Report: 6 months of BIGHORN ownership

It has been SIX months since we traded in the 2004 Keystone Everest 343L for the 2010 Heartland BIGHORN 3600RL.

In general, the BIGHORN is a stronger/heavier built unit than the Everest. That is evident by having to buy a bigger truck to pull the BIGHORN through the mountains in the Western States of the U.S. The little Duramax/Allison could NOT do it successfully. We sure do seem to have a lot of issues with the BIGHORN.

Symbols...
- Needs fixed under factory warranty.
-- We fixed the problem.

Outside of BIGHORN...
-- Just driving a few miles off of the dealers lot with the new BIGHORN, we noticed the decals starting to peel off of the three different slides (opposite side of awning) where the decals wrap around the edge. With a little silicone we fixed that problem.

- Outside caulking has cracked in many different places. We try our best to clean up each area and put in new caulking, but it is a never ending battle. Within the first year of ownership, we suspect that most factory caulking will have to be replaced on the outside.

-- The caulking on the roof around the vents and bathroom skylight had many air bubbles that had to be popped and new roof caulking filled in.

- The roof tape on all four slides are loose and coming off. We know from owning other RV's, that this roof tape should last longer than a few months. Did the factory NOT clean the surface before they put the tape on each slide?

- The one black end on the back ladder is broken. Ted weighs 168#, Lori weighs 115#. Did Heartland put on a ladder that cannot handle our weight? Really?

- The white plastic tire skirt that is screwed on on the awning side of the unit was over tightened. The plastic has a crack in it now. Factory employees should know to NOT over tighten these screws because plastic can crack.

- The living room slideout has a gap where the seal does not touch the slideout. The slideout needs adjusted so the seals touch the slideout.

- The SLAM DOORS are falling off! Need we say more?

-- From day one, we were not able to fill the fresh water tank without headaches. We fixed that by putting a 9' long white water hose through the fill tube and now we can fill the fresh water tank without any problems.

- The one 30# propane tank has a bad valve. Everytime we fill it, the tank wants to leak off a portion of the propane. The other 30# tank operates fine. Please do NOT smoke around our RV!

Inside of BIGHORN...
-- The kitchen sink was starting to fall down and the caulking was coming loose. We realized Heartland factory put in place four brackets to hold the sink. We added several more all the way around the underside of sink and then put in new caulking to seal against any water leaks.

-- The bathroom shower factory caulking was so poorly done that the shower leaked from the beginning. We stripped all the factory caulking and put in new caulking so the shower would not leak.

- After shortly owning the BIGHORN, the toilet stopped holding water. We have cleaned the toilet seal and still the toilet does not hold water. The more we look at this toilet, we believe the 'ball' does not close all the way to make a water tight seal.

- The door leaks in the Appollo half time oven. Water vapor has gotten in between the glass and plastic of the door and has left water spots. This can't be good since we use the microwave portion of the unit most of the time. Does this mean radiation is leaking out since water vapor is leaking out?

We do have some warranty issues! We have tried to fix what we could. We hope Heartland's warranty will cover the rest. What is so bad is that if the factory employees would have done a little better Q.C., virtually none of these problems would have existed.

Ted & Lori

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I am sure someone from Heartland will be looking into this.

Mark

Well Ted sorry to hear about all of your problems. You have one bright light you do have a great Truck. We did about the same thing we sold our 2008 Chevy Duramax/Allison, great Truck never had a issue with the Gm Trucks, we then bought a 2006 Freightliner M2 Mercedes 900 with the Allison (pre-owned 51,000 miles). We got the FL before we got the new 2010 MS because its much heavier than the 09 was. Its also great to be riding on Air again. The FL has no issues towing the MS, we will also be towing the 2009 Chevy HHR behind the MS.

As for all the issues with your Big Horn, I would be on the phone with Heartland service center and let them handle the warranty issues. I believe they will get you going. I also agree the QC is a big problem and could be easly corrected. Hope all goes well for you and yours. GBY....

The following was sent to me in a private message so I will NOT post their name but I feel people should read what was sent to me:

...Sorry to hear about your warranty issues. So many were the same for us in our former 2006 3400RL BH and now in our 2009 LM Augusta. It is truly frustrating but HL has come through with helping us find great service centers wherever we travel or by getting us into RV Capital in Elkhart. Now that our first warranty year is behind us, HL continues to help us out with apparently bad factory QC and/or oversight.

Many discussions are held at rallies or whenever we meet other owners at various RV parks we visit about the poor QC. For someone who wants to be number one in the RV industry, they have a ways to go. They are trying to be all things to all people. Our bottom line assessment is that they just need to go back to the core units that brought them to the dance! Just make them and make them well with attention to details.

My husband gets upset with me because I get so frustrated and scared to travel every time we move, it seems something comes apart. I have tried to be patient but after a while one can only take so much. There are several things that still need fixing on our unit but he has not yet gotten around to them. Always seems to need another tool we don't have.

