Cracks in closet wall.

[wolfeman82]

Just got back from a weekend trip and noticed that the wood separating the closet from the washer/dryer cabinet is cracked horizontally about 5 inches from the bottom. It is broken all the way through across the entire length of the panel and all of the staples have popped out above the damaged area. I hope I am not about to find out about some unseen frame damage. We have only put about 2000 miles on since we picked it up.

[Trailer Trash 2]

if I were you I would be taking it to the dealer real soon, I had cracks and mine were not as bad as yours, I had major damage to the frame and section that holds the pin box.

[twindman]

I had the exact same symptoms - cracked board in closet.
Another thing to look for is if this board buldges when hooked to tow vehicle and then is okay when the landing gears are extended. Also, when driving down the road and you go over a 'swail' that bounces the truck bed, see if the gap between the trailer body overhang and the hitch changes. I could see mine moving almost an inch. I had a large level on the hitch, so had a good reference for a gap to the overhang. Was easy to notice the movement.
My problem was broken welds, as others have commentted on other posts. Since you are under warranty, I don't know if it matters - but a dealer in Washington had never heard of broken welds. I contacted my local dealer in Arizona and he even brought it up without me mentioning it. I went home to have it fixed of course. So far, so good!

Good luck

[Rondo]

Definately sounds like frame flex to me! As both Trailer Trash 2 and twindman have said, get ahold of your dealer and have them check the unit for broken welds in the front pin box area and frame between the pin box and the closet area.

[HOOK]

Our wall was bulging and popping staples, not broken. We had it checked at dealer, no weld problem found. Keystone sent new panel but it would be necessary to take cabinets apart to install. Tech and I agreed to trim bottom edge of wall about 1/4 inch and resolved problem. Some have had broken welds , we did not. If your wall is broken, when you replace it , make it just meet top of carpet. All 5ers flex some under the best of circumstances. Maybe others will share their experiences.

[Johnnyg]

We had the same problem. The front cap and plastic sheet around the pin box was removed to inspect. They didn't find any broken welds but did add additional gusets and welded the two box beams that are sandwiches together that run side to side. They replaced the interior wood panel shortening it slightly. IMHO it still looks like the same movement in the floor and believe if the wall panel wasn't so tight to begin with it wouldn't have bulged out and splintered and would have never noticed the movement. With that being said you should take it back to the dealer because others have found broken welds!

[DQDick]

Call Keystone and get it to a dealer. Whichever problem you have, you need to get it fixed.

[pineranch]

WE had same as Johnnyg and all is well in last 4000 miles.
Mike

[Carl n Susan]

There seems to be a lot of this going around. Montana maintains some movement (i.e. flex) of the frame is normal (reference: Bruce and Susan @ Team Montana in Goshen). But in an effort to save weight (or cost?) they quit using a thick piece of vertical wood for the closet/cabinet separator. The new thin panel is usually installed tight to the floor and when the frame flexes the panel flexes too. The result is popped staples and cracked panels. The correction is to install a thicker panel and leave a space at the bottom to allow for the flex. Yet another correction being made to our rig.

[DQDick]

Seems like that is something they should have thought of before hand.

[jimmy2]

i will say this that the frame flex i had was bad i got lucky because ussa cover it but the hole thing cost was 9500.00

[1retired06]

I experienced the same thing two weeks ago, on way back from Nashville. Very flimsy construction with even the support braces stapled, and even those staples were undersize. Nothing cracked, just came apart. Used wood screws to put everything back together, and so far the repair is working fine. Pretty shoddy work done by keystone. Surprized it lasted as long as it did.