| |
Subject |
Author |
Date Posted |
Forum
|
 |
RE: Hallmark Pop-up Truck Campers
We love our Cuchara and always boon dock camp but limit off road to forest service roads etc mostly because of the truck we own now. Our first Cuchara was on my F350 reg cab 4x4 with big mud tires and I took it many places that I would never try with the Dodge because of the wheel base. The Cuchara’s side wall is shorter than the Outfitter, which was a big deal to us because I have 9 foot garage doors and the Outfitter would not clear that on my truck.
I’ve never owned an Outfitter but a lot of people here do and like them. I’m on my second Hallmark and would definitely purchase another one based on quality and customer service.
|
ISBRAM
|
05/08/13 11:25am |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: Hellwig front antisway bar installed...
It’s funny you should mention driveways as I had forgotten what an improvement the front bar had made when going thru them. Also on the inside lane at intersections where the road crown drops off and then starts again.
I would also agree on eliminating under steer and the pucker factor in high speed turns. I hate driving something that drives like it's unbalanced.
I used to be a rear wheel drive 911 pilot, and was very happy to own a neutral car when I traded for my Corvette ZO6.
|
ISBRAM
|
04/28/13 01:41pm |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: With or without oven
Our first popup didn’t have an oven and we didn’t really think much about it. But when we went to a trailer it had an oven and at first my wife was using it to make biscuits and cinnamon rolls almost every trip.
My wife really is an excellent cook so soon she was bringing along at least one frozen homemade meal per trip, lasagna, enchiladas etc.
So when we ordered our new popup camper it was a no brainer that it would have an oven even though we would give up a little storage.
|
ISBRAM
|
04/22/13 05:18pm |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: Estes Park
Beautiful pics. Do you guys like your Hallmark camper?
Absolutely we do, in fact we sold our first Hallmark after many years of use and tried a 21’ Shasta trailer for a few years because we thought we needed something bigger. We decided the popup truck camper fit our needs much better and allowed us access to areas that the trailer could not.
We looked at the other manufactures offerings and went back and ordered a new Hallmark Cuchara, we like it even better than our first one.
|
ISBRAM
|
04/21/13 11:28am |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: Estes Park
I’m sure you will be impressed with the tour of Hallmark.
We love Estes Park and stay there several times a year. But we always make a late September camping trip to Kenosha Pass on us 285, it’s a great Aspen viewing area.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/isbram/320895_152890814803234_100002469493407_262770_1259751068_n.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/isbram/IMG_07581.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/isbram/IMG_07711.jpg
|
ISBRAM
|
04/21/13 09:29am |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: Rear Sway bar upgrade from stock--suggestions?
Yesterday I received and installed the Roadmaster bar on my F350. That sucker is BIG! So big, you question if it is even a good idea. The links, bolts, mounts, etc. look quite insubstantial in comparison.
Here is the old and new bar, showing the substantial difference in size, 1.5" compared to 1.062". That is a 4x increase in roll stiffness:
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd211/swarf_rat/Bigfoot10_4/Swaybar2_zps5ff7dae8.jpg
And the installed bar:
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd211/swarf_rat/Bigfoot10_4/Swaybar3_zps6055d69b.jpg
I drove the truck around the block empty, there was not a noticeable difference in ride quality. I think I do notice the increase in rear roll stiffness: when one side on the rear encounters a bump independently, the front of the truck reacts more than it used to. I haven't tried it with the camper yet, but this is all that you can possibly do with an anti-roll bar.
Great photos, when I installed the rear Roadmaster bar on my Ram it helped a lot. Later on I put one on the front also and it helped at least as much.
Great product!
|
ISBRAM
|
04/17/13 06:01pm |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: Pop up verses hard sided truck campers
We were very happy with the many years of service that we had with our 1994 Hallmark popup. So after a few years with a trailer we went back and bought brand new one.
I’m very happy with and the materials changes they made to make the exterior almost maintenance free. I know that they are pricy but I think they are well worth their cost.
And my experience with their customer service after the sale has been top notch. I wish I could say that about every RV company I’ve done business with.
|
ISBRAM
|
04/05/13 04:43pm |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: battery questions
I had an intermittent parasitic battery drain issue going on for several months; I’m pretty good at diagnosing electrical problems but was having a hard time tracing this because it was intermittent.
I finally caught my Parallax Magnetek 7345’s lower section drawing .34 amps with the shore power unplugged and all the fuses to the branch circuits pulled. It must have had a bad transistor or IC switch in it as sometimes the draw would go away if you plugged into shore power and unplugged it again.
I replaced the lower section with a Progressive Dynamics 9260 with the charge wizard, problem solved. Now I have a much faster battery recovery time when I plug into shore power or my Honda eu2000i and the advantage of a smart charger not boiling my battery’s all the time.
Like this?;
http://home.earthlink.net/~whemme/
Yep that was what I did mine, the 9260 fits perfect. All you need is some basic tools and skill using them, it only took me about two hours.
|
ISBRAM
|
03/30/13 12:37pm |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: battery questions
I had an intermittent parasitic battery drain issue going on for several months; I’m pretty good at diagnosing electrical problems but was having a hard time tracing this because it was intermittent.
I finally caught my Parallax Magnetek 7345’s lower section drawing .34 amps with the shore power unplugged and all the fuses to the branch circuits pulled. It must have had a bad transistor or IC switch in it as sometimes the draw would go away if you plugged into shore power and unplugged it again.
