Broken Cross Members

[adelmoll]

We had a small crack above our door grow larger on our trip through Canada this summer. Bill has been on the phone and e-mail to Team Montana and sent pictures. They suggested that we have a dealer look at it and call them but no one can see us for at least three weeks. We asked to bring it to Keystone Plant as we are on our way there now but they said they don't have time to see us either so, Bill dropped the belly and found several broken cross members. We brought it to a welder in Maine and he found five cross members broken all on one side of the Tana. He welded them for us and couldn't see anythng wrong with the frame but of course he wasn't taking measurements so we are still not sure if we have the whole problem fixed or not.

Does anyone have suggestions as to where we might find out if this this is all that was wrong or if we still have some major frame flex?

It sure is hard when you live in your unit and something goes wrong.

Helen

[exav8tr]

Helen, If you don't mind me asking, what year and model Montana are we talking about?? I sympathise with you on living full time and trying to get repairs done. We keep a "Motel Stash" just in case we have to do that thing!!!

[DHenry]

Helen, I think this is the first time I have ever heard of the cross member welds breaking under the 5th wheel. I have had welds break under the bedroom but I have not taken down the belly panels to look for any there. Did you take pictures of the broken welds that you can share with us here? Was the crack at the door inside or outside? When you set up do you notice the crack close or open? After welding did it make a difference in how the crack looks? We hope all is better now that you have had it re-welded.

[adelmoll]

Sorry it took so long to answer but we have been in the mountains of Vermont and just got back on the Internet.

Phil, we have a 2005 Montana 3475rl that has a select comfort bed it and we hate not to sleep in it. Every time we have to stay in a hotel/motel, we feel creepy crawly if you know what I mean.

Doug, when we first noticed this was after traveling down the entire Blue Ridge Parkway last fall. When we got to Florida we saw the crack on the outside wall just above the door. It was almost exactly in the center of the RV. It was about 3" when we first noticed it. We called Keystone and they also said that they had never heard of it cracking in that area before. They told us to take it to a dealer close to us and when we did, they said that they would have to take the whole wall off to see what the problem was and they would never get it back the same way. That didn't make u feel very comfortable so we brought it back to our lot and had another dealer come to look at it. He couldn't find any damage to the roof or anyplace that he look so he put a piece of molding over the crack to keep it dry and we didn't have any more trouble until a few weeks ago. First we saw that the crack was traveling and was now down about three more inches and at this time we saw the seam separating on the inside too. That is when Bill dropped the belly and saw two cracked cross members and we knew that we needed help. As I mentioned before, we wanted to bring it to Keystone for some guidance on what to do but they told us they didn't have the time to see us and to bring it to a dealer. They seemed to think we were trying to get this covered under warranty but all we are looking for is someone that knows what the problem is nd tell us what we should do. The dealers do not seem to know what to do about this.

The welder who is certified in prop welding and very good found five broken cross members. From doing a visual, he could not find anything wrong with the frame but said that we would need measurements to be positive. He felt that his welding would fix the problem.. Well, we think that things had flexed so much that now that it is rigid again everything is trying to find its rightful place again and the counter top has pulled away from the wall and all the screws holding it in place have broken. Bill has to take all the pipes out from under the sink to find room to get inside and replace them. Right now we have the counter top propped up to hold it level. We re still going to Goshen and see if Lippert can help us.

I'll post pictures as soon as I get a good wifi signal. Right now we are in New Your in the Adironadack MTs and I haven't hooked up my antenna yet.

Helen