Broken roof ladder rung - bike rack - Page 2 - Montana Owners Club

dsprik · 07-04-2006, 08:29 AM

Thanks, Rick! Just added that to my PDI list...

*On Edit~ On second thought, I will send this in my Pre-PDI list to the dealership to check before I get there.

dcowie · 07-06-2006, 05:27 AM

Spoke to Keystone on Wednesday and was told I would have to buy a whole new ladder, they do not sell parts for it. They referred me to Kimberly, the company that mfg the ladders for Keystone. Said they might offer parts and could tell me about the warranty. Called Kimberly, they said I should not have been referred and no they don't sell parts and no the warranty is offered by Keystone. Called Keystone back and they said once again buy a new ladder and there is only one year warranty on the ladder. NOT THE ANSWERS I HOPED FOR. I guess I will make a rung out of mahogany as a temporary move.

Finally gave in and ordered a new ladder from Montana dealer!!!!

Bill Frisbee · 07-07-2006, 06:08 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

We let Helen do the roof stuff.

This deserves a fully-expanded "Laugh Out Loud"!!!! Sounds like "doing the roof stuff" is a prize ... sort of like, "we let Helen have the toy in the Cracker Jack box"!!! You old FAA guys are a riot!

BTW, we solved our "bike problem" by purchasing two "fold 'em up, put 'em in a bag" bikes. They are very well constructed, weigh very little, take up little space, and together cost less than it would have cost to have a proper receiver welded to the frame of our Monty (I am not a fan of ladder bike racks).

Bill

padredw · 07-07-2006, 09:16 AM

Bill, I've been thinking about a couple of those "fold-up put 'em in a bag" bikes. Tell us more about the models you have, the source, and about what they should cost.

Bill Frisbee · 07-07-2006, 12:35 PM

Hi, David & Shirley ...

The bikes are in the Monty which is parked at the storage facility. I will be going there first thing in the AM and will get the particulars. I paid $500 (Canadian) for two bikes including the carrying cases. Mine has the old-fashion "pedal brake" on the rear wheel plus a hand brake on the front wheel. Ann's has hand brakes on both wheels (which she prefers). We had my bike with us last weekend (Ann's was ordered but we had not received it) and we both had a great time booting around the campground. They are not full-size bikes (the wheels are only about 18") but they are definitely "adult size" in terms of riding, are solid as a rock, and work just fine. Will send more tomorrow.

Bill

jrgwdenner · 07-07-2006, 03:51 PM

Illini Trekker, sorry I didn't get an answer for you sooner. I was getting a son married and acquiring a lovely new daughter-in-law. The bike rack is one where the two bikes stand in a metal groove, one in each, with wire supports at either end. The handle bars on my bike have to be turned down because they are the old fashioned, fat wheel type. The rack is not the one that holds the bikes on the crossbars but thbd (Dennis) does have that model. Wish I could be more specific. It seems a lot better for us that the ladder mount. Now Glen uses the ladder bike rack to hold our ladder more securely on the ladder.

tbhd2 · 07-07-2006, 06:03 PM

Our previous 5er had a rear bumper that held the sewer hose so we bought a bike rack that clamped on the rear bumper from Camping World. When we bought the monty we modified the bike rack to fit in the receiver of the truck. We have plenty of clearance as it shows in our picture trail. Bike tires hang down a little but I've never hit them "yet", but I have an extra tall framed bike also. Our truck is an older two wheel drive so it sits pretty low. The newer trucks especially 4WD sit alot higher reducing the clearance from the truck to the trailer. Don't want the bike hitting the under side of the trailer.

jrgwdenner · 07-08-2006, 02:14 AM

Clearance is the biggest factor when putting the bikes on the receiver hitch. But they sure do ride nicely.

Nice new family picture, by the way!

Bill Frisbee · 07-08-2006, 05:42 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by padredw

Bill, I've been thinking about a couple of those "fold-up put 'em in a bag" bikes. Tell us more about the models you have, the source, and about what they should cost.

Hi, David & Shirley ...

The bikes we bought are Avenir Folding Bikes. Our local bike dealer got them from the following place in Toronto:

http://www.bayviewcycle.com/NewFiles/Home.html

Obviously that does not help you a lot ... but if you go to the website and look for "Avenir Folding Bikes" down the left side, you can see what they look like. We bought versions without all the gears so they were less expensive and seem to work just fine for the sort of riding we do around a campground. We save our heavy duty mountain biking/trail riding for when we are home!

The major producer in the folding bike industry seems to be Dahon:

http://www.dahon.com/

I believe Avenir is one of the "brands" they manufacture. If you go to their website, you can find a dealer close to you.

Hope this is helpful.