I replaced the lower section with a Progressive Dynamics 9260 with the charge wizard, problem solved. Now I have a much faster battery recovery time when I plug into shore power or my Honda eu2000i and the advantage of a smart charger not boiling my battery’s all the time.
|
ISBRAM
|
03/30/13 07:04am |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: Another new one (Hallmark)
Freedom 49,
What NS camper collapsed?
X2 Really???
The stress load on the cab over with a pop up is very high. I remember my hunting buddy that was a rocket scientist at Lockheed Martin checking out my first Hallmark pop up.
He was looking for hidden cables or supports; his conclusion was that the side wall was built a lot stronger than it looked. Because the design depended on sheer strength of the materials, he warned that any future water damage could be a major issue.
I never had and any issues with my Hallmark but I inspected and calked as necessary as any RV owner should.
|
ISBRAM
|
03/29/13 05:50pm |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: Another new one (Hallmark)
NS cabover is 'new and interesting'?? Only in the sense that it's 8 or more years behind some others.
Hallmark is a great company, with great products -- but come on.
I believe it is a first for a popup truck camper with a cab over profile as low as a Hallmark camper to offer a queen north/ south bed. That might not seem like much too some people but the additional stress on the walls are multiplied substantially.
I could not even consider an Outfitter camper with it's north/ south because it wont clear my 9 foot tall garage door when it's on my truck.
Now I’m thinking an upgrade may be in our near future.
:C
|
ISBRAM
|
03/28/13 05:30pm |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: Sway-bar Advice.
Roadmaster, I replaced rear first and did the front later. Both made a huge differance.
I did the bars after the everything else, just like you will be doing.
|
ISBRAM
|
03/10/13 09:37am |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: 19.5 Vision/Michelin XDS2 Balance/Shaking Expectations?
Discount Tire and Services of Greeley over on 8th. They said they have been doing this for all the oil field trucks and have had good luck. Where are you taking your fleet trucks?
I too use Discount Tire for my personal vehicles they are a very good company. The fleet around 2000 units so we have our own tire people, but their not allowed to touch a non fleet tire.
I’d have Discount check the tires and wheels for true. If that’s ok get the sand out and balance the tires.
|
ISBRAM
|
03/09/13 05:00pm |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: 19.5 Vision/Michelin XDS2 Balance/Shaking Expectations?
Who did you purchase/ have the tires mounted to the wheel by? I’ve used dynamic balancing beads in the past but had mixed results and went back to weights.
We have several F450/ F550’s 4x4’s in the fleet where I work with XDS2’s on them and they drive smooth. Although you can hear the tires at higher speeds especially after they start to get some wear on them.
|
ISBRAM
|
03/09/13 07:38am |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: TC and awnings
ISBRAM,
Is your rear awning aftermarket? If so, what brand? Looks great! Could you either post or send pictures of the mount and of how the side braces are done?
The rear awning is a Flamma F35 Pro, and it’s an option on a Hallmark. It is very light so it works great on a popup, but it's more difficult to use than the Carefree crank out on the side.
The telescoping aluminum struts store inside the main tube, you just unroll it and attach the struts. It is much easer after you do it a few times, and it helps a lot to have someone else hold the tube when setting it up.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/isbram/DSCN2748.jpg
|
ISBRAM
|
03/04/13 04:20pm |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: TC and awnings
We love the awnings for the shade and keeping rain from coming in the back door. If it gets breezy I crank the side one in.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/isbram/DSCN28201.jpg
|
ISBRAM
|
03/03/13 04:33pm |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: Porch Photos
I have photos on Photobucket. I typed in the URL in the image URL block.
Try copy and paste from the direct link at photobucket to the image url block.
|
ISBRAM
|
03/02/13 07:08pm |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: Stable Loads on a Dodge Ram
I really like the way adding Stable Loads helped my Ram’s rear suspension. I was able to drop the air pressure in the bags from 75psi to 35 psi or less.
I mostly use the air bags to level side to side now. The ride was also better and it did help some with side sway. I still ended up adding bigger anti sway bars, first at the rear and then the front.
Every step I made helped a lot with better control and I’m to the point now that I can drive just as fast thru mountain curves as I could unloaded before.
On my Ram I had to remove the overload spring perches and drill thru them per the instructions for installation. It was a real pain to do but the results were worth it.
|
ISBRAM
|
02/23/13 07:33pm |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: Got a new Toy
Nice trade and your not the only one thinking along these lines.I traded my rareley used Harley for this Challenger last summer.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/isbram/Untitled-1.jpg
|
ISBRAM
|
01/23/13 05:38am |
Truck Campers
|
|
RE: Outfitter or Hallmark
A new camper purchase is a big ticket and I also suggest you look at you choices in person, and truly access your wants and needs.
We looked at all of the pop up truck campers offered to see what had changed since we owned our last Hallmark camper.
We also shopped Outfitter, but when we found that travel height of the camper on our truck was too tall for our garage door that killed any further research at Outfitter.
Hallmark was very helpful and professional throughout the build and purchase process. Randy put all the options and the pricing in writing but in the end all he wanted was a handshake to finalize the deal. We didn’t put a dime into the camper until we were happy with everything and it was loaded on our truck.
Good luck and try to make this purchase experience fun, as ours certainly was.
|
ISBRAM
|
01/13/13 04:56pm |
Truck Campers
|
