Frame Flex Survey

[Annaoinga]

Thank you GolfMedik! I hope you hear from them soon.

[Golfmedik]

I spoke with the Keystone warranty rep late yesterday and the transport company driver called me as well. He will be here Monday morning just after daylight. I will let you know how it goes.

[PeteandJoan]

Glad to see Keystone stepping up....a big step in the right direction.

[jeffba]

Well it has been 2.5 weeks since mine hit Goshen. Need to call to see where I am at. Left her 2 months ago. Brake failure on the road caused a delay

[mbjam359]

So where can I access the survey data?

[Annaoinga]

Glad to hear that! Hope they get it taken care of for good this time and you get to start enjoying your Montana!!! Will it be at Affinity or the factory?

[Annaoinga]

Ozzie Cozzies,
I recommend you contact Alisha at Keystone so she can help you! She's amazing.

[ExPatNW]

In hindsight I would have setup the survey a little differently, asked some different questions in addition to the ones I did ask. Whenever I have worked with surveys I always find that after the fact you wish you had done it differently. Nevertheless, this was not meant to be a scientific piece of work! My thanks goes to the 151 people who responded.

I wanted to answer the following questions:
1. How widespread was people’s awareness of the “frame flex” problem.
2. Of those that knew about it, how many had suffered from it?
3. Finally, was there a relationship between the size of the gap between the bedroom slide and the bottom of the nose of the 5th wheel.

So here goes at my answers (which are subjective):
1. Question 18 asked Before reading this survey, did you know what Frame Flex was? 119 responses and 84% said they did. Given most people found out about the survey either from the Montana Owners club forum or the 3790/3791RD Facebook group this does not surprise me. You don’t need to spend too much time in these groups to hear about the problem. Given how many Montana’s Keystone sells though, I wonder how many know in the general population who don’t browse these groups.

2. Question 19 asked if the survey respondents 5th wheel had been diagnosed with the problem. 34% said yes (113 responses).

3. Honestly this one was hard as I don’t think I setup the survey very well. Some Montana floorplans don’t have the same bedroom slide arrangement and so the questions were hard for these people to answer – it just didn’t really make sense. So I did the following:

a. I filtered the respondents to those people with a 2020 5th wheel. Only 5 respondents, but 80% said they had the large gap between the bedroom slide and the bottom of the nose. 100% said they had not been diagnosed with Frame Flex. Now to be fair, these lucky people have not had their RVs for long, but I hope for them it stays that way. Its certainly Keystone’s belief that they have re-designed this area to prevent the problem from happening. To really see what’s going on we would need to repeat the survey in 1-2 years time.

b. I selected 2018 3790/3791RD (inc Legacy) respondents, all of which indicated a small gap and even in this group not all had suffered from Frame Flex, 64% did, 36% did not. I checked in 2016 respondents for the same floorplan (9 respondents) and the % balance between yes and no was very close 67% and 33%.

I have attached the PDF report out (there are a few blank pages, not sure why – just skip past those).

My summary is not all rigs seem to have suffered from the problem, there clearly has been a design change in the 2020 models, but time will tell if this really has fixed the problem or not.

If you do think you have it call Keystone customer service @ 1-866-425-4369!

Happy Camping!

[CaptnJohn]

With a 2019.5 model 3761 FL I have 2 front slides so twice the concern.these slides go out farther I believe and have a sofa in each which is a bit heavier than the small portion of bed, especially with a couple adults sitting on them. I’ve only seen 1 other owner of this model posting on the Montana forum so maybe not too many sold yet to know if the problem exists yet.

[Golfmedik]

Originally Posted by Annaoinga

Glad to hear that! Hope they get it taken care of for good this time and you get to start enjoying your Montana!!! Will it be at Affinity or the factory?

Factory...

[Happycamper2020]

Your survey is no longer available. We have a 2020 model bought it in 2019 we are in review with keystone and Lippert to see if we have a frame flex issue.

[Happycamper2020]

3761 2020 model bought in 2019. Looks like frame flex issue with ours

[Our3231CK]

We also have had flex frame issues, our unit having been repaired by Keystone. Our first cracks appeared around the front hutch cabinet slide. Shortly after the door side crack appeared the opposite side crack appeared by the refrigerator. Our RVs incur hurricane tornado forces while traveling on the highways, so it shouldn't be a surprise that issues occur. The RVs are constructed using basic home style wall framing for stationary wood houses, except aluminum is used. Headers, Sill Plates, Double top plates, floor joists and cripples and all extremely important.

My only suggestion to the RV industry would be to consider incorporating a honeycomb design aluminum or carbon fiber for all the walls which have slides. Like high tech aircraft are made. (retired engineer).

My wife and I love our front kitchen design, the support from Keystone has been superb, we have traveled thousands of miles in our 2017 3820FK, anything mechanical requires maintenance and service, these are an expense that should be calculated in if your desire is to get on the road.
Owners have to consider how much they are loading into their RVs, and where they are loading it. We have been passed by RV's doing 75 plus MPH packed to the gills with stuff, the rear almost dragging the pavement.
With any luck the Pandemic campers will go back to brick and mortar, fuel prices will return to acceptable levels and RV repair locations will have same day or week appointments.

Everyone have happy and safe travels
Rick

[d1999aads]

We are having the same issue with the slide on our 2017 HC 305rl.... just noticed it an a small crack on the inside wall. Who did you contact about this? The dealer or Montana?

[Golfmedik]

Originally Posted by d1999aads

We are having the same issue with the slide on our 2017 HC 305rl.... just noticed it an a small crack on the inside wall. Who did you contact about this? The dealer or Montana?

Contact your dealer to have the documentation process started for the claim, then follow up with Keystone Customer service as most dealers will NOT want to deal with this as they have NO IDEA how to repair them. A lot of dealers will tell you that the claim has been denied when in fact, they haven't even started the claim. Follow up.