Posted 2015-11-22 7:48 PM (#165425 - in reply to #165380) Subject: RE: bison trailers
New User
Posts: 1
Location: Daleville, Indiana
I have been looking at bison trailer and the only thing I heard is the roofs leak sometimes cause it is two pieces put together. I don't know but they are a lot more affordable then a lot of trailers. I was thinking maybe you could rhino line the whole roof and then never worry about it again
Posted 2015-11-23 2:38 PM (#165432 - in reply to #165380) Subject: RE: bison trailers
Member
Posts: 34 Location: Montello, WI
We're on our second Bison LQ. Only traded the first one because we decided we wanted an 8' wide with slide out. We've been happy with both trailers. We do have the top end Bison and compared it to Lakota's side by side at the dealer and like the quality of the Bison better (one year old and used) to the new Lakota.
Posted 2015-12-17 12:20 PM (#165597 - in reply to #165380) Subject: RE: bison trailers
Regular
Posts: 67 Location: Everton, Arkansas
My wife and I special ordered a new 4 horse, 10 foot short-wall, all aluminum Bison in 2013. We are very pleased with the trailer...and the roof is ONE piece all aluminum, not TWO as someone else mentioned.
Posted 2016-01-06 1:37 PM (#165745 - in reply to #165380) Subject: RE: bison trailers
Member
Posts: 5
Location: Earlysville, Va
Mine is a 2007 8'W Stratus 3H slant.TERRIBLE welds. Poor horse area layout, IMO. Little stuff like no telescoping dividers, decent quality windows and hinges, acceptable door holdbacks, a decent entry step, etc etc.... low quality components.The Bison trailers are just built "on the cheap". Nice LQ but poor insulation. In short, if you can't see it they have cut corners. Axles on mine had it setting too high to track well so I replaced them to lower it. At that time we did find some upcoming trouble.Furthermore the factory WLL NOT offer any help at all.The frame has cracked twice at the G/N on mine. but despite a request no help or advice of any kind was offered. My previous Sundowner was better in that they at least were willing to help.My old steel Adam is still doing the job when needed, so no more aluminum frame rigs for this ol' boy, and certainly I would never have another Bison unless it was a gift.
Posted 2016-01-07 12:15 AM (#165750 - in reply to #165745) Subject: RE: bison trailers
Expert
Posts: 3853 Location: Vermont
Originally written by woodbankfarm on 2016-01-06 4:37 PM
Mine is a 2007 8'W Stratus 3H slant.TERRIBLE welds. Poor horse area layout, IMO. Little stuff like no telescoping dividers, decent quality windows and hinges, acceptable door holdbacks, a decent entry step, etc etc.... low quality components.The Bison trailers are just built "on the cheap". Nice LQ but poor insulation. In short, if you can't see it they have cut corners. Axles on mine had it setting too high to track well so I replaced them to lower it. At that time we did find some upcoming trouble.Furthermore the factory WLL NOT offer any help at all.The frame has cracked twice at the G/N on mine. but despite a request no help or advice of any kind was offered. My previous Sundowner was better in that they at least were willing to help.My old steel Adam is still doing the job when needed, so no more aluminum frame rigs for this ol' boy, and certainly I would never have another Bison unless it was a gift.
2007 in trailer terms is almost ancient history...
Posted 2016-01-07 10:27 AM (#165754 - in reply to #165750) Subject: RE: bison trailers
Member
Posts: 5
Location: Earlysville, Va
At the price of these a 2007 should not be ancient history, a/k/a trash to be discarded!I have other trailers. One that I still often use is a 1974 ALL STEEL Cherokee stock rig which makes at least 2 cross country trips every year carrying 8 or 9 colts. Proper maintenance is the key, but a trailer must be well built to begin with or it will not hold up.IMO a Bison is just cheesy construction for light local use, not for serious traveling.
Posted 2016-01-07 1:13 PM (#165756 - in reply to #165745) Subject: RE: bison trailers
Expert
Posts: 3853 Location: Vermont
Originally written by woodbankfarm on 2016-01-06 4:37 PM
Mine is a 2007 8'W Stratus 3H slant.TERRIBLE welds. Poor horse area layout, IMO. Little stuff like no telescoping dividers, decent quality windows and hinges, acceptable door holdbacks, a decent entry step, etc etc.... low quality components.The Bison trailers are just built "on the cheap". Nice LQ but poor insulation. In short, if you can't see it they have cut corners. Axles on mine had it setting too high to track well so I replaced them to lower it. At that time we did find some upcoming trouble.Furthermore the factory WLL NOT offer any help at all.The frame has cracked twice at the G/N on mine. but despite a request no help or advice of any kind was offered. My previous Sundowner was better in that they at least were willing to help.My old steel Adam is still doing the job when needed, so no more aluminum frame rigs for this ol' boy, and certainly I would never have another Bison unless it was a gift.
Posted 2016-01-07 2:51 PM (#165758 - in reply to #165380) Subject: RE: bison trailers
Member
Posts: 5
Location: Earlysville, Va
I bought it on line from out-of-state to replace my Sundowner, which had smaller LQ. I don't have much complaint about Bison LQ, I like the roomy layout. It's the poor quality and weak material coupled with bad design used in the horse area that is my main beef, along with the TOTAL lack of customer service.The lack of Bison's company support caused our local dealer to give up handling them, but unfortunately I didn't find that out in time.Although I've previously bought a good many trucks and trailers on line I probably won't ever buy another horse trailer of any brand without a very close examination!
Posted 2016-01-08 4:53 PM (#165767 - in reply to #165380) Subject: RE: bison trailers
Veteran
Posts: 145 Location: Harrisburg, OR
Woodbank, I don't know your particular circumstances but we rep 4 brands and our experience is that Bison is one of if not the most customer service friendly. I'm sorry to hear that wasn't true in your case. My guess is you were working with them during the Monaco bankruptcy which did affect Bison employees as well. If you need help on the frame you should call and talk to Glen Burkholder or Monty Tuttle at Bison. You can also call and talk to my service manager, Chris Westbrooks, and he'd be happy to help you diagnose/correct whatever issues you're having. Thad Akins, Akins Trailer Sales 541-995-4884
Posted 2016-01-09 8:52 AM (#165770 - in reply to #165767) Subject: RE: bison trailers
Elite Veteran
Posts: 720
Originally written by akinstrailers on 2016-01-08 4:53 PM
Woodbank, I don't know your particular circumstances but we rep 4 brands and our experience is that Bison is one of if not the most customer service friendly. I'm sorry to hear that wasn't true in your case. My guess is you were working with them during the Monaco bankruptcy which did affect Bison employees as well. If you need help on the frame you should call and talk to Glen Burkholder or Monty Tuttle at Bison. You can also call and talk to my service manager, Chris Westbrooks, and he'd be happy to help you diagnose/correct whatever issues you're having. Thad Akins, Akins Trailer Sales 541-995-4884
And my next door neighbor's not yet 3 year old $65,000 Bison Stratus has been sitting at a Bison dealership for a month, because the manger doors are coming apart. Bison says- "Out of warranty, not our problem. We bought the doors from somebody else," Dealer has been promised help since mid December, and waiting on Bison's Manager to decide and call for over two weeks. Dealer says he's going to fix it one way or the other, but it doesn't look like Bison will, and he says a manger door out to last 3 years. Yay dealer. Yay for trailer owner. Boo for Bison. But just my opinion.
Posted 2016-01-09 12:59 PM (#165771 - in reply to #165767) Subject: RE: bison trailers
Member
Posts: 5
Location: Earlysville, Va
I appreciate that you, as a dealer, have reached out to offer me advice. Thanks! This is more than I have ever got from the Bison company. When the frame broke all I ever got was "not our problem" politely put in an email. All I had requested was advice in how they had remedied the faulty gooseneck structure, some help financially would have been nice, but I was sure they'd know a good fix or reinforcement plan since they have engineering expertise (I thought). If you want a list of everything my Bison trailer has had to have either repaired or replaced I can post it all for you. It's sitting at a trailer repair shop right now waiting for a drop down feed window whose hinges broke.
Posted 2016-01-09 2:53 PM (#165773 - in reply to #165380) Subject: RE: bison trailers
Veteran
Posts: 145 Location: Harrisburg, OR
Horsey1, I followed up on your neighbor's manger door issue because I found the response he was getting from the factory odd. While the trailer is out of warranty, Bison DID in fact offer to help the dealer with the repairs. I didn't ask what options were offered but the last time one of my Bison customers had an issue that was out of warranty the factory sent the parts free of charge and we kicked in the labor. Thad
Posted 2016-01-11 8:27 AM (#165780 - in reply to #165773) Subject: RE: bison trailers
Elite Veteran
Posts: 720
Originally written by akinstrailers on 2016-01-09 2:53 PM
Horsey1, I followed up on your neighbor's manger door issue because I found the response he was getting from the factory odd. While the trailer is out of warranty, Bison DID in fact offer to help the dealer with the repairs. I didn't ask what options were offered but the last time one of my Bison customers had an issue that was out of warranty the factory sent the parts free of charge and we kicked in the labor. Thad
Thanks for following up, but I'm not sure you found anything out different. Bison has asked that the dealer buy the doors for $200 and install them for free. The door's manufacturer is kicking in that part no less. Bison has taken well over a month to get to this point. My neighbor doesn't feel it is the dealer's responsibility to cover for a Bison defect, so he asked the dealer to ask if the Bison manager would approve a Bison fix. The manager has been supposed to call dealer for almost 2 weeks now, and never has. To dealer's credit, they told Bison to send the doors, because it needed fixing, and they'd figure out payment later.
But if I have to pay more labor to get my trailer fixed because the dealer has to give free labor to Bison, then I become unhappy. And if you fix Bisons for free, that's what happens in your shop. I have been in the equipment repair business for many years, probably much like yourself, and there isn't a lot of extra room for freebies as you know.
Anyway- I guess we just agree to disagree. I think Bison should handle such an issue completely and quickly, as it is such a unique one. But anyway.
Posted 2016-01-11 10:14 AM (#165781 - in reply to #165380) Subject: RE: bison trailers
Elite Veteran
Posts: 720 Location: Never miss a good chance to shut up.
I seldom get involved in these issues since there is always so much more going on than is portrayed, but this particular thread is so far off the mark I had to interject. Bison has had very good customer service reviews and as you can see from this thread they are easy to find. Stick to the facts and you can discuss facts. But when you get down to the level of "My neighbor said this" then we are all very skeptical about the accuracy of the facts about a subject brought out on this board.Keeping the customer happy is the job of both dealer and manufacturer - and the arrangement they make between themselves to accomplish this goal is good business.
bison trailers
