axels - again

[bsmeaton]

Great info John - thanks.

[Dustytuu]

Very imformative, thanks John

[justbeginning]

I just have to clarify a few things. The Monte we dealt on was one that had just came in to the lot. As I said before the deal was made over the phone. We had a 1995 Golden Falcon to trade in. I described everything to Rick(the salesman) and the price he gave me was on the condition that our trade was as I described it. To hold the Monte we had to put down a deposit. Before I would give a deposit I explicitly asked Rick what size the axels were and he stated 7000lbs. He clarified this by asking someone in the same room. The axel size was what clinched the deal.I gave him the deposit on our credit card and we were go to Kelowna in about 4 weeks. When we left home I called Rick to tell him we would be coming in on the friday. When we got to kelowna we went staight to the lot to leave our Golden Falcon so they could go over it. When Rick opened up the door he was amazed by the condition. His exact words after he went through it and looked around the outside were "yep.it't just like you described it. We left the 5th wheel there and they pulled it to the sevice area for the guys to check everything out. We went back the next day to see if they were happy with it and they already had the papers made up. We paid them and didn't come back until we were ready to pick up the Monte on Sunday. We didn't realize we only had 6000lb axels until we got home. I called the dealer about the axels and some warranty items.We made arrangements to get the warranty items fixed closer to home(no problem). It was when I asked about us not having the right axels when things started getting funny. Nadean, the girl I started discussing this with told me she talked to Keystone and thats when I got told about 7000lb axels not being allowed in Canada. Noone could give me the reason so I started making calls on my own. Canada customs know of no such thing and finally I got in touch with the chief inspector of the ministry of motor vehicles as discussed in my first post. Finally,after getting nowwhere with the warranty dept I called Rick, himself. When I first asked him why he told me they were 7000 axels he denied saying it. I said, Oh Rick you did say it and there is someone there that will remind you that you confirmed it with him."( Later on he admitted it. He even went on to say he didn't understand what was going on but they have just got a 2008 Montana in and it has 7000lb axels. When I reitterated to him that the axels were the reason we bought the Montana he started to go on that he didn't get the unit from us that he thought he was but he said he didn't complain. He had the unit for two days and they had the slides out and were going over it all.He says the brakes were no good and the wiring was rusted. I asked him if we were going to get new axels and his answer was you'll have to deal with Keystone. Yesterday,2 guys from the ministry of transpotation came and took pictures of all the decals,tags on the axels.hubs,etc. Everything is being send to the federal level. We have to hitch up the fifth wheel and take it to the truck scales. What a mess---All I wanted was what I had bargain for in good faith. I'll keep you posted.
Ps The one guy said if this is industry wide and they are right this could end up a huge recall on axels

[richfaa]

You are absolutely correct in what you are doing. It would appear that the fault in this matter lies with Keystone, the dealer or both.It does point out what has been stressed on this forum time and time again..Never..never..never.. Sign any papers or allow any money to change hands until the consumer is completely satisfied. That can be a huge inconvience and very time consuming to the buyer but as long as the camper still belonges to Keystone and the dealer the buyer is in control. You are now in a we said, they said situation but they have your money and you have a product that you did not order.Sounds encouraging that the Federal level is involved..let the cards fall were thay may.....good luck..

[azranger]

Here are some photos of the pertinent information on our 2007 3475RL. The one shot of the stamp on the axle is not very readable (not even I took the picture) but it does appear to have the number "6000" and possibly "D60" in the stamp:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLan...fromshare&Ux=0

[skyviewman]

We live in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada and when we ordered our 3400RL I had the sales department phone Keystone the morning we put down our deposit while we were in his office. I sat on the other side of his desk with the check made out all except the signature and told him it wasn't a deal until he had phoned the factory to make sure that our unit would have 7000lb axles. He did confirm it and we had him stipulate right on the offer that it would come that way. Our Monty has a manufactured date of May 5, 2007. I confirmed when the unit came in that there were 7000lb axles on it. I can't see why there would be any stipulations like that as in my case I could have traveled across the border and purchased the identical unit from a dealer and I know for a fact that there were not any restrictions as I had contacted the Department of Transport and the RIV (Registra of Imported Vehicles) and there was nothing I would have had to change on it to make it legal in Canada. As it was the dealer in Thunder Bay gave me a great deal as long as he ordered it versus one off the lot.

