Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 

Go Back   Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum > MOC Technical Forums > Montana Problems, Problem Solving & Technical Help
Click Here to Login

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 07-06-2004, 01:49 AM   #1
Montana_657
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Monominto
Posts: 731
M.O.C. #657
Had a Montana but the wheels fell off!!!

Well here are the photos. This happend at the end of a 3,000 mile trip. These parts were inspected prior to the trip and showed no signs of wear. Note the second photo shows where the equalizer bars are manufactured....fine American made product???....NOT.



and the equalizer

 
Montana_657 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-06-2004, 03:08 AM   #2
faeb and genb
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location:
Posts: 1,804
M.O.C. #57
What a bummer I'm sure Keystone will take care of it from others here on the forum they want you to be happy. Good luck.
Gene
faeb and genb is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-06-2004, 04:25 AM   #3
Bowie
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Aurora
Posts: 635
M.O.C. #1475
Holy $%&@#$%!!! The wheels fell off AFTER the trip??? Thank goodness not DURING the trip!! Assume that you are all safe which is the most important thing. What symptoms did you have--any warning or did you discover that this was happening on arriving at home and doing your inspection? Please fill us in on details.

As to wheels coming off and other disasters on the road..we saw a suburban in the grassy median area following a trailer accident. The suburban was fine as were the passengers--but trailer and trailer parts and contents were strewn around all over the place. Incident may have been caused by carrying a very large motorcycle incorrectly.

Scarey stuff. Keep us posted on what the fix is. Good luck!!!!
Bowie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-06-2004, 04:29 AM   #4
Merv
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Three Lakes
Posts: 264
M.O.C. #1001
Been there and done that.
mine was on a 2001 Cougar. kept breaking leaf springs.(2 times) and one shackle.
finally replaced them with new ones form another distributor. got them from Redneck trailer supplies. never had anymore troubles.
the campers should read "Assembled in the USA"
i wouuld guess about 75% of the materials are from china or japan.
Merv

Merv is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-06-2004, 06:13 AM   #5
Flastro
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: St. Augustine
Posts: 300
M.O.C. #1393
Gruffy , sorry to see this, makes you wonder why such a good RV would be assembled on such marginal suspension components. I will make sure to keep and eye on mine.
Almost wants me to go down and get a set of 8K Heavy Duty axles and components and break out the welder and istall them myself. the draw back would be the lost soft ride of the lighter suspension.
Flastro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-06-2004, 06:34 AM   #6
DHenry
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Forestville
Posts: 6,025
M.O.C. #496
Wow, I am glad to hear that you and your family were not injured because of this problem. What year of Montana do you have? Did the repair shop tell you the reason for the failure? The picture looks like the metal was fatigued or not properly tempered to handle the situation.
DHenry is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-06-2004, 07:34 AM   #7
Montana_657
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Monominto
Posts: 731
M.O.C. #657
This is what I found when I got into the driveway. It's a 2003 3670RL ... so it's off Keystone's warrenty and Alko only warrentys suspension parts for 6 months.

If you check the spec's fully loaded is about 14,000 lbs. 2,000 on the truck leaves 12,000 on the wheels. The axels supplied are two 6,000 lb Alko-Koblers. Looks like no one ever heard of a safety margin. Add 3000 miles of rough ashvalt and.......

Now, I inspect spring hangers and bolts every morning.
Montana_657 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-06-2004, 08:03 AM   #8
lightningjack11
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Spring Hill
Posts: 2,725
M.O.C. #59
Gruffy,

Sorry to hear about your problems but thank you for sharing. The pictures are excellent.

I have heard on the forums that the equalizers sometimes wear pretty bad and it is definately a checklist item. Just about everything like this is not mfgr in the US. Might start shopping around for some good quality stuff. Can't understand what Keystone is thinking about. Not much safety margin on any of the equipment.

Did you get rid of the Montana or is it repairable??

lightningjack11 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-06-2004, 08:16 AM   #9
sreigle
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Oceanside
Posts: 20,028
M.O.C. #20
Gruffy, glad to hear nobody was hurt. Sure could have happened at a worse time, like on the road. Thanks for the pictures. Another thing for me to craw under and check.
sreigle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-06-2004, 08:31 AM   #10
lightningjack11
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Spring Hill
Posts: 2,725
M.O.C. #59
Gruffy,

Just looked again at my equalizers. My unit had the frame upgrade on it which means it is extremely strong on side stresses. Maybe that's the reason my bolts show no wear. I have put at least 20000 on the rig without a problem.

