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10-26-2004, 04:03 PM
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#1
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New Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location:
Posts: 2
M.O.C. #1999
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Montana Shower Door Problems
Has anyone else experienced continued and repeated problems with the failure of glass shower doors - hinges in particular? When we bought our 2004 Montana the door was not working. Our dealer repaired it and we took possession. Within one month the door had literally fallen off. The dealer replaced the entire unit, not just the door. Here we are two months down the road and the door/hinge has once again failed in the new unit. We are again looking at another replacement. Sound familiar to any of you?
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10-26-2004, 05:05 PM
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#2
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Montana Master
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: New Braunfels
Posts: 664
M.O.C. #920
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Yes it seems to be a problem, mine was leaking at the door. They replaced the entire unit.Now there are no leaks but the door is sagging and is difficult to open. Perhaps the door is too heavy?
Good luck!
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10-26-2004, 05:37 PM
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#3
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Montana Master
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Oceanside
Posts: 20,028
M.O.C. #20
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Any idea why this is happening? Are the screws not into something solid? Or are the doors on the later models heavier? Thunderman, yours is the same year as ours but ours is the early 2003 with the step up between bath and bedroom. Our shower door does NOT have the towel rod. The newer 2003 models with flat floor have, I believe, the towel rod on the shower door as do all the models since. Could it be this towel rod or towels hanging on it are enough to stress the hinge mountings? Just an off the wall thought.
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10-26-2004, 06:25 PM
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#4
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Montana Master
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: New Braunfels
Posts: 664
M.O.C. #920
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Hello Steve,
Yes we have the towel bar but I don't think that is the problem. There are no loose screws visible....I am not sure what the problem is. Need to study the construction to see if I can find a problem.
Congrats on the new truck!
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10-26-2004, 06:47 PM
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#5
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Montana Master
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Oceanside
Posts: 20,028
M.O.C. #20
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Thanks. Others have had the shower door problem too but I don't recall ever really hearing a definite cause. If you find something, please post. Thanks.
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10-26-2004, 07:25 PM
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#6
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Montana Master
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Clearwater
Posts: 10,917
M.O.C. #420
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As some of you know, I have had the "sagging" door problem on 2 different shower doors.
It started a year ago when we first got the rig. We didn't have it 2 months when the shower door started to drag. Different dealers tried adjusting the door several times in several ways. NONE of which worked. The "adjustments" would last a few weeks and we were back to square one. In fact the last adjustment eventually caused the door to start to come apart.
Finally I get to Goshen and the Montana plant where the Montana folks replaced the entire surround with a brand new one not just the door. Well I left Goshen happy as a lark. That is until a few days later we pulled into Nashville TN and guess what. That BRAND NEW DOOR IS DRAGGING. The exact same problem is starting all over again. Luckily I was camped next door to a Montana dealer and after a call to Montana the dealer was told to go ahead and "adjust" it. That Nashville dealer made the exact same adjustment that was made to the first door a year ago. It has now been about a month and so far no problem but only time will tell.
At this point I think the surrounds are not installed square to the walls and this is the problem. Either that or these units are just plain junk and Montana better go out and get themselves a new shower surround manufacturer.
BTW--The first door had the towel bar the second door does not.
Which reminds me, JoyceH! If you still need that towel bar let me know as I kept the bar off the old door.
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10-28-2004, 10:12 AM
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#7
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Montana Master
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ft. Smith
Posts: 981
M.O.C. #116
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This issue grabbed my attention so I went out and looked at ours to see how it is made.
Failures can usually be traced to one, or a combination, of 3 sources; designer, manufacturer, or user. This door hinge is made from 2 alum extrusions, a pair of 1/4" plastic pins [length unknown] and 2 screws. The door frame hinge side extrusion has the channel for the glass on one edge and a 1/2 round, 1/4" concave contour on the opposite edge. The the door casing extrusion has a 1/4", round,tubular [the tube]section that nests in the door frame edge. The 1/4" plastic pin looks like it has been turned down to a smaller cross section to fit into the hole in the casing frame tube. The other end of the pin is screwed to the door. A 1/8" hole through a 1/4" pin?. The shoulder of the top pin, formed by the dia reduction, rides on the top of the sawed off tube. It appears to me that this shoulder, the reduced portion of the plastic pin and the screw through the pin, supports the entire weight of the door, both horizontally and vertically! I don't think the door can take too much force applied 90 degrees to the axis of the hinge, especially parallel to the surface of the door glass. Any burr left on the alum could cut into the pin, the roughness of the saw cut could grind the shoulder down and the sides of the hole through the pin could come break. The seemingly flimsy design could be construed as a design error, or the undressed edges of the saw cut as a manufacturers error or, if side pressure has been applied by inadvertantly using the door as a temporary support when using the shower, a user error. A fix could possibly be to replace the top plastic pin with something more substantial, possibly brass, make the pin beefier around the screw hole at the top and cut some of the 1/2 round away on the door frame to accomadate the changed pin top.
We haven't had the problem, yet, but I'll watch for it.
Sorry this is so long.
Skip
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10-29-2004, 02:55 AM
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#8
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Montana Master
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Malta
Posts: 3,075
M.O.C. #607
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nothing yet in ours, but we'll keep an eye out . thanks!
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