Abnormal Wearing of Montana tires - Page 2 - Montana Owners Club

CountryGuy · 08-08-2004, 03:13 AM

jerryb

You have a point, just fix em and get on with life and camping. BUT, if Keystone never hears about problems like (tire wear, axles that need rebending to get correct camber) then how will they know there is a problem?? We know Keystone reads the forum and has made design changes in the past due to some of the moaning and groaning we have done on the forum over designs we as consumers found faulty.

From reading here, it seems that there is quite a difference in cost of cold bending the axles. We paid $150.00 in Ekhart (place that Keystone sent us to) and I think I have seen prices as low as $40.00 an axle posted here.

Fact is, the axle has a TWO year warranty, and we am not happy to have paid out cash for something that we were told had a 90 day warranty. Lesson here: READ YOUR OWN WARRANTY, don't take anyone's word for it.

Up until the last 3 months or so, I do not recall ever seeing a post on this forum about axles. Now, there seems to be several threads going at the same time about this subject. WHY?? Why all of a sudden??

We were told the same story as other members of the MOC, we hit a deep pot hole, we hit a curb hard, etc etc etc. We are not overloaded, have the weight slip (in fact, we still have a few pounds left before we hit the max numbers suggested by Keystone). We are very cautious drivers, and did not hit any curbs. Did hit pot holes, in every state of the union, gesssh our roads need more help! That said, I don't remember any horrendous pot holes, just the garden variety, aka, smaller ones.

Al and I are leaning towards the belief that the axles are the minimum weight, 6,000 per. We are thinking a 7,000 would be better. There just is not enough "oooops" in the weight numbers here. Course, some will say, if I have 7,000 pound axles and load to the max, what difference is there, overloaded is overloaded. I agree, but find it hard to believe that I could get that much more in that unit that I have now. When we loaded for 3 months away I took just about everything I wanted and had most of the cupboards full. Bout the only way to add more weight would have been to take gold plated silverware, pots and pans and dishes. Or a lot more books than I have. Not sure where I would put them tho.

Anyway, Al and I have found this thread and those like it here on the MOC to be very interesting and thank ya all for posting your experiences. As usual, the MOC has proven to be an extremely helpful forum, loaded with very nice people!

ols1932 · 08-08-2004, 08:47 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by CountryGuy

jerryb

Al and I are leaning towards the belief that the axles are the minimum weight, 6,000 per. We are thinking a 7,000 would be better. There just is not enough "oooops" in the weight numbers here. Course, some will say, if I have 7,000 pound axles and load to the max, what difference is there, overloaded is overloaded. I agree, but find it hard to believe that I could get that much more in that unit that I have now. When we loaded for 3 months away I took just about everything I wanted and had most of the cupboards full. Bout the only way to add more weight would have been to take gold plated silverware, pots and pans and dishes. Or a lot more books than I have. Not sure where I would put them tho.

When I had MOR/ryde axles put on my 3555RL last September, they replaced the original axles with 7,000 lb axles. They weighed the rig before putting the new axles on and the weight on the axles was 11,900 lbs. That's pretty close to the 12,000 lb limit (6,000 x 2).

Incidentally, the $1800 I spent for the new axles was well worth it. These wheels can be aligned just like the front end alignments on cars and trucks. It also takes away the worry of broken springs as so many of my fellow RVers have experienced (not Keystone), one had three springs break (Hitchhiker). A lot of the manufacturers have similar problems so Keystone can't be blamed. I've found that if they are approached properly, they will bend over backwards to help.

Montana_1873 · 08-08-2004, 06:09 PM

AL and Carol I would like to be where you are because it costs 500.00 to 550.00 to have my axles cold bent and laser aligned here in the Houston TX. area.So far Keystone has not made a decision on my problem.

penrod

CountryGuy · 08-09-2004, 05:19 AM

penrod,

We had ours done in Elkhart Indiana, but Al was not real thrilled with the place. He says there was no laser alignment done. He says, quote, "I am still not sure it is right! I really don't!"

The place we went was where Keystone sent us. I think they said there were 2 places around the area that did the work. It was a place that did a lot of body work on cars and they had one HUGE bay for working on trucks. They just backed the rig in, did not unhook it, and did the work. Al was not allowed in the bay, so, he is not sure how they did what they did.

We have not replaced the tires yet, as he is still thinking this entire situation over.

