01 What Montana High Country is
Montana High Country is Keystone's lighter luxury fifth wheel, positioned just below the full-size wide-body Montana and above the Cougar fifth wheels. Keystone, based in Goshen, Indiana and a subsidiary of Thor Industries, builds High Country on a standard-width chassis rather than the wide-body of the flagship Montana — a lighter, lower-profile coach aimed squarely at buyers whose truck cannot carry the heavier full-size line, cross-shopping Grand Design's Reflection and Solitude, Forest River's Cedar Creek and Sabre, Alliance's Avenue and Jayco's Pinnacle. These are residential layouts for full-timers and families towing a properly rated three-quarter-ton or one-ton truck, with the lightest plans reaching into heavy half-ton-plus territory.
The build is luxury-tier but tuned lighter than the flagship. Every High Country rides on 7,000-pound Dexter Gladiator axles with Nev-R-Adjust self-adjusting brakes, a MORryde CRE-3000 rubberized wet-bolt suspension and a MORryde rubber pin box, on 16-inch Rainier load-range-H tires, over a 10-inch I-beam z-frame on the smaller plans and a 12-inch I-beam on the larger. The two signatures that separate it from the full-size Montana are its Ground Control electric auto-leveling (four-point on the smaller plans, six-point on the larger) in place of the flagship's hydraulic Level-Up, and Coleman Mach air conditioning. The body is 2-inch composite-backed high-gloss laminated fiberglass under a walkable Alpha seamless TPO roof, behind a MaxTurn front cap with KeyShield automotive-grade paint, over a Four Seasons Living zero-degree-tested, fully enclosed and heated underbelly with forced hot air and electric tank heaters.
The systems and interior package are strong for the tier. A GE 18-cubic-foot residential refrigerator with a 2,000-watt inverter, a three-burner range, a residential microwave, a central vacuum, a 5,000-BTU fireplace and a king bed come standard, alongside a 15,000-BTU Coleman Mach Quiet Series air conditioner with a heat pump, a 35,000-BTU furnace, an on-demand tankless water heater and 50-amp service, backed by Keystone's three-year limited structural warranty. For 2026 the line runs to eleven floorplans; the six broadest-appeal layouts are profiled in depth below and five are catalogued from published specifications. The two-bath 381TB and 397FB and the four-slide 389BH bunkhouse headline the family end of the range.
02 Floorplans profiled in depth
Six broad-appeal 2026 High Country floorplans are profiled in full with verified specifications, spanning the line from the shortest rear-living couples’ coach to the two-bathroom family plan and the versatile bonus-room flagship: a rear-living plan, a bunkhouse, an elevated rear-den plan, a front-living plan, a two-full-bath plan and the mid-bonus-room 385BR.
| Floorplan | Dry wt | Length | Sleeps | Layout | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 295RL | 11,595 lbs | 34' 0" | 6 | Rear living, island kitchen — shortest, lightest, highest payload | $91,515 |
| 351BH | 13,278 lbs | 39' 0" | 8 | Rear bunk room, triple slides — compact family plan | $104,648 |
| 385BR | 13,794 lbs | 40' 9" | 10 | Mid bonus room + loft, outdoor kitchen — priciest | $113,130 |
| 373RD | 13,399 lbs | 41' 4" | 8 | Elevated rear den, two hide-a-beds, fireplace | $107,558 |
| 377FL | 13,513 lbs | 41' 11" | 10 | Front living great room — four slides, sleeps ten | $108,608 |
| 381TB | 14,364 lbs | 42' 5" | 10 | Two bedrooms, two full baths, queen loft | $108,840 |
Body specifications (lengths, heights, tanks, sleeping, slides, awnings, A/C, I-beam and leveling) are verified against the RVUSA structured records for the 2026 High Country roster. Dry weight (UVW) is the Keystone/dealer published figure — each plan's published dry pin equals the RVUSA structured pin exactly — CCC (payload) is the RVUSA value, and GVWR is shown as dry plus CCC. RVUSA does not publish dry weight or GVWR for this line and exterior width and interior height are not published consistently, so they are omitted rather than estimated. MSRP figures are starting MSRP; dealer (street) pricing runs well below placard. Real loaded pin weights run higher — weigh the loaded coach and confirm against your truck's payload and rear-axle ratings.
