Upside down factory assembly

[Dean A Van Peursem]

After 2 & 1/2 years of major items requiring attention on our late 2006 Montana 3400RL I finally got around to trying to fix a minor annoyance that has been around since we took ownsership but didn't notice until a few months later. This problem apparently missed our list for repairs needed while our unit was under warranty.

But just noticed it again recently when opening the folding closet door at the entry. The bottom hinge is missing the pin. I've looked at it a couple times before and was always confused as to why the pin head showed on the top side but the pin wasn't there. That usually confused me enough that I went onto other more important issues each time. Well, I finally got serious about fixing it and guess what? The hinge was mounted upside down on the folding doors and the pin fell out long before we took posession. We have never observed the pin inside the RV. A simple fix but I really find it a bit humorous that whoever assembled the door didn't notice it. I suspect one of those well known Engineering Change Orders also solved this problem for later units! :-)

[exav8tr]

I found that early on with ours and fixed it then, kinda funny when you think of it.....

[richfaa]

You know Dean your 3400 and my 3400 were built at nearly the same time and may have been on the line at the same time and maybe the same skilled craftsman worked on them. We had the same issue and also they were on upside down on the bathroom doors as the pins fell out????? The guy must still be around as Phil had the same problem.The fun of RV ownership never ends.

[Dean A Van Peursem]

Rich,
To be fair these doors may have been purchased assembled and all Montana had to do was mount the assembly in the closet. But...One would have thought that at least one of the pins would have fallen out on a 3400RL before it left the factory and the error would have been caught. Our closet and bathroom doors and associated frames were so out of square when we purchased the unit that allot of work had to be done to get the frames square enough so the doors closed properly. Now that I remember all the work the dealer did on these doors and frames, I'm also amazed that the dealer techs didn't catch this pin missing either. An amazing supply chain of quality deficiencies.

I'm also laughing a bit about what I would include in a PDI document for use by future Montana owners. It would probably be equivalent to a book and take a week or more to accomplish. We used some of the PDI suggestions here on the MOC Forum in early 2006 but we were so overwhelmed by what we found initially and so quickly that I don't think we followed them all. Wish we had done a better job now. If we were ever to buy another new Montana, which won't ever happen, it would take forever to get through a PDI. Wish we lived closer to the factory so you and I could have a set down session for a few days with Montana manufacturing and "splain" a few things. But I don't speak Amish/Spanish. :-) Maybe our wish will come to fruition during the economic crisis and a Japanese company will pick up one of the bankrupt manufacturers leftovers and show the RV industry how it should be done. I know they could get a bunch of free consulting from me. :-) But they probably wouldn't need it.

[exav8tr]

My build date is 3/21/06. Does that come close to you two? Also, I hate to admit it, but I did no PDI when I bought my Montana, didn't know any better as this was my first and only RV. We did do a walk-a-round when we picked it up. I did set it up about 10 miles from our dealer and used everything, even broke the awning, which they repaired. I think, (re: HOPE), that the problems you two have had are isolated. Perhaps, the winter and spring of '06 was a good time for building Montanas. Another thing to take into consideration was that our trailer was hauled from Goshen to Anchorage, AK prior to us purchasing, who knows what happened enroute...

Dean, Maybe your BOOK would make it to the RV Best Seller list.....

[Dean A Van Peursem]

Ours was built 3/23/2006, at least that is what is on the label. A Thursday. Close enough? Rich's is within a month of that. Maybe March 2006 was a "Bad Hair" month for Montana. I used to call ours a "Hangover Monday" unit but that may not be really true. Beware of the "IDES" of March! :-) We did a fairly thorough PDI which took the dealer over a day to get corrected, then we too immediately dry camped for 3 days, 1 1/2 miles from the dealer. That resulted in another day in the dealer fixing things, then wet camped for 3 more days about 6 miles from the dealer and that is when the "Fit hit the Sham" . Water leaks all over the place, etc, etc. By now we were so upset we forced the dealer to come out to the camp site to fix the water leaks. Then spent another day in the dealer getting other stuff fixed and the first failed attempt at getting the sagging roof fixed on the "Super Slide". That by itself took 3 more trips to two different dealers to finally get fixed. Unbeknown to us at the time, we were just at the beginning of a 2 1/2 year fix/repair/replace process. Our unit was at the dealers for repairs over 35 days in less than two years. Ours was hauled from Goshen to Central Washington state which is a hike but not quite as far as Alaska. :-) But... Things are improving, this is our 3rd trip to AZ but the first winter we have spent in AZ w/o a major water leak. Knock on wood. That is probably why I'm only now getting to fixing minor problems. Still need to fix the sticking Fantastic Vent lid but have the material to do it and also have to replace the carousel drive motor on our second Apollo 1/2 time oven. Been a little slow in getting these later things fixed since I am so tired of fixing things on this unit. I belatedly found out there is a life outside of fixing Montana 3400RL problems. Refreshing!

[richfaa]

Our is 4/21/06 so they are all close. Yes Dean but someone had to mount the bathroom door and all the pins were upside down. Even I who know nothing know which way the pins go??? we did two days of PDI and it rolled of the dealers lot fault free and we had not a single problem for 6 months till we melted down at Quartzsite and it did not let up for till he service center disassembled the camper and put it back together properly April of 07.. We have only had a burst hydraulic line and a leaky black tank since then. This does not count the scores of issues reported on this forum and corrected before they might have failed. Like replace the bath room door knob BEFORE it broke while someone was in there. Finding all the stripped cabinet screws and doing the tooth pick trick BEFORE the doors fell off. Checking every water connection BEFORE they came loose and leaked all over the place...Ordering the fantastic fan seal kit BEFORE it stuck..Et, Etc, Ec....

[Dean A Van Peursem]

That bathroom door was an outright idiocy. How in the world could an assembly worker on the Montana assembly line not recognize something was drastically wrong when they put the pins in from the bottom. Maybe the doors come in with both sides of the hinge on the doors and all they do is mount the door frame hinge side. Then I could see how it got missed. But, how about incoming parts inspection or supplier outgoing inspection? Amazing. Right hand door vs left hand door issue??? Oh yes, another ECO! :-) Wonder if right hand doors have a different part number than left hand doors. Probably need to check the Montana unit first to find out which version was installed before re-ordering. If it doesn't fit, acquit :-) Wasn't aware of the bathroom door issue. Must have missed that thread. There have been times when it might have been good to be locked in! :-) Unfortunately we had four cabinet doors come off or loose on our first trip from WA to AZ. That initiated the toothpick/glue trick for an immediate fix and then I had a dealer go through all of them. About half needed to be fixed. After a few water leaks I too have gone through every connection I can get to. Each water leak was in a different place so while fixing that leak, tightened up all the others I could reach in that area. Most if not all were way too loose. The one that still amazes me is the one that had a threaded clamp on it. I could slide the hose on and off w/o changing the clamp tightness from the factory. It had never been tightened. I must have found most of the loose connections since we haven't had a major water leak since. Well... I hope I have. Keeping our fingers crossed.

[goin2themountains]

Oh, crud, and here I thought I was good. No folding door on ours. Then you guys had to go into the loose water connection stuff. We purchased the 3605RL while it was winterized, and it is still so. Guess when the weather improves enough to de-winterize, I will be looking for connections. BTW, ours shows a February build date (of '08). Hope it was a better month than March.

[rubble express]

If it wasn't so pathetic it would be funny. We had the same problem with upside down hinges.