Finally time to pick up 5'er

[archbarb]

Our new Heartland Big Country 3250TS 5'er is waiting for us to pick up in Elkhart, IN., Monday at 0900hrs. Its been ready for about a month, but with other obligations and commitments, it has had to wait. We have been like children waiting for Christmas morning to arrive.

We have eight containers ready to load in the truck to put in the 5'er when we arrive there. We will leave SE Georgia, early Saturday morning, drive approx. 10 hrs. to my Mom's house in Nashville, TN., stay there the night then leave early Sunday morning for the 7 plus hours to Elkhart. Monday morning arrive at the dealer about 0830hrs. for the 2-3 hr. PDI. Also while there we are doing a factory tour of Heartland.

We will stay at the RV lot that night and maybe two if I don't fell comfortable hooking and unhooking. Plus we want to use everything in the 5'er while there to be sure it works properly. When we depart we will go further north to visit friends in middle Michigan for 2-3 days, then head back home which ever way the highway takes us.

We plan on making this a two week adventure. We have both books "Exit Now" and "The Next Exit" for user friendly fueling locations (we hope). The trucks had the fifth wheel hitch installed, 7-pin connector installed in the truck bed, new Michelin 10 plys and serviced. Hopefully everything will go good, with no problems.

[hardy1000]

Exciting day Archbarb, did you sleep last night. Congrats and happy travels.

[bill40]

Good choice, we now have over 15000 miles on our 3500RL and love it. If you are not a member think about joining the Heartland club and the forum. We have had some great rally's so far this summer.
Lots of great people over there at heartland enjoy your 3250TS.

[shipwreck1]

Congrats on the new 5th!!!!

[edj]

Have fun in the new rig... If you don't have one yet, stop off at a Camping World on the way to get a Campground Directory (either Trailer Life or Woodall's). It will make it a lot easier finding places to stay.

Remember to do a 'pull-test' when hooking up the 5th-wheel to the hitch. If you are not familiar with the test, it goes as follows.

- connect the trailer to the hitch
- lift up the front trailer jacks till they just clear the ground by a half inch or so
- hook up the trailer cable to the truck and/or have chocks to block the trailer wheels
- get in the truck and apply full trailer brakes
- put the truck in 1st gear and slowly try to pull forward.
- the trailer should stop you
- shut off the truck, lift up the front trailer jacks and remove the trailer chocks

What this does is to confirm the hitch is full latched. It is rare, but it may look good, but give way under load. If it does give way, the trailer will drop onto the truck bed side rails... Not pretty if it does that...

[Cletus]

We have a 2011 Big Country (3355) and have had a great time doing a 7,000 mi trip this past winter. During our trip we had several issues (22) that came as a definite surprise seeing as our previous trailers never gave us this experience. Heartland has approved all the repairs so I feel the company is reputible. Most of the issues were with the OEM's which we continue to get addressed. One issue you should be appraised of is the check valve on the hot water outlet. Ours was plastic and cracked probably from vibration; so, if u have the plastic check valve on the hot water outlet get it replaced before you have a flood like we did. Other than that piece of info I hope you enjoy your unit.