Slide Floor Failure

[gypsies2]

We have been on the road with our new 2011 2955rl since the first week in June. We left Nova Scotia, crossed Canada to British Columbia, up to the Yukon and over to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, back down into Alberta and are now in southern Alberta in a great little RV park just outside Lethbridge. A lot of km (miles) in the past three months.
The good news is the Montana is generally holding up well. We have found the usual assortment of loose screws which have come from heaven knows where, lots of sawdust and have a few minor complaints. But the rig seems solid and we love it. Even the "China Bombs" we have for tires have all held up so far. Have kept them at a constant 80 psi for the whole trip.
One major problem we have had is that the floor at the rear side of the dining living room slide separated from the end wall of the slide and dropped about two inches on the inboard side of the slide. DW noticed it first when the slide floor stayed totally flat on the main floor when the slide came in. instead of doing the usual up tilt a couple of inches above the floor. When I looked, I could see the gap of between the front of the floor and wall. I held my breath and extended the slide.(WE were about 500 km, 300 miles from the nearest rv dealer of any kind). When I got under the slide and put my trusty screw driver on the large screws that go up through the floor into some kind of framing in the slide end wall, the screws just turned and did not tighten. Also noticed that the fairly long screws holding in the trim pice at the bottom of the slide were just turning as well. I figured they has just ripped out of the floor material when the floor dropped. The floor was still secure to the outside wall of the slide.
What I believed happened was that over the course of driving across he country the occasional rough stretch of road bounced the air bed sofa enough that it pounded the floor out. We remembered having to slide the sofa back into place (2-3") twice. I was amazed at the time that something so heavy could move around especially since my driving speed on good roads is 90 kph (55 mph). On rougher roads we slowed down as I did not want to stress the "Bombs" too much.
To make a long story short, we did get back to Grande Prairie in Northern Alberta and drove immediately to McGoverns RV and Marine service department. I had stopped here on my way north to get the wheel bearings checked and repacked and they had done an excellent job. I knew how busy they were and we arrived cold without an appointment. I spoke to Dale, the service manager about the problem. Within 5 minutes we had a tech. out looking at the problem and starting the fix. He removed the three front screws that went up through the floor into the sidewall frame and re-drove them up in a different spot. They held hard. He felt that there should be another 2 -3 screws added to the floor to further reinforce it but they had none in stock. However, Dale sent their runner all over the city of Grand Prairie looking for the right size screws. Two hours later he returned empty handed. Dale said he could order then in special and it would take two days to ship them up. Not wanting to wait, we asked if the repairs done would get us back to Nova Scotia and the tech thought so. He also pointed out that the reason the long screws on the bottom trim piece on the slide had been put in too high and had just caught a piece of the floor, not all of it.
My view is that if the whole thing had been pu together properly at the factory, this might not have happened. McGoverns have only been a dealer for Keystone for just over a year, but established a level of customer service and satisfaction that Keystone should try and clone for some of the other dealers I have had to deal with.
There is no question that it was the sofa bed that created the problem, but questionable engineering design and quality control caused the problem.
I currently have a tapered piece of wood wedged under the slide floor where it meets the side wall when it is in. I hope this will reduce the movement on the floor from the couch should I hit a bump.
The Montana is a well built 5th, with the exception of this problem. So, anyone with that heavy sofa bed in the slide, keep an eye on the floor and consider doing what we will do when we get back. Take it out and put in a lightweight computer desk!

[Lambchop]

We had a problem with our 08 Montana dining room floor. When you stepped on the floor, it felt like you were going to go through it. Last month the dealer installed a 3/8 plywood sheet over the floor to make it stronger. It seems OK now. Seems like the slides are all weak. I'll check & make sure I'm not getting a separation. I have read somewhere else on this form of soft floors, but not of separation.

Roy

[capn chris]

Yikes. Glad they got you sort of fixed, and hope you get squared away soon. Be safe.

[footloose]

After reading about your problems, we are thanking our lucky stars when we took possession of our new Montana we took out the couch and replaced it with a computer desk and chair! Thanks for sharing. We will also keep an eye on the slides.
Dick and Sharon

[ws891]

I was interested to see this problem happened to someone else! Our 2010 Mountaineer had the slide floor drop down too. On the way back from Moab, UT, we hit an extremely rough area on I-70 in a construction area which bounced our furniture around, damaging one of the chairs and the drawer under the couch. However, the most damage was done when we oppened the living room slide. Apparently the large screw which holds the floor to the wall had worked loose, ripping up the vinyl flooring and carpet as the slide opened. I was able to tighten the screw once the slide was out, but it won't hold. Our rig goes in to the dealer for repairs soon. They will have to replace the the flooring, and to do that, the slide will have to be removed. $2900 ndamage in all....Sure hope that screw stays put in the future!

[2Wanderers]

Had the same thing happen to us in April of this year. One screw holding the slide's bottom to the slide's wall in the vicinity of the couch/air bed worked its way out and ripped out vinyl and carpet. The screw was removed and not replaced. Dealer still has it. All the others are still secure, so we keep our fingers crossed. I check the frame edges the best I can before pulling in or putting out the main slide. Hope this was the only time this will happen to us as it wasn't pretty or cheap.

[jimcol]

Sorry you had the problem but sounds like you found a dealership that really cared. I always like to hear about dealership like you found. Generally the discussion is about how bad they are. Jim

[richfaa]

These are the kinds of issues that need to be reported to Keystone customer service.Perhaps a phone call and a write up. If keystone never knows of a issue they can not address it.

[ws891]

Its interesting that 2Wanderers' Mountaineer and ours are identical units. Sounds like there is a design weakness in the 285rld living room slide.

I'll be checking for that loose screw before opening the slide in the future!