Rooky mistake - Montana Owners Club

G McCall · 03-03-2008, 02:02 AM

After a short road trip, I moved my slideouts yesterday without checking to see if a kitchen cabinet door was closed.
I believe the only damage is too hinges and a catch.
No broken wood. That is the first time that door behind the slide has ever come open while traveling.

Note too self....check all doors before activating slides.

Charlie · 03-03-2008, 02:24 AM

Greg-
On the back side of my LR slide there are cabinet doors that I can't not see before opening the slide. I wrap the handles with a short bungee before I close up to prevent them from opening while traveling.

bw2 · 03-03-2008, 02:50 AM

We have cut pipe insulation into pieces and slide these under the handles to secure them while driving. So far, no problems with doors coming open and it does not scar the handles or wood.

bsmeaton · 03-03-2008, 02:57 AM

I didn't trust my memory that well - so we went with 1/2 wide heavy duty velcro straps around the cupboard handles to hold them closed.

Waynem · 03-03-2008, 03:07 AM

We almost had that accident in the 3400Rl. DW saw the spice rack door come open on the wall next to the office desk slide. She was closing the slides and stopped immediately. When mentioned to the dealer they said the closure clips were not mounted correctly.

Now, I also use the small little bungees you can get at Academy with the little ball on the end. Real easy to hook up.

If you are in a penny crunch and have an old inner tube laying around, cut about an 8 inch long, 1/2" wide strip. Put the ends of that strip together and make a knot. Now you have a bungee with a bal lon the end for holding the doors closed.

Edited: p.s., experiment with the length for your individual needs.

Also good for hoses and electrical cords. Bicycle tubes are inexpensive and will make many ball bungee cords.

racerjoe · 03-03-2008, 03:14 AM

Thats ok. The first time out with our last 5th wheel,I un-chocked the wheels BEFORE hooking up... Guess what happened? slid off the hitch and onto the box of truck!!! Only thing that kept it on the truck was that I had already shut the tailgate and it stopped there..Taught me a VALUBLE lesson.... I used to lock open the handle of the hitch instead of letting open itself and shut, Best part is,I backed under the hitch,got out of the truck,THEN I watched my trailer SLOWLY back off the hitch. OH WHAT A THRILL !!!

bncinwv · 03-03-2008, 03:16 AM

First year economy route that we took: Tied all cabinets shut with cut up strips of Wal-Mart bags that somehow we seemed to accumulate in massive numbers every trip out??
Second year upgrade: Purchased a bottle of small bungee cords for $5.00 at Harbor Freight that now are used, others have various other means, but we are happy with our method (It is youngest DD's official packing and un-packing duty).
Bingo

richfaa · 03-03-2008, 04:03 AM

Velcro tie wraps for all cabinet doors..Can be had at camper world and have seen them at Wally mart.

Silverbird · 03-03-2008, 04:18 AM

we have a 2006 2955 and the second time we took it out the door above the entertainment center came open and was caught by the slide - wrecked the hinges. We added extra door "catches" to the door and haven't had trouble since. We also had the drawer under the refrig. come open, so we added extra "catches"to that also. Now everything stays shut. I store all of my kettles in the drawer, so it is quite heavy. We felt this was an easier fix than having to secure the handles each time we journeyed on the road. We have towed over 5000 miles and all has stayed shut.

brenkco · 03-03-2008, 05:43 AM

Great post, thanks all. We noticed a drawer in the bedroom open after our 1st trip (about a mile) and had the dealer repair (they installed 2 extra catches. Sounds like the catches don't work that well. We will follow your lead!!!

bsmeaton · 03-03-2008, 06:33 AM

Have a friend at the storage lot showing me his Big Horn after a cabinet door popped open on the entertainment center. It didn't break the door or the hinges. Instead, it pushed the solid oak door through the siding in his slide doing almost $1,200 in damage.

A broken hinge is getting off pretty easy

G McCall · 03-03-2008, 07:57 AM

I will be using bungee straps the next time.
I might even add an extra catch in case I forget the bungee strap

krtam · 03-03-2008, 08:56 AM

Just got back from a weekend trip, the cabinet door above the kitchen counter on the LR side opened. Of course, I couldn't see it and opened the slides, some of my vintage melmac had fallen out, and crack the slide crushed one plate into lots of little pieces. I thought those plates were unbreakable!! Note:this is the same Melmac pieces my mother purchased in the 50s for her 16ft TT. I need to go buy some velcro straps or bungees after reading these posts and my recent experience . Didn't think about the damage the slides can do.
Sharon

Jolu · 03-03-2008, 09:22 AM

The 08 2955RL has a couch with a blowup bed with a large pullout drawer under it. I have not found a good way to secure the drawer while traveling. Has anyone else found a good way to secure this drawer?
JB

av2pilot · 03-03-2008, 12:37 PM

We use the "child proofing" cabinet locks from days gone by! Of course, that was after the kitchen cabinet opened and while the DW was opening the slides it popped the Montana trim off on the left side of the slide!

padredw · 03-03-2008, 02:20 PM

On our 2002 2955RL we had exactly the same experience as "Silverbird" above: the door over the entertainment center (Television) came open. This was one thing I always checked, but that door was high and I missed it. Fortunately, I heard the first contact and stopped immediately with no damage to the door, but the trim around the top of the slide was pulled out a bit. I was able to tap it back in place with a heavy object (suitably padded), but there remained a tiny crack that had not been there before.

I learned to be more careful in my checking of the possibility of doors being open which might interfere with the opening of the slides. It never happened again, and we towed that very nice Montana over 50,000 miles.

**Rondo** · 03-03-2008, 03:59 PM

It's 1/2 inch velcro straps that hold all of my doors closed! For the single doors-- I make sure the closers are tight and I sometimes use a bungy on them and hook to the nearest next cupboard door handle!

KJReynolds · 03-03-2008, 07:29 PM

After losing a couple of cabinet doors on our 3295RK, we went to the baby department at Walmart and purchased plastic childproof slides. We tried bungees but the put too much stained on the cabinet handles. With slides we can snug it up with no pressure on the doors or handles.

G McCall · 03-05-2008, 06:53 AM

Another remedy of preventing doors from opening unexpectedly would be to replace the non-self closing hinges that are on my trailer with Self Closing Hinges. Worth a try.
I would hope to always remember to check for opened doors when activating the slides but if I did forget, maybe the self closing hinges would have done their "job". More honey dos...

sreigle · 03-05-2008, 10:56 AM

I'm paranoid about those doors we can't see coming open in transit so if it's not visible with the slide retracted, Vicki straps them before retracting the slides. On a 3400 there is no way to check all the doors before opening the slides. Not without being able to slither about the Montana between slides and this old body just isn't doing any slithering. I'd probably get stuck.

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