A question for Montana owners - Montana Owners Club

boje · 08-13-2009, 03:17 AM

This is not a bash Keystone thread. I have owned our Monty going on one year. In that time, we have camped in it for 8 to 9 days max. In the 12 months we have owned it, it has been at the dealer for various problems/issues for 2 months. My latest failure with the rig, has cost us our family reunion vacation, which we planned out late last year.

I just wanted some feedback, to see if my experiences are normal, or if I got lucky, and picked a lemon off the lot.

ols1932 · 08-13-2009, 03:28 AM

It appears that you are one of a minority of Montana owners who have had the misfortune of having a multitude of problems. We are one of a majority of owners who have had some problems but nothing out of the ordinary. By that I mean we have not had any problems that many RV manufacturers in the industry have experienced.

Orv

exav8tr · 08-13-2009, 03:35 AM

Same here as ols1932. No major problems requiring much down time at dealers. I did go to the Fall Rally last year and had some things repaired at the Keystone Service Center. I would advise everyone do this if they can. They treat us MOCers pretty well.

NCFischers · 08-13-2009, 03:35 AM

Sorry to hear of your problems. We've had our Monty since last November. We've had no problems of any significance. The fireplace would shut down when running and Dimplex sent me the part to fix it free. Like Orv said, nothing out of the ordinary.

jsnip42 · 08-13-2009, 03:47 AM

Sorry to say you must have one of the few bad ones. I have had mine oner a year now. Towed over 5K miles and had only one problem and that was the fireplace. It was fixed quickly by Dimplex. My rig has never had to go back to dealer for any warranty work. Maybe I got lucky. I will certainly buy another one when I retire.

Don't give up. I'm sure Keystone will make it right.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 08-13-2009, 04:00 AM

Key word to me is DEALER.

SIGHHHHHH

Our (CountryGuy and mine) experience, and this is MY OPINION only, is that dealer and repairs don't go together very well.

Most units have something, big or small. Some units have more than others.

Many of the horror stories here at the MOC are connected to the dealer.

Nope, we are not huge fans of dealers when it comes to repairs.

Please note once more, my disclaimer, this is OUR experience and MY opinion.

Mudchief · 08-13-2009, 04:01 AM

We are on our second Montana and no problems with either one.

8e3k0 · 08-13-2009, 04:01 AM

Very sad to hear that you are encountering problems and I can understand as we have made many repairs on our own and we have only had our 09 Monty 3 1/2 months. Ours will go back to the Dealer in late Sept for some major warranty work, like: fresh water tank replacement, large slide adjustment, main kitchen counter top repair, wall board at step area cracked, faucet for tub shower cracked and leaking, main electrical cable from Monty to TV has to be replaced, remote switchs are labeled incorrectly at remote control panel, Light switch panel at steps incorrectly labeled for individual lights, plus many other small items. Too bad because the majority of the problems that we have encountered and repaired ourselves have been poor workmanship. We also removed the "Made in China" Good Year tires and relaced with LT tires, plus moved the water pump to eliminate the excessive pump noise. All in all we have used this unit every weekend and like the plan and have enjoyed the all the features within the Unit. We must remember: it is an RV; so codes and standards are very relaxed. If I had even one of these problems with our trucks and cars, I would be looking at other manufactures. I would hope that the RV industry will take the step to at least work on quality improvement to eliminate the high cost of warranty repairs and the discontent of the customer. I know there is a demand for good quality RVs much the same as the automotive industry. We will continue to work with our Dealer to make our Monty trouble free and an environment for living enjoyment. These comments are also not to bash any company, but to identify repetitive items/areas that can improved to reduce operating costs and warranty claims. Again; IMHO. Would be nice to hear what problems you have encountered; is it workmanship, quality of materials or Dealer reponsiveness? Please keep us updated. Ellis

boje · 08-13-2009, 04:16 AM

I can not complain about my delaer, as I believe they have been fair. Issue I have had, are the kitchen counter, fireplace, living room slide out awning, light switches, refridgerator. The latest fiasco is a complete failure of the hydraulic system that extracts/retracts the slide outs. I had a ram seal fail in one slide. That was repaired, but has not solved the problem. This one has the techs at my dealer, and Lippert, scratching there heads.

