Took the Plunge

We took the plunge and got an 012, one year old, 3585RL (the "L" shaped counter) yesterday. It has tons of counter space and my wife loves it. That makes it worth while in and of itself. The rig is pretty well loaded, except for the gen set. We got it from our local Camping World. They were pretty good to work with and no complaints so far. I have to get a hitch installed in my truck before we can take it home.

They are going to perform their own PDI, but I feel compelled to make my own also as they don't give any warrantee on used units. Anybody thiink different?

We shopped around for a couple of months and considered the 3010RE but couldn't find one priced right. When my wife saw this one, she was hooked.

We'll be ppulling it with an 2012 dodge, 3500 dually, crew cab, longbed diesel. Any pointers from you experienced owners. This is our first fifth wheel.

Well you are buying it as is basically as a used unit so you get what you get. I would certainly go through it with them though so that you know you are not buying someone else's problem and to give them a chance to correct any minor issues they can within reason. I am certain they want you to be happy so going through it with them shouldn't be an issue I would think.

Congrats on your new purchase and welcome to the forum!

Congrats and welcome to the forum!
Must do a PDI on site and have them fix it before you drive off!
Good Luck!!!

Hi Barryl,

Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. There's lots of useful information here along with a great bunch of friendly and helpful people here. Sometimes manuals get misplaced with a resale. The forum has a section with many of the manuals available for download.

If you put PDI in the search box, you'll find links to various lists that other owners have used. The Wiki also has some links to PDI info.

While it's true that RV warranties do not transfer to a 2nd owner, getting dealer coverage is a matter of negotiation. And of course, until you actually take delivery, you have some leverage with the dealer to have them fix things that you find.

You may also be able to buy an extended warranty plan from Good Sam or other vendors. But look at the fine print to see what's covered and what's excluded, and think about what deductible works best for you. Even if you don't go with Good Sam, you can use them as a competitive benchmark to make sure you're not paying a ridiculously high price.

Enjoy your travels and consider joining the Heartland Owners Club and joining in for local, regional and national rallies. Check out the EVENTS tab at the top of the page. Hope to see you a rally soon.

Barry, 1st of all welcome and congratulations to you and your DW. The 3585 is a great coach. They are heavy and glad you have a 3500. If the coach has the "stock" pinbox, you might consider an aftermarket one to stop the"chucking" when pulling. Mor/Ryde, Trailair are some of the few made. You will not need a slider hitch. If the coach has miles on it, I would insist that the dealer check and repack the wheel bearings and adjust the brakes. When you do the PDI with the dealer....make sure that it is hooked up to all shore connections. Check for any water leaks under sinks and at the UCD. Make sure you understand how every thing works but feel free to come here and ask questions. For any operating manuals that you dont have....you can download them from the forum. Just so you know, HL warrenty does not apply to 2nd owners, but some of the other things still might...such as the stove, mircowave, fridge etc,etc. So check into that. Good Sam has a good warrenty plan so...dont pay 5K for one from the dealer. As to tires....if they are "china bombs"...see if the dealer will give you a deal on some good "G" rated tires. GY G614's are a great tire.

All that said. Come on down the hill, cause the 1st weekend in April we are having a rally at Lake Skinner For the Socal Chapter. You will meet lots of nice people and get lots of good advice.

Bob

Invizatu said:

Congrats and welcome to the forum!
Must do a PDI on site and have them fix it before you drive off!
Good Luck!!!

Click to expand...

x2 Must do a PDI. A very thorough PDI. If it's a 2012 being sold as a used unit why did the last owner turn it in so soon? Maybe because it had problems? Check everything and then check it again. Someone on this forum has a great PDI check list. Search for PDI check list in the upper search box. Make sure you get everything you find fixed before you take posession. Let us know how everything goes. Have fun & Travel safe and welcome to the HL family.

jayandhisgals said:

x2 Must do a PDI. A very thorough PDI. If it's a 2012 being sold as a used unit why did the last owner turn it in so soon? Maybe because it had problems? Check everything and then check it again. Someone on this forum has a great PDI check list. Search for PDI check list in the upper search box. Make sure you get everything you find fixed before you take posession. Let us know how everything goes. Have fun & Travel safe and welcome to the HL family.

Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. I bought an 05 Trail Cruiser in '08 and soon found out why! Like I said, make sure you are not inheriting a problem! Be very thorough and ask lots of questions!

Barryl welcome to Heartland family. Great advise by all. If you are new to RV's and know someone that is experienced you may consider taking them to PDI with you. While your learning they can be inspecting. That is how DW and I have done she learns how most of the things function while I do the inspecting. Have fun you wil enjoy the adventures.

PDI scheduled for this Friday. Will probably spend three to four hours on "my own" PDI. I am having a tri glide trail air pin box installed to eliminate some of the chuck and bounce. Thanks for the input from all of you. Will let you know what problems I find during the PDI

Welcome to the forum! When you get tired of the heat down there, come on up to Oregon. Our first fiver was a 3670RL so we understand buying big to start with. Now we have a 2013 3585RL. We would love to have you at the Oregon rally in June.

Kristy

Kristy, what heat????....its been in 20s at night here for 2 months. Some heat would be welcome.

Just remember that at the end of June while you guys are down there cooking and we are up here at the Oregon rally on the coast.

Kristy

Welcome Barryl!
Don't be afraid to look in every nook and cranny during the PDI. It can help you come up with questions. You may discover something that will need dealt with prior to acceptance. Some issues may be tolerable but at least you know where you stand when you pull out of the lot.
I discovered on our PDI that someone had swapped out the Propane tanks....one was out of date and the other was very close. I'm assuming the previous owner did it prior to trading it in. Not a huge deal but a yr old rig should have current tanks.
Remember...we can learn from your experience too. Keep us posted on your venture into RVing

Welcome to the Heartland family Barryl! You will love the 3585RL! We love ours! As far as the PDI is concerned, I would demand to be able to do a full walk through with them and operate and check everything in the rig before you take delievery of it. Inevitably there will be a couple things that you find wrong with it and if they are a quality dealership, they can arrange to have them fixed ASAP. There are several links to PDI sheets on the HOC forum, but I have attached the one that I used, which I got from here. Good luck and hope to see you at a Rally down the road.



View attachment RV Inspection Checklist.pdf

The PDI went well on the coach. Several small things were discovered, but they were fixed to my satisfaction while the rig was still there.
The only problem that we had was when they took the rig to the independent hitch shop for me. Whoever hooked up and delivered it left all of the interior lights on and did not empty the holding tanks as requested. In addition, the tdow rig left with the emergency breakaway brake cable still attached to their rig and the brakes were left in an actuated state while the new fifth airborne kingpin was installed.

I had to pay for a new break relay and have it installed.

I contacted Camping World and they apologized up the ying yang and are reimburseing me for my costs. all told, they were responsive and good to deal with.

We are going on our shakedown trip next week for five days of dry camping. Hope everything still works. It is a pleasure to tow with the Airborn kingpin.

Check every slide rubber for any issues. I've had some slide wiper seal issues and I am out of warranty . The one on the bedroom started coming off and it is a real bugger to replace. It is different thatn the wiper seals on the salon slides. Also on the passenger slide look under the couch and see if yo have any mold growing there....Hint: If you do you have a leak !
I never get my winegard satellite working and gave up and bought a tailgator for my satellite.
The closet snaps on the mirrors in the front break real easy, make them replace them so you can get a least a year out of them.
A few more issues I've had this forum has provided some very helpful information.

On my TV I installed air right air bags and a compressor to monitor inside the cab because the pin weight will make your dually sit down quite a bit and you need to pull as level as possible.

Also on the very corner slide where your tv is, we had a leak there as well. It was coming down the closest point to the slide and just getting past the rubber seal and wicking in. We fixed it by using some additional caulk.

On the front of the unit where the pin hitch is look at the outer moldings and make sure there is plenty of caulk in there too.....

Barryl,

I am glad everything is going well (with a couple of minor faux pas). You will love your new Condo on Wheels. Now you just need to make it to a few HOC Rallies. Keep using this forum as it is an invaluable resource and there is so much knowledge and experience here to help out and give sound advice. I hope to see you on the road.

Rod Ditrich