Break in of the 3500RL

[Montana_3028]

Well just got back from our first rally/Trip in the 3500RL....

General obversations:

1. Towed very nice...not too much touble...no sway..
2. It was raining...and the trailer breakes worked well...no sliding.
3. very long trailer....lucky we had pull though site.
4. Make sure you are level...the slides growned at bit but did work.
5. 50 amp power cord is heavy


Things that went bump:

1. The grey water drain handle for the shower/sink came off...did not notice until I opened......glad it was not the black....now I know why they have the clear attachments....
2. This RV is big...and even with the artic package...this get cold......and we had one vent not blow hot air.......it got cold!!
3. You need to know how the remote control for the heater/AC works before you take your first trip...I had the A/C and heater going at the same time.....my bad not Montana's...need a PHD to tunr the thing off and on.....not really...I ask the tech on delivery...he could not work it...told me to read up on it.
4. Stereo suround sound did not work....2nd unit in this one.
5. Water pump can wake the dead...it's really loud and wife made me hood up at 2:30 in the AM the fresh water as to not wake the people next to us.
6. Do not put root beer in the freezer and forget about...6 hours later...well you know...Wife blames me
7. The drawers will open without strapping them down in some form or fashion.


All in all not to bad for first trip....

[DHenry]

So tell us, How do you like the Montana? All of us have had to do our shake down trip and it sounds like you had a fairly good one. Who really put the roor beer in the freezer?

[BillyRay]

yes they are big aren't they? it always amazes me how nice they tow for their size!

[CountryGuy]

Gamer1624

Congrats on your maiden voyage.

A few comments:

The water pumps are well known to be anything BUT quiet. Do a search here (see top of page) and read the many many posts. They will give you some suggestions for fixing or reducing that noise.

Yes, they tow like a dream! And, yes, I have done the towing, so I get to put in my 2 cents worth!! After towing a 30 foot TT for a number of years and my pontoon boat, I LOVE towing the Montana! Now, if I could just learn to back it up!

Drawers, that is one problem we have not had in this unit, except for ONE in the bedroom, which is held to only a 1 inch open by the bed. The kitchen drawers have never come open. We have had tons of other stuff move around in the rear kitchen, but the drawers stay shut. You will probably need to realign the catches and the hooks, Steve R can instruct you about that in great detail! (and we are very confident that our moving kitchen is no more, thanks to Bilstein and Isolator)

Artic package, giggle giggle. We use rugs on the floors that are not covered with carpet, and we wear slippers in here when the weather is cool. We also use 2 small electric heaters, one in bedroom, one in kitchen/living area. Also, keeping one roof vent open a little bit really seems to help, keeps the dampness down, and being damp can make it feel colder.

Were you trying to make a root beer float??

Others will be along with more hints on some of your "situations". The remote control for the air and heat is a hot thread on MOC as is the stereo and sound system. Good luck with those. Some have found that the sound system was not wired correctly and even some speakers not hooked up at all. Since we have neither of these systems, we can only report what we read here on MOC. Others will have a lot to say about both!

Cheers and many happy trails.

Carol

[Montana_657]

Hey gamer1624 sounds like you did well.

1. Yep.. they tow grat.
2. They do stop pretty well if the dealer set the brakes up properly.
3. They seem shorter after the first 3 or 4 thousand miles .. you'll get used to it.
4. Level is good but keep those pinion bushings lubricated.
5. We just decided to leave the 50 amp home next trip. Used it once in 2.5 years.... 30 seems to work fine.

Bump

1. Happens
2. Package is a joke. Suggest you look for a duct that has been disconnected or crushed to get the dead one working.
3. That's a feature. The AC can be engaged as a dehumidifier while you heat. Insane, but the way it's designed.
4. Not unusual
5. Worse inside then outside. An accumulator tank helps this one.
6. OOOPS
7. Check the latches ... we had one completely miss aligned.

Don't worry... just enjoy the 5er.

[Montana_3028]

Love the feed back...not a bad trip....

oh forgot to mention #1 on the bump list the grey water handle broke...and now I know why camping world and other places sell the clear extensions....it broke..and I had no idea it broke in the open position....well at least it was not black water.....Pop figured out how to ut it back on without undoing the under belly....good for him and saves me a trip to the stealer.....I mean dealer

The biggest things that chapped me was the stereo.....and the vent...come on now Keystone....get this right......


I will tell you 5000 BTU is not enough to heat the entire RV...the fireplace did all it could to heat up the leaving room...let along the kitchen and bedroom....the furance did a good job...once I got the A/C tunred off.....give me the manual one any day

[Montana_657]

You've got that right. We use one of those oil filled radiators from Lowes in the bedroom. Bigger then a ceramic but no fan and so no noise. No moving parts, nothing to wear out.

[sreigle]

Gamer, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the first trip even though there were a few problems.

I don't know why this occurred to me, something you said maybe. Did your dealer show you where the third dump handle is, the one for the galley?

On the drawers, we've never had one open since adjusting the latches. The two parts of the female side of the latch are both spring loaded. To get the advantage of both, the male side has to be aligned to close perfectly in the center between the two female parts, if that makes any sense. Then and only then will the latch hold well. At least for us. This applies to the cabinet doors, also.

[Montana_3028]

sreigle

Yeah they showed me where the other dump handle was...the one that was open was the one in the under belly...the handle screws on...and I guess came off in the middle of our 6 1/2 hour drive....dumb me opened up the cap with checking to see if the valve was even open.


We have made a few more trips since our maden voyage...and still are loving it...we did find a few more things...one of the vents in the floor is not blowing any air out...and it still got cold with just the fireplace...got to learnd to keep the doors open to keep things warm


I think we are goneing to try and move the sofa and recliners around based upon what we have read here....sounds like a good idea...and might make closing up and getting ready to go a bit easier.....

Now off to make that payment..so we can keep it for one more month