GVWR and NCC for the 3400

[richfaa]

W.T..We do have the side to side pivot on the K Draw-Tite Hitch. As I said we have no comparison and we felt it should not chuck at all.I admit to being critical.The Mor-Ride rep said that Dually's tend to chuck more than others???On smooth roads it was perfect but on less than perfect roads we felt it chucked to much.. It was not at all uncomfortable and Helen never noticed it. Am I being too picky??? .Don't know???Don't you get just a little bit of chucking???

 

[Montana Sky]

Rich,
I have not really noticed any chucking w/ my Superglide. Believe me, we have some of the worst roads up here in the northwest due to freezing and thawing. I am not an expert, but do you think it could be possible you are feeling this more because you have 4 tires on the rear instead of 2?? More tires on the road could mean more viberation on the truck?? Just a thought......

 

[Wrenchtraveller]

Rich, how much Chuck can a Monty Chuck If a Chuck Chuck..................

No , honest Rich, never, nada, none, but I have heard from some RV sites that a side to side pivot hitch can have negative results. I weigh 185, If I stand in the bed of my truck with my legs far apart, I can get the suspention to rock side to side. Why would I want to allow 2600 pounds to be able to rock my truck. I have heard of people that lock their side to side hitches in heavy winds.
I'll stick with my old hitch and suffer the uneven ground connects. Take care.

 

[Montana Sky]

Pardon my ignorance, but isn't "chucking" a word used to describe a front to back motion? Not side to side? My Superglide has a 4-way pivot head, have not noticed any "chucking" or "rocking" from this hitch. Is there something I am missing??

 

[richfaa]

It is my understanding that chucking is front to back movement and Montana Skys comment about the 4 wheels vs two wheels is, i think what the Mor-ryde person was trying to tell me and both of you guys have SRW.When both of you say you have absolutely no chucking(and I believe that) I am wondering why I feel I do.My hitch is installed where it should be. My pin weight is within limits, etc.Perhaps we will hear from some DRW folks on the subject.....Do we never run out of questions???

By the way Dave..I am sure we here in Northern Ohio can match you bad road for bad road due to the extreme weather changes.....

 

[Wrenchtraveller]

I do realize chucking is fore and aft, just used the thread to give my thoughts on the side pivot hitch. I apologize for getting off topic. I agree that a side to side issue should not affect chucking or porpoising .

 

[Montana Sky]

Thank you for clearing that up, I just wanted to make sure I was using the proper terms and understood its meaning. =)

 

[8.1al]

Rich,
We have the Moryde pin box and felt it was chucking way too much and I wasn't getting much travel. I talked to Gary Wheeler and they replaced the rubber biscuit inside with a softer one. We still get some chucking but nowhere near as much as before and the rough roads are much, much better.

 

[richfaa]

Good information on the softer rubber biscuit.Gary wheeler will be at the fall rally.I will give him a call and see if he can do that for me..I just knew I was feeling some chucking....Thanks..

 

[David and Jo-Anna]

I don't want to "chuck" the discussion on chucking, but I'd like to followup on a remark Dave (Montana Sky) made in response to comments by Carol and Colleen regarding going with a fireplace or using that space for storage. Dave's point was that the 3400 has lots of storage cabinets and giving up one for a fireplace wouldn't be a big sacrifice. My question goes to whether or not a big,low-to-the-ground storage cabinet in the fireplace location might be considerably more valuable (especially for heavy items) than the overhead storage cabinets.

I have been struck by the number of overhead storage cabinets in the living and dining areas of the 3400 but have wondered about whether they can handle anything other than light weight items and/or whether, even if they could handle heavier items, it might not be a good idea--from a handling/weight balancing perspective--to put much weight up that high. Also, do the glass fronts present a risk of being broken if anything other than soft items are put in them?

Just how much do people use these overhead cabinets and what sort of stuff do you put in them?

 

[CountryGuy-REDW]

David,

Another good question.

