Disapointed in Heartland 1st purchase

[JohnD]

Did somebody say . . .

FIREBALL?!

WTF? (Where's The Fireball?)

 

[Bones]

Thanks for the reply. This is our second Landmark our other one was a 2012. There was nothing wrong with it its just this one will be easier for my husband inside and out. My husband is an amputee. As far as our dealer is concerned they aren't any help. They are a very big dealer all across the US. I have gained back my confidence about the trailer with all the help we are getting from Heartland. You take a chance with anything you buy now a days. What is really great about Heartland is we are taking it to a trailer repair facility that has been in business 51 years not a big RV dealer. When I called and made the appointment they told us the soonest we could get it in was May 11th that was on Tuesday Heartland called Wednesday morning and could get us in on the 7th. I feel Heartland must have a good reputation to get us an appointment that quick. It's hard to say what to check for I would have never dreamed in a million years we would have a brake problem. Evidently this is a common problem with ALL RV MFGRS. Make sure you join the Heartland Owners Forum. Everyone in your group will be a great help if you need it. We have become very close friends with a few of the members. And camp with them as much as we can. We too have fur babies they love to camp. My husband says it's their trailer and their truck. There is nothing in the world that can compare to camping. Enjoy it the US is really beautiful.

Please remember if you drive the camper without brakes it will take you 4 times the distance to stop everything and be extremely stressful. I have been there too many times with failed brakes.

 

[JohnD]

Please remember if you drive the camper without brakes it will take you 4 times the distance to stop everything and be extremely stressful. I have been there too many times with failed brakes.

Our first camper, a 1978 Coachman Cadet 24 that we bought in 2001 was a clunker when we bought it, but was a great camper to get started with.

We called it our 'tent on wheels' because about the only thing that worked in it was the electrical outlets.



However, we always had trailer brake problems with it (had them rewired twice).

Seems that the brakes always worked on flat land and going up hill . . . but they never worked going down hill!

Of course, with the Rocky mountains just 20 minutes away from our house . . . guess where we liked to go camping the most?

While I miss that old beast in a lot of ways . . . I really don't want it back!

When I told Cathy that I wanted to name it like people do boats and have it painted on the back . . . that's when she said we could get a new trailer.

The name I came up with . . . 'Trailer Trash'!

 

[Bob&Patty]

John and Cathy, come on down. It's only about a 1K mile day trip. Make sure you bring your helmet. LOL

 

[mlpeloquin]

Wayne and Melinda,
Please check your wires inside the axle tubes. I had very similar faults and was chasing them down for quite awhile. My wires actually fried inside the axle tubes where you could not see them and was causing massive shorts in the trailer braking system. Here are a few pictures. If you feel comfortable on testing them I can tell you what you need to do to test the wires. It involves a multi-meter wire cutters and then all the appropriate wire crimps and new 14gauge wire. This will tell you if you have a direct short in the system which is what I suspect.

View attachment 44631View attachment 44632View attachment 44633View attachment 44634View attachment 44635

I ran new wires on the outside of the axle tubes and attached them to the tubes. The one picture shows on wire as I was pulling it out of the axle. If you test and one is bad then do the other one too because it is not long behind in failure. You also need to check your pigtail as well for faults and the associated wire connections. Basically go over the whole system.

Looks like the brake wires were rubbing on the sharp edge of the axle tubes. I wonder if there is a sharp burr on the inside. The wire cable has not been secured from movement. Looks like I am getting under mine to take a look. Insulate that hole and restrain the wiring is cheep insurance even though most do not have a problem.

 

[Bones]

Looks like the brake wires were rubbing on the sharp edge of the axle tubes. I wonder if there is a sharp burr on the inside. The wire cable has not been secured from movement. Looks like I am getting under mine to take a look. Insulate that hole and restrain the wiring is cheep insurance even though most do not have a problem.

The wires at the ends of the tube were good. no chafing. The damaged occurred about midway through the axle. There was no way for me to visually see the wire and the damage. I only found it after I cut all of the wires and ohmed them and checked them for shorts. There must be something inside the axle or they damaged the wires when pulling them through.

 

[mlpeloquin]

That is a good possibility. The insulation looks thin and it would not take much to peal through as it is pulled through.

 

[rlcartie]

I took the advice of this thread and called Heartland direct. The gentleman on the phone went through his log and it appears Dixie was the one dragging their feet on this one, as well as the one who ordered the wrong color wood replacement. Heartland is expediting the shipment of the correct pieces by a week in an attempt to get the matter resolved quicker.

I am very thankful for the advice on this forum. I am still a bit disappointed that the issues occurred. I don't expect perfection, but I would expect a brand new unit off the factory floor would not leak the amount of water it did right out the gate.

 

[mlpeloquin]

We had a friend with a brand new American made car with such a bad leak just after they purchase it. Never got the leak completely sealed. I also had a leak in a new car. Two dealerships could not fix it. I found where the water was getting in and did the repair. Doesn't matter what or who is the manufacture, things happen. We just don't want them to happen to us.

 

[JohnDar]

Try spending $600,000 or more on new fire trucks that continuously break down. Latest is $4000 for an alternator that's less than three years old. And no, we don't run the day lights out our rigs. Our newest one, delivered earlier this year, went down for repairs on it's way being delivered to us. We discovered that the pressure gauges did not read the correct hose line being operated. Electronic nightmares abound on them.

 

[RAL6]

Rlcartie,
Glad things are getting taken care of. Hope you will be back in business soon!

Ann

 

[rlcartie]

This whole thing is beginning to play out like a circus. I am not so sure I would ever recommend either one of these companies again.

May 11th email from Dixie:
HELLO, JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT WE DID NOT RECEIVE THE SLIDE FACIA WHEN WE RECEIVED ALL THE STILES. WE CONTACTED HEARTLAND AND THEY SAID THEY WERE ON THE WAY. SO AS SOON AS THEY COME IN YOUR UNIT WILL BE COMPLETE. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE FELL FREE TO CONTACT ME.

Email from today (May 18)that I had to follow up on:
YES WE RECEIVED THE FACIA YESTERDAY. I HATE TO SAY THIS BUT IT CAME IN WRONG AGAIN. I HAD MY PARTS PEOPLE REACH OUT HEARTLAND ABOUT THIS ISSUE. HEARTLANDS RESPONSE WAS THAT THE FACIA HAS A 10-14 WEEK LEAD BEFORE THEY GET IT. YOU ARE MORE THAN WELCOME TO COME GET YOUR UNIT WHILE WE WAIT ON THIS FACIA TO COME IN. IF THAT IS SOMETHING YOU WOULD CONSIDER DOING JUST LET ME KNOW SO WE CAN MAKE ARRANGEMENTS. AGAIN I APPOLIGIZE ON THE PROBLEMS WE ARE HAVING WITH HEARTLAND.

 

[kowAlski631]

So, what has Heartland told you?