2012 Heartland 3450TS - New Owners!!

Prafeston

Member
My wife and I just bought our first "house"

It's a 2012 Heartland Big Country 3450TS with the huge slides! Gonna be full timers and new to just about every aspect of this!! The BC is a one owner that we picked up for 20k. It needs new carpet in the living room and some of the plastic trim pieces on the outside have seen better days, but it does come with custom vinyl side skirting and our first location is going to be 5 months in the Grand Tetons so hoping that will help keep us warmer. Our price range was 15-20k-ish which was putting us in the 2000-2009ish range for 5th wheels, but when the BC we bought was reduced from 24k to 20k we decided to take a look at it and it was hard to pass up on the huge slides, double fridge, and just general nicer looking interior and exterior of the 2012 model. We hope we made the right choice!

Bought a 2006 Ford F-350 (I'm aware of the infamous nature of these 6.0s, but Ford's were in our price range and I didn't want the older 7.3 chassis and I didn't want a 6.4 either and the 6.7s were way out of our range.) It was also a one owner with 188k bone stock miles so hoping it's made it past all the scary stuff and has proven itself. I've installed a nice Edge CTS2 to monitor all my temps so I don't do any damage. We do realize it may need "bulletproofed" at some point, but we're hoping that it gives us a couple good years first.

Mostly just saying "Hi" but had a couple questions.

Did the 2012 BCs come with a remote for things like Awning, Slides, Lights, etc? There is a spot in the underbelly where it looks like a remote or something was stored, but it's no longer there. Anyway I can check to see if it came with a remote? If it did and the remote is lost can I purchase a new one?

It has also had what I think is a Ranch Hitch Gooseneck Adapter w/ 8" offset installed on it from the dealer when the PO originally bought the trailer. I've read some scary things about these Gooseneck adapters but the 8" offset is nice cause I do have a shortbed pickup. I'll be picking the trailer up this weekend and hauling it about 275 miles to our current location and was just going to use the gooseneck setup, but once I'm home I've been considering getting rid of it and going to the fifth wheel. I do have the rails and a nice big sturdy Husky hitch. Thoughts?

I read on some forums guys that said they wouldn't even consider purchasing a 5th wheel that had a gooseneck adapter installed. It does have me a little worried, but I don't know how to even go about checking for any stress cracks? Would I have to remove the pinbox and cover on the underside of the overhang?

I'm no mechanic, but I'm pretty handy with your basic tools and I know I'm gonna get to really know this beast as the years progress. Any tips for a first timer? Any Heartland/Model specific tips for me? Excited to start this journey and I'm welcome to any thoughts/criticism/advice/etc.

In the meantime my wife and I have been reading and watching youtube videos about RV essentials, towing advice, etc. Already learned a bunch but you can never be too informed!! Thanks and HI!!
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi Prafeston,

Congratulations on the new-to-you Big Country and welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

Goosenecks on the pinbox can be a problem so it's a good idea to check for what's called "frame flex". There's an upper frame assembly (not the main rails the coach is built on), to which the pinbox is attached. If the upper assembly is damaged, it typically shows up when hitching and unhitching.

Looking at the front overhang of the trailer from the side, when the landing gear are extended and weight transfers from the hitch to the landing gear, there should be very little or no movement along the seams on the sides. Same thing when you retract the landing gear and the weight transfers to the hitch.

If the trailer has frame flex, you'll likely see more than 1/4" of movement at the horizontal seam. Sometimes people try to cover this with fresh caulking, but the flex pulls the caulk apart pretty quickly.
 

For20hunter

Pacific Region Directors-Retired
Like Dan said above, I would strongly urge you to research and reconsider the gooseneck for towing. With the frame flex being a huge issue, Heartland usually stands behind the warranty, however if you have ever towed the rig using a gooseneck hitch, it will void any and all frame warranty and the ability for Heartland to help you out should you experience the frame flex. The gooseneck just puts a tremendous strain on the frame and will more likely than not result in problems.

Rod
 

Prafeston

Member
Dane thanks for the process on checking for frame flex, I will definitely be watching that as I'm loading up.

Both of your replies has just confirmed what I was already thinking. Remove the adapter and stick with the 5th wheel. Unfortunately the adapter has already been installed and driven since new in 2012 so I imagine any warranty would be void already. Not even sure with it being a 2012 if there is any warranty even left. The dealer that installed it also didn't drill holes in the pinbox to mount the adapter and instead used 5, inch long tack welds so to remove it I will have to grind the welds off...which I hope doesn't do any damage to the pinbox. I don't really wanna do that away from home which is why I was just planning on hauling it home with the adapter. It's already gone around 3,000 miles with the adapter...
 

danemayer

Well-known member
You can probably find a replacement pinbox, if needed, maybe for free. Lots of people upgrade pinboxes and the OEM box sits in the garage. It might even be easier to replace the pinbox than to remove the gooseneck adapter.

Maybe someone in Utah or Colorado has one they're looking to get rid of.
 

Prafeston

Member
Maybe someone in Utah or Colorado has one they're looking to get rid of.

That would be great! I'll see how removing it goes when I get it home. If I replace the pinbox I'd probably also wanna upgrade, but I can't afford the 1,000 plus for a good one right now. At this point I just really hope the gooseneck adapter hasn't already done damage. Then I'll really be looking at an expense.
 

Prafeston

Member
Well we picked up the trailer today and I didn't notice any flex on the horizontal seams when hitching up or unhitching.

I also found the remote for the Jacks and slides when we found the manual above the microwave. I can't seem to get it to work anything though. It does power on and go through all the settings. So I'll have to look into that.

Drove the trailer 6 miles to an RV park this afternoon and tomorrow we go the 275 miles home.

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