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Old 05-23-2022, 08:54 AM   #1
reresman08@gmail.com
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Cracking

Hi. I have a 2020 Montana High county Fifth wheel that has spider cracks on the hole one side of the trailer. The company says it is cosmetic only and is caused by temperature fluctuations. So because it is over the 1 year warranty period that they will not cover it.
 
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Old 05-23-2022, 11:30 AM   #2
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Originally Posted by reresman08@gmail.com View Post
Hi. I have a 2020 Montana High county Fifth wheel that has spider cracks on the hole one side of the trailer. The company says it is cosmetic only and is caused by temperature fluctuations. So because it is over the 1 year warranty period that they will not cover it.
First, welcome aboard! This is the right place for you and your Monty. Can you post some pics of the cracking? Others may know without needing them but they would help to give context.
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Old 05-23-2022, 11:35 AM   #3
Cat320
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Originally Posted by reresman08@gmail.com View Post
...The company says it is cosmetic only and is caused by temperature fluctuations...
So the company line is the cracks will go away when the temperature changes?

That's like Michelin telling me the cracks on my last motor home tires were ''normal.''
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Old 05-24-2022, 10:44 AM   #4
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Temperature Fluctuation?? BS!!
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Old 05-24-2022, 11:03 AM   #5
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sun

Quote:
Originally Posted by reresman08@gmail.com View Post
Hi. I have a 2020 Montana High county Fifth wheel that has spider cracks on the hole one side of the trailer. The company says it is cosmetic only and is caused by temperature fluctuations. So because it is over the 1 year warranty period that they will not cover it.
So this would be on the sunny side unless traveling? Have `18 that experiences temp swings all the time here in the north east and one side is always in the sun unless traveling. I don`t have any spider cracks. would like to see pics of this. This is kinda like my Gray HC front cap on the last unit faded from the top down and they (she) said I didn`t wax it enough and was my fault so no coverage even in warranty.
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Old 05-24-2022, 04:58 PM   #6
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There are a couple types of siding available. One is high gloss and the other isn't. I've seen the non-high gloss siding deteriorate from storing the trailer with a southern sun exposure. You can see what appears to be a spiderweb of fiberglass fibers that looks like cracking. Could this be the case?
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Old 05-25-2022, 09:24 AM   #7
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Cracking

One of my camping partners is going through the same issue with Keystone. The cracking is actually caused as a result of the interior frame welds coming loose. This is especially prevalent around the slide cutouts and roof peak areas. There is actually a service bulletin describing the issue and the required repair process.

https://www.keystoneforums.com/forum...0&d=1576700143
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Old 05-25-2022, 10:51 AM   #8
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The company saying cracks in the finish is just cosmetic is beyond silly. Like others said, it sound structural with something flexing that caused the cracks. And once again, another quality control issue on a $100K+ rig.
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Old 05-25-2022, 01:07 PM   #9
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The cracks are called crazing. Its happens with fiberglass boats. It is a cosmetic issue it dosent let water in but looks like crap. Removal of the outer glass and recoat is the only solution.
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Old 05-29-2022, 03:27 PM   #10
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My 2010 3000RK has cracks on the inside of the entry door. Outside skin is OK. Don't know what caused it, but not too worried.
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Old 05-29-2022, 09:15 PM   #11
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I am going through a similar situation with my 2021 rig. I have 2 stress cracks on the bottom corner of 2 different slides on opposite sides of my rig. My dealer is currently discussing the issue with Keystone since they won’t talk to the consumer directly. I wish I knew how to post pictures to share.
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Old 05-30-2022, 08:11 AM   #12
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I hope this worked, I’ve attached my pictures.
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Old 05-30-2022, 10:10 AM   #13
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RetiredandRollin - Those are classic signs of broken welds. You need to have this repaired under warranty.
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Old 05-31-2022, 06:25 PM   #14
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Retired and Rollin, those are NOT "cosmetic spider cracks", that is frame flex or broken stud welds. Mine started at the front slide bedroom slide. I never take my trailer off road and have babied it, so I know it wasn't due to abuse. After a long back and forth process with my original dealer, along with Camping World and Keystone, I was able to take it to a large local CW dealer that had a large body shop with expertise and the experience in repairing the flex issues (other Montana's in their shop for frame flex issues). While it was a very frustrating process, to be fair to Keystone, they did cover it under warranty even though my trailer had just gone past it's 3-year structural warranty. It took about 4 months in the shop (over the winter) to get a repaired. They had to remove a section of wall to re-weld wall studs and add additional structural support, then replace the fiberglass outer laminate, repaint / gel coat and replace decals. The repaired wall section looks almost perfect and very hard to tell it was ever repaired. Hopefully, your dealer will step up and help you with needed pictures and testing that Keystone will require to consider repairing it under warranty. At the dealership, I bumped into some Lippert techs that were working on a broken frame on a newer Montana and they confirmed there are frame flex / wall stud weld breaking issues occurring, especially around high stress areas (walls adjacent to slides). Hopefully, Keystone and Lippert have learned a lesson about how to allow for some flex in the solid walls and also beef up the frame and wall structures to reduce the total overall amount of damaging frame flex. I also learned that some frame flex (give) is very necessary and needed to maintain frame and wall integrity. The challenge is designing for a realistic range of customer real world uses and loads, while also reducing the amount of manufacturing variation in the frame and wall construction. Start with your dealer and begin a case number with Keystone.
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Old 05-31-2022, 09:25 PM   #15
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"I bumped into some Lippert techs that were working on a broken frame on a newer Montana and they confirmed there are frame flex / wall stud weld breaking issues occurring, especially around high stress areas (walls adjacent to slides). Hopefully, Keystone and Lippert have learned a lesson about how to allow for some flex in the solid walls and also beef up the frame and wall structures to reduce the total overall amount of damaging frame flex."

They've been dealing with this for years. I wonder how many more years they will take to engineer something that works. They seem to have a repair that works. Perhaps it is cheaper to fix a few than spend a couple hundred dollars to make them right the first time. I just feel for those that have to deal with it, especially those outside the warranty.
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