Where in the world is Quality Control?????

[Montana_3008]

After we got our " monty " home I discovered a couple of safety/construction concerns. First, I have a BIG problem as to why the 12 VDC line conections from the battery to the hydralic pump for the slides were left exposed on leaving the factory. Is this a common thing? Guys it doesn't seem fair to have as huge of a potential fire hazard as this un-adressed during design and construction. I put 6 or 15 pounds of electrical tape over the terminals but it doesn't seem right to expect the new owner to cure an obvious snafu like this. Next I found two 5/8ths inch bolts that secure the kitchen slide out to the frame be finger tight only! Now, I can only imagine how much fun that would have been to see your slide out skittering down the road only to pass you at a red light! Granted there were two additional bolts on the other end that were secured but this is scary to me. Kinda puts a suspicous thought or two in the old brain housing groupe. I didn't notice during the walk through that there were no leveling indicators anywhere on our Montana. I have that cured but wonder why this wasn't done at the factory. Any thoughts?
Mike & Jan

[CountryGuy]

Mike and Jan

Congrats on your new Montana.

As far as the levelers, Al and I have yet to purchase a unit with these installed from the factory. Probably there is some manufacturer out there that does this, but we are not aware of who that might be.

Al says that the battery to hydralic pump connections are supposed to have little red rubber covers that form to the connectors of the positive leads, Yea, I know this is a crummy description, but some things just are harder to put into words!

As far as the lose bolts, GULP. Sure glad you found those, another example of us owners having to keep reviewing the status of our unit and its parts. Also points out how important a great PDI list is, prior to deliver PDI list. Al and I took 8 hours to climb all over, under and through our unit, and then left a nice long list of repairs for the dealer to fix before we left him our check! And, I mean, we crawled. I was on my hands and knees in closets, under tables, all sorts of things. The dealer was not particularly happy with us, but ya know what, tough!

Enjoy your new unit! Go forth and go RVING!

Carol

[RVBUDDY]

Congratulations on your new Montana. Keep on checking that rig.

[Montana_2825]

Al and Carol, if you have a PDI list of things you look for/at, I'd love to see a copy. Maybe in a private message or in an email. Our walk thru took all of 10 minutes, and we found at least five things that had to be corrected. No telling what we would have found if we had a really good list to reference. Thanks.

wingnut

[stiles watson]

Wow!! I am glad you found the slide issues and fixed them. I am not an electrician , so I don't know how serious the battery cable issue is. I am planning to put a shut-off switch on the battery cable to disconnect when not in use.

As far as the levels, that sounds like a dealer thing. If I were a dealer, I would at least slap on some of those stick on levels. I would make sure they were accurately and strategically placed. I chose to replace mine with one that has features commensurate with my preferences even though the stick-on kind were working.

I sure hope the near future brings joy and satisfaction with your Monty.

[CountryGuy]

wingnut, Al has a PDI list somewhere, and I think he got it off the intenet. I think Glenn and Lorraine had a link to a good PDI list, too, maybe Glenn will come along and post that link again OR try the search engine at the top of the page, this has been discussed a couple of times here on the forum.

I'll have to ask Al where he found ours!

Cheers, Carol

[Glenn and Lorraine]

To the rescue...

PDI (PreDelivery Inspection) Checklist

[sreigle]

Are those bolts by any chance the slide adjustment bolts? The size sounds about right. If they are, there should be locknuts to hold them in place and you should not be able to move them by finger, I don't think. I'll have to check that on ours.

None of our fifthwheels have come with levels, either. I put a large one on the pinbox so I can see it from the cab of the truck. I put the fore-aft level in the basement on the vertical wall next to the dump valve handles. I put another one next to that that has a level on an arm with a thumbscrew to lock it in place. When I pull the truck out from under while setting up Vicki centers that bubble and [img]locks it down with the thumbscrew. Then we level the rig. When ready to hitch up I raise/lower the coach until that bubble is centered again and I can back right under and hitch up since the coach is now at the right height for hitching.

Ditto Carol on the electrical connections.

[Montana_2230]

You know I think the biggest problem in the RV industry is quality control. It seems that none of the manufactures know how to perform the most simple checks. Seems to me like they spend a ton of money and a heck of a lot of time making up for poor quality control. They should realize that a good effective quality program should be top priority, but they don't. They may tell you about their great procedures, but they are very poor. Even the dealers are remiss in their quality checks of units they sell. You would think that if the manufactures and dealers would learn to do a quality check of their units they all would gain. I attribute it all to very poor management. Good quality control can do nothing but help their bottom line. I wonder what the problem is. I know they try to set speed records in building units fast, but why turn out the trash that they do at any speed. Looks to me like they could prepare and train their inspectors in them and be able to do a good quality check of a unit in 3 to 4 hours. Even if they just caught major item errors they would be ahead of the game. Oh, well I wish for too much, ain't gonna happen...been going on too long.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Maybe it's time for the manufacturers to start using the PDI (PreDelivery Inspection) Checklist.
Either that or hire a crew of RVers to perform this task. What better quality controlers than the folks that actually use these rigs.

Maybe this thread should be moved over to HEY KEYSTONE.

Think they would listen...........NOT

[mobilrvn]

When you basically pay employees at piecework rates, quality control will suffer. Maybe there are deductions later for crappy work. It should NOT be the buyers obligation to check work which should have been done correctly in the first place. Do you have a PDI for any car or truck you buy---no? It should be the same with the Montana or any RV. Most of our problems have been lack of quality control, like all the drains were only put together, but not tighten, causing leaks later. The one under the kitchen sink caused a lot of damage to goods stored there. Over half the cupboards and drawers had misaligned catches. Of course our sound system sucked like nearly everyone else´s. The fit and finish in many areas is lacking.

The overhead rear cabinet came apart and today´s discovery was that the pots and pans cupboard under the stove ripped away from the cupboard front. These seem to be design deficiencies, but I am sure that I have read of similar problems in this forum at an earlier date.

Seems like Keystone just wants to take the money and run. Some dealers are helpful, some are not. Think that the feeling is that most of us will just correct their mistakes or will live with them.

[Montana_2304]

I felt that my 2002 3295rk was built better as far as quality than our 2004 3650rk. That is one of the reasons we traded it. I agree, Keystone is trading quality for quanity. I was a bit disappointed with it.
Charlie and Sue

[larryngail]

Where in the world is quality control? ....Don't know....but I think we know where it's not