[MIMF]

rldriver,

The "SC" refers to "spring center". Or just about the same distance the main beams of the frame are from each other center to center.

[rldriver]

quote:Originally posted by MIMF

rldriver,

The "SC" refers to "spring center". Or just about the same distance the main beams of the frame are from each other center to center.

Thanks Dale for the info.

Dick

[sreigle]

Dusty, just read your concerns about axle problems. Keep in mind we post problems here. Rarely do we post that we have no axle problems. Also keep in mind there are well over 20,000 Montanas on the road. There are bound to be a few with problems. Another thing, even the 6,000 lb axles are plenty strong for the 3400RL. We are loaded probably as heavily as anyone. Our Montana scales at 14,620. The weight on our axles is 11,760. That's below the 12,000 lb rating (2 axles at 6,000 each). We're close but even as heavily as we are loaded we're still below the rating. And the new Montanas have 7,000 lb axles. I don't care if they're 10,000 lb axles, there still will be a few with problems.

[Tom Gina 06]

JustBeginning,

Bambuzzeled by the old get the sale at any cost. Maybe so, maybe not, case in point, I had a 1991 Corvette and it had cloth seats in it. Well after going to the museum in KY I got to talking to a guy that worked in the factory during that time. We were talking about it and admitted that the only option for seats that year was leather. When we talked a little longer found out they had a run of cloth that year because they found some in the back of a warehouse. 179 cloth seats to be exact and decided to put them in over a weeks worth of standard production in July the near end of 1991 production. Now with everything said, this car did not have the cloth seat option but then it did.

The reason I say this is you may want to check the build date of this rig and make sure it wasn't built during the transition time that Keystone changed from the 6000 to 7000 pd axles. If this is the case all parties could be not totally wrong in their assumptions, just a bad mistake at your expense and peace of mind. It is to bad that some individuals when the do not have an answer or research your questions they just shoot from the hip.

I would also like to say I feel the same as Steve about the weight these things can haul. I have every option on our 3400 except the generator. Dual Pain and Gel Coat all the added weight items I could order. I went to the scale the other day and weighed out at 11700 on my axles all other weights coming to within specs. As a fulltimer I know that I am packing the same way Steve is to the hilt. The point of my post is sure the 7000 pd axles would be nice but the 6000 pd axles will do the job just fine. But then you still have the sale at all cost part to deal with. Good luck.......

[richfaa]

As I recall that 20K figure of produced Montana's may be low. There was a page called "Media" on the old web site that I can't find now and I recall a press release stating the 20 thousanded Montana had been built a while back. Do keep in mind that we report problems here and how we deal with them...As I have said many times..96 or 97 percent of our 3400 has been trouble free..The trouble free part causes us no concern....it is only the 3 or 4% that bothers us... In my mind a bad or imperfect product from the vendor , Axle Apollo, TV, Etc is one thing...Poor quality/ workmanship by Keystone/Montana in assembling the product is a seperate thing. Also remember that the only thing Keystone does is ASSEMBLE the Montana from vendor provided items.Yes keystone has the ultimate resposibility for the quality of the product..vendor items included.It is a very complicated issue but we must consider eveything to be fair.

[judyuk]

Thanks, John. That's good info.

[justbeginning]

Good News, Just got a call from the owner of the dealership where we purchased our fifth wheel. The axels are ordered and as soon as they come in they will call and make an appointment to to have them installed. Will keep you posted