Buying a 3400RL Montana - Page 2 - Montana Owners Club

Glass Guy · 02-26-2006, 01:27 AM

Richard we were at the show saturday from about 12:30 till about 2:30 but I forgot to take your phone numbers with me. We did talk to a Guy that said he had just ordered a 3400 from T&C must have been a good show for them, compared to all the other 5th wheels thier nothing came close to the Montana. Good luck. Roman

Wrenchtraveller · 02-26-2006, 01:44 AM

Rich & Helen. Congratulations and the very best of luck with your new Montana Fiver. We are RV nuts and we go through new RVs every chance we get and we agree that Montana gives you the most value for your dollar. Hope the Bird approves of his new cage surroundings and if he likes them,
he will probably give Helen the credit for the good taste. Rich, you really have to work at mending the fences with that Bird. Take care and enjoy the anticipation of your beautiful new home on wheels. It will be here before you know it and then the real excitement kicks in.
We look forward to your delivery date, Sincerely, Don

dsprik · 02-26-2006, 02:54 AM

Sounds good, Rich. Many of those things we discussed. Whatever, you find out, let me/us know.

dsprik · 02-26-2006, 03:01 AM

Hey, Rich, if these aren't on your list... I'm curious as the the gauge wire used to run back to the trailer brakes - someone mentioned that it was one size too small to carry the proper voltage back to the brakes (someone tested with a voltmeter), and also wondering if they have done anything to address this "trailer brake wire pinching at the wheel" problem.

Dave e Victoria · 02-26-2006, 03:46 AM

Rich and Helen,
Congratulations on the big order. We have the "docking station" on our Cambridge. It is really an excellent feature. Just as a note, I use a short hose permenantly connected to the fresh water bib. I drop this through the access port in the floor of the station and then connect a longer hose outside. The short hose travels nicely inside without the need to disconnect it. This way I never have any fear of damage to the plastic bib.
Dave

Charlie · 02-26-2006, 07:57 AM

Congratulations on your newest toy....the next few weeks will be very long until you can get your hands on it. We thought ours would never come in. Hope that you can get the bugs worked out of it quickly.

richfaa · 02-26-2006, 08:18 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by dsprik

Hey, Rich, if these aren't on your list... I'm curious as the the gauge wire used to run back to the trailer brakes - someone mentioned that it was one size too small to carry the proper voltage back to the brakes (someone tested with a voltmeter), and also wondering if they have done anything to address this "trailer brake wire pinching at the wheel" problem.

Just a quick reply. Marl Krol went over my 27 point hit list with me and the trailer brake issues WAS on the list.He took the list with him...More on the list later

richfaa · 02-26-2006, 08:29 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Dave e Victoria

Rich and Helen,
Congratulations on the big order. We have the "docking station" on our Cambridge. It is really an excellent feature. Just as a note, I use a short hose permanently connected to the fresh water bib. I drop this through the access port in the floor of the station and then connect a longer hose outside. The short hose travels nicely inside without the need to disconnect it. This way I never have any fear of damage to the plastic bib.
Dave

We did get a "instruction sheet" for the "Convenience center"(docking station) From Marl Krol(keystone Rep) he asked us to post it on the Forum and I will soon as I scan in in..maybe tomorrow.

wswebster · 02-26-2006, 08:32 AM

Congratulations. We love our 3400rl and you will too. Our only problem upon delivery was that stupid remote thermostat. We had no quality issues. Happy Camping

dsprik · 02-26-2006, 10:43 AM

No remote in this new 3400RL. Rich even tried to rip it off the wall to see... just kidding... Think you did pull on it though, Rich. Need to be absolutely sure that this remote thermostat is now a dead issue...

Montana_1495 · 02-26-2006, 11:12 AM

Congrats on your new purchase! We have had the time of our lives in our 2004 3400RL. Life is what you make it - go for the gusto!!!

richfaa · 02-26-2006, 12:02 PM

Well we are back home.The by far best part of the Toledo Rv show was getting to meet up with fellow MOC'ers Dave and Sheryl(dsprik) Steve and Patty Emmel and Dave and Sharon Williamson.Folks who had never met face to face but yet old friends thanks to the MOC. Much Conversation, Good food and a couple of drinks..great time..Bill Tea, one of the owners of Town and Country Rv treated us as royalty. Free passes ro the Show all days, free indoor parking. These are great folks. The second best thing was that we purchased our 3400RL. For reasons that make sense only to Helen and I here are the options we DID NOT order. Aluminum wheels, Fireplace, Hi gloss gel coat, dual pane windows. The second A/C will be the low profile installed by the dealer and two 12V deep cycle batteries. We are working on a bike rack installed on the rear of the Montana. The bike rack is not a problem, Cougar and mountaineer install one from the factory.It is the shape of the Montana rear cap that prevents installation..we are working on it....All the purchase details were handled via E mail.We had not met Bill Tea till we walked into the RV show all the paper work was done. Bill gave me the purchase agreement to check out. We carried it around all day. I wrote him a SMALL down payment and that was that.If you recall when I put out all the bids I said the 25% was my cut point and I expected to get the 3400 for 30% under MSVRP.The final figure was 31.2%. Won't say what the figure was but Steve and Patty Emmel saw the purchase order. The NEXT lowest bid was 44,600 and the T&C price was considerably less than that. T&C made a fair profit and we saved a lot of Money by doing our homework so everyone is happy. We would highly recommend that you give T&C Rv, Bill Tea, Owner a chance on your next Montana purchase.Bill also offered to help us out with the Great Lakes Rally, Steve Emmel is dealing with that and will keep us advised, We are in NO hurry to get the Montana.It is 21 degrees out now and we could have snow through May. It would be worse to have the new toy in the driveway and not be able to play with it..First week of May will be fine with us. Marl Krol says the Montana line is working at capacity so 8 week MAY be the norm. All in all a very good weekend...