Carol

Montana_1741 · 08-11-2004, 06:25 PM

We have the axle and tire problem. 2004 3670RL Montana. Axels were replaced. After looking at the axles they approved the tires to be replaced. I wonder if after all this reading I am doing on the subject here if the problem is going to go away or if the new axles will have the same problem. We have been about 10,000 miles in our unit. We have had slideout problems where they are replacing the pump and now hydraulic cylindars under one slide because replacing the pump didn't fix the problem. Gas leaks twice in six months. Cracked windows. You name it. Although our hot water heater works great. We have been plaged with at least 30 problems, some big some small.

When I was growing up in the 70's in New England and watching the Seabrook Nuclear Plant being built I also saw and heard of the drug problems that the common laborer brought with him to work. I have always been scared to drive by that plant knowing that some of the employees were high when they built it. I pretty much feel the same way when we take our Montana on the road. We travel eights states on a regular basis half of the year and we bring our child with us. I am so scared that the lack of QC and concern by Keystone will end up with people being hurt. We are seriously thinking of trading our brand new Montana for a different brand name. I really do wish that the lemon law applied to the Montana as it does with vehicles because we have one.

jimc · 08-12-2004, 07:45 AM

Well, I was going to get on and do my own post to ask questions if anyone else had experienced abnormal tire wear, but found this thread active.
2003 2955RL with about 10,000 miles on it. This morning I happened to look down at the right rear tire and noticed the tread gone on the inside - worn flat. Checked the left rear, and it looked the same. The front axle tires are both OK.
Called the dealer (Chief's RV in Pasco, WA) and they are researching it. Called Keystone, and they said to make sure the dealer called Team Montana (whatever that is). They did say it sounded like the axle lost its camber - I have never hit a curb either.
Any ideas? Anything I can check?

Jim Crockett

lightningjack11 · 08-12-2004, 09:47 AM

crmuddgeon,

If you decide to trade your Monty be careful of your selection. Alko make the axles and Lippert makes the frame. A lot of Mfgrs use the same setup as Montana. So you might not gain anything and lose a bunch of bucks.

I have been so lucky with mine. Lots of little problems that I fixed one by one. Good luck everyone.

ragdoll · 08-12-2004, 02:59 PM

crmuddgeon - I agree with lightningjack11, my husband has been so mad at all the things that have been wrong with our unit from day one, 4 pages worth (major and minor) and still trying to get the last of the warranty issues cleared up. He wanted to get rid of it but now with everything almost fixed we might be in the same boat then that would burn him enough to give up rving altogether. We had planned on getting a larger unit but the dread of getting another lemon makes us rethink it. We aren't fulltimers and how much room do we actually need

.

jimc - get under your unit and measure that is what my husband did - we hadn't hit anything either it was the springs and axles that had been installed improperly. We only had one tire (right rear) that was showing the wear on the inside. Good luck!

Safe travels.

Montana_1881 · 08-18-2004, 08:52 AM

I have talked to Keystone and also to AL-KO. I am waiting for a reply on my last contact with Keystone. If not satisfactory, or if I don't get a reply, I will send some letters. (See below)
There are too many of us that are willing to just pay the cost and forget it. I am sending copies of my letters to Good Sam's Action Line, the Goshen BBB, the NHTSA, Keystone, AL-KO, my dealer and my attorney.
I have a new set of axles that I refuse to have installed because I would expect the same results that I had with the original ones. My unit is a 2980RL, the axles are rated at 5200#. I am asking Keystone to replace them with 6000# axles. I am wondering if that is sufficient.
My previous 5th wheel trailer was a Teton Summit, 29',max gross something over 13,000#. I drove that for 10 years without any bent axles or abnormal wear patterns developing.

Montana_1881 · 08-18-2004, 11:28 AM

I just got off the phone with a Keystone Customer Service man. His reply was a satisfactory one and new axles will be on the way.
Now I won't have to write all those letters! I am sure that will be best for Keystone, AND me!

sreigle · 08-18-2004, 02:32 PM

Curmuddgeon, you can probably stop worrying whether some of the Montana employees were high when they built your rig! I think the majority of them are Amish. Where I do think problem are occuring - we were told by a rep that Keystone has an incentive program. If it's based purely on units produced per period of time, then there you go. IMO they should have an offset for quality complaints and/or warranty repairs. Make a complaint/repair reduce the incentive by more than a completed unit adds to it.

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