Big Horn 3760 EL upgrades, modifications and repairs

[violinini1]

I have now owned my Big Horn for 18 months and thought I would publish the upgrades that I have made. In addition, I thought it was only fair to also publish the repairs that I have had to make. All in all, I am extremely happy with my Big Horn, I searched for two years before making this purchase, so I feel like that I knew a lot of the possible issues prior to making the plunge. I hope that this will help those that are wanting to make some upgrades to theirs and for those that have experienced similar problems. Will publish pictures once I figure out how.

Heartland 2016 Big Horn 3670 EL Upgrades after purchase (myself unless noted)
1. Magnum – Model 3012 Hybrid 3000 Watt Inverter
2. Magnum – MMP 250 Mini Magnum Panel
3. Magnum – ME-AGS Auto Generator Start
4. Batteries – 4 each 235 AH Full River AGM’s
5. Progressive EMS-HW50C Surge Protector
6. MORryde CTG60-4290W Sliding Cargo Tray
7. Sterilite Modular Drawers installed on Sliding Cargo Tray
8. Modified Basement wall for easy access to inverter and batteries
9. Lippert 360 Siphon Vent Caps July 2017
10. Studor 20346 REDI-VENT Air Admittance Valve
11. JR Products 15225 Black LED Dimmer On/Off Switch for over the bed light in bedroom
12. Amir Rechargeable Motion Sensor Light for underneath cabinets
13. 5[SUP]th[/SUP] Wheel Lube Plate installed on hitch 12-2-16 (Dan’s Service Center, Elkhart)
14. EEZ tire Temperature and PSI monitor w/aux amplifier
15. Rear RV camera
16. Sleep Number Bed
17. Snap-Pads on jacks 6-14-17
18. RV Lock keyless locks: Front door (Tiara), storage compartments (myself)

Repairs after purchase (myself unless noted)
1. Refrigerator not cold enough: Installed air flow baffle at top rear of refrigerator June 2017 (Heartland Rally technicians)
2. Temp. bypass of refrigerator exhaust fan temperature switch June 2017 (Heartland Rally techs)
3. Replaced Refrigerator exhaust fan temperature switch July 2017 (Alexander’s RV Repair, helped by me)
4. Replaced vinyl floor in front of refrigerator due to damage caused by slide rollers (warranty repair)
5. A/C units freeze up (warranty repair)
6. Refrigerator door straightened June 2017 (Heartland Rally techs)
7. Bowed section of sleeper sofa replaced and filled with thicker foam June 2017 (Lippert at Heartland Rally)
8. Sewer smell when running shower – replaced outside and inside vents. Found hole in roof under vent cover.
9. Wheel cover flapping (warranty repair)
10. Electrical outlet between theater chairs came loose (warranty repair)
11. Replaced leaky shower head (replaced)
12. Replaced ceiling beam over theater chairs June 2017 (Heartland Rally Techs)
13. Replaced hinges on oven door (caused by me leaning on oven door while lighting pilot, Ugh!)
14. Adjusted misaligned sliding bathroom door

Maintenance (myself unless noted)
1. Bearings repacked July 2017 (Alexander’s RV Repair)
2. Inspected roof July 2017 (Alexander’s)
3. Inspected trailer brakes July 2017 (Alexander’s)
4. Normal wash and wax
5. Normal tightening of bolts and screws
6. Tank high-pressure backflush June 2017 (Kleen Tank)
7. Cleaned A/C filters

 

[Oregon_Camper]

4. Batteries – 4 each 235 AH Full River AGM’s

OK..I am WAAAAY jealous of those bad boys!! Please tell me you boondock 99.99999% of the time.

Didn't see any mention of solar..???

 

[violinini1]

OK..I am WAAAAY jealous of those bad boys!! Please tell me you boondock 99.99999% of the time.

Didn't see any mention of solar..???

Solar is definitely in my plans, but need to retire first, so I can get out west where boon docking pays off.

 

[Oregon_Camper]

Solar is definitely in my plans, but need to retire first, so I can get out west where boon docking pays off.

360 degree pictures won't work here, so you'll need to click on this link. As you look down the driver side of the trailer....nothing attached! Boondocking at its best!

