Think my front grey +/or black tanks have dropped!

[snowbiz]

We heard a "twang" and the rig shook. I found a cross brace on front left side of 3402 underbelly popped off on one side, other end still attached. The other cross brace was still attached but had extreme bow downward in it and underbelly looked like it was filled with water (nothing leaking). I was unable to even begin to reattach the dropped end, while there was liquid still in tanks, which were 1/2 full at the time. Once I drained them, both the black and the grey, I could have reattached the brace. Does anyone know how the tanks are attached to the Monty? And where attached? At the factory? Or before? We never travel with half full or full tanks, and dump regularly, when parked with services.

Has anyone had these repaired? Did you have extra attachments installed, to make it stronger and safer?

Thanks for any info or help on this.

[WaltBennett]

What model and year do you have?

[snowbiz]

We have a 2013 3402 and both black and bathroom gray tank are up front.

[WaltBennett]

Ours is older, but someone else should be able to help.

[pineranch]

I believe you should drop the belly cover a look for yourself. Others will have opinions but this may be one of those "you have to be there" moments. Mine is secured by the tank flanges.
Mike

[richfaa]

We have two leaking holding tanks on out 2013 3402 Big Sky Gray and galley. They blew out just sitting on our winter lot. You are saying a cross brace just fell off??? call the service center. There are some serious issues going on at the Montana plant. These things are just falling apart.

They are installed at the factory . Make sure you have no leaks. We will have ours reinforced when we have them replaced under our Extended warranty.

[Rondo]

Even though I have an older unit I very seldom ever run with my tanks half full even. We try and empty them whenever we are hitting the road for any distance or know that the roads ahead of us are rough or washboards! The most water we carry in our fresh water tank is 10 gallons for use on the road when stopping for a rest and not wanting to use the provided appliances at a rest stop. The only exemption we made is when we went to Q and filled up the fresh water tank nearly full heading out of town to the site! On that occasion we were very careful on our speed and hitting any bumps or hard dips in the road to our rally site. If I ever get another unit I'm going to make sure the tanks are reinforced with strapping for support. They just don't support them well enough for the amount of weight they have in them with waste water and etc. A 60 gallon tank weighs approximately 510 lbs. when it is full(not counting the weight of the tank) and the bouncing caused by the road makes that liquid inside start to move and once it starts that movement is causing even more weight or pressure on the tank, it's fittings and its bracing!

[richfaa]

They are "holding tanks" and they should be designed to hold the capacity of the tank. I can find no data that tells us to run with empty tanks or they will fail if you do so. We also never run with stuff in the tanks and maybe 10 gallons of fresh water. Our tanks failed sitting still two months after we arrived at our winter site. We did fill our gray and galley tanks every once in awhile to clean then and the waste hose out. They failed from the mere weight of the liquid in them. That is just not right.The OP's brace fell off...those are bolted to the frame...or was it???

[steelpony5555]

That's where my galley tank failed to, just sittin in a park.....boingggggg and heard water running????

I mean if you can't run down the road with full or even half full tanks then why have them on the trailer. Just make it so you got to have hook ups since you don't need tanks when hooked up and can't use them on the road, oh yeah that's not an RV that's a mobile home....

[snowbiz]

We've been parked in Arizona for the past month, so thankfully not moving when this happened.

As we are just out of warranty, Keystone wasn't too helpful, so we will use our extended warranty. Unfortunately, the brace on the outside is not bolted on, only screwed on. So when the tank dropped the weight just blew that brace off. I would have to think that it is more secure on the inside, but now I'm not so sure.

We will take it to a repair place close to our park and have it repaired but also reinforced as many of you suggested.

[1retired06]

I had to pull two braces off in order to drop the front underbelly on mine. The braces did not provide any tank support, but appeared to hold the underbelly in place, and as a safety catch in case the tank did drop. My braces were held in place with self tapping machine screws, two on each end, and I could see where they could shake loose over time.

[DonandBonnie]

We agree with Rondo, except our approach is from a little different angle. We empty all of our tanks before we move because I don't want to burn the extra fuel that it would take to haul waste water around. As they say, the only exception would be boondocking where there were no water or sewer facilities available.

[davidaf]

So how exactly are these tanks held in place? Don't tell me they area just wedged in there with a little plastic glue holding them to the inlet and outlet.

[oldelmer1]

quote:Originally posted by davidaf

So how exactly are these tanks held in place? Don't tell me they area just wedged in there with a little plastic glue holding them to the inlet and outlet.

On my model, there is are 2 I beams bolted under there that holds the lip of the tanks up.

[MDL]

You guys are scaring me again. I suspect the 2014 that will be here this week is no different. Maybe I should start out right and drop the belly cover and weld in new supports?

[bncinwv]

I really hope this does not jinx us but we have not had a tank problem on any of the three rigs. With that said, we do not use the tank indicators for dumping, we either leave the tank open (gray tanks) or dump the tanks (usually black tank) each and every day. We will close the gray tank during morning showers so that we can follow the black tank dump with shower water to rinse the sewer hose out. It works for us and hopefully continues to do so. We do not travel with any liquid in any tank.

[Tom S.]

quote:Originally posted by bncinwv

I really hope this does not jinx us but we have not had a tank problem on any of the three rigs. With that said, we do not use the tank indicators for dumping, we either leave the tank open (gray tanks) or dump the tanks (usually black tank) each and every day. We will close the gray tank during morning showers so that we can follow the black tank dump with shower water to rinse the sewer hose out. It works for us and hopefully continues to do so. We do not travel with any liquid in any tank.

I think Rich's problems stem from a high fiber diet.

[richfaa]

we are gonna have to look into that Tom. I mean 7 failed holding tanks in two Montana's. Something is nit right.

[jhudson]

Will all of my other SOBs, I didn't have any issues with holding tanks. Always carried water in the fresh water tank and sometimes full because of where we were going. Same thing with the black and grey holding tanks. Usually traveled empty, but sometimes were full and would dump at next stop if we had hookups.

I was planning to do the same procedure with the Monty, but......makes you think here....do I risk a leak???

How many of you travel with fresh water on board? My last trip before winterizing I travel 200 miles with it full and that water ended up in the black and grey tanks where I dumped when I got back home.

I thought that was the idea of "holding tanks" I didn't realize that these tanks were only temporary tanks and could not be traveled with liquid in them. Am I wrong here??

Jay

[richfaa]

There is nothing in the literature that says we can't travel with full tanks many folks in all brands do. The term holding tank denotes they are meant to "hold" something.

we travel with maybe 5/10 gallons in the fresh water tank for flushing when on the road. We have never had a fresh water tank leak yet folks on this form have had them fall out.

It is my opinion that the problem is build quality. The most common problem is a leak or tear at the very top of the tanks at the input. Most brands have the tanks strapped in. We noted no strapping at the last factory tour. I think it is a problem easily fixed at the factory.