Bill

padredw · 07-09-2006, 08:45 AM

Thanks, Bill, I will follow up on this information via the internet.

bpierce · 07-09-2006, 12:25 PM

I have seen several trailers going down the road with various items hanging from the ladders. I am considering buying those "zero gravity chairs" and want to carry them on the ladder to save room in the basement. Do you think these would cause problems like the bicycles do? Are there any considerations I should be aware of for the wind turbulence??

rickfox · 07-09-2006, 05:20 PM

Good Evening Doug and Linda,

As I mentioned in an earlier post on this thread, 2 of the black plastic endcaps that hold the rungs to the ladder broke - the trailer is now about 8 months old.

I emailed pictures of the broken plastic - still connected to the ladder - to my dealer. 2 days latter he told me Keystone approved the warranty repair. That weekend I drove over and picked up 2 new ladder rungs. The dealer had billed Keystone $25/rung for the replacement parts.

I brought them home and performed the installation myself - took approximately 10 minutes - since this was a lot easier than hauling the trailer down and waiting around 4 hours while they got to it. Since I had only 2 plastic endcaps break, and each new rung has 2 endcaps, I still have a complete new rung with endcaps patiently waiting in the belly storage in case another repair is needed in the future.

I know for a fact that Keystone pays for warranty repair at the piece-part level for the ladders. Someone has been blowing smoke up . . .

jrgwdenner · 07-09-2006, 11:33 PM

Bryan, we have similar chairs, maybe the same ones and we travel with them inside on the bed or in the dining area as they have a lot of fabric that could easily get very dusty and dirty.

cindik · 07-11-2006, 02:18 PM

I posted this in the general forum. Didn't see this post. We took a trip over the Christmas holidays, and were hauling 2 bikes on a ladder bike carrier. Well, our ladder broke, and we have put off replacing it. Went to the local dealer where we bought our Montana. It is out of warranty. Yes, they can order us a new ladder for only 110.00, Great, price was less than we expected. Then we find out the shipping will be 125.00. Cost more to ship that the price of the ladder. Wow! We can almost drive to the factory and pick it up cheaper. Have any of you had to replace your ladder or do you know of any other place to get it with a cheaper shipping cost? Just thought I would ask. I think they are custom, and we will probably end up eating the shipping to replace the ladder. Remember, never use the ladder bike carrier. We had used this one several times with no problem, and we were hauling kid's bikes, not adults. We were lucky we found it and didn't have ladder and bikes scattered all over the road. Thanks!

dcowie · 07-30-2006, 10:53 AM

Update:
I was getting ready to move to a new location and in the process of loading my bikes on the roof access ladder I concluded that the sturdiness of the ladder has been compromised from the damaged tread. I observed that the ladder braces are not stable and the ladder brackets are bent. I have concluded that bicycles should not be hung on the ladder, which is a major disappointment. Perhaps if I had tied off the bike rack more securely early on I would not have the problem now, but I followed the bike rack instructions. Keystone should step up with a modification and provide a bike rack off the RV frame. After all, these are recreation vehicles.

richfaa · 07-30-2006, 11:13 AM

Bike rack ladders are not the best way to transport bikes and require special attention when loading the bikes. You need to tie them down really good in a attempt to reduce or eliminate the bouncing motion on the ladder.That motion causes a lot of stress on the ladder. The front wheels on both our bikes are quick disconnect and we remove them for transport. I also do not recommend using bungees to tie down the bikes as they are flexible and are not a good tie down..It is really a hassle but if you take you time and do a good tie down job you can avoid ladder damage.

jrgwdenner · 07-30-2006, 11:38 AM

Here's a link to our solution to the bike rack dilemma. Glen has to turn some handlebars down and we have to take the rack off before we unhitch, but they are much more secure than on the ladder rack where we carried them before. There is plenty of clearance under the Montana with our setup. http://i7.tinypic.com/21ew8rb.jpg

richfaa · 07-30-2006, 04:30 PM

With the new front cap I don't think that would work.It is very close back there.

sreigle · 07-31-2006, 08:56 AM

We used both straps and bungees but the bungees were wrapped around and around to make them very tight. I agree if bungees are used they should not have any stretch remaining or the bike bouncing will put a lot of stress on the ladder. With ours very tightly bound to the rack and the ladder both we had no problems with two adult mountain bikes back there for over 20,000 miles. I think having them tightly bound to the rack and ladder are the key. There are better ways to haul bikes but sometimes the ladder rack may be the best solution, depending on the situation.

See another Montana or Mountaineer on the road? Flash lights twice, it might be one of us!
Steve Reigle (pronounced Regal)
Fulltiming since 3/21/03
'03 3295RK
'05 Ford F250 SD Lariat CC SB 6.0L PSD/TS FX4 4x4

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jrgwdenner · 07-31-2006, 09:05 AM

We wondered about the clearance with the new cap design. Looks like Keystone needs to get serious about a rear receiver hitch for bicycles.

Judy
http://spaces.msn.com/bamatravelers/
http://bamatravelers.blogspot.com
Traveling with Glen and Greta in our 2004 Dodge dually and Montana 3380 RL

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