BTW...when you open this, you'll have to click on the circle like icon in upper right to enable 360 degree view.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/BcJSKuvMQ0duV7Y02

 

[violinini1]

360 degree pictures won't work here, so you'll need to click on this link. As you look down the driver side of the trailer....nothing attached! Boondocking at its best!

BTW...when you open this, you'll have to click on the circle like icon in upper right to enable 360 degree view.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/BcJSKuvMQ0duV7Y02

Gorgeous!! Where exactly is that?
Don

 

[esscobra]

curious as to where you put batteries and inverter- on large unused area door side behind basement wall? that where I am contemplating batteries- what did you for for battery box and ventilation? I have partially cleaned up wiring and was able to move wall back almost 1 ft and gained more space than I lost installing outdoor tv on front wall of basement

 

[violinini1]

curious as to where you put batteries and inverter- on large unused area door side behind basement wall? that where I am contemplating batteries- what did you for for battery box and ventilation? I have partially cleaned up wiring and was able to move wall back almost 1 ft and gained more space than I lost installing outdoor tv on front wall of basement

Good guess. Behind the basement wall toward the back side, was the factory installed converter and transfer switch. It was a perfect place. I have AGM batteries laying on their side, so no need for ventilation. It was perfect. The batteries weigh over a hundred pounds a piece, that was 500 pounds including the inverter that I was adding to the tongue weight. With the cantilever action by setting them back about 15 feet from the nose, I only added about 350 lbs to the tongue weight.

 

[esscobra]

do you have whole coach wired to inverter or only selected items? any issues with magnum? its a unit I am considering as well-
did you keep factory battery front as well ? do you have residential fridge? what sort of run time do you get from batteries?

- - - Updated - - -

any heat issues? its 100 here in texas - so would need some airflow down there- have been planning to do similar battery/inverter setup in that space and solar on roof-

 

[Piperflyer]

Time to check your large rollers on the kitchen slide and make sure there is no tearing of the ears that hold the axle onto the brackets.

 

[violinini1]

do you have whole coach wired to inverter or only selected items? any issues with magnum? its a unit I am considering as well-
did you keep factory battery front as well ? do you have residential fridge? what sort of run time do you get from batteries?

I have everything wired except the Hot Water Heater and the A/C's on a separate sub-panel. I used the Blue Sea 8 circuit panel, it fits nicely on the back wall of my pantry. No issues with the Magnum, although it does use a lot of amps to run. It is the only unit that is still made in the USA. I wanted to be able to run the microwave and hair dryer hence the reason for a big one. I also opted for the MMP 250 mini panel. This panel already had so many things built in like the Battery cut off, Bypass switch, and the connections were a breeze. When compared to buying these items separately, it was not that much more expensive. It was well worth the additional investment. Most people can use 2000 watts just fine and with the same battery bank, will get longer run time. I have the Norcold 2018 gas/electric fridge. Although I can run the fridge on batteries while on travel, I will use gas while boon docking. I have not boon docked yet with this set up, but I expect to get a couple of days between charges if I run conservatively. Maybe more, just not sure yet. Even with AGM's, you can only run about 50% of the capacity, which in my case is 670/2 = 235 AH. It has an auto cutoff, so if I am not pulling a certain amount of amps, the inverter will not run. Interesting that you should ask about the factory batteries. I still have them and have thought about using them as a spare set so I can make sure I can start the generator. It would require a Magnum device that will charge two sets of unlike batteries which costs about $100. I probably will do that at sometime in the future. They are of course, wet cell, and I just do not want to have to deal with them. I think I will wait until I can get additional AGM's and then set it up.
Don

- - - Updated - - -

Time to check your large rollers on the kitchen slide and make sure there is no tearing of the ears that hold the axle onto the brackets.

I am not sure I follow you. "tearing of the ears" "axle onto the brackets" can you explain further.
Don

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

I have now owned my Big Horn for 18 months and thought I would publish the upgrades that I have made. In addition, I thought it was only fair to also publish the repairs that I have had to make. All in all, I am extremely happy with my Big Horn, I searched for two years before making this purchase, so I feel like that I knew a lot of the possible issues prior to making the plunge. I hope that this will help those that are wanting to make some upgrades to theirs and for those that have experienced similar problems. Will publish pictures once I figure out how.

