kbausano
Well-known member
As an update, I’m copying a letter sent to Robert Miller of Heartland Southwest Service, who had been amazingly responsive and helpful prior to Thanksgiving in getting our Bighorn with all 3 larger rollers broken to Tucson for the holidays. I sent the following letter to him and others, with an update on the repair work completed by a mobile tech in Tucson. Sadly, I have not received a reply of any kind since, and it appears the email was indeed sent from my account. Thus, I’ll go ahead and post the letter below.
Hi Robert,
Just an update: we were able to travel to Tucson from central California with only 1 of 3 kitchen slide rollers intact. A mobile service technician is with us today to replace broken rollers.
Here’s the rub: all 3 rollers were mounted to the slide floor where cutouts for them were carved by hand. ALL were cut crooked, meaning each of these rollers were trying to do their job NOT at a 90 degree angle. This caused enough tension (apparently) to break all 3 roller frames, and destroy one roller itself.
We are re-cutting the slide cutouts, and reinstalling the replacement rollers and frames square to the slide ‘path’ now - something that was clearly a factory build issue.
I’m sending along some photos to clarify our discovery - and I’m hoping Heartland will reconsider their coverage on our Bighorn - as well as pass these significant findings on to factory build supervisors.
Just to recap - poor, un-square cuts then caused slide rollers to be mounted at such an angle that the brackets themselves bent, broke or tore apart, releasing the rollers. This then left jagged roller frames naked, causing multiple large flooring tears.
This repair is not simply a slide adjustment issue, operator error nor an issue of roller frame strength. The very foundation of all this subsequent damage rests on the initial factory buildout, allowing inaccurate cuts to pass through quality inspection. These rollers, stressed beyond their specs due to improper installation, fairly rapidly disintegrated.
Your further interest and attention to our challenges here will be greatly appreciated!
Btw, I have a full compliment of photographic evidence available if needed.
Ken Bausano
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hi Robert,
Just an update: we were able to travel to Tucson from central California with only 1 of 3 kitchen slide rollers intact. A mobile service technician is with us today to replace broken rollers.
Here’s the rub: all 3 rollers were mounted to the slide floor where cutouts for them were carved by hand. ALL were cut crooked, meaning each of these rollers were trying to do their job NOT at a 90 degree angle. This caused enough tension (apparently) to break all 3 roller frames, and destroy one roller itself.
We are re-cutting the slide cutouts, and reinstalling the replacement rollers and frames square to the slide ‘path’ now - something that was clearly a factory build issue.
I’m sending along some photos to clarify our discovery - and I’m hoping Heartland will reconsider their coverage on our Bighorn - as well as pass these significant findings on to factory build supervisors.
Just to recap - poor, un-square cuts then caused slide rollers to be mounted at such an angle that the brackets themselves bent, broke or tore apart, releasing the rollers. This then left jagged roller frames naked, causing multiple large flooring tears.
This repair is not simply a slide adjustment issue, operator error nor an issue of roller frame strength. The very foundation of all this subsequent damage rests on the initial factory buildout, allowing inaccurate cuts to pass through quality inspection. These rollers, stressed beyond their specs due to improper installation, fairly rapidly disintegrated.
Your further interest and attention to our challenges here will be greatly appreciated!
Btw, I have a full compliment of photographic evidence available if needed.
Ken Bausano
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