keham · 02-26-2006, 12:39 PM

I seen the remote on two 06 models at my dealers open house last weekend. Surprised me as I thought it was replaced for 06 models, apparently not. One thing I did noticed was that the wall unit part was different from the one I had but the remote looked the same.

rickfox · 02-26-2006, 01:26 PM

Good for You Rich and Helen,

We just returned from our Good Sams group trip - the first group trip since the new 3400 (purchased in Nov.) and the first since I installed the Glide-Ride. Two comments!

1) Everyone in our goup that toured our Monty thought it was GREAT! Great floor plan, great workmanship, great colors, great every thing! And they loved our $30 - PEP Boys special - hub caps! Gettcha some.

2) I was amazed at how well the Monty towed with the Glide-Ride pin box. This is the best add-on I have ever bought! Also, I got almost 2 mpg more than when towing our previous Cardinal (smaller, lighter, and shorter). Time will tell if this figure will hold up, but the more aerodynamically designed Monty front endcap seems to make a real difference.

My wife thinks I'm really smart for pushing her in the direction of purchasing a new Monty 3400RL.

bobgay · 02-26-2006, 01:35 PM

Rich and Helen, congratulations on your new Monty. Sounds like all your investigative footwork paid off. Hope to see you down the road somewhere.

Montana Sky · 02-26-2006, 01:49 PM

Nothing better than reading about another happy Montana owner! Enjoy that coach...

dsprik · 02-26-2006, 02:35 PM

I also am very pleased with my bid and equipment. We got similar pricing - I'm sure he knew Rich and I were good friends, and therefore he knew we would be comparing notes on him. He was a great guy and he came across as a very sincere, and warm person. His main interest seemed to be that we would be satisfied with our Montana.

I, along with Rich, highly recommend Bill Tea's Town & Country RV in Clyde, OH. If you meet him in person, you will be sold. He makes you feel like family.

The differences between Rich and Helen's and ours minimal. Even ordered the same interior - "Desert Sand". We also are not ordering aluminum wheels, and Hi gloss. We are ordering the fireplace and the dual pane windows. We will be a little more "thermally challenged" than them in our FTing adventures. Bill Tea also added a Mor/Ryde pin box to my sheet, that I had told him I had been thinking about, but thought I had dismissed it. It showed up on my final bid yesterday in his formal price sheet that he faxed. I am really struggling with myself trying to convince myself to take it back off.

I will tell everyone this price - $675 installed. While this obviously is a great price. I am torn by adding to my monthly payment, which my credit union has already given me. I am really stingy on this, so I have this internal battle going on. I know it's easy to say, "Just get it", but I also have to consider all of our other expenses and incomes during our retirement. I am greatly concerned about expenses "sneaking up on us". I know that has never happened to any of you (right...), but it has to me, and I have to have a lot of discipline to prevent an unforseen financial disaster. It has happened to me before, and I am really sensitive to it.

Where do you draw the line? Do I REALLY need it?? 3400 has the lightest pin weight. Could always get it later if needed, but not at that price, I know.

Have I gone back and forth enough, yet?

richfaa · 02-26-2006, 02:56 PM

Dave.. the pin box is something you can add on at any time and you know you will get a good price from T&C. An alternative might be to not get the pinbox upfront save your nickles and dimes and add it on next year. We DID get the Mor-Ryde pin box for that same price 675.00 installed and paid for it upfront. Your thinking is good about not adding that to your loan. What I would do IF I could would be to pay the tax, title, etc dollars as the down payment and finance the cost of the camper only...IF you can. Don't think you were expecting the down payment amount Bill asked of us.I was ready to write a very large check and wrote a very small one so you MAY have some unexpected Dollars on hand.

Montana Sky · 02-26-2006, 04:00 PM

Dave,
If the Mor/ryde kingpin added into your total price fits within your budget I say go for it. If it puts you over the "magic number" payment you want then I say dont get it. I would say the price you are quoted is a really good price, and $675 additional to the total overall over a 6,10,12,15 yr term would really only add a few dollars to your monthly payment. Have your dealer figure your payment with and without the kingpin addition and see where it puts your payment. The other option is put money in the penny jar over the next 6-8 months and buy it down the road at an additional cost, but that would keep your payment in line where you want to be. I am just thinking out loud....

dsprik · 02-26-2006, 04:24 PM

Thanks, guys. Good advice. I will kick this around for the next few days. I will order at the end of this week.

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