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Old 07-02-2019, 02:53 PM   #1
bwetli
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No Quality Control - 2018 MHC 305RL

I suppose this is more of a rant than anything else, seems like every trip out there is a new discovery of yet another poorly constructed component, bad design, unacceptable construction method, etc. This weekend we went to a county park that is about 100 miles away. Paved highway all the way. Got backed into our site, opened the door, and to my dismay the entire header or facia on the living room slide had separated from the slide out frame, and fallen down onto the kitchen island etc. The header had been attached with a pneumatic nailer with finish nails (I call them pins - they don't really have a head on them at all). We've had this 2018 305RL for about 15 months now. Has been a constant source of disappointment. Waste tank valves that leak. Took to dealer for warranty work - replaced one valve seal, only to now have the other leak - probably started when dealer replaced the black tank seal. High degree of flex in the slide out floor - dealer told me that was normal and nothing was wrong. Coroplast liner on the bottom of the trailer did not go all the way back to the rear cap - it had been cut too short. Wires hanging loose from bottom of rear cap. I had to seal with gorilla tape. Now this. I have included pictures I hope - haven't posted before. Like a lot of you, I will fix this myself properly. I will not trust the dealer with repairs going forward. But this was a huge downer for the weekend to think what we pay for these rv's only to find that they are slapped together with little if any quality control.
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Old 07-02-2019, 03:33 PM   #2
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Sorry that you are going through all of these situations. We have all experienced issues during out initial year of use. I may not like it, but I also sort of expect there to be issues. In every case except one, I handled the situation myself. The time I left it for the dealer who insisted on letting them deal with it, we were without the 5th wheel for 2 months just so they could change the LP gas line that would kink when the slide was out. Hopefully things will settle down and your issues will diminish soon.
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Old 07-02-2019, 05:29 PM   #3
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Its and RV, these types of things will keep coming at you as long as you take it down the road., They break, things work themselves loose and repairs are a necessary part of ownership., Just wish they had better parts like the old ones did, today they source from cheapest sources (China) and things break a way earlier than they should..... Relief Valves, Sewage Valves, Slide Motor/Gear Drives etc.... Sadly they are all the same regardless of make.....
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Old 07-02-2019, 05:48 PM   #4
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My last 5er was a HC. Never had any trim fall but am on record stating the person running the nail gun on trim should not be permitted to hold a hammer or nail. Doubt that person is qualified to sweep the floor or clean the restrooms. Before the 1st trip I replaced the Rainier tires with Sailun and the Thetford toilet with a Dometic 320.
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Old 07-02-2019, 06:00 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by speedster100 View Post
Its and RV, these types of things will keep coming at you as long as you take it down the road., They break, things work themselves loose and repairs are a necessary part of ownership., Just wish they had better parts like the old ones did, today they source from cheapest sources (China) and things break a way earlier than they should..... Relief Valves, Sewage Valves, Slide Motor/Gear Drives etc.... Sadly they are all the same regardless of make.....
If you are wishing for construction the way they used to do it, your living a dream. Had to put the same trim back on our 2010 Hickory Edition and the same closet wall that failed in our 2010 failed in our 2017 so at least I knew how to fix it. In addition, while I can list the things I wish were done "right" in my 2017 there are vast improvements in the frame and things like plumbing the kitchen gas in metal all the way to the rear of the slide instead of having a loom holding all the Kitchen utilities right behind the tires. You can guess how I know the loom behind the tires was a bad idea.
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Old 07-02-2019, 06:04 PM   #6
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Owned 5 Cougar 5ers, a Prowler, a Trailaire Ultra light, Crossroads high end & the current Montana, prior to the 5er's I had a Travelaire Class C 28ft MH. Never had had any issues with the MH in regard to trim or parts wearing out over 12 yrs.. The chassis was on a constant maintenance cycle I made up and other than a couple caliper issues with the front brakes it was great. The Cougars were all good, one issue with an inverter, the Trailaire Ultra Light was a constant trim maintenance issue but otherwise great. Then in 2013 we ordered a fully loaded Crossroads, full paint and every option and the fun began, every time out was followed by 3 days of repairs... It leaked like a sieve, dealers couldn't fix that and were going to return it to the factory for major work. We opted to buy the 2015 Montana, pretty much had to put every piece of trim back on in the unit now, fixed another today, major fix on wall between Rear Raised Den & Kitchen (rebuilt all framing with real wood & PL200, stainless screws), tires changed to G rated, replaced pretty much every relief valve, sewage valves, grey water tank, electric slide gear drives and all the hatch door holders, many other small things... It don't leak and it has seen thousands of miles, it ain't perfect but touch wood nothing major has failed. We've been looking at new but can't find another unit we like as much so we will continue the upkeep as will anyone with a newer RV. They don't make em like they used too...
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Old 07-02-2019, 07:03 PM   #7
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RVing is a lot more fun if you are handy enough to do your own repairs!
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Old 07-02-2019, 07:28 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bwetli View Post
I suppose this is more of a rant than anything else, seems like every trip out there is a new discovery of yet another poorly constructed component, bad design, unacceptable construction method, etc. This weekend we went to a county park that is about 100 miles away. Paved highway all the way. Got backed into our site, opened the door, and to my dismay the entire header or facia on the living room slide had separated from the slide out frame, and fallen down onto the kitchen island etc. The header had been attached with a pneumatic nailer with finish nails (I call them pins - they don't really have a head on them at all). We've had this 2018 305RL for about 15 months now. Has been a constant source of disappointment. Waste tank valves that leak. Took to dealer for warranty work - replaced one valve seal, only to now have the other leak - probably started when dealer replaced the black tank seal. High degree of flex in the slide out floor - dealer told me that was normal and nothing was wrong. Coroplast liner on the bottom of the trailer did not go all the way back to the rear cap - it had been cut too short. Wires hanging loose from bottom of rear cap. I had to seal with gorilla tape. Now this. I have included pictures I hope - haven't posted before. Like a lot of you, I will fix this myself properly. I will not trust the dealer with repairs going forward. But this was a huge downer for the weekend to think what we pay for these rv's only to find that they are slapped together with little if any quality control.
I would send this post to Keystone customer service.
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Old 07-05-2019, 02:48 PM   #9
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Keystone Customer Service/Rep Contact?

