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Old 05-09-2009, 04:59 AM   #1
Gramps
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I've got propane and I'm not afraid to use it!

Or, the ups and downs of Montys maiden voyage.

Well, we were finally able to take her out and see what was what. Between a bowling tournament in Burley, Idaho, and a working trip to Missoula, Montana, we covered over a 1000 miles in the last week.

What follows are a few observations and experiences from our epic journey.


We have discovered that we like the Reese 16K hitch very much, but the grease the previous owner used has to go. We had absolutely no problems hitching or un-hitching, experienced a little chucking, but overall, were very pleased. The grease goes away today and my new lube plate gets installed directly (which will not only be cleaner, but should take up a little slack in the hitch).

Monty (or the Hannas' Montana as the wife likes to call it), tows well behind the F350 dually, and since we still have the Missions on, we kept to a modest 65 MPH. No issues what so ever. The tires kept cool, we got about 11 MPG, and the slower speed got us to our destination taking only slightly longer than the usual 75.

When we arrived in Burley, our furnaced refused to work. I suspected the thermostat, but could never figure out the problem. Fortunately, the electric fireplace worked in fine fashion, so we had heat for the weekend. After returning to Idaho Falls to drop off a team mate, we opted to stay in a local camp ground before heading to Missoula. Well, the furnace worked great, and has continued to do so through the entire time we were in Montana. The fireplace on the other hand continues to look nice, but refuses to produce heat for any length of time. Go figure.

Some minor things that anoy Dave were taken care of while in Missoula. The switch for the light under the nose got replaced, so now it works when I want it to. The male plug on the 50 amp cable was separating from the cable jacket and exsposing the wires within. Hence, a new Camco plug with the handle was installed. A set of cheap Camco between the tire chocks stopped the rig shifting when we walked inside, so life was good.

Until the wind came! Les said it felt like a train hit the side of the trailer. She had no time to get the awning up before the wind hit again and took the awning, arms and all, off the side of the trailer and over the top. Awning destroyed, antenna destroyed, but no further damage and no body hurt. It's at the dealer for an estimate and pictures for the insurance, and should be fixed soon.

Aside from the damage, not a bad trip. They will get better, more numerous, and just as enjoyable. Overall, not a bad Monty experience.

Sorry for the long story.

 
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Old 05-09-2009, 05:14 AM   #2
richfaa
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Execpt for the awning...You done good. It does not take much wind to take the awning down.
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Old 05-09-2009, 05:15 AM   #3
Waynem
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Gramps,
So sorry to hear about the awning and antenna. Nice to have insurance to take care of it.

A redistribution of weight should take care of the chucking problem.

Edited: Oh! Sounds like some air in the propane line and after awhile the propane makes its way to the heater. Same can apply to the HW heater. As you might know, if you turn off the propane, and then turn it back on, turn it on ever so slightly, a little at a time to give the propane time to equalize in the line. Being heavier than air it will cause a pocket of air to block it if turned on fast.

Happy trails.
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Old 05-09-2009, 05:52 AM   #4
Gramps
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Waynem, I gave the propane thing some thought when trouble shooting, but everything kept pointing to the thermostat, as the AC would not come on either. I have one of the thermostats with the remote, and the base unit would not turn on either. Gremlins I guess. I really wish I could get the fireplace to work consistantly. It seemed to provide just what we needed.
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Old 05-09-2009, 05:53 AM   #5
stiles watson
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Sounds like you did not let a few challenges steal the joy of RVing. Good for you. Mileage will get even better if you will slow to around 60 MPH.
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Old 05-09-2009, 06:16 AM   #6
H. John Kohl
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Gramps

Waynem, I gave the propane thing some thought when trouble shooting, but everything kept pointing to the thermostat, as the AC would not come on either. I have one of the thermostats with the remote, and the base unit would not turn on either. Gremlins I guess. I really wish I could get the fireplace to work consistantly. It seemed to provide just what we needed.
Not trying to be smart but there are three knobs on the fire place. One on the left next to the heater switch is the thermostat for the fire place. The two together on the right are light dimmer and flame speed.
Hope this corrects your problem.
Sorry about the awning.
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Old 05-09-2009, 06:41 AM   #7
farmboy
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Must be something about having a monty in Montana. Had the same furnace problem last week when we were in Montana. Went to the dealer in Great Falls and found out that the control module for for remote is in the a/c and the cold had locked it out. I pulled the 12 volt fuse for a/c. Left it out a couple minutes, put it back in and every thing was find the rest of the weekend. We got back in the driveway at 7pm last nite after a 4,000 mile two week trip to montana. The only problem we had was the lose of the crank out window at dinnet due to a rock on sunday the 26th, someplace between Indy. and just south of Moline on I-74. The 5 year old CDT with 85,000 plus just gets better every time I pull to Montana. Just breaking in I guess. Nothing better than a hummin CUMMINS. Just love the combo. Gotta go.
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Old 05-09-2009, 06:43 AM   #8
akf15e
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Gramps,

Sorry to hear about the awning.

