Same Old Problem, Plus Some New Ones - Montana Owners Club

MuddyPaws · 11-28-2004, 11:58 AM

We have had intermittant trailer brake failures since the day we bought our 2955. The Jordan Ultima 2020 brake controller will sometimes read as high as 25 Amps and then indicate a short circuit in the braking system. (Normal is 12 Amps max.)
The problem is not in our 2955. I know this because I hooked my truck up to the trailer I've towed for the past 4 years and it did the same thing immediatly. So the problem HAS to be in the wiring that Alpine RV in Morgan Hill did when they added the fifth wheel hitch and connector in the bed of my truck.

It's been over a month and brakes still don't work reliably. they had my 2955 and truck for almost 2 weeks and said that they could not get the brakes to fail despite having driven it 70+ miles. We suspect that they shook the wires around and not much more.

But then we didn't make it 5 miles from home before the brakes failed again. We made it where we were going with ONLY 3 more failures, white knuckles the whole way. We made it home safely, but with 4 more failures on the return trip. After unpacking we put it back in the storage yard and the brakes failed ANOTHER 8-10 times on the 2 mile trip! Do you get the feeling that I'm rather pissed about this? I can't imagine how it would be to have them fail on a long downhill or in a panic stop situation. The lawyers will have a feeding frenzy.

Here's my questions?
1. Has anybody ever had a Jordan 2020 go bad in this manner?
2. Should I take it somewhere else to have the brakes fixed and bill Alpine for it? (I might need a lawyer for this)
3. Should I get a lawyer now?

New Irritations: (minor ones at that)

While we were camping I discovered that the shower leaks into the storage area underneath. Enough of a leak to soak the entire area. (It didn't do that on our first trip.) We also noticed a large discoloration on the cieling, (it rained one day but we couldn't find any water where the discoloration is). And I had to fix one of the surround sound speakers. This is normal stuff I guess, just part of the RV lifestyle. (Always gotta have a fix-it project.)

I don't want to give y'all the wrong idea. We love our new Montana. We understand that 'little things' will go wrong from time to time. That's just part of the gig. But this stupid thing with the brakes is downright dangerous.

Thanks,
Muddypaws

CountryGuy · 11-28-2004, 12:12 PM

Concerning the shower leak, there was a rash of that problem, a while back. It was the faucet, under the faucet.

Go to search and see if you can find the old topic, I remember it was NOT the gaskets, nor any other plumbing stuff from the TOP. We had caulked the daylights out of the faucet from above, and it still leaked.

You have to attack this from the bottom. Take the screws out that hold the faucet in and put a piece of rubber on there before you put those screws back on.

We had a new faucet put on, for this leaking situation, at the plant, and the new faucet did the same thing. After we explained this fix, they did the fix, as I so poorly have described it, and it has not leaked since. What suprised us, is that they did not seem to be aware of this fix.

I see several others having the same difficulty right now, recent posts, after you check all the fittings, and snug em up, if you are still leaking, consider this fix.

I am sure this does not describe it very clearly, the previous posts on this condition do describe it quite clearly.

Sorry, this is about as clear as mud.

BigBlue · 11-28-2004, 02:34 PM

We experianced problems in that area as well. Found that our faucet fixture had a leak in it. The fixture is plastic and had cracked along the back of the fixture. Of course the crack was hidden by the shiny chromed outer surface.

After I replaced the faucet I still had a leak. A fellow MOC owner informed me that the faucets are meant to be mounted on a vertical wall. When mounted on a horizontal surface water can work it's way down the threads of the part (pipe inlet) that protrudes through the shower wall. The fix is to get rubber washer that fit over the pipe inlet and snug it down. It stopped the leak in our case

Hope you get the leak problem solved

sreigle · 11-28-2004, 03:44 PM

Big Blue, do you have a different faucet than ours has? If ours were mounted vertically the spout would point directly at the wall. I can't imagine a vertical-mount faucet being built that way. And if a vertical-mount faucet were mounted horizontally it would shoot the water straight out rather than down into the tub, wouldn't it? Am I missing something important?

MuddyPaws · 11-28-2004, 04:52 PM

Thanks for the tip about the faucet, I will check that out.

I wonder though, I stuck my hand up there where the shower drain comes through the floor and it was definatly coming from there.

If water was going down from the faucet wouldn't the cabinet under the sink be wet?

Montana_860 · 11-29-2004, 04:05 PM

We had a leak in the shower also. Apparently the floor flexes enough due to some poor engineering that when the shower is used, water will leak out around the drain. Dealer supported the floor properly and sealed the drain to stop the leak. I am beginning to believe that these units are partially built at the factory and the dealers are left to do the remaining assembly.

Montana_860 · 11-29-2004, 04:08 PM

Muddy,
Reference the brakes, sounds like you have a controller problem. I would have the dealer swap it to see if the problem can be isolated to the controller. Wiring could cause the short, but since the amperage is increasing prior to the short, I would start with the controller.

