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Old 05-13-2009, 07:42 AM   #1
Art-n-Marge
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What!? 37' long and no cornering lamps?

One dark rainy evening we decided to left a beautiful treelined campground in the Santa Barbara mountains. As I was winding through the dark questionably good roads that were lined by old gnarled oaks, I would peer back using my mirrors to ensure the back end of the trailer was clear of objects (did I mention it was rainy and dark) and guess what I saw? Nothing! I could see the front of the 5er because the truck lights reflected on them and I could see the middle of the trailer because there was a side light. But I could not see past that especially the rear corners because the lights cannot be seen from the truck! Going was slow and even once, I actually got out and checked just to make sure I was clear.

Boy was I irritated! When I arrived home, the next day I went to the RV store and bought new "lamps", wiring, caulk and installed them. They came out great!

Here's the link to see the finished work:

http://s658.photobucket.com/albums/uu303/art-martinez/

They are on the very back panel of each side of the Monty, at mirror level. Now I can easily see my back end on turns especially at night.

For the passenger side I ran the wire through the inside of the rig and back to the taillights because of the insulation and framing that I did not want to mess with. On the driver's side I had to remove the water filler cover on the inside to drill the holes necessary to get to the rear light. It required several holes to be drilled and sealed and of course, the wiring. Not a problem for me but I could not help but think how easy this would have been at the factory.

This is another "what were they NOT thinking" at Keystone/Montana when not designing these into the trailer. While they attempted to use wraparound lenses at the rear tail/brake lights, they cannot be seen from the TV. This is NOT so critical for an automobile or TV, but when a towable is over 30 feet back, it's a little more important. My old trailers had them and they were much smaller. So what gives?

Has anyone else had the same problem?

 
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Old 05-13-2009, 08:21 AM   #2
bigmurf
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I don't pull at night.gg
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Old 05-13-2009, 09:35 AM   #3
Art-n-Marge
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LOL.... I don't usually either, but for a 11 day scheduled trip and after 6 days of rain and snow after the first 3 days of beautiful weather and the evening forecast weatherman said another week of the same, I packed up within an hour and we left IMMEDIATELY rather than wait for the weather to clear which it wasn't going to.

So my mood was already irritated and not being able to see my rig really ticked me off.
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Old 05-13-2009, 01:51 PM   #4
Capt Kidd
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Hey that is a really good idea. I'm going to copy as soon as I can.
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Old 05-13-2009, 02:18 PM   #5
Emmel
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Art, looks like Keystone is doing that already. We have those very same running lights on our Montana. More than likely our 04 didn't have them, but the 10 does.
There was a lot of things I did to my 04 that Keystone didn't do but there is a lot of those same improvements now incorperated into the new models.
Yes, they do listen to us, maybe not using these improvements tomorrow, but on the next new model.
But, rubbing it in a little, being retired, we don't pull at night anymore either, YEA!!!!!(sorry, couldn't resist)
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Old 05-13-2009, 03:41 PM   #6
TLightning
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by bigmurf

I don't pull at night.gg
Ditto, unless some type of emergency or unusual circumstance.
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Old 05-13-2009, 05:09 PM   #7
Art-n-Marge
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Be nice to me. I AM retired but only left after hearing the evening forecast because my poor unfortunate wife was going through a spat of Migraine (so she wasn't feeling so good) anyway. Even the dog wasn't happy, he's hates to do his business when it's wet for 6 days straight. So I was being a good husband and being considerate of others, yeah, that's it, I was been considerate, uh-huh!

Yes, T-Lightning, this would fall in the unusual circumstance category. Thanks for the excuse.

I have never hitched at night except this one time. I have arrived at night a few times (once for losing 4 hours of daylight tending to broken Chinese-made tires), but don't like to if I can help it.

Other rules retirees can follow.

- If you arrive to your camp site at night, then do a minimal set up and finish in the morning.
- If you arrive home at night, just park the rig and take care of everything the next day.
- Leave early when you can and stop early (in daylight)
- If you leave late, then stop early anyway.
- Travel in summer. You get an average of 3 extra hours of daylight unless you live in Canada or Alaska where you get about 15 hours extra but you can't sleep because you need dark sunglasses at midnight.

In the meantime, I now have cornering lights, :-D
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Old 05-14-2009, 01:02 AM   #8
ehmcfarl
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Art, why haven't you trained your four legged friend to use the potty inside when it's raining like all the rest of us have? It definitely keeps the carpet drier, well,,, most of the time anyway----ha, ha.

Buddy
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Old 05-14-2009, 02:19 AM   #9
Glenn and Lorraine
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Being a fulltimer we are never in a hurry to go anywhere. No reason to, we got all the time in the world. So, if you ever see this rig on the road after dark than I screwed up big time. Rarely are we ever on the road after 4PM.

But, I can see how those lights could be very helpful if I ever get caught out in the dark but that ain't likely.
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Old 05-14-2009, 08:06 AM   #10
Montana Sky
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I have sent multiple requests to Keystone to add these lights to the Montana. I did note the Big Sky has them, however the Montana does not. Being I travel over 950 miles per day, I'm on the road well into the nightime hours. Hopefully when the time comes to trade my coach in, Keystone will have made this change...
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Old 05-14-2009, 01:56 PM   #11
2 Sinks
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Art...nice installation.Its hard to believe but our 2007 Mountaineer came with rear side clearance lights.We sometimes get caught out after dark but not too often.
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Old 05-20-2009, 04:18 PM   #12
rldriver
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Nice install but is it legal to have red lights on the side? Just asking...

Dick
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Old 05-20-2009, 07:56 PM   #13
Art-n-Marge
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In the rear they are supposed to be red. I believe there is a minimum distance from the rear that they must be red. I didn't actually measure it or confirm it, but my previous SOB rig and other rigs I have seem have red lenses at the rear corners. I figured it was cool.
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Old 05-21-2009, 05:03 AM   #14
rldriver
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Art-n-Marge

In the rear they are supposed to be red. I believe there is a minimum distance from the rear that they must be red. I didn't actually measure it or confirm it, but my previous SOB rig and other rigs I have seem have red lenses at the rear corners. I figured it was cool.
That was really a dumb statement that I made. I can sit here and look out my window and see a nice red right on the side of my Montana and it's about 8" from the rear (on the side)...
Dick
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Old 05-21-2009, 06:23 AM   #15
exav8tr
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Dick, see thread about "senior moments"!!!! LOL
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Old 05-26-2009, 03:47 AM   #16
NCFischers
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Our Montana's tail lights have a light built into the side of them that can be seen from the side. The new Big Sky tail lights are entirely different and recessed into the rear trim and they have side clearance lights.
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