Heartland 2016 Big Horn 3670 EL Upgrades after purchase (myself unless noted)
1. Magnum – Model 3012 Hybrid 3000 Watt Inverter
2. Magnum – MMP 250 Mini Magnum Panel
3. Magnum – ME-AGS Auto Generator Start
4. Batteries – 4 each 235 AH Full River AGM’s
5. Progressive EMS-HW50C Surge Protector
6. MORryde CTG60-4290W Sliding Cargo Tray
7. Sterilite Modular Drawers installed on Sliding Cargo Tray
8. Modified Basement wall for easy access to inverter and batteries
9. Lippert 360 Siphon Vent Caps July 2017
10. Studor 20346 REDI-VENT Air Admittance Valve
11. JR Products 15225 Black LED Dimmer On/Off Switch for over the bed light in bedroom
12. Amir Rechargeable Motion Sensor Light for underneath cabinets
13. 5[SUP]th[/SUP] Wheel Lube Plate installed on hitch 12-2-16 (Dan’s Service Center, Elkhart)
14. EEZ tire Temperature and PSI monitor w/aux amplifier
15. Rear RV camera
16. Sleep Number Bed
17. Snap-Pads on jacks 6-14-17
18. RV Lock keyless locks: Front door (Tiara), storage compartments (myself)

Repairs after purchase (myself unless noted)
1. Refrigerator not cold enough: Installed air flow baffle at top rear of refrigerator June 2017 (Heartland Rally technicians)
2. Temp. bypass of refrigerator exhaust fan temperature switch June 2017 (Heartland Rally techs)
3. Replaced Refrigerator exhaust fan temperature switch July 2017 (Alexander’s RV Repair, helped by me)
4. Replaced vinyl floor in front of refrigerator due to damage caused by slide rollers (warranty repair)
5. A/C units freeze up (warranty repair)
6. Refrigerator door straightened June 2017 (Heartland Rally techs)
7. Bowed section of sleeper sofa replaced and filled with thicker foam June 2017 (Lippert at Heartland Rally)
8. Sewer smell when running shower – replaced outside and inside vents. Found hole in roof under vent cover.
9. Wheel cover flapping (warranty repair)
10. Electrical outlet between theater chairs came loose (warranty repair)
11. Replaced leaky shower head (replaced)
12. Replaced ceiling beam over theater chairs June 2017 (Heartland Rally Techs)
13. Replaced hinges on oven door (caused by me leaning on oven door while lighting pilot, Ugh!)
14. Adjusted misaligned sliding bathroom door

Maintenance (myself unless noted)
1. Bearings repacked July 2017 (Alexander’s RV Repair)
2. Inspected roof July 2017 (Alexander’s)
3. Inspected trailer brakes July 2017 (Alexander’s)
4. Normal wash and wax
5. Normal tightening of bolts and screws
6. Tank high-pressure backflush June 2017 (Kleen Tank)
7. Cleaned A/C filters

Very nice job on all of the Mod's. You will definitely enjoy every one of them. Some more then others.

Enjoy
Jerrod

 

[Piperflyer]

This is the reason your floor became tore before. The ears on the two large roller assemblies that hold your roller axle in place on your kitchen slide develop cracks (tear) and break off. The piece that breaks gets behind the roller and drags behind the roller when you put the slide out, thus tearing your floor. Has happened to a bunch of 3760 EL, yours being one from what you said has been repaired. Don't know if Heartland has done anything to fix the problem.




View attachment 53347

 

[violinini1]

Very nice job on all of the Mod's. You will definitely enjoy every one of them. Some more then others.

Enjoy
Jerrod

thank you very much. And we have and we will enjoy!
Don

 

[terribruce]

Wow!! Wow!! is all I can say!! Congratulations on the mods, great job! And also on your trailer. Looks like you about to hit the road.
Be safe out there.

Terri

 

[violinini1]

Wow!! Wow!! is all I can say!! Congratulations on the mods, great job! And also on your trailer. Looks like you about to hit the road.
Be safe out there.

Terri

Thank you very much, we are loving it!!