I am contemplating a hail mary. I am going to try and purchase a new Hickory edition, using the 3400RL on IR as a trade in.

What do you all think?

wswebster · 08-13-2009, 04:20 AM

no major problems and only had to stay at the dealers once over night. What are your issues with your 5th wheel? Just wondering as we would not cancel something like a family reunion unless it was a pretty major problem. We're just curious.

Clyde n Deb · 08-13-2009, 04:59 AM

Alot of it has to do with the dealer you are working with and how you set the expectation level at the front end. Also, getting Keystone involved can sometimes expedite issues before they become bigger. I feel the issues we had with ours were always handled quite well and timely by discussing the expectation level in detail at the beginning of each service visit. I think it is not out of the ordinary to have problems that need attention and fixing, and not with just Montana but any SOB as well. 5th year with our unit, and service items needing attention still surface. Nature of the beast with the complexity of the units and all the subsystems involved. That's my one bit. (12 1/2 cents).

boje · 08-13-2009, 05:01 AM

FYI - The dealer just called me and informed me that my rig was fixed. Apparently, the pump for the slides has two stages. One stage extends the rams, the other brings them in. The stage that retracts them evidently is stronger then the other stage, due to the fact that the slide out has to "lift" prior to retracting. It appears that my rig was plumbed up backwards, and the weaker stage could not handle the load. This is what I have been told. Heading to the dealer to verify ASAP.

Glenn and Lorraine · 08-13-2009, 05:14 AM

Sorry to hear you have so many problems and very sadden to hear that, because of these problems, you missed your family reunion. I too missed a family reunion this past July but mine was a personal health problem.

As far as having problems with the Monty, Lorraine and I are Fulltimers since Oct 03. During that time we have traveled many many miles with Monty in tow. We started our lifestyle in an 04 2955RL which we traded for an 07 3485SA. With the exception of the Mission tire fiasco we have never had any major problems with either rig. Sure we did have some of the minor problems which I repaired myself.
We seem to enjoy putting the blame on poor workmanship and that just may be true BUT I had 2 friends that spent 100 thousands of $$$$$ having their new stick houses built. Guess what? After both couples spent all those $$$$$ they too found many many poor workmanship problems. In one case their entire living room/dining room solid oak floors had to be removed. What I am trying to say is "poor workmanship" can apply to anything built by man and is not an exclusive to the RV industry..

Carol's reply concerning DEALERs seems to be the biggest problem in getting the proper service. Many Many times the dealer's excuse was "Keystone hasn't shipped the parts". After a bit of investigation the customer found that it was true, Keystone never shipped the parts. The reason the parts weren't shipped was the DEALER NEVER ordered them. In fact it has been noted so many times that the DEALER was actually waiting for a big enough order in order to save on freight. In one instance, the DEALER held the order until he was getting a new Monty delivered. He than had HIS transporter pick up the parts and bring them back in the new unit.
Keystone typically ships parts within 24 hours of receiving the order.

DarMar · 08-13-2009, 05:18 AM

I believe it's just unrealistic to think that one would/should have zero problems after purchasing an rv today. Having said that I think you will find most problems to be minor in nature and generally not severe enough to cause one to cancel plans made. We found all of our problems, mostly minor, during the first couple of months use, made note of them and once our camping season was over we had the dealer correct the problems. Since that time(2 years) we have had zero problems that needed a dealers attention. Hopefully now you have most of any issues addressed and the more you use it from here the more trouble free your experiences may be.

stiles watson · 08-13-2009, 05:43 AM

This is not a defense of the industry. Where there is poor workmanship, there is poor workmanship. Let a spade be a spade.