I am having issues with Camping World (shocking) and want to contact my local Keystone rep - Tom Damiano - how do I do that?
thanks
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Old 07-05-2019, 05:29 PM   #10
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Call Keystone customer service and ask to speak to Tom Damiano who I assume is your Keystone regional rep.
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Old 07-06-2019, 10:52 PM   #11
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I feel your pain

Traveling from Missouri to South Dakota we had to take detours because of flooding. Some of the detours were rather rough. You guessed it. We opened the door on our 2018 305RL and saw the same thing you did. Facia from the living room slide all over the place. Long story short, hardware store, brown screws. Better than new. Bought extra screws for the other two slides.

Home from another trip my wife says "hey, look at this". The shelf and clothes rack in the master bedroom had pulled away from the wall. Our new Hooch was falling apart. Long story short, hardware store, brown screws, 5 1/2 foot dowel rods spaced 2 1/2 feet apart, screwed from the top of the shelf and screwed to the floor. Better than new.

Now when we hit a bump we guess as to what just hit the floor. Lol
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Old 07-07-2019, 05:13 AM   #12
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Same here. Got off the road and opened the door and my drop down counter extension was broke off the counter. The large moulding above the dinette and theatre seating fell off and hit the counter and broke it off. Took 2 hours to pull the nails and staples and re-attach the moulding with screws, glue and real nails. It appears the installer had the pressure to high on the nail gun and shot the nails almost completely through the trim pieces. I have some small brown ring shank nails I will use on the other mouldings before they fall.
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Old 07-07-2019, 07:13 AM   #13
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With the slide 1/2 way out, screw that trim back on from the back side. Drill and countersink hole through the backer piece and use screws into the face trim (make sure the screws are not too long as to go through the face of the trim. I would not use glue simply because if the trim has to be removed (think removing slide) it will be a real PITA to get that trim off.
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Old 07-08-2019, 06:32 AM   #14
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Thanks for the suggestions. I agree witht the glue. The only place I used it was to put the center piece back together before re-attaching it to the side mouldings. I did nail all the other mouldings (KITCHEN STOVE SIDE, BONUS ROOM, AND BEDROOM) before they come loose and will check them after each trip.
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Old 07-08-2019, 03:47 PM   #15
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One of the lessons I've learned in the last 9 years of RVing (two Montana 5ers) is that these things are CRACKERBOXES!! All of them. I've heard all the excuses, sorry not buying any of it.
Just DON'T take it into Camping World for ANYTHING. Your experience will go from bad to nightmarish...
That said, we still enjoy going on trips with our 2011 3580RL and try to overlook the frustration of dealing with indifferent quality and design. Seems to be more and more common in so many different areas... apathy compounded by incompetence. Sad.
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Old 07-10-2019, 01:31 PM   #16
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I got it 2018 3701lk in January, I've had several major issues, I had a recall on my heater took it in to have it fixed and I noticed their hourly rate was $200 an hour. At that rate you would expect there was some professional working on it, wrong must have been a $5 an hour kid.
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Old 07-10-2019, 01:37 PM   #17
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Also have a Montana and have had things shake loose as described by others. Keystone should use construction adhesive along with the nails during initial construction, especially of the more critical items such as kingdaddy's….. small investment for proper QC and longevity. I believe the spring only suspensions in the 5ers greatly contribute to these problems so I've installed Roadmaster Shocks to hopefully smooth out the ride and minimize these issues. Have not had them on for long, so a little early to tell their effectiveness. Any feedback from others who have installed shocks? jb
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Old 07-10-2019, 01:37 PM   #18
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It's possible that the slide motor had been worked on before and you have to move that fascia board to get to it. Take my advice use diagonal cutters to cut off all of those pin Brad's holding it on and when you install it use bronze cabinet wood screws so that you can remove it in the future when you have problems with that motor and you have to use the override flex shaft. You will thank me for that
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Old 07-10-2019, 01:47 PM   #19
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If you look closely you will see marks from gun but no actual staples I think they forget to reload or don’t care. I have owned 4 fifth wheels and had issues with all got to a point where I just think of them as earthquakes on wheels and I’ll have something to do in my spare time.
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Old 07-10-2019, 01:54 PM   #20
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Same with our 2019 3120 RL as we have owned it for six months and used it twice because the rest of the time it was with the dealer for repair after repair. We too will not take ours back to the dealer for anything else and are completely fed up with and disappointed with Keystone for lack of basic quality control. We upgraded our 2010 Montana fifth wheel to this 2019 model and are sorry we did as our 2010 only had one issue that needed repair all the years we used it.
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