RE: Sundance
Congratulations on the new Sundance. We also own a Sundance and have been happy with it. For the money, they are hard to beat. As others havve said, just take it a little wider around the corners ( 5'ers tend to track a little closer to the inside of a turn) and just have fun with it! You'll find the owners forum to be full of information. The heartland factory is also very active on the forum and supports their customers.
RE: Tire replacement indecision
Another vote for Maxxis ST tires! I used to be a long time fan of GY marathons until they started making them in China, and I paid the price for it.
Maxxis can be ordered direct online or just ask a local tire dealer to order them in, if not stocked locally - you'll be glad you did.
RE: Unicorn tires
My 08 Heartland Sundance came from the factory with Unicorn tires ST 16" tires. I looked up the DOT code and determined that were made in Mainland china by the same plant that also makes other ST tire brands. I also noticed a small sidewall bubble beginning to form on one tire after only 1200 miles. I called the unicorn distributor in the US and they did send me a new tire no questions asked - impressive service! However, I still decided to switch out the Unicorns to Maxxis. I have heard many positive things about the Maxxis, so far so good. I also switch my boat and other trailers from GY china marathons to Maxxis. I'm not saying the unicorns are bad tires; for me, I just didn't want to roll the dice with saftey and reliability with a mainland chinese tire. To be completely fair to Unicorn, I searched on all the internet forums and haven't found a reported Unicorn tire failure in my searching? If you decide to use the unicorn tires, I would keep them properly inflated at all times, check them often, don't overload them, and keep your speed at 65 MPH or less.
RE: New decales
On my previous fleetwood 5'er, my big front decal and side decals peeled in just a couple of years. I had the local dealer order me new decals from the factory only to have those go bad in less than a year. Then I noticed something.....The replacement decals were dated the same year as the trailer was made and the adhesive on them is only good for couple of years of shelf life. I asked Fleetwood if they could have some new ones run for me, they said, "NO, but we can give you the name of the company that they we use to make them". I called the company and they madet me "FRESH" decals that matched exactly my previous decals perfectly. They also used a new adhesive and gave very clear instruction on how to prep the trailer surfaces for the new decals. IT WORKED! the new decals lasted until I sold the 5'er. The new owner claims the decals are still just fine after 5+ years.
If you want the name of the company and the contact info, please send me a P.M. and I'll forward it on to anyone that needs it.
RE: We are so happy
You made good choice in buying a Heartland Bighorn. Congratulations!!! As others have stated, please join the Heartland owners forum, it was one of the reasons I bought a Heartland product. The Heartland management team is very engaged with their owners on the forum. If you ever do have a problem, I've found that if Heartland is properly communicated to, the issues get timely resolution.
RE: Heartland or Jayco
I looked at KZ, Heartland, Crossroads, and Jayco and everything else out there for over two years before deciding on a Heartland Sundance. For the money, the Heartland offered my upgrades and options than the equivalent Jayco. That said, Jayco make a good coach, so it comes down personal needs and preferences.
I doubt you could go wrong with either make. Just enjoy what ever choice you make!
RE: Anybody heard of Milestar Tires???
Per recent communications with GoodYear tire, Goodyear Marathons ST tires are now only produced in their China plants after 2007. They used to have a US plant and one in New Zealand that made their ST marathon tires. DOT does not inspect every import or domestic tire, but rather does a small sampling to verify manufacturing meets DOT specifications. I have found from personal experience tire dealers rarely seem to have the facts and most of them are biased toward the tire that gives them the highest margin and availability.
When making tire decisions, you'll usually get better facts by doing a little Internet research than strictly relying on the opinion of a local tire dealer ( not always) but most of the time, they don't seem to have all the facts.
As an example, I printed off the DOT listing of tire manufacturer codes and took it along with me to purchase some new tires for my daughters SUV. In 6 different stores we visited, none of the so-called tire experts we talked with could tell me how to correctly interpret the DOT codes on the tires and how to identify the country that made the tire. In all 6 cases we were originally told the tires we're made in a country (USA) than what the actual tire DOT codes indicated ( China). Worse, the date codes on some of the "new tires" they tried to sell us were as old as 4 years.
The most honest and knowledgeable tire store we found was discount tire.
RE: Heartland products- Update, see 2/24 posting
I agree - everyone is recycling comments.
Let's summarize - The person has found a resolution, the camper is fixed, the owner is pleased and Heartland has stepped up (albiet late).
Amen.
The more correct version of this story goes - OP has resolution, the Camper is fixed, the Owner is pleased that Good Sams stepped in, Heartland helped out ( 2 years post warranty expiration), all this because of Lippert poor quality and lack of customer support.
