Montana ALKO suspension

[dhalley]

HI all,
I don't know if anyone else has the problem I had last summer but while on our 11,000 mile trip we broke 4 spring shackles in Or. We found a rv repair center(Rainer rv, Rainier OR.) Thru the freedom roads service plan. that fixed our Monty right quick, very nice folks. I had all the shackles replaced and off we went. When the suspension failed the side wall at the bed room slide failed in 3 Connors and I am taking it back to the factory for repairs the 1st week of April. Keystone really stands by their product . My Monty is a 2002 3280RL So this year I decided to rebuild the suspension. Being a master heavy duty truck mechanic I did my research and decided that the way for us to go was to convert to the Dexter EZ flex equalizer. I also decided to replace the brakes at the same time. when I removed the new shackles (6000 miles on them ) they were also very worn and elongated. the nylon bushings were shot and the equalizer pivot was also shot. the new kit from dexter comes with grease able pins and bronze bushings at all pivot points, with heavy duty shackles ( 3/8 thick verses 3/16. I replaced the brakes as an assembly with new backing plates and mags. the cost difference is negligible. The total job to rebuild the brakes and suspension took me under 4 hours in the driveway. I would strongly suggest that you have your suspension checked throughly by a quailfied tech. and upgrade the shackles to the heavy duty ones. We will be full timing with this unit as soon as the farm sells and in a year or so we will be upgrading to a larger fulltime 5ver. JMOP David

[bsmeaton]

dhalley,

First, Welcome to the Forum!

Great info! This was a problem with the AlKo suspension. We were planning to replace ours with the Dexter wet bolts, but ended up trading in on a new Monty. I believe in 2004 or 2005 Keystone changed to Dexter axles and suspension.

Sorry your shackle failure resulted in damage to the slide.

[DonandJudy_12]

Our 2000 Monty has Alko axles, but the shackles have grease zerks for lubrication- hard to see and lube without removing the wheels so I replaced the oe zerks with 45 degree zerks- end of problem- Don

[sailer]

on the dexter axels we were told by the montana dealers here in fl to never use these as tooooooooooo much grease goes in as ours had a full drum from the factory on the left side and none on the right they say pull the wheels and do it the old fashion way

[Thunderman]

David,
Was it difficult to find the Dexter EZ flex equalizer? Could one find these at auto parts stores like NAPA?
Thanks!

[dhalley]

Hi Thunderman
to find the local dealer go to the Dexter web site and look up the dealer on their site. I am a trade account here with the local supplier for trailer parts so I buy at cost vs. retail. I think that the retail is around 236.00 for the 35 inch axle spacing. It was esay for me to do it in the driveway one side at a time and good safety stands or a heavy duty mechanical building jack. let me know how you make out

Happy Trials
David

[Thunderman]

Hello David,
Thanks for the reply! I will check the web site you mentioned for the Dexter products. My shackles appear to be okay as for as visual inspection goes... but your findings after 6,000 miles is a concern.
Thanks again!