Our Brake Problem finally solved

[bigrockbruce]

For all of you that so kindly gave us a heads-up on our brake dilemma; thank you and here is what happened. A special thanks to Charlie, he knew from the beginning that it was the Monty's brakes.

On our way home from purchasing our new 3295RK Bruce could tell that something was wrong with our brakes. He contacted the service department at the place we purchased our Monty. They insisted that we take our truck into a Ford dealership to have them check and verify that the flashing red light wasn’t a problem with the truck brakes. FORD service found NO problem with the factory installed brake controller.

Bruce contacted the dealer service department and told them that he felt the problem was in the 5th wheeler’s brakes. They wanted us to bring the rig back (60 miles) to them so they could take a look at the brakes. Bruce convinced them that he wasn’t going to tow it anywhere if he had no brakes and within a week they sent a service truck to our house.

They found shorted wires in the right passenger side brakes on the Monty. The wires were rubbing on the steel arm. Bruce suggested that they use some protective cover over the steel arm to prevent the wires from wearing. Bruce works for the power company so he had some heavy “heat shrinks” that slipped over the metal where they were rubbing.
The service rep also found on the driver side, some potential bad connections so he also repaired them.

It is not the problem with the 5th wheeler it is a problem with the company (Dexter) that make the axles for most motor homes and 5th wheelers. It is obviously a very poor design where the wires are routed into the magnets.

Keystone must know that this has been a problem more than once and anyone having this type of brakes and axles should have their dealer check this situation before leaving the lot. The damage on ours was done when they towed our rig from Indiana to Washington State.
The service rep that came to our house advised us that Bruce towed our new RV 60 miles home with no brakes. Bruce wasn’t too happy and we hope this same situation doesn’t happen to anyone else.

We are set to leave on our first trip this Thur. Sept. 22 for 4 days. We are headed for Ocean City, Washington and hope to have good weather. We’ll have to let you know how that turns out.
Have a good week.
Linda

[richfaa]

Thank you ..this problem has been added to our "how come" list for our factory tour.We have the Ford with the TBC.By the way had the same trouble with our Present Terry TT although we did have brakes on the other three wheels.

[5rvers]

Glad you had that taken care off. Now go and enjoy your new rig.

[CountryGuy]

We had similar problems in 1984 and forward to just before we purchased Montana in 2003, with 2 different rigs. They used to route those brake wires THROUGH the axles, where they would bounce around and nick the wires and short out. Plus, they frequently attached to the brakes (once the wire was OUT of the axle) with a very short wire. My curling iron lost the war, and the cord was cut and used to repair those short brake wires a couple of times. Good thing it came with a VERY long cord! HAHA Al would notice something wrong when braking, we would pull over, we each would dive for a set of wheels, and see who could come up with a broken wire. I think I won that contest at least 2 times! SIGH

So far, since Montana, I am happy to report I have not even had to dive for wheels and short or broken wires. KNOCK ON WOOD! HAHA, I don't even know if they are still sending the wires through the axles. Have to ask Al when he gets home from his moms!