03 Also in the 2026 line
Five further 2026 High Country floorplans are catalogued here from published specifications but not yet profiled in depth: the rear-den 311RD, the rear-kitchen 325RK, the high-payload rear-living 331RL, the four-slide 389BH bunkhouse and the two-full-bath 397FB. Each rides the same standard-width chassis and running gear as the profiled plans. Pin weight, cargo capacity and dimensions are verified against the RVUSA structured records; the 325RK and 397FB do not publish a dry weight at the source, so GVWR is not shown for them rather than estimated.
| Floorplan | Dry wt | GVWR | Payload | Pin | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 311RD | 11,880 lbs | 15,710 lbs | 3,830 lbs | 2,350 lbs | 35' 0" |
| 325RK | — | — | 3,740 lbs | 2,410 lbs | 36' 7" |
| 331RL | 12,115 lbs | 16,478 lbs | 4,363 lbs | 2,580 lbs | 37' 4" |
| 389BH | 13,880 lbs | 16,437 lbs | 2,557 lbs | 2,525 lbs | 40' 5" |
| 397FB | — | — | 2,105 lbs | 2,875 lbs | 43' 0" |
Catalogued cargo (CCC), pin and length figures are the RVUSA structured values; where a published dry weight is available, GVWR is shown as dry plus CCC, and where it is not (325RK, 397FB) both dry weight and GVWR are omitted rather than estimated. These plans are documented for reference and their full floorplan profiles are planned but not yet published.
04 How to choose
The High Country line sorts by where the living space goes, how many people sleep aboard and how much length and pin your truck can carry. For the shortest, most maneuverable couples’ coach, the 295RL puts a rear living area with a hide-a-bed sofa behind an island kitchen with a front king, keeping the whole rig to 34 feet on the line’s lightest 2,455-pound pin — and it carries the most cargo of any profiled plan, 3,608 pounds. The catalogued 311RD and 331RL step up in length as rear-den and rear-living couples’ coaches, the 331RL with the highest cargo capacity in the line at 4,363 pounds, and the catalogued 325RK is a rear-kitchen plan built around cooking.
For families, the plans open up. The 351BH is a compact triple-slide bunkhouse sleeping eight with a rear bunk room and a front master; the elevated-rear-den 373RD adds a separated second living room with theater seating and a fireplace; and the front-living 377FL raises a front great room on four slides, sleeping ten. At the top, the two-bath, two-bedroom 381TB carries a queen loft and the largest waste tanks in the profiled range, the mid-bonus-room 385BR adds a flexible office/guest room with a loft and an outdoor kitchen, and the catalogued four-slide 389BH bunkhouse and two-bath 397FB round out the family end. Note that the family plans carry the tightest cargo capacities — the 381TB’s 2,254 pounds is the lowest profiled — so watch payload closely.
Across all of them the build is consistent: 7,000-pound Dexter Gladiator axles, the MORryde CRE-3000 suspension, 16-inch load-range-H tires, Ground Control electric auto-leveling, the enclosed heated underbelly, the Alpha walkable TPO roof, the GE 18-cubic-foot refrigerator with inverter, the three-burner range, the central vacuum, the 15,000-BTU Coleman Mach air conditioner and the tankless water heater. The decision is layout, sleeping capacity, length, weight and pin — and, against the full-size Montana, whether your truck needs the lighter High Country chassis in the first place.
05 What to weigh before buying
This is the lighter Montana — the reason to buy it is the chassis, not the badge
High Country sits below the full-size wide-body Montana in Keystone's fifth-wheel range, on a standard-width chassis at a lighter weight and a slightly lower price, and it competes with the luxury full-profile class — Grand Design's Reflection and Solitude, Forest River's Cedar Creek and Sabre, Alliance's Avenue and Jayco's Pinnacle. Its case is a genuinely lighter luxury coach — a standard-width body on 7,000-pound Dexter Gladiator axles with a MORryde CRE-3000 suspension, a rubber pin box and Ground Control electric auto-leveling — that a heavy half-ton-plus or three-quarter-ton truck can carry where the wide-body Montana would be too much. If your truck can handle the full-size Montana, cross-shop the two Keystone lines on space and price; if it cannot, High Country is the point of the line.