MuddyPaws · 11-29-2004, 04:33 PM

Bill,

I though of that too, but it's just too darn coincidental. Everything worked 100% fine for four years but it started failing the day they added the connector in the bed of the truck. I've put this question here and on thedieselstop.com and so far not one person has told me that they've had a Jordan 2020 fail in this manner. In fact the only problems I've found with that controller all seem to relate to the actuator cable binding.

She's going back to the shop tomorrow. Their last chance as far as I'm concerned. If they can't fix it I'll either take it somewhere else or do it myself.

They are also going to fix the shower.

Thanks,
Muddypaws

Montana_1424 · 11-30-2004, 02:34 PM

Does anyone have the Prodigy COntroller?
I am thinking about getting it for my truck to replace the one I have currently, for the spring RV season.
Any thoughts would be great.

sreigle · 11-30-2004, 02:48 PM

Ed, a number of us have the Prodigy controller and absolutely love its smoothness. It also works in reverse. Set it once and forget it. No need to adjust for cold weather, warm weather, cold brakes, warm brakes, etc.

I said I have it but I no longer have the Prodigy. The new truck has the builtin controller so I let the Prodigy go with the tradein. Otherwise the Prodigy would be in this one.

Montana_1424 · 11-30-2004, 02:50 PM

Outstanding, just what I wanted to hear, I have the low model Envoy, and i have to adjust it 3 or 4 times in one trip.
I am pretty sold on the Prodigy, just wanted to hear it again.
Thanks

sreigle · 12-01-2004, 05:03 AM

Ed, we previously had the Envoy along with several others that I tried over the years. I think once you get the Prodigy set up you'll find no need to move on to try another. Good luck with it.

The Jordan and some others are also very good but I have no experience with them.

Dave Anderson · 12-01-2004, 07:26 AM

Steve; you still have a prodigy, Tekampsa engineered the built-in controler for ford, you lucky devil !!!
Dave

sreigle · 12-01-2004, 10:44 AM

That's what I understand, too, Dave! Except it's supposed to be even better than the Prodigy simply because it takes its input from the truck's computer to apply exactly the same amount of braking to the trailer as to the truck. Everything I've read has said how great this works. I am anxious to try it when we pull out of here in January.

rames14 · 12-01-2004, 11:20 AM

Kozzy45 -

We had the sentinel on our TT and made sure to get the Prodigy when we bought the 5er and the truck. It has been great. Plus, with being color blind, I don't have to worry about whether the level is turning "pink" or "red" or "fucia". Set at the dealer and haven't had to worry about it since.

Bill Hill · 12-01-2004, 02:54 PM

We've had the Prodigy controller on our truck for over a year now, with almost 5K miles of towing, it's a great controller. As everyone else has said, set and go! I really liked that I did not have to splice into the wiring to hook it up. It comes with a plug in on the back and my Duramax has a plug in under the dash. Just buy the pig-tail and hook it up. I think Camping World has them on sale right now, so it might be a good time to upgrade.

Native Tex · 12-01-2004, 03:04 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

Ed, a number of us have the Prodigy controller and absolutely love its smoothness. It also works in reverse. Set it once and forget it. No need to adjust for cold weather, warm weather, cold brakes, warm brakes, etc.

I said I have it but I no longer have the Prodigy. The new truck has the builtin controller so I let the Prodigy go with the tradein. Otherwise the Prodigy would be in this one.

sreigle - how do you like that new brake controller in that new Ford? Does it work as well as a Prodigy? Been looking to possible upgrade the truck as well.

rames14 · 12-01-2004, 04:27 PM

Bill Hill -

Your truck should have come with the cable. My '04 did, although my dealer didn't use it. It seems GM goes back and forth - I had a Tahoe that came with it and then two years later the new Tahoes did not. Now the Silverado did. Go figure. I guess its like when power tools used to have an inch shorter cord every year.

Bill Hill · 12-01-2004, 05:02 PM

Ron,
You're right, it did come with a cable, but with a plug only at one end(to plug into the truck). The cable that Tekonsha sells as an accessory has the plugs at both ends, so it plugs in both to the truck and the controller, no splicing needed. But it did get me some trouble. Since I didn't use the factory cable, I missed the fuse that was attached and didn't put it in the fuse box. This is the fuse that powers the charging circuit from the truck to the trailer. All the time I was driving on our first trip with the truck it wasn't charging the trailer batteries. When I went back to the dealer to "fix" the problem, the said it was because the fuse was missing. You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get them to install a $1 fuse on the truck I'd just bought for $42K. (I no longer go to that dealer!)

sreigle · 12-02-2004, 07:43 AM

Native Tex, we've had the '05 for five weeks but won't tow with it until January. So I can't give your a firsthand impression yet. The magazines rave about it, though.

Our '99 Ford and '03 Ford both had the plug under the dash to just plug in the controller, also. It's part of the tow package. I don't know if the '05 has that plug since it has the builtin controller. Probably not. But then hopefully I'll be so happy with the builtin I won't need the plug anyhow. I'll be very disappointed if it's not as good as the magazines say it is.

Anybody towed using the new Ford builtin brake controller yet?

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