New Montana Owner

[StartingLate]

Hello All,

Just wanted to say Hi from my wife and me, I'm sure I'll have a few questions later, but for now I can share our unique or at least uncommon Montana story...

My Father-in-law (FIL) bought a 3295RK Montana back in 2005, and he and my mother-in-law (MIL) used it to host at national forest campgrounds in Utah.

In 2010, my FIL got cancer and in 2012 he passed away. The trailer has been sitting in my MIL yard since then, and only used as a guest house when family visit.

We are now empty nesters and decided it was time to start looking at trailers. After a few months of shopping and researching online we found what we wanted. My wife was talking with her mother about what we wanted to purchase and she offered that Montana. At first we said it was too big, going from memory staying in it. However, after more research we found out it was the same size as what we were going to buy new.

Now that we know the size / weight of the trailer, we bought our truck:
2024 Ford F350 Crew cab, short bed with 6.7 Powerstroke

Over Christmas, we had a mobile RV tech inspect it. All looks good, but in the spring will do wheel bearings, tires and brakes. After that we will head out and pick it up in Utah, and drive it back home to Michigan.

Once we have it back here, I plan on doing a bunch of upgrades. Mainly electrical for Boondocking or at minimum primitive camping.

Still need to get a hitch, so that might be a first question. I pulled around my buddies 2023 Montana with an Anderson ultimate hitch. He loves it and I like how light it is, but worry my older Montana has a "flatter" nose and might not give enough clearance to the truck cab.

Thanks for listening,
Scott and Lisa
2005 3295RK
2024 Ford F350, PowerStroke

 

[Cbrez]

Thanks for joining the forum and congrats on your new project. Sounds like you’ve got all the basses covered. I used to tow with a short box and tagged the cab several times while backing into tight sites. Minimal damage but I got the message. I changed to a slider hitch which solved the problem. What I didn’t like about the slider is the weight. I had to use a chain fall to remove the hitch when needed because DW and I were never going to lift the thing. Fortunately this wasn’t necessary very often.

Enjoy your new Montana and consider getting all of your questions answered at the national Montana rally in September in Goshen, IN.

 

[brycesteiner]

Welcome. The people here are very helpful!

 

[mlh]

Scott and Lisa welcome to MOC. Enjoy your new truck and camper. You are right to do the maintenance and especially new tires.
Lynwood

 

[DutchmenSport]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on acquiring your new Montana. It sounds like you've got "things" figured out for the camper's new future usage. I wish you great success and many happy miles of travel! Again, Welcome to the forums!

 

[Daryles]

Welcome.
If you like boondocking, I highly recommend looking into lithium batteries. You will get better longevity from them than FLA batteries.
Also solar is very good to have depending on where you boondock (trees can be a hindrance).

 

[Bourbon County]

Welcome aboard. There's information, tribal knowledge, and solutions on this forum for most anything you might encounter.

I pull with an Andersen hitch; they seem to be scorned on this forum. Mine was part of the package when I bought my Monty, didn't even there was such a thing on the market before then. I really like it, especially the fact I can install/remove it by myself. If I need the truck to be a regular flat bed pickup, I can make it happen in just a very few minutes.

You have a good thought about bed clearance, I don't know if this still holds true or not, but the Ford's used to have slightly taller bed sides than other makes. I've never had to do it, but I believe the ball mount has an additional hole for vertical adjustment. The only thing I would like to see is for the ball mount to have a turned shoulder so it would bottom out on the hitch frame adapter and not concentrate all of the weight on the pin.

 

[GreyGhost]

I have 2020 Montana 3121RL and pull it with a 2019 F-350 short bed, 4x4, 6.7 diesel. I did a lot research and decided to go with the BW 18K Patriot slider hitch and have never regretted my decision! Very good hitch and when I need the full bed I just undo the pins and leave it hooked to king pin and left it up enough to pull out. I love the BW hitch. Do your research and pick what you are happy with!!

 

[foldbak]

Welcome

 

[MGVenne]

Welcome! We have an Anderson hitch and I love it. Never had a problem with it.

 

[h2ojocky]

I have a 2005 2955RL and a short bed Chevy. You are right that that vintage trailer has a more square nose and you will have problems. I have read about plenty of them. I have the sliding hitch and it does work great. I installed a ATV winch in my garage to remove the hitch if I need the hitch removed.

 

[scottandsusan]

Sounds like a nice camper that's been part of the family for a long time.
Those slider hitches are heavy for sure. If I had a short bed I think I'd like the ones that automatically slide back are you make a turn.

 

[h2ojocky]

Scott and Lisa,
Many on this forum have said that the older trailers are built much better and I agree!
I know that solar is the new IN thing and I think in many ways it is. I opted to buy a portable generator at Harbor Freight Tools. I got the 3500 watt Predator Inverter generator and it performs excellent. It will run everything in my trailer, just not all at once. Some on this forum have stated that the onboard generators use way too much fuel and are expensive to maintain. There are several good portable generators out there just make sure you get an inverter enclosed generator, they are much quieter.

 

[StartingLate]

Thank you for all the replies and well wishes.

Sounds like I need to do the slider hitch.
For my Generator, I plan on doing the EcoFlow Delta Pro https://us.ecoflow.com/products/delta-pro-portable-power-station

 

[Carl n Susan]

It looks like that power station needs 120V AC to charge. That is hard to find when you are boondocking. If you have intermittent shore power, then you are OK. Otherwise you need a generator to charge it. So why not go with a decent sized battery bank, an inverter, and a small generator? Much less expensive and better when boondocking.

 

[StartingLate]

the EcoFlow can be charged via solar has inputs for that. But also plan on having a bi-fuel portable for emergency.

This link is what I plan on setting up the system like, but where the Onan Gen is in the diagram put in the EcoFlow.
https://i0.wp.com/allaboutrvsinfo.c...I-2-x120-Lynx.drawio.png?resize=300,208&ssl=1

 

[Spartacus]

Welcome and congrats.

 

[GilaElkHunter]

Congrats on your purchases, I also pull with an Andersen. FYI, there are different models of that hitch. I use the toolbox model; it is designed for trucks with an in-bed toolbox. I don't have a toolbox but wanted the room in front of the hitch for my generator. On my last fifth wheel it had the Reese Sidewinder (or Revolution) pin box. I really liked it; you might search and check out that option. It moves the pivot point back 21 inches for a short bed truck. Something to consider though if you go with an Anderson and decide to upgrade to a new fifth wheel it could void your warranty.