The End,
Time to close this one.
RE: Heartland products- Update, see 2/24 posting
I'm sorry to hear of the Ops troubles, but I do know this. If Heartland is properly notified ( detailed accounting with just the facts) they do bend over backwards to help their customers!!! Lippert is the main culprit here. If you look at the Heartland warranty ( at the time the op bought his 5'er) it was a 1 year Heartland, 2 year lippert frame with 5 years on the slide mechanisms and various component and appliance warranties beyond that. I would say Heartland and Sams went well beyond expectation to assist. It's lippert that didn't step up to their problem.
Lippert has built a few suspect quality frames certain makes and certain years, yet when you consider just how many trailers are out there sitting on Lippert frames ( many different makes). If Lippert had as poor of quality as many people want to make us believe, they would have been out of business long ago.
The reality is things happen. If 99% of all frames made were perfect, that would still leave a few thousand owners with frame problems. We don't live in a perfect world, but it was lippert that should have stepped us to plate in this case.
RE: Lost my awning in mid-West wind storm Wed night
Give me a break...
I'm sorry folks, but to those that jumped on the OP for not taking the damaged awning arms with him are same type of people that get upset with fire department for damage to their home after the firemen risk their lives to put out their fire. What you fail to see and take into consideration is the safety risk and peril that was going on at the time. Safety and mitigation of risk come before all other things! The OP was on the side of a busy Interstate, with hurricane velocity wind blowing causing many hazards and dangers all around. A typical awning arm is at least 7' and some as long as 9'. So what was the op supposed to do....spend more time on the side of the dangerous road trying to secure broken awning arms in his truck bed of in the trailer? Sorry folks, but when certain catastrophic situations occur, things are not going to be ideal. If this was a situation where the weather was good and there was minimal risk being parked on the side of the road, then I'm sure the OP would have not only taken the arms, he probably would have located and taken the awning roller as well.
I only hope that someday when something catastrophic happens to those critical of the OP, you too have a critic asking why you didn't do something differently?
Other than those that jumped on the OP, some very good information has come from those that focused on trying to gain / learn something out of the OP's unfortunate experience. What I learned is this can happen to anyone that doesn't have a secondary lock to keep the awning roller mechanism from unfurling in high crosswinds.
My best wishes to the OP and thanks for candid description of the events. His sharing of his experience has allowed others to gain valuable insight so they may take precautions to preclude this from happening to them.
RE: Is there a 15" E rated tire made in the US
Since your Pay has been frozen ( you're not alone) then the lowest cost option (and maybe the best option) is to go with Maxxis 15" E rated tires and only inflate them to the Max PSI rating of your rims.
I did this on my previous 5'er and it worked great. Even an "E" rated tire inflated to only 70 lbs is far far superior to a D rated tire at 50 PSI. I'm a big believer in Maxxis tires after losing a few china made Goodyear Marathons on my boat trailer. I also changed out all my new 5'ers 16" OEM china bombs for new Maxxis 16" E tires and no problems. I believe the best ST tire on the road today is the Maxxis brand. Some say Maxxis is hard to find, I found that is only true if you don't ask the question right to tire dealer. If you ask do you carry Maxxis tires, most will say no. If you ask can you get me some Maxxis tires? They will say yes, but I'll have to order them in and it will take 2-3 days. Most tires stores carry the ST tires they can make the most margin/ profit on. Since Maxxis is a higher end ST tire and is not from a private label china manufacturer, it doesn't make the tire dealer much profit to carry Maxxis.
RE: THIS JUST TAKES THE CAKE!
We had the same issue with the Honda 3000i, so I sold it and bought twin Honda 2000i's and placed them in front of the hitch ( nearest the cab) and locked them in with a strong cable. The way I see it, if someone wants anything bad enough, they'll get it. It would take one heck of hit to break the handles on the Honda 2000's! My other suggestion is to cover the generators with a cover once they're locked in - Out of sight out of mind.
RE: Goodyear Marathon Tires
I had really good experience with the pre-china Goodyear marathons on many different trailers. However, when the manufacturing switched over to China ( approx 2005-6) that is when the reports of problems started go up. I noticed some of the marathons are still made outside of China ( new zeland), but the majority sold at local tire dealers in the USA are Chinese made. My last boat trailer came with the China Marathons and only lasted 1000 miles before a bubble showed up on one of the sidewalls. I switched them out for Maxxis and I also changed my new 16" China bomb tires ( came on my new 5'er) for Maxxis. So far no issues with the Maxxis tires in just over a year.
