Considering the Elkridge Express E30

johnpsz

Well-known member
This seems to the the largest (well that my wife is comfortable with), of the lighter (sub 10K # dry), 5th wheels with most of the features we are looking for. We are looking for a bunk house, or at least a couple bunk beds for our 2 young kids and sometimes friends. We really like the separate bunk room in this model, and I really like the camp kitchen. But when we were at the RV show I didn't have a tape measure with me nor did I think about it at the time, but now wonder if this trailer will fit my truck without a ton of modifications.

My current (old) 5th wheel is a '95 Road Ranger, that had the the a 4" box frame installed to raise suspension that was also axle flipped. I know that a lot of the older 5th wheels were lower because older trucks were lower. My truck has the bed rails at 63" and the skid plate at the top of the hitch is roughly @ 60ish". I know a lot of newer trucks are about the same height, +/- a few inches, so I assumed a new trailer would work without modifications. Is that correct or would I still need to do something to get the trailer to be level when towing? I have read through a few dozen threads on this forum since joining and there is a lot of concern about raising trailers and I have familiarity with towing a raised trailer and that doesn't bother me, I was just hoping that spending this much on a 5th wheel I could keep the warranty around for a while, lol.

Also, I will do more searching on this second topic, but my wife wants to modify the interior by removing a small "pointless cabinet" (her words) and adding a washer/dryer unit. But again I don't have the dimensions of this cabinet, or the better yet between the slide in the in position and the wall of the bunk room. Would anyone know where I can find those dimensions or happen to have a similar model to take those measurements? Also how would removing a cabinet and installing a washer/dryer impact the warranty? I will try and get a pic offline somewhere of this cabinet my wife wants me to research if we can replace with a washer dryer.

Thanks,
John P.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi johnpsz,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. I expect you'll hear from other owners shortly on your questions.
 

jimtoo

Moderator
Hi John P.,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and hopefully to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

You should not have any problem with bed clearance on your truck. The hitch/pinbox can be moved up or down aprox 4" and most hitches in the truck can have the head moved up or down 3-4".

For removing a cabinet and installing washer/dryer hopefully someone that has done that will jump in with some of their ideas soon.

Enjoy the forum and hope to see you on the road in a Heartland unit.

Jim M
 

johnpsz

Well-known member
Thanks for the welcome, we are really excited about this possible purchase, so thanks for making us feel welcome to the owners community even without buying one yet.

I promised to try and get pics of this cabinet that we are trying to get measurements of, or at least the distance on the outside wall between the slide and the wall to the bunkhouse door.

Here are pics from a dealership that I found.

In these first 2 it's the cabinet just beyond the dinette.
04_5.jpg10_5.jpg

In these next to pics, the cabinet is on the far left of the image.
07_5.jpg05_5.jpg



Also in this video, the cabinet is about 2 minutes and 37 second till about 2:45 into the video, put you can watch the whole thing if you want to, lol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3PK8P_wsgc#t=157 (the embedded viewer below doesn't allow a start time to be set, if you want to go directly to the section of the video I noted above please click the link)


Thanks,
John P.
 

JWalker

Northeast Region Director-Retired
Does it tow a little different than the North Trail??


This is was the biggest thing I noticed. Altogether, I was very pleased in the way he pulled and how the Cummins did.

This was in the mountains. Old trailer and new trailer.
 

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johnpsz

Well-known member
Well I hope with the much lighter weight of the E30 (11700# GVWR) that my 5.9 Cummins can get decent mileage.

As for an update, we might be moving out of the "Prospective Owners" into the "Owners" category soon. We went to the dealership to looking it over yesterday, and they are running the numbers to meet the price I asked and add in a few extras, so we'l see if things fall in line within the next few days.
 

johnpsz

Well-known member
Well the price negotiations are not going as well as I expected (hoped), I guess I'm better at negotiating cars than RV's. I have a deal lined up, the price is higher than I hoped (by $1000), but we are still comfortable with it. With the coach we are also getting the B&W Companion Slider hitch, the MOR/ryde pin box, and Correct Track 2 installed. The deal includes all hookups (electric/water lines/water filter/sewer lines), 2 batteries, and full propane tanks in the price of the coach. We only got the price down 15% off MSRP, but that included the hookups, batteries and full propane. We got killer pricing on the slider hitch, MOR/ryde pin box, and correct track 2, plus install for only $2000, which helps me be OK with paying a little more for the coach. I have tried holding firm for 2 days now with "My" price, which is $1000 less than their "As low as the Sales Manager can do" price and he keeps saying that is it, about 10 minutes ago I was going to call him and fold for their price but when I called the salesman he was out on the lot and I suggested that he called me back (I hate dealing with cell phones and wind noise, when there is already enough times I have to ask people to repeat themselves). We already transferred the money to our account, and when he calls me back I am going to setup everything to get us into the coach, but with the holiday weekend I don't see taking delivery until next week or later depending on what we find during the walk through.
 

johnpsz

Well-known member
We are scheduled for the walk-through and paperwork next Tuesday.


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johnpsz

Well-known member
PDI is tomorrow, I will post pics and maybe video from the inspection. We're soo excited about our first new real camper.

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johnpsz

Well-known member
Well we are officially owners now...
yna6e6as.jpg


They were detailing it when we got there.
9a8erugu.jpg
a3u9etuv.jpg


And here's a video of part of my walkthrough.

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johnpsz

Well-known member
Too bad we didn't get to bring it home with us. During the PDI, I brought my creeper and found a leaky fresh water pipe. Also it is listed to be "equipped with Dexter EZ-Flex" but there wasn't an ez-flex under it so I made a stink about it and they are going to call heartland and see if they would send those out. Between those and a few cracked cabinet doors, everything worked well.

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johnpsz

Well-known member
Too bad we didn't get to bring it home with us. During the PDI, I brought my creeper and found a leaky fresh water pipe. Also it is listed to be "equipped with Dexter EZ-Flex" but there wasn't an ez-flex under it so I made a stink about it and they are going to call heartland and see if they would send those out. Between those and a few cracked cabinet doors, everything worked well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

OK, I just got off the phone with Nick the Heartland RV Elkridge Division's West Coast Regional Manager, who wanted to personally call me to clear up the confusion around the Dexter E-Z Flex missing from my coach. It appears there was a run of Elkridge Extreme Light's, which are built at the same plant as the full size Elkridges, that had the E-Z Flex stickers put on when the Extreme Light's are not optioned with the E-Z Flex. It was my inquiry that brought this to the attention of Nick who had to call the factory to see what was going on. It was only then that they informed him there was this issue with the stickers getting put onto the Extreme Lights, and that the issue was resolved last month and they think that the coaches built in the prior 2-3 moths had these stickers attached by accident? He did say he was upset that the issue is out there and he was never informed, so now he has to call all his West Coast dealers to have them check all Extreme Lights on there lots and remove the stickers, plus send a message to the other regional managers to have them all do the same for their dealer networks.

So I don't get the E-Z Flex, but he did say he was going to do his best to expedite my warranty items and make sure the required parts are sent out ASAP, and also wanted me to know that my dealership is one of there top West Coast dealers and I should have no issues going forward.
 
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