Somebody help me feel better!!! - Page 2 - Montana Owners Club

Bill Hill · 12-13-2004, 12:03 PM

Sandy N Susan,
Congrats on the purchase of your rig. We just took delivery on ours this last Saturday. Keystone/Montana isn't perfect, they "forgot" to put in the central vacuum cleaner we ordered, and a few other minor items. But they will take care of it as soon as we bring it back to the dealer after our shake-down run over New Years. The fit and finish is far superior in my mind over the other brands your mentioned as we found out at the Pomona CA RV show where we ordered ours. We've already put almost 100 miles on it just picking it up and it pulls so much better than our previous TT that I wonder why I waited so long to go to a 5er.

And boy do I know what you're feeling about "hitch itch" (I love that phrase!). We're still working for 2.5 more years, but we go out as often as I can get my "honey-do" list at home whittled down, at least once a month, sometimes twice. We don't think we want to full-time when we retire, but would love to go long-time.

Congrats again,

ols1932 · 12-16-2004, 05:49 AM

We're happy with our 2000 3555RL Montana. We've had the normal "bugs" that you find in any new unit. There have been some fiberglass cracks that have been repaired by Keystone at no cost to us even though the unit was out of warranty. The problem that caused the fiberglass cracks has been remedied in models afte 2002, I believe. In any event, you should know that the Montana is a good product and Keystone really has bent over backwards for us.

Jim · 12-17-2004, 02:13 PM

We are happy with our 2004 2980RL. We bought it this spring and we are now spending the next three months in CA., AZ., and Mexico. Sure we had some odd things that needed to be fixed, but rather than complain about them, I just fixed them. It is not reasonable to own an RV withouth being "handy". You just have to have a sense about how to fix things and be a bit mechanical. It still amazes me that you can tow these things down some freeway roads that shake the heck out of them and open them up and still find them in one piece and working. We are in a park here in Hemet, CA., with over 1,000 rigs and every one of them has problems. You just have to get your head around the fact that no matter who makes it, it just won't be perfect.

sreigle · 12-17-2004, 04:08 PM

Well stated, Jim. Have a good and safe trip.

Montana_1424 · 12-27-2004, 03:23 PM

I have 3650 RK, 2004, have about 8k on it, and love it. Had a few minor problems here and there, but you get those with any couch. I love it and feel I made the best chioce. I am sure if you found fourms for other manufacturers, you would also fine people that were unhappy with those brands as well.

Enjoy your new unit

ronstan · 12-28-2004, 04:56 AM

We have a 2004 3295RK that we bought new in June of this year. We are extremly pleased with ours. We had a few minor problems with it which the dealer fixed after we quit camping in Nov. Hope you enjoy yours as much as we enjoy ours.

Montana_2265 · 12-29-2004, 11:41 AM

My wife and I are full timing in a 2005 3400RL we have been in our rig from June of this year....we had a few tiny problems as we expected on a new rig but after surviving 3 hurricanes and exciting wind storms we can't say enough good about our coach. Hope this helps!

Montana_440 · 12-29-2004, 12:43 PM

Our Montana is the same model, but a 2000 we bought used.It's our 4th 5th wh & our 1st used unit.He just fixes what ever needs doing.Keystone took care of the bedroom side crack & we had a new tv dish installed, by an independent repair shop.

Not only have we not had any major problems, but we can say the same about all the 5th whs we've owned.That includes towing thru 48 states & Canada.Guess we've been lucky.He does do a lot of preventive maintence...& I'm sure that helps.Tkae care of it & enjoy your Montana.

skyguy · 12-31-2004, 06:42 AM

We bought our 3280 used, one year old, so I don't know what problems the original owner had. Other than the usual minor things that always need attention, and the holding tank guages that don't work (nobody's seems to), this has been an outstanding rig for us! We're lucky enough to get out 1.5 weekends each month, I'd say, and we've been around most of Colorado.

This baby tows like a dream, and the full time haulers agree with me on Montana's.

