ATF: Bighorn - Issues

[rondigio]

We purchased a 2018 BH3970RD brand new from Camping World dealer. However we have encountered so many issues...

Drain pipe was leaking which lead to wet carpet in bedroom and trunk storage area...the pipe that leads to the rear toilet was leaking which lead to water all over the bathroom floor. I had to tighten them so we can use it while we were out camping..we are concerned it may have started some mildew, mold or rotted some of the flooring underneath now that it was exposed to water.

The refrigerator was not even leveled...which leads to the fridge door to swing open and hit the buffet counter behind it...the water line leading to the refrigerator water/ice maker leaking...we had to turn the valve off couldn't use it.

The two recliner we have requested to swap out of one of sofa bed doesn't even have the transformers required to operate the heat and the massage. Also the recliner is very difficult to close without having to get off the chair and pushing it back in using our own hands. One of the recliners remote has alot of scratches on them and the fabric torn on one side of the recliner.

The dining room large shade is short it's not the right length to close down fully.

When I took my coach to a Maryland State Inspection...the inspector advised me that the wheel bearing grease was sparse for this heavy weight coach that it could burn the bearings.

We paid extra money to have coffered ceiling...however all the cross members has stains on them I don't know what kind of stain it is.

The dining room table is not centered on the wall...which leads to one side having more seating room than the other.

All of slideout molding trims varnish is peelilng and some areas there are white blotches on the trims.

The TV is tilted too far back.

The Microwave oven installed crooked.

One of the glass above the buffett table has two scratches on them.

The water heater (electric) not working.

The Auto Leveler stopped working...tripping circuit breaker.

There's a scratch on one of the decorative labels on exterior of the coach.

Most drawers are difficult or open or close.

There's probably a few more which I can't remember off top of my head. We paid $xx,000.00 for this coach...and to get a brand new one with this many problems is very disappointing...this came from your website "Bighorn combines all of these industry firsts with the most luxurious interiors producing one of the most sought after luxury fifth wheels available today". From the issues we have seen this is not a luxury coach. We intend to use this full time and now we are worried it will not last long time if we use it full time. Too many issues already leads us to wonder what other "hidden" issue we not aware of and may be stuck with after warranty expires.

I tried to post pictures but for some reason not able to.

 

[danemayer]

Hi rondigio,

Sorry to hear you're having problems. Have you taken the trailer back to the dealer for all these things to be corrected? Many of the items probably should have been caught and repaired at the time of purchase, but for whatever reason, it sounds like that didn't happen.

On the water heater, if you have a Suburban unit, there's a switch under the outside cover, in the bottom left corner. The dealer should have removed the cotterpin and turned that on for you. Perhaps they did not. It's also possible that the electric switch was turned on with no water in the unit, burning out the element. That can happen on a dealer lot, or if the dealer takes the unit to an RV show.

The circuit breaker for the levelup system will trip and automatically reset after a few seconds for various reasons. If the battery charge is low, that could be the cause.

You State inspection finding about bearings sounds like a pretty thorough inspection where wheels were removed. I've never heard of that, but maybe Maryland is that thorough. The axle/brake/bearing assemblies are greased at the Dexter factory. It's possible they goofed. Dexter warrants those parts so perhaps a call to Dexter would result in having the bearings inspected and re-packed under Dexter warranty.

On scratches and other cosmetic issues, you'll probably end up discussing that with the dealership. It's unlikely a trailer would ship that way, but if it did, the dealership, on inspecting the unit, would report it and take corrective action. On the other hand it's quite common for cosmetic issues to arise on the dealer lot, or at an RV show if the unit was on display.

 

[dave10a]

This does not speak for the dealer or manufacturer. Now the customer has to return the trailer and wait for who knows how long to get the problems corrected. That is a real PITA and I would think both the dealer and manufacturers would do a better job of QC. I know that all RV's are built by hand and no two are the same, but there seems to be too many problems these days with RV's.

It is easy for a state inspector to pull the rubber cover from a "easy lube" axle to so if there is grease. An experience eye can tell if it was properly greased with visual inspection by removing the rubber cover.

I can hardly wait for the Heartland appologists and brand loyalists to chime in.

 

[Speedy]

I can hardly wait for the Heartland apologists and brand loyalists to chime in.

You have to admit that at least 50% of the listed issues could/should have been take care of during the dealerships PDI and then purchaser's PDI. The fact that it was purchased at a Camping World explains 90% of the issues. Now let's see who steps up to resolve these issues; Heartland will on some but only if owner works with Heartland and bypasses Camping world.

 

[Go-Fly]

It's so sad when people have such problems with their new trailers. Most of the problem you listed were there before you took delivery. I'm camped next to a Heartland owner that hates his trailer because of all the problems. The small problems became big problems because they were not fixed before the customer took delivery and the nuisance problem compound. You can buy a new rig and have the dealer fix all the problems you find in your walk through. Then take it on a test run and make a list of repairs and have them taking care of. Here's another sad thing. If it is a big repair, it's going to take time. I had a bad jack on my trailer the day I bought it in March and it was September before the dealer could get the part to repair it.

