Tire Wear - Montana Owners Club

Montana_3362 · 03-17-2005, 07:11 AM

I have a 2003 30'FK Travel Trailer. I have take two trips to Florida and one trip out west and as we where out west I found the left front tire was wearing on the inside edge. It was so worn I had to put the spare on or I was not sure we would make it home. The other three tires are fine and have lots of tread left on them. I asked my dealer and he says there is nothing that can be done. Does anyone have any ideas as I would hate to have to buy one new tire every 10,000 miles

Glenn and Lorraine · 03-17-2005, 07:29 AM

First of all welcome jklamer to the MOC Family.

Montana was having some problems with axles and tire wear. I would suggest giving the Montana customer service folks a call at (574) 535-2100 and see if they can help you. DO NOT email Montana, the phone is 100% more affective.

stiles watson · 03-17-2005, 02:48 PM

Sure sounds like an axle and alignment problem to me. I would keep pursuing the issue over the dealer's head to the TT manufacturer and perhaps on to the axle manufacturer. If you have an extended warranty, I would check for coverage....

Trailer Trash 2 · 03-17-2005, 04:53 PM

It's either a Camber or a Caster problem, the axel will have to bent to bring it into specks, a good alignment shop can do that, or the manufacture of the axel should fix it for free if it's fairly new and a 2003 should fall into that area I would think. you also can call Keystone and see if the maker of your axel had any recalls for that problem and a phone call might save you a lot of extra work.

TT2

applejack · 03-18-2005, 01:30 AM

Keystone replaced my axles and tires under warranty after 2000 miles on my 2004 2980. Al-Ko axeles have a 2 year warranty, Dexter axeles have a 5 year warranty.

Montana_3362 · 03-18-2005, 09:28 AM

Thanks for the help. I did E-mail Montana but never heard anything back. I just assumed they didn't care anymore then my dealer did. I will try the customer servive line and let you know what happens.

Trailer Trash 2 · 03-18-2005, 10:05 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by jklamer

Thanks for the help. I did E-mail Montana but never heard anything back. I just assumed they didn't care anymore then my dealer did. I will try the customer servive line and let you know what happens.

I woul call them and get it on record ASAP they dont answer E-mail very good, at 866-425-4369

patodonn · 03-19-2005, 06:06 AM

Second the thoughts on the e-mail route(usually ineffective)vice the phone call (very effective). Don't know why, they just seem to respond very well "in person" and not-so-well-if-at-all to e-mails. My person to person Customer Service experience has been great..

Best,

Chester · 03-20-2005, 01:07 PM

I have to give Keystone a little credit on this email thing. I've had 2 different occasions where I emailed them with an issue and they got back to me right a way.

Parrothead · 03-20-2005, 02:06 PM

Both times I emailed Keystone, they responded within 24 hours. You have to be sure you have an open email because it may have not gotten through your firewall or went to junk mail. A good way to make sure you get a reply is to put the address in your safe zone on your email setup when you send the email. They also answered my phone calls.

Trailer Trash 2 · 03-23-2005, 01:52 PM

chester!
"I have to give Keystone a little credit on this email thing. I've had 2 different occasions where I emailed them with an issue and they got back to me right a way."
You must have sent them some bribe money. HE HE.

rames14 · 03-27-2005, 02:55 PM

I have also had good luck with Keystone answering e-mail. I also have to commend Dometic and Lippert for having people watching the e-mails and helping with issues.

Montana_3362 · 04-14-2005, 05:14 AM

Thanks again for all the help. I called Keystone and they referred me to the axle manufacture. They told me to take it into a frame shop and have the axles checked and they would pay for it. I had both axles aligned and sent the bill in. Have not been paid yet but they say they will take care of it.

patodonn · 04-14-2005, 11:51 AM

What kind of and how much of an alignment adjustment did the shop have to make?

Thanks

sreigle · 04-15-2005, 04:39 AM

jklamer, may I ask how old your rig is? Keystone was great about replacing our axles at no cost to us when we were two months past the two-year axle warranty but Alko, who actually replaced the axles, did nothing to check and realign the new ones. Keystone found they were out of alignment and I had to pay $150 at a place Keystone recommended in Elkhart, IN, to have the axles aligned. So, just wondering....
Thanks.

Montana_2020 · 04-17-2005, 03:07 AM

7853 Posts
Posted - Apr 15 2005 : 10:39:35 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

jklamer
Had the same problem and had my axles replaced with Dexter 7000# axles. OE was 5200#. Even tho I was out of warrantee, Keystone paid for part of the bill and I believe would have done more, but I contacted them after the fact. They have been very fair. Also, make sure to have the spring shackles checked. Mine were badly worn and had to be replaced also. I believe that axle miss alignmenmt or loss of camber(as in my case) may cause excessive wear on the shackles. If you can go back to last summer on this same topic you will find many letters in the forum.
Good luck and good trailerin',

drpuckett · 04-18-2005, 09:04 AM

I just returned from an extended trip out west and noticed all four tires on my 3255 were beginning to wear on the outside tread. All were wearing the exact same. Took it to the dealer today and he is going to get in touch with Dexter ( I Think) axle people and see what they will do. I really expect it is defect in the axles themselves, however, the manufacturer will probably think otherwise. Anyone else had that outside wear on their Monty?

Montana_3362 · 05-05-2005, 08:15 AM

We have a frame and axle shop in the Detroit area which is very good so I got both axles aliened and it was only $132. I sent the bill in and the axle company paid it. They did tell me that they would only pay to have the alienment done once but they did cover what I believe to be a problem from day on. I have not gone many miles since the alienment was done so I guess I will not know if it helped until this winter. Thanks again for all the help.

You may also like: