Looking at buying my first 5th Wheel, a Big Horn 3750FL

[CMSGT98]

Greetings fellow RV lovers, my name is is Tim and my wife and I are looking at possibly purchasing a Big Horn 3750FL and was trying to get some feedback. We have had a 34FT TT before and are now ready for a bigger rig. I'm looking at purchasing a F350 Dually to pull it. Any tips before buying would be greatly appreciated!

Addtionally, has anyone had any issues with the height of the newer 5th Wheels, I think this one is around 13-3. Finally, will the 42ft length keep me out of a lot of parks? Thanks in advance!

Tim

 

[weekender01]

Congratulations and good luck in your search. You should have plenty of tow vehicle with an F-350, but your big decision will be gearing and what type of hitch set up you want. Others can provide guidance on the gearing, but my vote for the hitch is the B&W Companion. It can fit into the puck system on the Ford trucks if installed and best of all if you want to remove the hitch you can and will have no rails in the bed of the truck.

As for the 5th wheel we just went form a 34'TT to a 39' Toy Hauler 5th wheel. The first thing you will need to pay attention to is the turns. A 5th wheel will track to the inside of your turn so you do have to swing a little wider especially on right hand turns. It is not bad though and after a few times towing you will easily have it down. I love towing our 5th wheel as it is much more stable than our TT was.

As for the height I have not had any issues so far and most of the time you will not either. What you will find however is that the interstates will be no issue, but the side roads, back roads, etc. is where you may run into some issues. A good RV GPS can help with this, but will not catch everything that is a low clearance. I have more concerns with overhanging tree limbs.

The length will cause you to be a little more selective with campgrounds, but most of the more modern campgrounds accomodate larger units than yours. Now state and local park campgounds may be another story. We are limited on some of the state campgrounds in Georgia due to our length.

Just my feedback. This forum has a lot of knowledgable people that will be glad to help you along the way.

 

[CMSGT98]

Thanks Weekender! Really appreciate the info! I'm glad you mentioned B&W because I've been reading up on hitches and it sounds like B&W is the way to go. Looking forward to getting to know some folks and once I get the 5th Wheel then joining the club!

 

[jimtoo]

HI Tim,

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.

Chris pretty well covered the issues you ask about. Since you have been pulling 34' TT you wont have any problems with the 5th wheel.

Be sure and check out our Heartland Owners Club. Join us at a rally when you can and meet lots of the great folks here and make friends for a lifetime.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M

 

[Bob&Patty]

One thing you will find.....a 5th wheel trailer reacts slower backing up compared to a TT. I find a 5er is easier to back that a TT. They also tow and ride better than a TT. You might find with the front living that they have a pretty heavy pin weight. You might or might not need to add air bags to you TV the keep things level.

You will love your "Horn" and HL stands behind their product. Any problems you have...call HL service.

Download the Big Horn MSRP from the forum. Add up all the options and the base price. Then subtract 25 to 30% off that...then go make your deal. Do an in intensive PDI before you sign any paperwork. Have the dealer make any repairs before you sign. If you have any issues that the dealer gives you grief over call HL service and get them involved.

 

[mrudick66]

We purchased a 2016 3760EL B H last year and love it. Had a couple of minor problems which H L took care immediately. Also if you have any questions ask questions on this forum everyone here very helpful. Enjoy your B H .

Sent from my SCH-R890 using Tapatalk

 

[ram_1955]

I have to concur with all of the above.
I just transistioned from a 36' tt pulled by an F150 to a RoadWarrior fifth wheel towed by F350

Tim contact me directly if you have questions. You might want to get the F350 on order before pulling the switch on the trailer, it took 10 weeks for my truck to come in and this late in the model year could be longer or not available

 

[MP_CS]

I did the same thing as your talking last year, moved from a tt to a 5er. Granted mine is alot smaller than the one you're looking into but same principals apply. I can tell you theres no comparison between the two when it comes to hitching up and towing down the road, fifth wheel wins hands down. Backing up is not hard by any stretch of the word just differant from what you're used to, a little practice and you'll have no problems. You asked about campgrounds and although i cant speak for other areas i can tell you around here most state parks will be tough, the few army corp parks no problem. I prefer to go to privately owned campgrounds because state parks in PA are not adult beverage friendly. When you go shopping for your unit dont be afraid to ask to have something changed if you do not like it, i know the dealer we purchased off of bent over backwards to make us happy, and as was previously said do a VERY thorough PDI, i would reccomend staying the night if the dealership you decide on offers that. Whatever you decide on i can now say from personal experience thAt once you have a fifth wheel it is impossible to give up..