I often feel we are just traveling around the country going from shop to shop. I would like to sit back and feel confident everything will be okay for a while but it isn't happening yet. Now I get concerned whenever we do have repairs done, what is getting torn up in the process. I.E., just had to have drive belt on dryer drum replaced. Now we have a loud squeaking noise and lots more vibration when washer spins because units are not put back together right. Another tool is needed to fix it - someday maybe it will be. In the meantime, we shake and squeak. Hope passersby don't think something else is going on.

Best advice I can give is stay in close communication with your Customer Service rep. We have been fortunate to deal with Steve Kennel and/or Jim Fenner. They have been instrumental in getting our issues resolved and they have been many on both units we have owned. We invested too much in the trade to do anything now for several years. Just praying things hold together long enough to get the debt paid down for a future trade. Ray Robinson is an 'in-the-field' rep we have seen at several Camping Worlds or other HL dealers in the midwest and Texas. He has been someone I could call and trust him to give me good dealer/service department information....

I've only had my rig two months and have begun to notice a few similar issues. I also have a cracked fender skirt, cracked caulking, toilet water issue, my bedroom door won't close (latch), a leaky air bed. I'm hoping the list stops there for now!

Ted & Lori,
I feel confident that Heartland will do what it takes to help you out and make things right. Keep us posted.

Mark

Problems

soundteck83 said:

I've only had my rig two months and have begun to notice a few similar issues. I also have a cracked fender skirt, cracked caulking, toilet water issue, my bedroom door won't close (latch), a leaky air bed. I'm hoping the list stops there for now!

Click to expand...

This is why we waited six months to post our problems. Your list will grow!

RVerFulltime and Soundteck83:

The toilet leak is a SeaLand issue. Call them and they will send you the upgraded/better seal and spring cartridge. it takes about 15 minutes to fix with a screw driver or two. A recent thread detailed the installation process.

Cracked caulking is just going to happen. Granted maybe not so quick but still. Caulk will always be an ongoing thing to look at and keep up with no matter who the manufacturer is.

I agree with Mark's post 100%. Your unit is a 2010 and in warranty, i see no reason Heartland won't take care of your items. Most of the time the dealer is the problem, maybe they can steer you towards a good dealer.
Bill

We too are very disappointed in the quality of our unit, a 2008 Big Horn 3400RL.

In the 2 years we've owned it we've had too many problems - most of the minor ones I've fixed myself, while many of the major ones have cost me some major $$$ and our most recent one, a failed suspension, IMHO had risked our well-being.

Many on the forum will point to:
the dealer didn't do the proper prep, or
the problem is not with Heartland but the the component supplier, or
Heartland products are just as good/bad as other RV manufacturers, or
customer service will take care of all your problems (BTW didn't for us in many cases).

We thought we bought a quality unit from a quality company- NOT!. We did not want to want to spend so much time & $$$$$ getting things fixed - we wanted to enjoy our until.

For the first 7 -9 months of ownership we were as strong Heartland supporters as any - & then the poop starting hitting the fan. Now, some folks have accused us of going out of our way to give Heartland a bad name - we will continue to state our feelings, hoping that others won't be fooled by the product quality like we were.

Hope you get all the problems fixed soon & keep a stiff upper lip... there are a number like us out there & sharing our experiences might be somewhat helpful.

Eh!

I have to agree...the issues I'm seeing here, i.e., toilet leak, dryer drive belt, leaking airbed are all vendor issues, not HL quality control....these are the types of things most of us experience.

These issues while aggravating and annoying, do not make Heartland products inferior. The use the same vendors to supply components that virtually every other manufacturer uses.

As for the faulty repairs on the dryer...that's the repair shop issue not Heartland's...unless I'm misunderstanding the statement...

My last 5th wheel, was 15 years old and the only concern I had was springs breaking. So this time I made sure of the proper suspension, but now I see that the equipment used by HL are possibly in question. But like everything we buy the dealer has to do its checks. In my last trailer I spend 2 days aligning cabinet doors, in this one I only adjusted 2 drawers and 3 doors. I do my own checks and it usualy pays off. I bought a new car in 1983 and the dealer said they had fixed 86 concerns and even had to take the door liner off, also in 1971 I bought a new car and I was told there was 53 concerns. Mass production surely leaves troubles behind if they are not repaired. So I do believe in this system and need to act asap. I did check my Wheels nuts and they were a consern on the curb side. But there is a sign that tells me to check them often when new. I will check them before the next trip.

Since you have been in contact with the CEO of Heartland, why dont you keep all negative complaints directed to him then? I am sure he would be more likely to listen to someone who handles his problems with confidence rather than stating dislike for his product in an open forum over and over and over and over and over.............

Well, you get the point.

geeksrus,

I own a 07 3400 RL, with about 13K miles on it. I had some minor problems and I was able to fix everything on my own. The only major problem I had was my shore plug connector came loose causing some electrical problems. This is my 3rd 5th wheel and the 1st two also had problems. I plan on buying another 5th wheel someday and it will be another Heartland product !!
Steve