We do put some heavy stuff in the overhead cabinets. HOWEVER, we don't put a LOT of it all in ONE cabinet. We tend to spread out the load/weights. Ours are pretty much full.

As far as not giving up the fireplace, Montana Sky will understand, when I say, there is only ONE of him, there are TWO of us, and of course, the kids (yorks). He has less clothing and stuff to stow away, just cause there is only one person in that rig. He can stretch that storage space a lot more than 2 people can.

As far as the glass fronts, not sure they are glass, might be plastic. IF you pack correctly, you will not have stuff shifting around in there. Many of us will use stuff like paper towels and toilet paper to "stuff" empty spots so stuff does not shift. I have had a bit of stuff shift, but believe me, compared to our old TT, this little shifting is NOTHING! I have 3 cabinets I velcro shut: the one under the TV where yorkie central is (fireplace), I think the latches are not lined up, and we just never have bothered to look, grab the velcro. That one opens almost every trip, go figure, yorkie crates don't weigh that much.

Also the 2 cabinets across the back I velcro, mainly because they are behind the slides,and if they open and something falls out, it could get ugly. (That said, I try to always open the slides just enough to walk back there, and really look hard for any thing that is on the floor that does not belong, then finish opening the slides). We did have the cabinet over the desk open on I 10 (before air pin), and there was stuff all over the place. I had to climb over the sink and use a stick to move things around so we could open the slides. Since I tend to put books and computer stuff in there, and that is the cubboard I do load the heaviest, that one got velcroed REAL fast. Since then, I try to NOT load it quite as heavy, putting some of the research books and stuff in other cabinets, including the washer/dryer closet. The chucking we experienced on I 10 chucked those books right up against the doors and popped em open.

We have heard very few reports of actually breaking the glass in the doors. Have had a few reports of the glass coming out, it is put in with a form of hot glue at the factory. We had one repaired by the service center and since then I have added a bit of hot glue to some others I thought were a bit thin.

Hope that helps.

(If you guys get a chance, you should take a trip to Goshen and go through the plant, that will really help you visualize. Also, attend a rally, even if you stay in a hotel/motel, come out and look at us in action in our rigs)

Cheers,

Carol

 

[Wrenchtraveller]

The fireplace is not very deep and the shallow storage spot I am losing by putting in a fireplace is not much good for anything. We were storing the hose and tools for the built in vacuum in that spot. We have lot's of other places to put those.

I think you will find the 3400 fireplace only costs you a shallow storage loss,
and when you replace the big tube TV with a flat plasma, you get another big storage place back.

You guys look like you like to cuddle so I think a fireplace is a must for you two.

We use the top cupboards for light things like paper towels, paper plates, bags of potatoe chips and store linen up there as well. We also put our light grocery boxes up there like dry soups and pasta. I also have a couple plastic boxes to hold a few light hardware items like TV cable and we also store our DVDs up there. We love all the storage in a Montana and even after 44 days on the road we had several cupboards with very little in them one of them is also my office where we store all the receipts and information you collect on the road.

I never had any of those doors ever come open, but you would never want anything up there that could fall out, break, or cause damage to the unit so anything like that is not put up there.

 

[CountryGuy-REDW]

David,

Wrenchtraveler brings up a good point. Our 3295 may have totally different space UNDER our tellie than say a 3400 or his 2955.

Better go look at a unit WITH a fireplace and WITHOUT a fireplace, see what you will gain if no fireplace in there. For us, it is significant space. NOT shallow on our 3295.

Carol

 

[Parrothead-MOC]

We have desk stuff over the desk, books in one (in the big slide), tool box in one and batteries, candles and flashlights in one. Since we aren't fulltiming the others are not very full. Like Carol we velcro ours closed. We have the fireplace and a washer/dryer combo and still feel we have plenty of storage in the 3400. We lived in the unit the first 9 months we had it and did not run out of storage then (we had all the cupboards fairly full then). We use paper towel rolls and/or toilet paper rolls to fill up empty spots.
Happy trails.......................