 

[CMSGT98]

Wow...thanks for all the great responses! Looking forward to sharing stories and learning a lot from you more experienced folks. I just got back from looking at trucks and decided on an F350 and will post a pic once I figure out how to do it on the board.

I'm assuming that the PDI is the Pre-Delivery Inspection...should this happen before I purchase the BH? Would it include hooking everything up and testing all components? I will be meeting with the salesperson tomorrow and may go ahead and make an offer and will discuss the PDI then. Thanks again in advance!

Tim

 

[MP_CS]

You're PDI is typically done after you've made a deal and have completed the sale.. Thats when they will go over everything. My dealer even insisted on some driving and backing practice before i left. Price negotiations will be when you'll wanna ask about hitches and anything else you want included in the sale, i ended up getting hitch, generator and a yeti cooler thrown in. ( I realize I ultimately paid for them).. Good luck

 

[kowAlski631]

Word of advice. Do your PDI before you complete the sale - you have real leverage then so anything not up to your satisfaction can be fixed before it's off the dealer's inventory. Also ask lots of questions and, if possible, record the answers because you won't remember everything. If there's a switch, find out what it does. If there's a door, find out what's behind it. This is your money being spent on a large purchase. Don't let anyone rush you.
After all is done - go out and have fun!!

Martha

 

[danemayer]

PDIs are your opportunity to 1) get a walk through where the dealer shows you how everything works, and 2) you have an opportunity to test everything out.

During the purchase process, you'll be asked to sign sales documents, and possibly loan documents, and an Acceptance Letter that says you accept the trailer as is because the trailer is in good condition.

You'll find that things will go much better for you if you haven't signed the sales and loan documents, and especially the Acceptance Letter, until after the PDI. If you find anything that needs to be corrected, the dealer will be highly motivated to fix it immediately to get the papers signed.

 

[MP_CS]

I guess I've never heard of doing the PDI before you're actually there to take delivery. The salesperson at the dealership we purchased from had a form and anything that you wanted corrected or added to the sale was recorded on that and sighned by both parties. I guess you might consider that a pdi form? When we purchased our unit the front nosecap decal was what i called faded purplish i told them during our pre sale walk through that if that wasnt changed the sale was a no go, it got recorded on that form and signed. When it came down to it heartland denied the claim saying thats what color the decal was supposed to be.i know it wasn't, i found multiple photos of other units with the correct color decal on it. But because of that pre sale form the dealership covered it, otherwise i would have been screwed. If they wont do a PDI as my dealership didnt at least do a pre sale inspection. Either way you want to cover yourself.


heres an after pic of nosecap

 

[kowAlski631]

Hi, MP_CS. Think we're saying the same thing using different words. Our PDI was done on the day we were there to complete the sale. I think that's what you're calling the pre sale walk. We had only 4 or 5 minor items which were rectified before we completed the sale. The only pressure we had came from the sales manager who tried to tell us that since we'd specially ordered our BH, we were obligated to purchase. We told him that if there were deficiencies, they would be fixed to our satisfaction or we would and could walk away. I guess looking at our faces, he understood that we were serious and he backed down.
Long anecdote, but it's your money and your decision whether or not to complete the sale for just reason.
Martha

 

[danemayer]

We also special ordered and during the walk through found a few things that needed to be corrected. The finance guy wanted us to sign the paperwork immediately after the walk through. I told him I wanted the trailer fixed first. He was unhappy but agreed that we could sign the Acceptance Letter the next day. We stayed overnight on the dealer lot and they did some repairs that afternoon, some in the morning. One item required parts that would take a few weeks to get, so they were shipped to our home for self-install.

Our walk-through was the Friday before Labor Day which was a crazy-busy time in the dealer's repair shop. I'm not sure how much focus they would have put on our repairs that Friday and Saturday if we had signed the papers first.