Retirement and my EZ Flex Upgrade ! - Montana Owners Club

RKassl · 04-27-2009, 12:17 PM

What is this guy talking about?? First I RETIRE at 1100 Thursday morning April 30, 2009. I can't believe its almost here, my wife Nancy will be 30 days behind me

For our retirement present I talked the wife into having the Dexter EZ Flex Upgrade done, bearing repack and even an axle alignment. Now that we are almost free we are hitting the road as Longtimers! Our longest trip so far with the Monty was a Canada loop of about 1700 miles or so two years ago. Then an assortment of 200 to 300 miles trips as we could get in. I have been reading with great interest about shackles and the serious issues that sometime happen. Well I want you to know that my 2005 2955RL had some very serious wear on all the shackles, everyone was egg shaped some had less than a 3/8" metal left before failure. I was absolutely shocked when I looked at the returned parts!! Many of you folks have put many more miles than we have to this point on your Montanas. This year in July we will be driving a 4600 mile loop out West toward Glacier, then next year Alaska. I really don't think the Monty would have made it. The plastic bearings were all shredded and fell out of the bolt hole.

My wife just walked in and I showed her the extensive wear, she said that some one was looking over our shoulder to get it upgraded now. I told her MOC!!

The best accessory that I ever learned about for the Montana was this board! Many times over the years I have read things here that have saved my bacon!

Don't get me wrong I LOVE our Montana, but it is a shame that manufactures cut corners with substandard or weak parts that could affect safety. I would have been happy to pay a few dollars more for a better suspension.

The alignment check indicated that the toe-in and toe-out and caster camber need adjustment, they conformed this by measuring tire wear.

So this is a special week for us, the Monty is back on the pad, slides are out, the satellite is hot and I think I am going to go and have a celebration beer in our Montana!

Happy Camping to all!

exav8tr · 04-27-2009, 12:46 PM

Bob, Have two!!!! I can honestly say, I don't know how I got along without retirement!!!!! Congrats to you also Nancy, the time will fly. Great catch on the shackles, I'm glad I don't have them any more.....Have a great retirement and we hope to see you on the road.......

Emmel · 04-27-2009, 02:09 PM

Bob, the time sure will pass fast. I retired 5 years ago the 30th of April and it seems like yesterday. Just try not to let it get away from you, and if you figure that one out, let the rest of in on the solution!!!!

1Happycamper · 04-27-2009, 04:29 PM

Hi Bob,time does fly.I retired 7 years ago and my last day of work was on a Thursday. Now I tell people that I,m just on a long weekend. Hope you and Nancy have a great retirement.

Bill

clutch · 04-28-2009, 07:00 PM

Almost 3 years for me and my wife. We will never to back to what we were doing. Every day is like Saturday only there are no crowds.

richfaa · 04-29-2009, 02:46 AM

FROM RVIA "An RV is a vehicle designed as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel or season use. RVs may be motorized (motorhomes) or towable (travel trailers, folding camping trailers and truck campers). Off-road vehicles are not included in the RV definition"

This is who they build them for. As long timers we are living and using ours 8 /9 months of the year and a average year is 10K miles on the camper. We do not fit in that definition. We had our shackles replaced at @ 10K miles and they were showng wear. Note that we had 4 previous campers and I don't think we put 10K miles total on all of them combined.

We are both retired and on the road as long timers for 3 years.. A great adventure awaits you.

Glenn and Lorraine · 04-29-2009, 03:30 AM

Well at the time of this reply you have just over 24 hours. Gotta pity poor Nancy as she still has some time to go but full retirement will be here for you both before you know it.
Lorraine and I have been retired for years and been full timing for what will be 6 years this coming October 18th. Retirement is a great life but it can be difficult at times. Getting up every morning with nothing to do and going to bed each night with it only half done really gets to you. There are no more morning or afternoon coffee breaks. No more weeks of vacation. Everyday is a Saturday. You will also find that you have less FREE time as you will never get caught up with the Honey Do list. It really is a tough life. You will just have to grin and bear it.

Pete Hanson · 04-30-2009, 04:39 AM

Well, I retired on February 28th and did my EZ-Flex shackle upgrade yesterday. My brother came to help and I had borrowed some nice pneumatic tools from my son in law and the job went very nicely. Much easier than I had anticipated. My old shackles were not as worn as I had expected but the plastic bushings were pretty well shot son now I feel much better (and safer) ss the camping season is just starting up here in New England.

RKassl · 04-30-2009, 09:13 AM

Is there some relationship to Retirement and the EZ Flex Upgrade!?

