Installation of Onan 5500

Barry Crocker

Senior Member
What Heartland calls "generator prep'ed" and what Onan calls the same thing are not exactly the same. Even tough we were told that the mount in the front bay was for an Onan gen, the installer had never seen one that would mount to what Heartland had installed. There was no propane plumbing into the bay. Our installer could not find the wiring harness from the remote start panel to the front bay. They searched to two hours (at $125 an hour) without any luck. We were told that the harness was behind the box in the front bay but it wasn't. Finally called Heartland and they said that the wiring was behind the right front leveling jack. It wasn't! The installer finally found it after pulling down some of the underbelly at the tune of another 1/2 hour. Grrrr!!

Frustrating!!!!:mad:

The good news is we are now the proud owners of a new Onan 5500.:eek:
 

newbie

Northern Virginia
I spent at least an hour looking for my remote harness. It was behind the side wall of the sheet metal enclosure and the front landing gear. Why on earth they roughed it in and left it there is indeed a good question. I also had to splice the factory harness as it wasn't long enough.

I do think that they overcharged you ($250) to look for that wiring harness. It should not have been that much.

John
 

Chainsaw

Saskatchewan Chapter Leader
We have had several "Gen Prepped" Trailers all SOB, we have had several wiring issues with trailers (SOB). When ever we called their customer service we were told " Not sure where the wiring was run on that model, depends on who was working the wiring that day. I am impressed that HL ran wiring to the interior of the trailer for the controler, Our other units never had that, had to pay for the pleasure.

When ever I had a gen installed I negotiated the install cost (flat rate) when I purchased the gen, that way if they run into a problem you are not paying for their education. You have more negotiation positon when purchasing. You also have to know what you tolerance level is for how much you will pay. You should also negotiate the install gurantee ( incase your trailer burns up from gen use). Any way this is what I do and what we have done. We orderd the Gen when we ordered the trailer on this one.
 

Barry Crocker

Senior Member
Thanks for the info Chainsaw. We did negotiate all of that but installation was on a "completely gen prepped " trailer. We actually bought it at the FMCA rally in Bend, OR so the Coburg service manager gave us a price un-seen.

Heartland is going to step up to the plate and pay part of the additional installation costs. We are very happy about that and proud that Heartland is standing behind their products.
 
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