways with the front landing gear and wheels sitting on large dollies. The units are actually pushed from station to station by hand when each task is completed. The workers were all friendly, courteous and knowledgeable and answered all of our questions without hesitation. It was a great learning experience and gave us the opportunity to see first hand the construction process. I would recommend that anyone buying a new rig visit the manufacturer and see it for themselves.
We can't wait to take delivery so we can get everything loaded into the new Bighorn and start camping camping again, it's been a long winter! Many thanks to Tim and all the rest of the folks who make these awesome coaches for their time and hospitality.
We were very impressed with the facility and the red carpet treatment we received on arrival. Our private tour guide was Tim Kauffman, Regional Sales Manager for Heartland, he was as excited about showing us our new fiver as we were about seeing it. He first took us through all of the construction steps before showing us our unit. Wow! I am the mechanical type and really appreciated being able to see first hand how the coach was built. This floor system is awesome! When we stepped into the 3600 I couldn't believe the number of workmen in there. I counted 8 at one point! Our 5er was a couple of stages shy of completion when we left.
I always had a mental picture of the assembly process which turned out to be nothing like the actual one. The fifth wheels are lined up sideways with the front landing gear and wheels sitting on large dollies. The units are actually pushed from station to station by hand when each task is completed. The workers were all friendly, courteous and knowledgeable and answered all of our questions without hesitation. It was a great learning experience and gave us the opportunity to see first hand the construction process. I would recommend that anyone buying a new rig visit the manufacturer and see it for themselves.
We can't wait to take delivery so we can get everything loaded into the new Bighorn and start camping camping again, it's been a long winter! Many thanks to Tim and all the rest of the folks who make these awesome coaches for their time and hospitality.
