NYSUPstater
Well-known member
Wow, this thread sure is quiet. Is this a good or bad thing?
BC brand sure is quiet
- Thread starter NYSUPstater
- Start date
At least from our perspective, it's a good thing. Our Big Country just chugs along without any real issues. Of course, it has generally been stationary for the last few months here in Florida (a couple short trips out here and there). I recently just treated it to a good cleaning/waxing.
farside291
Well-known member
Same here, no issues in almost 2.5 years, with the exception of me forgetting to winterize it and freezing the whole trailer. I hope I am not jinxing myself but really absolutely no issues with the trailer itself. Had to change out the door control panel on the refrigerator last trip but that has nothing to do with the BC.
Shortest Straw
Caught In A Mosh
A combination of it is winter and limited issues? We have a few things that need to be fixed on ours but not anything I need to ask about here. We just made the Phoenix to Louisiana trip for Mardi Gras and ended up with a water leak which I fixed myself. Still here in LA for a couple more weeks and then turning the wheels again.
jassson007
Founding Louisiana Chapter Leaders-Retired
Shortest Straw
Caught In A Mosh
We are in Slidell.
jassson007
Founding Louisiana Chapter Leaders-Retired
Oh ok. Was gonna see if y’all were in Kinder already.
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Shortest Straw
Caught In A Mosh
Not quite. Have some friends to visit in Hot Springs first. We plan on getting to Kinder the Saturday before the rally.
jassson007
Founding Louisiana Chapter Leaders-Retired
Ok was just gonna suggest dinner if y’all were bored lol
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Shortest Straw
Caught In A Mosh
We would have taken ya up on that. We can bore easily when it comes to an offer to go out and eat!
We've had issues since day 1. Not sure if all were Heartland's fault? I didn't post the big issue in this thread cause I posted it under the frame section.
First trip after purchase in Oct 2016, shower faucet leaked behind the wall, not a big deal to replace since DH is a plumber, BUT the leak was directly over the converter so that got fried and wasn't charging battery. No spark, no heat so camper got down to 50 inside and we had to hook up to the truck to recharge the battery and get the slides in to get back home. Took back to dealer and waited 3 weeks for them to put in converter that my husband could have installed in an hour. We were able to squeeze in one more trip before winterizing that seemed to be uneventful.
First road trip (approx 2,000 miles) March 2017, 3rd trip with BC; entire front closet walls damaged from some form of frame flex. Notified Heartland when we returned from trip and requested to bring it to them and was ok with waiting til June, but they didn't want me to and instead bounced us all over the place trying to find a local dealer to take it to. Finally found a dealer, set up appt for May only to take it there and have it sit for over a week and them tell us they wouldn't be able to look at it for probably a month since their customers took priority and they had some service dept staff medical issues. So useless 150 mile round trip for nothing. Finally, Heartland said that Lippert in Indiana would look at it, so we scheduled appt and waited for confirmation, but never received it and we had no idea which Lippert plant we were going to, there are numerous plants in IN for Lippert and the trip was over 700 miles one way. Morning of appt Lippert called to see where we were?!? Big ball dropped by someone somewhere! We finally did make it to Lippert in July, only to be told it wasn't frame flex and/or Lippert's issue BUT bolt heads were sheared off on something that was Heartland's responsibility when they attached to frame. The Big Country then went to a repair shop in Indiana for them to take a look. Turns out it WAS frame flex (the issue we thought from the start and were willing to take to Heartland's service center in June) of some sort that was repaired/reinforced/welded by both Lippert & Heartland techs who came to the Repair place.
On the way out to Indiana, we got the dreaded bad Andersen Valve issue where we were hooked to the City water, but fresh water tank filled, then overflowed for quite a while since we didn't know it went bad. Called Andersen while camper was in Indiana and they sent the replacement kit out.
We expected the little annoying issues (screws loose, moulding popping off, etc.) and we had those also but to us that's a part of the camper going down the road. The frame flex is the scary thing for me and things seem to be OK with that (I check the closet walls constantly), but we just noticed that our bedroom slide has been slowly drifting out a couple inches while it's sitting for the winter so we probably have a bad hydraulic seal since we don't see fluid leaking and we noticed when going over the trailer while doing the cleaning/winterizing thing that one of the slide seals looks like it's going to need to be replaced. While we've had it now for 18 months, we really haven't been using it a lot during that time frame between 2 winters and the time it sat waiting to be fixed or waiting to find a place to get it fixed.
We do really like the Big Country, but if we decided to get something new, I don't know if I'd go with another Heartland product?
First trip after purchase in Oct 2016, shower faucet leaked behind the wall, not a big deal to replace since DH is a plumber, BUT the leak was directly over the converter so that got fried and wasn't charging battery. No spark, no heat so camper got down to 50 inside and we had to hook up to the truck to recharge the battery and get the slides in to get back home. Took back to dealer and waited 3 weeks for them to put in converter that my husband could have installed in an hour. We were able to squeeze in one more trip before winterizing that seemed to be uneventful.