In my opinion, why risk the safety of yourself and others on the road for a few hundred dollars. Switch the China bombs to something that has a better record for reliability. If you can afford to go with the Best it would be Michelin rib LT's. If you have to stay with 15" ST tires, then Maxxis is your best option.
RE: The MUDALID...an apology
Washboy.
You're one sick puppy....I LOVE it!!! Because I'm "not quite right" either, I'm working on a take off of your MUDALID for my boat (to protect the hull when on the beach) and consuming vast amounts of a hot beverage that helps keep me from freezing MAO .......Don't ask :-)
RE: Nose Cap Design Change on Jayco Super Lite
When first looking at the nose designs, I too thought there would be no difference in turn clearance. However, when you consider the typical point of contact that occurs with a short bed cab truck, it is typically just 4 - 8 inches above the level with the top of the pin box then you'll see why there is a difference between the two. If you look really close on the 2008, the bottom portion of the nose cone really come out aggressively in the lower portion of the nose and then tapers back as it goes up. The furthest point out in front of the pin box is just a few inches above pin box level ( the typical trouble spot that takes out rear cab windows in tight turns). If then closely compare with the 2009 nose, you'll see there is a big difference is how far the nose cone extends out over the pin box at the lower portion of the nose. The new design goes up and out very gradually to approx halfway then curves back. In my opinion, just that one inch additional clearance could make enough of a difference to eliminate the need for a slider ( or give more piece of mind) for short bed truck owners pulling the 2009 model.
RE: Lack of Shocks on Jayco Super Lite
At first blush, one would think the lack of shocks would make a trailer look like it was in a East L.A. low rider jumping contest. In reality, the high weight of the trailer springs tends to dampen the bounce quite well. Unless you plan to get a rear kitchen model, You should be able to get by without them. That said, I have notice a difference with shocks on my new 5'er. Where I notice the difference the most is the front to back wave motion I used to get going over rough surfaces, or expansion road joints. I don't get the back and forth bouncing on this 5'er like I had on my previous ( non-shock) 5'er.
One of the main reasons I moved the Eagle superlite to a distant 3rd in my short of new 5'ers, was the lack of shocks and a 16" tire option from the factory. Both Crossroads Crusier and Heartland Sundance offer shocks and 16" wheel / axles options in their similar priced Mid-profile 5'ers. Don't get me wrong, the Eagle super lite series are good 5'ers, but for the money, I found it didn't offer the value adn quality of the other two brands. If you really want a Jayco ( good company), you'll want to consider the actual Eagle ( non light version). In my opinion, the Eagle is superior over the Eagle superlite, but its a bigger and more expensive 5'er.
RE: 2009 Sundance 2900 MK,By HeartLand
I purchased a fully loaded 2008 Sundance 2900MK approx 18 months ago and paid more than that after shopping dealers in 3 surrounding Mountain states. I ended buying from a dealer 320 miles away that was $3400 less then everyone else. Again, our 2900MK came loaded with every possible option at the time. The one MUST option that I think all Sundance owners should have is the 16" tires and alum wheels! If your quote is for a loaded 2009 2900MK, I would do that deal in heartbeat ( great price)! We previously had a bunk model and when the kids went off to college, we wanted something with rear windows. The 2900MK is perfect floor plan for us. When the kids do occasionally join us, we just pull out the sofa bed.
RE: Quality Differences Betw. Eagle Super Lite & Regular Series?
In looking closely at both the Jayco Eagle ( regular) and " superlite" series, I noted a significant difference in construction and quality between the two.
I think it comes down to a case of getting what you pay for with Jayco. There are a couple of other light weight makes that would make a better comparison for the Jayco superlite. Heartland and Crossroads makes light weight 5'ers in the same price and class as the Jayco Superlite. I wouldn't recommend comparing different levels of coaches when trying to make a decision, but rather compare the same class level of 5'ers .
To answer you question, there shouldn't be too much of a quality difference in Light weight versus a standard 5'er.
RE: Lookig for bunkhouse fivers.....
Thirteen,
After 2 years of research here are the best values makes in mid-profile trailers ( most of these have bunk floor plans) in order of preference.
1A, Heartland Sundance
1B, Crossroads Cruiser
2, Jayco Eagle
3, KZ durango and other KZ brands
4, Palimino Sabre
5, Laredo (Keystone)
7, Sunnybrook ( Brookside)
8, Cougar (Keystone)
9, Wildcat ( Forest river)
All of these makes and models are in about the same price and mid-profile class range. If you really want to see a creative design, take a look at the Glendale Titanium 5'ers.