An 18-cu-ft residential fridge with inverter, central vacuum and Coleman Mach A/C are standard
The standard equipment is strong for the price. Every 2026 High Country ships with a GE 18-cubic-foot residential refrigerator with a 2,000-watt inverter that runs it off battery, an on-demand tankless water heater rather than a tank unit, a 15,000-BTU Coleman Mach Quiet Series air conditioner with a heat pump, a 35,000-BTU furnace, a three-burner range with a residential microwave, a central vacuum, a 5,000-BTU fireplace, Ground Control electric auto-leveling and an Alpha walkable TPO roof, over a Four Seasons Living enclosed heated underbelly. That makes the coach well equipped and cold-weather-ready out of the box — worth factoring into any cross-shop against a comparably equipped Reflection, Cedar Creek or Avenue, where an inverter, tankless water or a residential refrigerator can be upcharges.
Match the truck honestly — and watch the family plans' cargo capacity
High Country is lighter than the flagship Montana, but it is still a full-profile fifth wheel. The profiled plans run from 11,595 to 14,364 pounds dry on GVWRs of 15,203 to 16,780 pounds, all on 7,000-pound Dexter axles. Dry pins run from 2,455 pounds on the 295RL to 2,780 pounds on the 373RD — and real loaded pins run higher. Just as important is cargo capacity: the couples’ plans carry well (the 295RL’s 3,608 pounds, the catalogued 331RL’s 4,363), but the two-bath and bonus-room family plans are tighter — the 381TB’s 2,254-pound CCC fills quickly with a full house, water and gear. Treat brochure pin weights as a floor, weigh the loaded coach, and confirm against your truck's door-jamb payload and rear-axle ratings before buying.
06 What every Montana High Country has
08 Recalls
NHTSA lists 10 recall campaigns affecting this line. The earliest was reported 5 Oct 2010 and the most recent 27 Mar 2024.
| Reported | Campaign | Component | What can go wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Mar 2024 | 24V234000 | Equipment | A circuit board that overheats increases the risk of a fire. |
| 11 Mar 2022 | 22V144000 | Electrical system | Inoperable safety alarms increase the risk of injury. |
| 19 May 2021 | 21V368000 | Equipment | Wet electrical connections can increase the risk of a fire. |
| 26 Feb 2019 | 19V129000 | Equipment | If the cargo tray detaches, the tray may hit someone, increasing the risk of injury. |
| 27 May 2015 | 15V317000 | Equipment | If the room extends while vehicle is in motion, there is an increased risk of a crash. |
| 23 Apr 2013 | 13V155000 | Equipment | If the awning unfurls unexpectedly either in transit or while parked, it may increase thre risk of personal injury or a crash. |
| 8 Dec 2011 | 11V577000 | Electrical system | Continued use OF the vehicle without replacing the transfer switch may damage other appliances, increase the risk OF A fire, personal injury, and property damage. |
| 23 Nov 2010 | 10V594000 | Electrical system | Overheating OF the connections could result IN A fire. |
| 17 Nov 2010 | 10V587000 | Equipment | The sensing algorithm OR thermal switch installed TO shut off power TO the refrigerator when high temperatures are detected due TO A possible hydrogen gas leak may… |
| 5 Oct 2010 | 10V478000 | Equipment | A propane leak IN the presence OF AN ignition source could result IN A fire and/or explosion causing property damage and/or personal injury. |
Coverage is not complete, and this matters. These campaigns come from two passes over NHTSA’s public record: a query-by-query harvest of the recall API (1,556 queries, of which 0 failed and 242 returned an explicit zero), and a sweep of NHTSA’s complete recall flat file (325,650 rows), which added 46 campaigns the API harvest had missed. It missed them because the roster it worked from was built by a catalog endpoint that refuses most requests, so entire manufacturer names were never asked about — NHTSA files several Forest River sub-brands as makes of their own. Two limits remain: NHTSA sometimes files a roster under a parent name, and some matches below rest on the wording of the recall rather than its model field. Campaigns affecting only pre-2005 units fall outside this catalog’s range and are not listed. This page is a starting point, not a clearance. Check a specific VIN at NHTSA before you buy, and again before you tow.
09 Owner-reported problems
Owners have filed 14 complaints with NHTSA about this line. The earliest was filed 21 Oct 2010 and the most recent 20 May 2022. The breakdown below is what those owners actually reported, grouped by the component NHTSA assigned.
Safety outcomes in this set: 1 report describing a fire. These are the owner’s own account of what happened and have not been verified by NHTSA.