I retired at 1110 this morning, Happy Camping to all on MOC!

stiles watson · 05-01-2009, 07:42 AM

No, no relation between retirement and EZ-Flex, unless free time to get it done counts. The issue of worn bushings and shackles is common to most rigs, not just Montana.

Glad you are enjoying retirement. I find I get things done I didn't seem to have time for before retirement. I procrastinate much less on tasks that need to be done, but not urgent. There is no reason to let things go.

Pete Hanson · 05-01-2009, 08:26 AM

You nailed it Stiles.....retirement equals more free time to do what I wnat to do. :-) The relationshipe between retirement and shackle replacement is simply coincidence.
Pete

yogib1b · 07-29-2009, 03:47 PM

Less than 3 years till We retire, but I ordered my ez flex yesterday. I was going to retire til my daughter informed me shes going back to college for a D P T. Oh boy! Anyway I hope my install goes well. I may need advice.

blyle · 08-04-2009, 03:11 AM

Can someone give me an overview of "shackle replacement 101"? We have an 08 3400RL with probably 11k miles. We are retired, part-timers, but take 3-4k mile trips. Do I have to disassemble something to inspect the shackle holes, or will the elongated holes be obvious? What is the most popular after-market shackle upgrade?? Planning a trip to AK in Jul-Sep 2010 and probably want new shackles before then. Thanks to all who contribute to MOC!!!

blarkman · 08-04-2009, 04:30 AM

When u figure the milage driven be sure u add how far they had to drive it to the dealer.
If you take the nuts off the shackle u may be able to see the wear. The fact that the upper bolt was turning in the shackle clued me in that the shackle had worn enough to remove the serations on the bolts as they are pressed in the outer shackle. Dexter had told me as I had Morryde I had to get kits from them
bob

Tom S. · 08-04-2009, 08:39 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by blyle

Can someone give me an overview of "shackle replacement 101"? We have an 08 3400RL with probably 11k miles. We are retired, part-timers, but take 3-4k mile trips. Do I have to disassemble something to inspect the shackle holes, or will the elongated holes be obvious? What is the most popular after-market shackle upgrade?? Planning a trip to AK in Jul-Sep 2010 and probably want new shackles before then. Thanks to all who contribute to MOC!!!

For the replacement process, this is a pretty good link posted by another MOC member: http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fu...d/21609645.cfm

The kit you need depends on whether you have the MorRyde system or not. On ours, I could actually see one of the holes on the MorRyde mount had started to egg out. You can contact MorRyde or Dexter (MorRyde gets their kits from Dexter) to find out for certain which kit you need. Chances are even if you shop the web, the price will be the same or just a little less. BTW: my kit had two problems: two of the bolts were not drilled through and two of the nuts were wrong. Make sure you try to shoot grease through the bolts before installing. If you can't get grease through the bolt, you have one not drilled correctly.

BTW: this subject has been covered a lot, and if you use the search function, you'll find a crap load of info about it.

skypilot · 08-04-2009, 11:26 AM

Tom S: Not to hijack the thread but wondering what type of fuel mileage you get with those 'tires' on your Sliverado? Don't think LonnieB would have the replacement treads in stock but I'm sure his staff (and a lot of us)would enjoy having a look see at those wheels and tires

.....

Tom S. · 08-05-2009, 12:03 AM

Skypilot - That's not my truck. I saw it parked in Valdez AK and took a picture. I bet it's fun to drive though!

DonandJudy_12 · 09-11-2009, 07:09 PM

I am looking into having the EZ Flex upgrade done- I did see an Everest equipped with the EZ Flex- The rubber bushings were very compreesed and one was detererated as well- I wonder if this is a problem of any significance? Any info is appreciated- Thanx in advance- Don

Gpa_Dick · 09-14-2009, 03:11 PM

This news about the shackles is scaring me! What is the quickest and easiest way to determine how good these are? I am not a mechanic oriented guy. So I would need someone to look at it. It looks like the Gresham RV Sales & Service went under and now will have to find another "Keystone" approved place to take a look? Is this something that would be covered under a "Continued Service Plan"?

dsprik · 09-15-2009, 02:37 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Gpa_Dick

This news about the shackles is scaring me! What is the quickest and easiest way to determine how good these are? I am not a mechanic oriented guy. So I would need someone to look at it. It looks like the Gresham RV Sales & Service went under and now will have to find another "Keystone" approved place to take a look? Is this something that would be covered under a "Continued Service Plan"?

If covered under an extended warranty, the problem would be that it may be difficult to talk them into anything except OEM shackles - which you do NOT want...

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