This actually started in October of 2021, see post #49 for some of the back story
October 2021, was camping at Potters Creek in Canyon lake Texas and noticed a crack in the lower right hand corner of the bedroom slide, I took some pictures and contacted Heartland when we arrived back home.. We go back and forth and Heartland asks me to take it back to our selling dealership for a frame inspection.
I contact the selling dealership about this frame inspection, they don't know what that consists of, so I get back with Heartland and we decide that I can take it to another shop that had done some previous warranty work, I contacted the other shop, talk through it with them, they admitted that they really don't know what Heartland is wanting here so I tell them I'll do some checking and get back with them.
I contacted Lippert, happened to get an ex-field tech on the phone and he said they really don't have a Full Frame Inspection Procedure and based on what I had told him he pointed me towards the Upper Deck Flex Worksheet, and said I could do this myself.
it is pretty much impossible to get these measurements while your trailer is hooked up so I build a jig to support the pin box so I could raise the front jacks off of the ground and perform the Upper Deck Flex Measurements and find that we are within tolerance (1/4" on door side and 3/16" on off door side) so back to Heartland with my findings. Heartland says they need me to take it to the dealership and have them perform the test and that they would pay for it, ok, I get an estimate for $954, get that approved and drop the trailer off and wait.
The tech goes out to do the inspection and calls me and tells me that the area where the crack is in the corner of the bedroom slide has been repaired before, he showed me in a photo where you could see the differences in the paint texture. I ask him to look above the main slide and see if there is any cracking up there, he calls back and confirms that the area that was previously repaired above the main slide was starting to show some spider cracking, not the initial crack repair itself but all around where they had patched it, so he send me some pictures. I asked him to not perform the Upper Deck Flex Inspection until I spoke with Heartland and called him back.
So, light bulb moment, when I got the completed repair list from our last adventure they had written in that they had repaired a crack in the bedroom slide, at the time I thought oh that's nice that they saw that and fixed it but I never even knew it was there.
I contact Heartland and bring them up to speed, they agree that the Upper Deck Flex exercise would just be a waste of money and he said he would get back to me with a resolution. A few days later Heartland says that they have had a high level meeting about our issues and they will fix them but I have to bring it back to Elkhart, they want me to block out 2 weeks so they have plenty of time to look over everything and Lippert will be scheduled to be there when I arrive to go over the entire frame prior to them starting on the crack repairs to see if there are any underlying issues.
Talk it over with my wife and we concoct a plan, she was going to be in Iowa for a wedding on the 15th so I would make it around that time where I could just swing by and pick her up on the way home, lol......... so, I make arrangements to have it in Elkhart on October 3rd, 2022
I leave Texas at 3:15am on October the 1st and arrive in Elkhart at 12 midnight (11pm Texas time) on October the 1st, back into the site and go to bed, I hang around the Service Center on Sunday, winterizing, cleaning, etc. and talking with another owner there until I can check into my hotel.
Sunday Oct. 2nd, check into hotel, get all setup on WiFi and test everything to make sure I'm good to go for work on Monday morning, all is well.
Monday October 3rd, WiFi at hotel is lagging bad, ask front desk if they are having any issues and they said no, so I grab my stuff and head over to the Heartland Customer Lounge, WiFi is strong and I go about my day, checking on our rig outside to see if there is any action. See a tech rolling all around under our trailer, setting up string lines, taking frame measurements and then they haul it into a service bay.
About a month before our trip I found some paint peeling at our auxiliary gas tank filler so I had reached out to Heartland and see if they would fix it while we were there, Heartland denied to fix it under warranty so I asked them for an estimate, (this also happened right after we took delivery and they covered it, that repair was $1200)
I get an email with the estimate for the paint repair ($521.50) and let them know I was actually in their lounge, The service writer comes back and we go back our trailer to discuss what they have found so far. She said no frame issues were discovered.
They had both areas cut out and determined that we needed extra gussets welded in the bedroom slide area frame structure and they were also going to add more to the main slide area where the previous repair was made, I ask why that area above had started cracking and the body guy tells me that they have had some issues with previous repairs being fiber glassed back way too thin and a primer they had been using a couple years ago (hmm 2020 you say?) was shrinking and causes cracks in the repaired areas and that they have had some call backs but assured me they have figured out what was causing those issues and we wouldn't have that problem again.
I gave the service writer $100 and asked her to buy the guys lunch one day.
Wife ended up not going to Iowa due to some other circumstances so I bought her a plane ticket into South Bend on Saturday October 8th, go out to g pick her up and the truck won't start, ughhhhh, finally got a jump, and at the same time a text saying she landed (30 minutes early) ...... made it to the airport and on to Autozone for 2 new batteries (both still under warranty so $277 instead of $408)
The repairs commence, I had them fix the paint at the gas tank, painter laid out 2 days so we were delayed a little but everything was completed and buttoned up on Wednesday October 12th. Went to pay for the paint repair and they gave me a 33% discount so costs us right at $350.
We left Elkhart on the 13th, spent 2 nights in Springfield Missouri at the KOA, visited Branson on the 14th and rolled back into Texas on the 15th.
It was actually a very good trip and I'm glad I made it to know what I know now about everything. Yes, its sucks to have to drive 1000 miles each way and foot the bill for fuel and hotel while you are there but for comparison I did get an estimate to have this repaired locally and it was $13,810 😬
On to the next adventure!