First road trip (approx 2,000 miles) March 2017, 3rd trip with BC; entire front closet walls damaged from some form of frame flex. Notified Heartland when we returned from trip and requested to bring it to them and was ok with waiting til June, but they didn't want me to and instead bounced us all over the place trying to find a local dealer to take it to. Finally found a dealer, set up appt for May only to take it there and have it sit for over a week and them tell us they wouldn't be able to look at it for probably a month since their customers took priority and they had some service dept staff medical issues. So useless 150 mile round trip for nothing. Finally, Heartland said that Lippert in Indiana would look at it, so we scheduled appt and waited for confirmation, but never received it and we had no idea which Lippert plant we were going to, there are numerous plants in IN for Lippert and the trip was over 700 miles one way. Morning of appt Lippert called to see where we were?!? Big ball dropped by someone somewhere! We finally did make it to Lippert in July, only to be told it wasn't frame flex and/or Lippert's issue BUT bolt heads were sheared off on something that was Heartland's responsibility when they attached to frame. The Big Country then went to a repair shop in Indiana for them to take a look. Turns out it WAS frame flex (the issue we thought from the start and were willing to take to Heartland's service center in June) of some sort that was repaired/reinforced/welded by both Lippert & Heartland techs who came to the Repair place.
On the way out to Indiana, we got the dreaded bad Andersen Valve issue where we were hooked to the City water, but fresh water tank filled, then overflowed for quite a while since we didn't know it went bad. Called Andersen while camper was in Indiana and they sent the replacement kit out.
We expected the little annoying issues (screws loose, moulding popping off, etc.) and we had those also but to us that's a part of the camper going down the road. The frame flex is the scary thing for me and things seem to be OK with that (I check the closet walls constantly), but we just noticed that our bedroom slide has been slowly drifting out a couple inches while it's sitting for the winter so we probably have a bad hydraulic seal since we don't see fluid leaking and we noticed when going over the trailer while doing the cleaning/winterizing thing that one of the slide seals looks like it's going to need to be replaced. While we've had it now for 18 months, we really haven't been using it a lot during that time frame between 2 winters and the time it sat waiting to be fixed or waiting to find a place to get it fixed.
We do really like the Big Country, but if we decided to get something new, I don't know if I'd go with another Heartland product?
TravelTiger
Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
The Big Country interior decor was redesigned for 2018. I think those are scheduled to be hitting the rv lots soon. It looks lighter and brighter. (cabinetry is the same.)
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JWalker
Northeast Region Director-Retired
Don’t worry Mike, I’ll change a few things on my trailer. Then you won’t feel lonely. Just for you bud.
Almost like it was from the factory.
Shortest Straw
Caught In A Mosh
Don’t worry Mike, I’ll change a few things on my trailer. Then you won’t feel lonely. Just for you bud.
Almost like it was from the factory.
Factory did a horrible job on the front graphics!!
JWalker
Northeast Region Director-Retired
Factory did a horrible job on the front graphics!!
They sure did. Lol! Not sure if I would make the cut in the graphics department.
Shortest Straw
Caught In A Mosh
It also appears that someone really messed up the front of that pickup too! Here try this...
You are welcome!!
NYSUPstater
Well-known member
Jamie & shortstraw---Love 'em both!!!!!!!
Sounds like a lot of buck passing. We do see the occasional frame issue across all the luxury Heartland brands from time to time, but it appears to be the luck of the draw. Plus, they seem to be fewer in the later model years.
I can sympathize with your experience with Lippert. We had a trailer that was involved in a wreck and had some frame damage. Our insurance eventually sent it to Lippert up in Goshen to fix it. Took them five months to finally say it was done. They were supposedly waiting on body parts from Heartland most of that time. Also, once I got there to pick it up, they had lost the insurance check.
If your decision is primarily based on your frame experience, make sure you realize that most of the trailers and fifth wheels on the road roll on Lippert frames.
I forgot to mention also that we upgraded to a Trailair Flex Air pin box before the long road trip, specifically so that we wouldn't have frame issues!
Some of our friends said they would want a new trailer, our feeling was a new one could have the same problem so just FIX the one we have. Honestly, my biggest frustration came from the fact that once we called Heartland and said we would have no problem waiting for the June appointment and that my husband would even bring it to them, they still didn't want us to bring it out there and we were jumping through hoops trying to find any dealers that would look at it for us, which never happened anyway. Looking back, we probably should have just showed up at Heartland's door and left it there with them since that was pretty much the end result anyway. Repair facility that got Heartland & Lippert moving on it was 4 blocks away from Heartland in Elkhart.
I do realize that 95% of the frames are Lippert, tough to find something that isn't Lippert without needing an large inheritance to purchase it! LOL