 

[richfaa]

The 3400 does have a lot of storage space.However IMO that is a fairly good sized hole under the tv where the fireplace goes.We store a lot of stuff there.The primary reason we gave up the fireplace , as we did the High Gloss and Dual pane windows was the weight factor.We traded those items for added carrying capacity IE.. W/D and freezer.. We do velcro all of our cabinets shut .We use the strips that look like tie wraps//just in case. There are a couple of cabinet windows,(what ever they are made of) that we line with bubble wrap on the inside because of heaver stuff that might shift also use those adjustable rods to keep stuff in.You can not see the bubble wrap from the outside. We have not had any doors come open but had a couple fall off... There are a lot of things to think about..

 

[Montana Sky]

David,
Carol made an excellent point, I am the only one "living" in my coach for 6 months during the summers. There is a difference between my 04 and the new 06/07 models, the water heater and furnace have been moved out of the kitchen island. In its place is a cabinet that I do not have. See, now you can get the fireplace and still have the same number of cabinets as me!! As stated I am single and most of the stuff in my coach is used on the weekends if not more often when all the family comes down to the river for some fun in the sun. A typical weekend has 4-6 people staying with me, and while things get a little tight, it works. When I head out for the rally next month, I will be unloading a great deal of stuff in my coach that is used for boating and staying on the river all summer. Sure dont need to haul the extra weight if I do need it. I know Steve and Vicki have just ordered a new 3400RL, and are on the road fulltime. I am very excited to get their thoughts once they have their new "home" loaded. Stay tuned for that report, I am sure it will give you a much better example of how 2 people "packed" their coach.

I am curious if anyone has called Keystone to get the "actual" weight of the fireplace??

 

[Driftwoodgal]

Since the other thread was locked I am posting the information I have about towing an overloaded rig in the state of California. This information is from a Senior California Highway Patrolman that is a supervisor.

I asked him if it is normal for him to pull over or have his men pull a TV and FW over because it is overloaded. He replied that unless someone was pulling a large FW with a 1/2 ton truck than the answer is no. If you were driving down the highway and were swaying or having trouble staying in your lane you would be pulled over and ticketed for an unsafe vehicle, no matter what you were pulling it with. They do ticket on a regular basis any combination of vehicles that are over 65' in length. You are allowed to pull something behind your Montana as long as you are within the length guidelines.

You are not required to go to the weigh stations. If stopped the officer would have to call in the commercial enforcement department to bring a mobile weigh unit to be able to give you a ticket. He said he has never heard of this happening. If the officer felt you were overloaded he could ask for a tow vehicle to take you off of the highway if he felt you were endangering others on the road way.

I will post the information about Texas once I have it.

Colleen

 

[David and Jo-Anna]

Wrenchtraveler--

With regard to your comment about the benefits of having a fireplace, yes Jo-Anna and I do very much like to cuddle. Not having a fireplace in our condo, we use candles---and I guess we were planning to do the same in the Monty. Of course, the only place we've seen the fireplace in operation so far is in a display model at the dealers--not the most romantic setting. Maybe if someone at the Fall Rally has theirs lit up at night, we might change our minds and decide to get a fireplace of our own. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Speaking of cuddling, it's that time. Chat tomorrow!!

 

[CountryGuy-REDW]

David,

Some of us have had some poor results with BURNING candles. They can leave smoke and black marks on the ceilings of the rigs. Some of us like the scented candles, but have switched to those little electric heater/melter things. (Someone come along and save me, what are those things really called??)

Well, that will give you all the more excuse/reason to buy the fireplace, got to get your atmosphere from somewhere, safer to NOT do it with burning candles, unless ya want a black ceiling.

 

[dsprik]

Just finished reading. Too tired tonight... will add my comments tomorrow. Good comments.