Lippert stated the problem is whomever installed the door (the factory) did not drill the deadbolt receiver hole (in the frame) deep enough and therefore the deadbolt does not pretrude sufficiantly to allow the key (or inside lever) to operate correctly.
I just completed drilling with a 3/8" bit to drill the reciver hole deeper into the frame. I tried all combinations of locking and un-locking with key then keypad, keypad then key... and so on. Keypad is now working fine. No appointment necessary with dealer, did I just void my warranty?, Time will tell if this is a permanent fix, but I'm feeling a little better about it. It's still an issue as this thread starting a year ago and so many problems stated here and in other threads.
Suggestion to Heartland - insist on better instructions being provided with the unit, make certain the installation improves.. And better still, get a hard wired keypad to the house battery and eliminate that little battery issue.
Not sure if we are having the same problem, but we had our rig out for only the second time. We took possession of the 2012 Bighorn Jan. 2012. The keypad was very difficult to set, but we finally worked it out. Following that, I would say it worked about 10 cycles of opening and closing. Yesterday, we headed out for a short vacation to take advantage of the Presiden'ts Day holiday. We arrived at our destination, put my purse in the rig, locked the keypad, and headed over to pick up our camping packet. On our return, the keypad would not work. And then our KEY WOULD NOT OPEN THE DEADBOLT. By now, it's almost 5pm. I call my dealer who calls the Heartland Rep who says get a locksmith and Heartland will reimburse. We are in the middle of nowhere and barely have mobile service, the camp host is not around, no locksmith in sight, it's now dark (so at least we can see the keypad) and the situation is not good. We decide to drive to the nearest town and look for locksmiths. We contact six locksmiths and they all say that short of drilling a hole in the door or busting out a window, without contacting the manufacturer there is no way they can fix it. This may be a 2012 issue or exclusive to our rig and MTPockets rig, but I can assure you we were using the right key and the deadbolt would not move a millimeter.
******* UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE ********
We spoke directly to our local Heartland Rep today. He was great. Our faith in Heartland is back on a positive trajectory. That is the upside. The downside is that, apparently, a "lot" or "batch" of 2012 Bighorns may have had similar problems, or at least ours was not the first reported incidence. I am not entirely clear what Heartland plans to do, but I think one possibility is that the keypad will be removed and replaced with keyless entry. We much prefer the keypad for ease of use, but not if it is prone to failure, particularly the "key also doesn't work and now we must bust a window" type failure. In the meanwhile, we will simply not use the keypad. For those of you with 2012 Bighorns, you may want to considern temporarily avoiding using the keypad and discuss the issue with your dealer -- I can only imagine how un-fun it would be if we had pulled the slides out! We'll post again when we have a final resolution, but wanted to let everyone know that Heartland delivered and actually called us on a Sunday :angel:
