01 What makes it unique
The 39FL inverts the coach: the living room rides up front over the pin — the raised, windowed lounge that makes front-living plans the hosting format — with the bedroom amidships and the galley aft, and it takes five slides to open it all, the most of any Bighorn. Two 14-foot awnings cover the camp side, and the tank set runs a balanced 74 grey / 74 black under the standard 75 fresh.
The platform is the full build at maximum stretch: 12-inch I-beam drop frame, 102-inch wide-body, CoreShield 2-inch laminated walls, painted front cap, frameless windows, TrussXL truss under the limited-lifetime membrane, ThermaShield zero-degree package, dual 15,000-BTU Whisper Quiet air conditioners, tankless water heater, six-point hydraulic auto-level and the mandatory Premium Package with the GE 21-cubic-foot residential refrigerator on its 1,800-watt inverter. The printed 17,995-pound GVWR equals 15,645 dry plus 2,350 cargo exactly — the tightest margin in the line — on tandem 8,000-pound axles.
The two numbers that govern the purchase: a 3,090-pound dry pin — the heaviest in the roster, and a loaded figure that will demand a serious one-ton, likely a dually — and 2,350 pounds of cargo margin that a filled fresh tank alone cuts by a quarter. Front-living coaches are bought for how they host, and nothing else in the line hosts like this; just buy the truck first.
02 Full specifications
Dimensions
- Exterior length
- 43' 10"
- Exterior width
- 8' 6"
- Exterior height
- 12' 6"
- Interior height
- 8' 6"
Weights
- Dry / unit base weight
- 15,645 lbs
- GVWR (max loaded)
- 17,995 lbs
- Net cargo / payload (CCC)
- 2,350 lbs
- Dry pin weight
- 3,090 lbs
Capacities
- Fresh water
- 75 gal
- Grey water
- 74 gal
- Black water
- 74 gal
- Refrigerator
- GE 21 cu ft residential
Construction
- Frame
- 12″ steel I-beam · drop frame
- Sidewalls
- CoreShield 2″ laminate · high-gloss gel coat
- Front cap
- Painted fiberglass · clearcoat · LED
- Roof
- TrussXL truss · Alpha membrane (limited lifetime)
Running gear
- Axles (factory)
- 2 x 8,000
- Hitch
- Fifth wheel · dry pin 3,090 lb
- Tires
- 215/75R17.5'H'
- LP
- 90 lb total
Galley & systems
- Refrigerator
- GE 21 cu ft residential · 1,800W inverter
- A/C
- 2 × 15,000 BTU Whisper Quiet
- Water heater
- Tankless
- Furnace
- 40,000 BTU
Sleeping & layout
- Sleeps
- Up to 4 (factory)
- Primary bed
- Mid bedroom
- Layout
- Front-living five-slide — raised front lounge over the pin, mid bedroom, rear galley run, two 14-foot awnings
- Awnings & entries
- 2 · 14′ + 14′ · 1 entry (RVUSA)
Verified specs, drawn to scale
Original graphics built from this floorplan’s own verified figures.
Loaded weight budget
Size, drawn to scale
Holding tanks
These graphics are generated from the same verified record that builds the table above, and are published under this site’s own licence — nothing here is traced from, or derived from, a manufacturer drawing or photo. Where a figure is not published for this plan, the graphic that would need it is omitted rather than estimated. The full record is in the published dataset.
What it takes to tow this
Built from this floorplan’s verified weights. We publish the trailer side only.
We do not publish tow ratings for specific trucks. A single model can vary by thousands of pounds depending on engine, axle ratio, cab, drivetrain and package — the only authoritative figure is the one on your own door jamb. Loaded pin percentages are industry convention for fifth wheels (15–25% of loaded weight), not a measurement of this unit. Hitch classes are not used here as a rating: SAE J684 covers trailers to 10,000 lb GVWR and does not define Class V, and capacity boundaries differ between manufacturers — read the rating stamped on your hitch. On this plan the convention band’s low end fell below the published dry figure, so the range starts at the published dry weight instead — loaded is never lighter than dry.
03 Bighorn floorplan family
Heartland's Bighorn line — the flagship luxury fifth wheel of the relaunched range: seven 2026 floorplans, every one a 102-inch wide-body on a 12-inch steel I-beam drop frame with a painted fiberglass front cap, CoreShield laminated sidewalls in high-gloss gel coat, the ThermaShield zero-degree package with a 40,000-BTU furnace, two 15,000-BTU Whisper Quiet air conditioners, and a mandatory Premium Package that includes six-point hydraulic auto-leveling, a GE 21-cubic-foot residential refrigerator with an 1,800-watt inverter and a GE appliance suite. All seven plans are profiled in depth on the Bighorn hub with verified weights.
| Floorplan | Nominal | Sleeps | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31RL | 36 ft | 4 | Rear-living entry — shortest, lightest, friendliest pin |
| 36RK | 40 ft | 4 | Rear-kitchen plan — the galley takes the back wall |
| 38RE | 43 ft | 4 | Rear-entertainment quad-slide — most-listed; 137-gal grey |
| 37MD | 43 ft | 8 | Middle-den quad-slide — two living zones |
| 39RK | 43 ft | 4 | Rear U-kitchen, bath-and-a-half — respec’d stretch; best margin |
| 39FL | 44 ft | 4 | Front-living flagship — five slides, heaviest pin |
| 40DB | 44 ft | 8 | Two bedrooms, two full baths — the multi-family flagship |
Every Bighorn is a 102-inch wide-body on the 12-inch I-beam drop frame, and the Premium Package is mandatory — its content (hydraulic auto-level, the GE residential appliance suite with inverter, central vacuum, gel-coat sidewalls) is part of the Base MSRP shown. This is a published-GVWR-clean line: dry plus cargo equals the printed GVWR exactly on all seven plans. RVUSA and the library brochure carry an early-print weight set superseded on five plans — the current factory pages and the June-2026 dealer-network brochure agree exactly and are used throughout (the 39RK was respecified from a 40-foot-4 two-slide draft to the current 43-foot-3 three-slide build, logged). Dealer placards typically run above Base MSRP while negotiated street pricing runs below it. A fifth wheel loads its pin into the truck bed — confirm the pin weight against the tow vehicle's payload placard, not its tow rating.
04 What owners & reviewers report
Five slides
The most in the roster — the whole perimeter opens. Slide maintenance scales accordingly; the six-point hydraulic auto-level is standard support.
The heaviest pin
3,090 pounds dry over the hitch — loaded, this is dually math. The payload placard decides the truck.
The tightest margin
2,350 pounds of cargo capacity is the least in the line — full-timers should weigh the loaded coach axle by axle.
74/74 tanks
The balanced grey/black split suits the mid-bath layout — different plumbing logic than the rear-bath siblings.
05 How it compares
The rear-entertainment alternative — the lounge goes aft, the pin drops 120 pounds and the grey tank nearly doubles to 137 gallons.
The entry — 2,585 pounds lighter with the friendliest pin, for couples who host less.
The front-living luxury field — the 39FL counter is five-slide volume and the standard zero-degree package.
06 Loading it for a trip
This floorplan carries its water comfortably. A full 75-gallon fresh tank is roughly 27% of the 2,350-pound cargo capacity, leaving the Bighorn 39FL with a usable gear budget even when you tow full.
| Weight budget | Figure | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Cargo capacity as published (CCC) | 2,350 lb | Everything you add: gear, water, propane, batteries, food, people’s belongings. |
| Fresh tank filled (75 gal × 8.34 lb) | −626 lb | Water is the heaviest thing most owners add, and it is added first. |
| Cargo budget left with a full fresh tank | 1,724 lb | 27% of this plan’s capacity is spent before a single bag is loaded. |
| Per sleeping position, water aboard | 431 lb | A rough share of what is left across the 4 berths this plan sleeps. |
The published dry pin weight of 3,090 pounds is 20% of this floorplan’s 15,645-pound dry weight. Fifth-wheel pin weight rides in the bed of the truck, so it comes off payload rather than off tow rating — and it rises with the trailer as you load it, not in proportion to what you put over the axles.
Nothing above changes the ceiling. Loaded to its 17,995-pound GVWR the Bighorn 39FL is towing 2,350 pounds more than its 15,645-pound dry figure, and that is the number your vehicle has to be rated for — not the brochure weight.
Tank balance is generous here: 75 gallons of fresh against 74 grey and 74 black, so waste capacity keeps pace with supply and the fresh tank is the constraint that ends a dry stay.
07 Where this floorplan sits
Ranked by GVWR, the Bighorn 39FL sits 4 of 7 in the Bighorn line: 17,995 pounds against a line that runs from 16,000 to 18,850 pounds. That position is the useful thing to know, because the plans immediately either side of it are the real alternatives.
Either side of it in the same line: Bighorn 38RE matches it exactly at 17,995 lb GVWR; and Bighorn 37MD is 105 pounds heavier at 18,100 lb GVWR.
1 other Bighorn plan shares this floorplan’s 17,995 lb GVWR, so the ranking above separates plans that tow to the same ceiling. On a shared chassis the figure that actually differs between them is cargo capacity and where the weight sits, not the rating.
| Comparable fifth wheels | GVWR (lb) | Dry (lb) | Sleeps | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bighorn 39FL | 17,995 | 15,645 | 4 | 43 ft 10 in |
| North Point 382FLRB | 17,995 | 15,470 | 8 | 43 ft 10 in |
| Puma Grand Mesa 393RL | 17,999 | 14,844 | — | 42 ft 4 in |
| Cedar Creek 381MUD | 18,000 | 15,429 | 8 | 43 ft 5 in |
| Influence 3003RL | 18,000 | 12,500 | 4 | 34 ft 11 in |
| Montana 3100RL | 18,000 | 14,030 | 4 | 35 ft 11 in |
| Paradigm 375RD | 18,000 | 14,771 | 5 | 41 ft 9 in |
Against the Bighorn 39FL: the North Point 382FLRB sleeps 4 more; the Puma Grand Mesa 393RL is 4 lb heavier and 2 ft shorter; the Cedar Creek 381MUD is 5 lb heavier and sleeps 4 more. Those are differences in the published numbers only — what they cost, how they are built and how they live are separate questions each of those pages answers on its own terms.
Those are the nearest fifth wheels from other lines by weight — one per line, picked by proximity on that figure and nothing else. They are listed so the same tow vehicle can be checked against real alternatives, not because they are equivalent inside; layout, build and price diverge sharply across that group.
For scale, the Bighorn floorplans profiled here run 13,060 to 16,110 pounds dry and 36 to 44 feet of exterior length across 7 plans. Where a floorplan falls in that spread usually says more about which vehicle can tow it, and which site it fits, than the layout name does.
Every profiled floorplan in this line, with the full weight table, is on the Bighorn line hub.
08 Common questions about the Bighorn 39FL
How much does the Bighorn 39FL weigh?
It leaves the factory at 15,645 pounds dry, and its manufacturer-set loaded ceiling (GVWR) is 17,995 pounds. Real towing weight lands between the two and depends entirely on what you load. Use the GVWR when matching a tow vehicle; the dry figure is only useful for comparing floorplans against each other.
How much can the Bighorn 39FL carry?
Cargo carrying capacity is 2,350 pounds. That is the whole budget: water, propane, batteries, gear and everything you bring. Filling the 75-gallon fresh tank uses about 626 pounds of that.
What is the pin weight of the Bighorn 39FL?
The published dry pin weight is 3,090 pounds. It is measured empty; loaded, it runs higher, and it comes out of your tow vehicle’s payload rather than its tow rating.
What size tow vehicle does the Bighorn 39FL need?
Your vehicle needs a tow rating of at least 17,995 pounds — this floorplan’s GVWR — and enough payload left over for the hitch load, passengers and anything in the bed. This site does not publish tow ratings for specific vehicles, because one truck model varies by thousands of pounds across engine, axle ratio, cab and package. The figure that governs is the payload sticker on your own door jamb.
How many people does the Bighorn 39FL sleep?
It is rated to sleep 4. Rated sleeping positions include convertible furniture, so count the beds against how you actually travel rather than against the number.
What are the tank capacities on the Bighorn 39FL?
Fresh 75 gallons, grey 74 gallons, black 74 gallons. Tank sizes set how long the floorplan can sit away from hookups, and the smallest of the three is what ends the stay.
How long is the Bighorn 39FL?
Exterior length is 43' 10". Measure against your site length and your storage before committing — the exterior figure is the one that has to fit, and it includes the tongue or pin box.
Every figure in these answers is read from this page’s verified specification table. Where the manufacturer publishes nothing, the question is not answered rather than estimated.
09 What this page publishes, and what it does not
This catalog tracks 18 specification fields per floorplan. Named sources publish 16 of them for the Bighorn 39FL. The rest are not shown, because the alternative is reading a figure across from a sibling floorplan or from what the segment usually does — and a number nobody published is worth less than an admitted gap.
Not published for this floorplan: slide count, awning. If you find one of these in a manufacturer document for this plan, it belongs on this page.
The completeness figure at the foot of this page (95%) measures the same thing on the full field set: it is a measurement of how much this floorplan’s manufacturer publishes, not of how much research went into the page.
How every figure here was sourced and checked is set out on the methodology page.
11 NHTSA safety record
This floorplan belongs to the Bighorn line, and NHTSA holds 20 recall campaigns and 51 owner complaints against that line. They are separate records and are not added together — a recall is a manufacturer-confirmed defect with a remedy; a complaint is one owner’s account, which NHTSA does not verify.
What to look at on a used one. Across the 51 complaints filed on this line the most-reported components are tires (41%), suspension (14%) and structure (10%). That is where owners of this family have had trouble, so it is where an inspection is worth the time.
Recall coverage is not complete — our harvest of NHTSA’s recall API ran 1,556 queries, of which 0 failed and 242 returned an explicit zero. A line can still be under-reported where NHTSA files a roster under a parent name, or where a match rests on the wording of the recall rather than its model field. Complaints come from the complete bulk file but are unverified and self-selected: a high count tracks how many units a line sold at least as much as how well it was built. Check a specific VIN at NHTSA before you buy. Full tables are on the Bighorn line page.