In August and September of 2007, we traded for the new 2008 Big Sky and the new 2008 F350. We have been full timing in the setup since that time. We have had some problems with both. Frankly, the severity of problems were greater with the truck, like when the hydraulic boost went out and I lost power steering and power brakes in an instant. All major problems with both the truck and the rig have been covered under warranty.

Since we full time, leaving my rig at a dealership for a month is not workable. Fortunately, my dealer has worked by appointment. When we had to wait for a new Dometic microwave/convection oven to be sent to the dealer, our unit didn't just set on the lot. We lived in it and waited for a call that it had come in. It did in a couple of weeks. We took the rig down for a 30 minute installation and we were on our way. Now we are 2000 miles away from our dealer, but the service manager has always been accessible by phone to help me figure out the best way to get a problem resolved.

I could ramble on about my repair war stories, but I will spare you all. Bottom line is that after two years in this unit covering 15,000+ miles, it is (to us) a beautiful home that meets our living needs and sates our wander lust.

richfaa · 08-13-2009, 06:02 AM

I might get beat up a bit for this but your experiences are NOT uncommon.However it is not a Montana/ keystone issue only. It is across the RV industry any brand and IMO with the economic situation as it is I think Cost cutting, employee layoffs, job insecurity has had a effect on employee morale and in turn on the quality of the units being produced. Our 3400 is over 3 years old and over 30,000 miles traveled. We had some problems and a couple show stoppers but over all considering the hard use we put this thing to...It has done good. Hang in there..It is under warranty and Keystone will make it right.

Tom S. · 08-13-2009, 06:29 AM

Our trailer was ordered and purchased new in early 06 and has seen a lot of 'rugged' roads in B.C., Yukon, and Alaska. Yet nearly all the problems have been small, with most of them fixed by myself in just a few minutes time. I am discounting installation of the wet bolt kit, which I think should have been installed by Keystone to begin with. The most frustrating two I can recall is the lower awning mount in the front which keeps stripping out and coming loose. My last fix, using a plastic wall anchor seems to be holding. The other was when the plastic panel under the bedroom slide out cracked and fell off and the dealer told me it would cost $1400 to fix.

As pointed out, Keystone relies on outside suppliers for many of the trailer's parts. Some of these components don't have other manufacturers, so Keystone has to take what they can get. Others may have competitors, but often their products are no better or even worse than the supplier Keystone uses. When I first started reading about all the problems people were having , I started wondering if I had made a major mistake buying this trailer, but after realizing other brands have the same problems and that not all the problems happen to everyone, I feel a lot better.

ols1932 · 08-13-2009, 08:29 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Tom S.

...The most frustrating two I can recall is the lower awning mount in the front which keeps stripping out and coming loose. My last fix, using a plastic wall anchor seems to be holding...

Ours did the same thing so I had a bolt put clear through the wall into the inside of the rig with a fender washer on the inside with a nut on it. It can't come out now. On the inside, it is very near the floor and is very inconspicuous.

Trailer Trash 2 · 08-13-2009, 10:18 AM

We have had our 2980RL from the factory sence Nov 03 a new 04, we have had a few problems but nothing big enugh to get excited about yet, but being out of warintee I will have to get it fixed at my cost anyway.
I have seen a few Monty's on this and another forum who will remane nameless with a lot of problems, and they were becomming angry with there RV. I believe a letter of complant to Keystone about the dealer if you feel you are not getting the repair service required, and see about finding another dealer that will do warintee work on your Monty, in this time of bad economics a person would expect to get good to better service.
Are you sure the dealer id realy doing the work or are they putting a band-aid on the repair. Or how about taking it to the Keystone factory and see if they will fix the problems.

GregN · 08-13-2009, 02:45 PM

I have had minor problems since buying my Monty. Right off the bat, the little rechargable flashlight did not work and the toilet water supply line leaked. Dealer gave up a new flashlight, used to light oven and I fixed the toilet, tighten the connection. Landing gear had a problem, my fault, raised to to high, and the reffer stopped working, burner tube for reffer was clogged with cobwebs. Other than those problems, no problems what so every, except i can not get out in the Monty as much as I would like. But retirement is not far away.

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