But my weight is just under 11000 loaded.
lightningjack11 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-06-2004, 05:04 PM   #11
Montana_1237
Established Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Bothell
Posts: 39
M.O.C. #1237
Gruffy you need to send those pictures to Keystone, I'll bet they would do something for you in a heartbeat they don't want that kind of advertisement out there. I'm glad your were home and your rig was park. I'm new to this forum and I print out everything, I don't want to go into this thing blind. I hope everything gets repaired to your satisfaction and your happy. Stay safe out there Tom n Phyllis
Montana_1237 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-07-2004, 03:44 AM   #12
8.1al
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Benson
Posts: 3,121
M.O.C. #1658
I would complain quite loudly to Keystone. This should never have happened, especially with a 2003.
8.1al is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2004, 02:43 PM   #13
Montana_35
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location:
Posts: 292
M.O.C. #35
I hate to be a wet blanket on this one but the pictures tell the whole story. I have a 2003 also and I just looked at the under carriage and there is black paint instead of rust. In the pictures there is heavy rust everywhere even on the frame. This unit must have been in a very corrosive atmosphere or there was no coating on the undercarriage like on mine. Sure is hard to fathom all that damage being done since 2003. Hope you get your problems solved and back on the road soon.
Montana_35 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2004, 01:40 AM   #14
Montana_657
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Monominto
Posts: 731
M.O.C. #657
Salted roads... down in Texas salt is an event.... here we get it all winter. That's why in other posts I've been big on lots of oil and grease on slide mechanisms. The salt will sieze the pinion gear right up.

The coating from the factory is a joke. I had to repaint the hitch last winter and the belly will get a new coat of "rust paint" this summer. Not much those of us who live up north can do about it.
Montana_657 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2004, 04:15 AM   #15
CountryGuy
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Tipton
Posts: 3,646
M.O.C. #191
Gruffy,

You make a good point, those of us that live up north, where the snow flies should be concerned about salty roads.

So, far, we have been able to "get outta town" on a dry day, in fact, this last winter, we stalled one day, left the day AFTER a storm, just so we could get dry roads.

We have talked about, not had to do it yet, but talked about, if we got in a situation where a lot of that wet, sloppy, mushy road salt/snow got under the rig, of the need to pull into a power car wash place and spray off the underbelly. Sounds like a lot of work, UGH, but I think if it were bad enough we would do it.

And beach goers should be watching too, I hear that ocean spray can do nasty things to the entire rig.

Have you fixed the broken parts yet??
CountryGuy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2004, 04:28 AM   #16
Montana_35
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location:
Posts: 292
M.O.C. #35
Right about the road salt...kind of figured that was the problem. But even living in Texas the first thing I do once each year is crawl around under the fiver and brush off rust and repaint. Sure am glad we don't need the salt since that minor maintenance item would become a major one. Good luck in the future.
Montana_35 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2004, 08:54 AM   #17
tweir
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: San Marcos
Posts: 327
M.O.C. #572
I'm going to check mine out this weekend; so thanks for bringing these issues to light. On a side-bar, I use EXTEND on all of the trailers and equipment here at work. It "converts" rust to primer---then just paint right over it. Really knocks down on all the scraping & wire brushing. I just prep the areas with Scotch-Brite and/or a pot brush (commercial restuarant grade)ZIPPO its ready.
tweir is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2004, 10:37 AM   #18
8.1al
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Benson
Posts: 3,121
M.O.C. #1658
The Extend works great. It's a little pricey but once it's been used on a rusty area it'll never rust again.
8.1al is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2004, 02:12 AM   #19
On The Road Again
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Lakeland
Posts: 121
M.O.C. #1725
I would definitely send these photos to Keystone as soon as possible and we need to ask them, during the plant tour at our rally, what's been done to correct this problem and reimburse you for repairs.
They definitely don't want this kind of problem publicized.
On The Road Again is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2004, 09:15 AM   #20
HamRad
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Bakersfield
Posts: 5,316
M.O.C. #15
I was over on another forum and something very similar came up. Don't remember the details but there was a picture that showed a similar situation. It was on a different brand of trailer but the axel assembly was identical to the one Gruffy's pics show. This was on a supposedly "higher end" type rig. I think the Mfg of these rigs often buy from the same supplier. And in todays world there is very little that is 100% made in America. For better or worse that's simply the way it is!

HamRad
HamRad is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Montana Wheels on TV's Willy Bee TIRES, Montana Tires 7 03-18-2015 02:06 AM
What is the hierarchy of Montana 5th wheels? jkpruitt General Discussions about our Montanas 7 03-14-2012 07:22 AM
New to Montana & 5th wheels Mayberry New Member Introductions 5 08-11-2010 06:30 PM
recall on big sky & Montana wheels Dustytuu General Discussions about our Montanas 12 07-16-2007 03:03 PM
Maintaining Montana Wheels Ronnelly It's a Dirty Job but Someone has to do it! 0 03-10-2004 04:49 PM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Montana RV, Keystone RV Company or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:25 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.