 

[Hockster]

I understand what rondigio is going through.
I have a few issues with my 2019 Bighorn 3760EL, water heater electric being one of them.
It did work at one time and has since quite.
Everything checks out, but no power to element.
I find that the SW12DEL model Subburban Water Heater has a relay that I suspect is the problem
This relay has a 12 volt coil and uses 120v on the contacts.
This is done because your control center is 12 volt powered so as not to mix the 12 volt and 120 volt in same panel.
The best I can tell it is mounted on the water heater itself, and appears to have failed.
Rig is going back to Dealer next week for this to be repaired and a few other problems.
I also have a leaking kitchen window over the Cooktop which to me appears to be installed upside down.
The butt joint where the 2 ends of meet and are sealed with caulk are on the top of the window, which I would think should be on the bottom.
This is where my leak is, at that joint.
If anyone reading this has the 3760EL model check your window to see where the joint is and post your result.

Hockster

 

[NYSUPstater]

CW dropped the ball on this one and i agree that these items should've been caught during the PDI.

In regards to the wheel bearings, we had exact same problem w/ our BC last year which was found during a NYS inspection. Had to have 3 of 4 wheels all re-done at my expense as coach wasn't at a HL dealer. Got reimbursed by purchasing dealer. Dexter axles as well.

Now a year later and it's just a few little things I'm finding and taking care of. Not a big deal. Each spring I check all the drain pipe and water connections before sending water thru them to make sure nothing loosened up.

Sorry to read the OP's post and problems. Should OP call HL, as hard as it may be do to so, be polite with 'em and be honest as well, for they should step up and find way(s) to get things repaired w/o interrupting your schedule too much. May take time, but the more flex you can be w/HL, am willing to bet they will work w/you. Just my $.02

 

[mlpeloquin]

It's so sad when people have such problems with their new trailers. Most of the problem you listed were there before you took delivery. I'm camped next to a Heartland owner that hates his trailer because of all the problems. The small problems became big problems because they were not fixed before the customer took delivery and the nuisance problem compound. You can buy a new rig and have the dealer fix all the problems you find in your walk through. Then take it on a test run and make a list of repairs and have them taking care of. Here's another sad thing. If it is a big repair, it's going to take time. I had a bad jack on my trailer the day I bought it in March and it was September before the dealer could get the part to repair it.

It does not take long for a jack to be ordered and replaced. Took my independent RV repair service one day to order, four days to receive it, and one and a half hours of labor to replace it. Want your fifth wheel fixed properly and quickly go to an independent RV service that will work with Heartland. You will not be set up waiting for months. Dealers are notorious for doing this and blaming Heartland. By the way, Camping World centers do not have a very good reputation on repairs. A few do. So be careful if you have the work done there.

 

[BLR]

1 and only 1 post from rondigio complaining about said Trailer..

Not asking for help..

Just being a troll???

All of us have had issues and have either had them fixed during PDI inspection or after the sale..

These are all Built by humans.. not robots..

There will be issues and Oregon Camper has posted a great PDI check list.
We used it when we bought ours and the only 2 issues we have had would never of been caught at PDI.
Bad gear mechanism on slide and a window that leaked.. all were found within a month of use..

I guess we were lucky with our 2017, 4018
Cyclone or our dealership along with us did our homework on PDI inspection report.


Sent from BLR Logistics

 

[Go-Fly]

It does not take long for a jack to be ordered and replaced. Took my independent RV repair service one day to order, four days to receive it, and one and a half hours of labor to replace it. Want your fifth wheel fixed properly and quickly go to an independent RV service that will work with Heartland. You will not be set up waiting for months. Dealers are notorious for doing this and blaming Heartland. By the way, Camping World centers do not have a very good reputation on repairs. A few do. So be careful if you have the work done there.

I don't understand why a dealer would want to do this? Heartland had no problem sending a new stove and dinning room table right away. My dealer put them in, repaired my punch list from our trial run and did some recalls on the AC. They just couldn't get Heartland to send the jack. Over my years of buying new RV's I've found that production comes before warranty.

 

[rondigio]

This was a brand new factory ordered rig (so I was told)...I think the water heater element must have burned out. Will contact Suburban see if I can get a replacement.

It seems like the leveler won't work if the trailer is not "fairly" leveled...what's the point of the leveler system if it can't level at any level?

I'm really disappointed that there are no quality control for such an expensive rig.

You all are correct...problem is probably with Camping World. My dealer never did PDI I asked them to and it never happened. So during the initial walk through we found alot of issues then on our first camping trip found alot more.

I'm going to see if Heartland can grant me extended warranty free of charge because I can't trust this rig since its supposed to be a "full time" rig...if it is not right the first time how am I supposed to know it won't break or something else breaks.

 

[dave10a]

If a manufacturer is paying for warrenty repairs, I would think they would invest more in Quality Control and employee training to cut down warrenty costs. Surly they are keeping track of warranty costs--- at least they should be.

 

[i4110peter]

I understand what rondigio is going through.
I have a few issues with my 2019 Bighorn 3760EL, water heater electric being one of them.
It did work at one time and has since quite.
Everything checks out, but no power to element.
I find that the SW12DEL model Subburban Water Heater has a relay that I suspect is the problem
This relay has a 12 volt coil and uses 120v on the contacts.
This is done because your control center is 12 volt powered so as not to mix the 12 volt and 120 volt in same panel.
The best I can tell it is mounted on the water heater itself, and appears to have failed.
Rig is going back to Dealer next week for this to be repaired and a few other problems.
I also have a leaking kitchen window over the Cooktop which to me appears to be installed upside down.
The butt joint where the 2 ends of meet and are sealed with caulk are on the top of the window, which I would think should be on the bottom.
This is where my leak is, at that joint.
If anyone reading this has the 3760EL model check your window to see where the joint is and post your result.

Hockster

Just purchased a 3160EL and yes the kitchen window does appear to be installed upside down!