The electric fireplace seems to be a common issue. Mine quit working correctly on the second trip. It would turn on, but once the thermostat kicked it off after reaching the set temp, it would never come on again unless I turned it off for a while. Took it in this month and they said it is the control board for the thing and have ordered a new one. Seems to be a common problem.
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Old 05-09-2009, 06:46 AM   #9
Gramps
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by H. John Kohl

Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Gramps

Waynem, I gave the propane thing some thought when trouble shooting, but everything kept pointing to the thermostat, as the AC would not come on either. I have one of the thermostats with the remote, and the base unit would not turn on either. Gremlins I guess. I really wish I could get the fireplace to work consistantly. It seemed to provide just what we needed.
Not trying to be smart but there are three knobs on the fire place. One on the left next to the heater switch is the thermostat for the fire place. The two together on the right are light dimmer and flame speed.
Hope this corrects your problem.
Sorry about the awning.
No problem. I've got the controls down, as I said, it worked perfectly in one location, just not in the others. There's just no ryhme or reason to it. The up side of this, is I plan on spending many quality years with this rig, so I'll have lots of time to figure it all out.
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Old 05-09-2009, 09:19 AM   #10
billben1
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Gramps,

The fireplace is a design flaw....I called Dimplex directly after taking my Monty to the dealer and they were not able to fix it. When I called Dimplex they knew of the problem and sent a new bottom plate wit air vents and they are having a service company come out on wednesday to install it. Great customer service on Dimplex's part...

Bill
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Old 05-09-2009, 10:30 AM   #11
Art-n-Marge
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Hey Gramps,

The Mission tire problems will occur after a few thousand miles. I lost one on my trailer within 2 years with only about 4000 miles. The tread was excellent, the inflation maintained, but the tread started separating at the sidewall (the classic failure). Fortunately I had just pulled over for a rest stop and a quick walk around to check things I saw the tire was starting to lose air - I had to look close to see the separation starting. I replaced it with the spare Mission tire, then continued to my destination.

After I arrived at the CG and got set up a quick check with the local campground office and they referred me to a local Big O tire dealer who got me new Marathons and even came out to my rig to replace all five Missions onsite at no extra charge so I could continue having fun. Apparently, that Big O in Cottonwood, AZ gets a lot of business referrals from the 1000 Trails CG where we stayed close by.

On your propane issue open the valves slowly to give the propane plenty of time to purge an air in the line. Then any problem won't be that.

On thermostats, I hear that if you use the remote to control it you must use the remote to change it. The panel will not "honor" a setting that was used by the remote. Personally, I think that's wierd, but I've read several places in this forum of this possibility.

My fireplace has a toggle switch on either side of the fireplace and one rotary knob on the left and two rotary knobs on the right. The right side toggle turns on the whole fireplace, one knob controls the light emitted from the fireplace and the second one controls the speed of the flame. On the left side the toggle switch turns on the heat, and the rotary knob is the thermostat for the amount of heat you want to emit. It sounds like gramps knows how to use the knobs/switches on his rig since it worked for some time.

I replaced the switch under the nose myself. I saw the crappy design and knew that if it was replaced then I would get the same bad crappy switch. I went to Radio Shack and got a similar switch but seemed much more "solid". It fit okay but I had to make the switch hole a little larger. A little shaving and some sealant and it works great now.

Bummer on the awning. I have lost an awning before on another trailer. On the I use it sporadically and if there is any slight wind especially if I am approaching bedtime, I retract it. If it is raining, I put one side higher than the other to allow the water to run off better.

If it is raining hard I retract it. That's how I lost my last one. The rain was falling so hard (a deluge, indeed) that the rain did not have enough time to run off and it caved in the center of the awning so much it bent the roller so that it had a major wobble after I removed the lake that formed in the awning and I tried to retract it. It required three of us and two short ladders to do that, two people to manually rotate the warped roller and one to control the strap. Instead of repairing it, I purchased my new Monty. The dealer knew about the problem and it became their problem (in spite of that I got a pretty good trade in price).

Oh well, such is the life and issues of RV ownership.
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