I would buy another Montana, without question, if I had to, but fortunately, we LOVE the one we got!

rwillett · 01-01-2005, 09:08 AM

We have 02 3295, use it full time for 9 months a year. Probably have 40000 miles on it. We summer in Maine and travel to Florida and Calif a lot. We have also been to the Seattle area and went east across the northern tier. Only major problem was the front cap coming loose from the roof. Keystone recommended a shop that is across the street from their factory. They fixed it and Keystone paid for it. If Keystone would have used longer screws there wouldn't have been a problem. I had to replace the shower faucet, which we used a lot. It's has cheap plastic guts. Otherwise we are happy with it.

Montana_2785 · 01-03-2005, 02:07 AM

Well, I can't personally attest to how "good" Montana's are since my wife and I just got our meat hooks on our 2002 3575RL just over a month ago. But I CAN tell you about the condition we found ours to be in

The previous owners to our unit full timed for 18 months (and an estimated 11,000 miles) then had it up for sale for 9 months before we got it. When I flew out to inspect it, I found a number of "normal wear items" and some self-inflicted major damage.

The normal wear items consisted of:

Cracked roof vent cap
rechargable flashlight batteries don't hold a charge
fire extinguisher mount coming loose from wall
crank-up antenna needed lubrication
outside "scare" light was filled with water
other small stuff

There was one semi-major problem where a tire had come apart and bent a bracket under the big slide. When towing home, we had to travel in the rain for a full day and I found the carpet at the edge of the slide was wet. I suspect that the bent bracket raised up the floor a little and helped the water in the wheel well seep into the carpet.

The self-inflicted damage was:

They drove into a concrete retaining wall at the end of a driveway and damaged the front curbside fender and rammed the steps into the retaining wall.

When washing the roof, water came into the sofa slide.

I talked them down from the already good price to help cover the self-inflicted stuff and called it good.

Our rig has been at a local Montana dealer for almost the entire time we have had it waiting for the new parts to come in. Since we don't camp during the winter, it is a good time to wait. It is still hard to not be able to go out and "tinker" a little

My experience with our previous RV definitely helps clue me into what to expect as far as normal wear & tear so I won't be crying about the little stuff around here. I WILL be making some personal touches to it in the coming year. A few things I had done to our TT will be duplicated. I'll be asking a few questions in the near future about other people's experiences before I dive in...

sreigle · 01-03-2005, 11:24 AM

How do you lube the tv antenna crank? Inquiring minds...
thanks.

Montana_2785 · 01-03-2005, 04:36 PM

Steve,

If you get up on the roof, you will see that the crank on the inside turns a worm gear into a gear attached to the arm to raise the batwing. The gear surfaces need lubrication from time-to-time to keep the antenna assembly moving smoothly instead of "jumping" and binding.

A shot of the dry lube you use on the slides would be ideal.

Eric

rames14 · 01-08-2005, 11:37 AM

Sandy and Susan -
Glad to hear that you bought a Montana. Have you ever heard of a single product that you bought that someone didn't have an issue with? There is no end of bad products looking for the right person. As for us, we have been very happy with our unit. We have had a few minor annoyances. We had more with our house, which cost a lot more, than we have with the 5er however. We really do like the Montana and have envisioned the day that we will be able to take month long or longer trips. If I were to buy a new unit today, it would be either another Montana or a Cambridge (Montana's new fulltimer rig). I notice on a few of those threads that the people don't mention what brand they have. Interesting?

ronstan · 01-08-2005, 01:13 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

How do you lube the tv antenna crank? Inquiring minds...
thanks.

ALso on our old trailer there is a plastic plug that you can remove and squirt lube into it for the rotating part of the antenna. I havent done ours yet but will in the spring after pulling it out of storage. If you have a manual for the antenna see if it says anything.
The plug is up on the roof by the antenna

sreigle · 01-09-2005, 03:03 AM

Thanks, Eric and Ron. I do have the manual, I think. Will dig it out and then get this thing lubricated. Monday we'll arrive in Savannah and will spend two months parked a couple of blocks from the ocean's salt air so I plan to lubricate a lot of things. Just hadn't thought about the antenna. Thanks both of you.

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