What gets reported
| Component group | Reports | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown or other | 5 | 36% |
| Equipment | 2 | 14% |
| Structure | 2 | 14% |
| Suspension | 2 | 14% |
| Equipment adaptive/mobility | 1 | 7% |
| Service brakes | 1 | 7% |
| Tires | 1 | 7% |
Most recent reports
The most recent 10 owner reports filed on this line, newest first. Wording is NHTSA’s summary of what the owner described.
| Filed | Component | Miles | What the owner reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 May 2022 | Unknown or other | — | This for a fifth wheel. I had a fire sparked from the 120V connection in my camper. Luckily I was at my campsite and it happened during the day, and I was able to extinguish the fire before it got worse. I paid for the repair and I am still waiting for reimbursement from manufacturer. I also stated… |
| 1 Dec 2021 | Unknown or other | — | Safety Recall: US: 21V-368 FIRE HAZARD 120VAC wiring connectors for the slide room circuit that can get wet and stay wet for extended periods of time due to the way they are mounted. Under certain conditions if the 120VAC connections are wet for an extended period of time it can lead to an… |
| 8 Jun 2021 | Service brakes | — | We took our 2020 Montana High Country 5th wheel to the dealer for routine preventative maintenance. When they were repacking the bearings, they found 3 of the 4 seals were blown and there was grease on the backing plates and pads. This 5th wheel had less than 1700 miles on it. The technician said… |
| 7 Jun 2021 | Equipment | 2,000 | The contact owns a 2020 Keystone Montana High Country. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, the antenna flew off the camper without warning. Upon inspection, the contact's husband noticed wiring hanging off the camper. Upon further inspection, he saw that the antenna was missing from the… |
| 25 Mar 2021 | Structure | 12,500 | Our brand new, $84,000, 2019 keystone RV montana high country 373RD, that we bought on 05-30-2019, was not built to applicable codes and standards, nor protected against fire and vehicle damage, and is in violation of the nhtsa and dot's highway safety standards. It is A complete hazard! We… |
| 9 Oct 2020 | Structure › Body | 4,500 | While returning from A camping trip we had A rainier st tire made by tredit tire blow out on the right side of the trailer causing damage to the right side and underneath of the trailer. Neither keystone nor tredit tire will admit fault.*dt consumer stated vehicles were taken by the dealer.*jb |
| 24 Jul 2020 | Unknown or other | — | On 4/4/2020 at camping world, harrisburg, pa when picking up the camper from service work, it was observed that the 2 front weight bearing jack mount bracket welds had torn away from the camper frame and were bent and twisted. Camping world staff were notified and they were replaced. The camper was… |
| 15 Jan 2020 | Unknown or other | 3,000 | My 2018, keystone montana high country 385BR had less than 3000 miles when the left front tire had separation exposing the steel belt. The tires were rainer tires F rated for A unit with A GVWR of 16K lbs. I only carry 800 pounds of cargo in the unit. I replaced the tires with G rated tires, and… |
| 24 Feb 2017 | Unknown or other | 4,850 | Atwood furnace model AFMD35131A control card failure due to design error that places the control card in an area where condensation from the motor collects. Card failure can result in potential loss of control of the propane supplied furnace and overheating and fire. Atwood has A relocation kit for… |
| 14 Jul 2016 | Suspension | 8,000 | On 05/24/2016 7 weeks into A vacation we found the CRE3000 suspension alighment system on the right side of the coach to be missing all the fasteners and bolts that connect it to the axles. Local RV repairman replaced 2 links, 2 bolts and 2 fasteners. He checked lefthand equipment for proper… |
How this count is drawn. A report is counted here only when NHTSA’s own model field names this line. What the owner typed in the description is never used to attribute a report: our line names are ordinary English words, and an owner writing “imagine my surprise when the axle went” or naming the state of Montana is not reporting a Grand Design Imagine or a Keystone Montana.
Read these as reports, not as findings. Complaints are submitted by owners and NHTSA does not verify them; no complaint here has been confirmed as a defect, and none of them is a recall. The sample is also self-selected — only owners motivated to file appear in it — so a high count tracks how many units a line sold at least as much as how well it was built. Use the pattern, not the total: a component that keeps recurring is worth inspecting on any used unit. File or search complaints at NHTSA.