Stabilizing our 2019 MHC 331RL

[John McLean]

We have a Montana HC331RL that is currently on a permanent site in a campground.

The coach was purchased new in March 2019 an has two electric jacks behind the rear axle and the front 'landing gear' jacks. The coach is equipped with a self-leveling system. These are the only jacks we currently use to support the coach.

We have a kitchen/entertainment slide and an opposing living/dinette slide. The two slides are moved in and out by steel cables and it was discouraged to use the screw-type slide stabilizer jacks we used with our last camper that had slides that moved in and out with gears on top of solid steel bars.

I want to know/see pictures of what other Montana owners are doing to stabilize their units when you are set on a site for more than one night.

Thanks in advance,

John

[Jeff n Susan]

We stabilize our 330RL with the JT Strongarms. Very little movement once we are setup.

[jimcol]

I use steady fast http://www.steadyfast.com/inventor.html instead of JT Strongarms. Same theory but at the time was much less expensive. Also X-chocks between the wheels. https://www.campingworld.com/x-chock...ack-49876.html
Solved most of our bounce problems.

[Tom N OH]

We love our JT’s Strongarms. Well worth the money. Rock solid.

[John McLean]

Thanks Jeff. Started looking into those this morning after seeing your reply.

John

[John McLean]

Another good solution. Thanks for sharing.

[jsb5717]

We also use the Strong Arms...nothing else is needed. In fact, I installed them in the front only and it's been great.


Strong Arms, SteadyFast, BAL - all the same principle and would take care of it.

[John McLean]

Jeff,

The next time you have your camper set up, would you please post some pictures of your JT Stabilizers in action. I have an underbelly spare tire and I’ll bet you do, too. I’m wondering how the stabilizers work with that interference.

Thanks,

John

[jsb5717]

Originally Posted by John McLean

Jeff,

The next time you have your camper set up, would you please post some pictures of your JT Stabilizers in action. I have an underbelly spare tire and I’ll bet you do, too. I’m wondering how the stabilizers work with that interference.

Thanks,

John

That's the main reason I didn't install the stabilizers in the rear. But now that we've been using it with just the front 4 stabilizers installed we realize that we don't need them. I suppose I could figure it out but it's a non-issue at this point

[John McLean]

Don't you have an interference with the under the trailer belly spare tire carrier?

Posting pictures of your front and rear JT Strongarm installation would be nice.

[jsb5717]

Here you go. The fronts are a normal install. Nothing installed in the rear. You can see the spare tire carrier is in the way. I could figure out a way to anchor to the frame above the spring hangers but we just feel that we need them.

[John McLean]

Thanks Jeff. Looks like a good installation. We are set up on a site for an extended time, until this November. Our unit has opposing slides on the rear and we just feel some wriggling movement when anyone is walking in the camper. Have a very sturdy BAL tripod under the pin up front. Just trying to get rid of that wriggle.

[jsb5717]

You might consider the Steady Fast for 5th wheel with Auto Leveling system. I believe that would allow you to also stabilize the rear side to side between the 2 rear jacks.

As I said, with the Strong Arms just in the front we feel pretty stable throughout the 5er.


Edit: Like this

[Tom N OH]

The rear JT’s shouldn’t be too hard to figure out, depending on the position of rhe crossmembers of the frame. The rear ones are supposed to go side to side, not front to rear. Put the pivot bolts through the Jack with the pivot end toward the front, threads to the rear. Push up on the coroplast to find the crossmember, carefully cut a U shape in the coroplast at the center of the Crossmember, about 6” wide with the bottom of the U toward the rear of the trailer. Fold that flap down, drill & bolt the pivot bolts to the crossmember using one of the square tube pieces provided with the kit to reinforce the crossmember. Food the flap back, cut enough away for the flap to fit around the square tube, then clean the coroplast with brake cleaner or similar & use Gorilla tape to secure the flap. Assemble the sliding tubes & you’re done!

[John McLean]

What I am not getting is how these diagonal rod braces, that only connect to the frame, actually provide any additional stiffening for the kitchen/entertainment and recliner chairs/dinette opposing slides. These two slides are cantilevered out from the main frame on both sides.

[Tom N OH]

Originally Posted by John McLean

What I am not getting is how these diagonal rod braces, that only connect to the frame, actually provide any additional stiffening for the kitchen/entertainment and recliner chairs/dinette opposing slides. These two slides are cantilevered out from the main frame on both sides.

They stabilize the frame, which in turn adds stability to the slides & the rest of the trailer.

[jsb5717]

The slides are pretty secure in and of themselves. Ours don't move at all. Any movement we feel (which is more than I would like) is in the flex of the floor of the slide itself, which is pretty common without any real solution

[Jeff n Susan]

John, I also only use the front stabilizers. I feel that 95% of the wiggle comes from the front end, so I only installed the front sets. I do have the rear ones but I think they will be gathering dust as most of the wiggle is gone.
Money well spent.
As far as the slides, I have noticed some wiggle when we are setting down for dinner, but I think that movement is coming from the slide itself, (the design of them) not originating in the frame, so the JT's would not be a solution for that. If I were parked for a long time, I would probably be looking at slide out stabilizers, the ones that attach to the bottom of the slide, and then rest on the ground (Not sure of the proper name for them).
As far as the pics, ours are exactly like JSB5717's pic in his post above!
Good luck!

[jsb5717]

Originally Posted by Jeff Myers

As far as the slides, I have noticed some wiggle when we are setting down for dinner, but I think that movement is coming from the slide itself, (the design of them) not originating in the frame, so the JT's would not be a solution for that. If I were parked for a long time, I would probably be looking at slide out stabilizers, the ones that attach to the bottom of the slide, and then rest on the ground (Not sure of the proper name for them).
As far as the pics, ours are exactly like JSB5717's pic in his post above!
Good luck!

I think you'll find that the slides aren't sagging or really moving at all. I discovered that the floor in the slide has a lot of flex that can easily move the dining table and chairs. I had my wife step into the middle of the slide floor several times while I looked around and under the slide from the outside. While it moved quite a bit on the interior, nothing moved on the exterior at all. I went to the dealer and looked at different HC, I think it was a 330RL, and it did the same thing.

I attempted to have it fixed under warranty but was denied by Keystone since there's nothing to fix and they are all pretty much like that. Part of making it "lighter" I guess.

Slide stabilizers aren't really recommended and I would wager that they wouldn't make any difference.

[John McLean]

Thanks to everyone for their solutions and suggestions. Our 2007 Keystone Cougar slide was a different design and we could use the slide stabilizer jacks that were installed under the slide rails. The slides on our 2019 HC are of a different design and Keystone does not recommend using the stabilizer jacks.