RE: Komfort brand 5Th wheels?
Sure, It is obvious I know nothing about Komfort, that's why I wanted to tour the plant! ... I was satisfied with user reports but was turned away by the people who actually build them... I don't think that's being negative; just adding my experience... Isn't that what the forum is about?
You are certainly injecting negative thoughts when you say "I just figured Komfort had something to hide or were ashamed of" " but your right that this is a public forum and you do have the right to say that. Let me add that my wife works for a corporation that manufactories unquestionably the finest hydraulic valves on the market and no you cant have a tour of how they do it either. The fact that Komfort does not give tours should not automatically raise any flags. It is there business decision or possibly there insurers business decision. It may be something as simple as it is a unsafe environment due to there factory size.......who knows.
I think we need to end this debate... Just trying to help, and your just proving my statement.. Komfort doesn't want anyone to see how they build while as far as I know, everyone else does... For whatever reason they want to hide something... secrets, quality, security, safety, doesn't matter - they don't give tours and I didn't buy Komfort... just facts - not opinion.
RE: Komfort brand 5Th wheels?
We shopped extensively for several months. We travelled to see how various units were built and wanted to tour the Komfort plant in Oregon. We contacted the plant as well as a dealer and were told they did not give tours. That being the case, and the fact that every other manufacturer did give tours, I just figured Komfort had something to hide or were ashamed of... so we had scratch them off our list.... and we visited four other manufacturers and then bought one..... It could have been Komfort had they let us in....
The first time or two I saw this post I decided to leave it alone. This time I think I will comment.
By your own admission you know little to nothing about the Komfort line , but continue to post this negative comment.
Previous posts here and here.
Quite frankly I wouldn't own a Heartland RV. As I owned a Heartland fifth wheel prior to the Komfort, I feel comfortable in commenting on Heartland. I owned it a little better than a year. We decided to dump it after dealing with one to many issues.
The Komfort brand quality quality stands head and shoulders above my experience with Heartland.
I will say that Heartland does shine in one area. That being their owners club and forum. It is the best in the industry.
Sure, It is obvious I know nothing about Komfort, that's why I wanted to tour the plant! ... I was satisfied with user reports but was turned away by the people who actually build them... I don't think that's being negative; just adding my experience... Isn't that what the forum is about?
RE: Komfort brand 5Th wheels?
We shopped extensively for several months. We travelled to see how various units were built and wanted to tour the Komfort plant in Oregon. We contacted the plant as well as a dealer and were told they did not give tours. That being the case, and the fact that every other manufacturer did give tours, I just figured Komfort had something to hide or were ashamed of... so we had scratch them off our list.... and we visited four other manufacturers and then bought one..... It could have been Komfort had they let us in....
RE: Just changed
We did the same a couple years ago,, Got a great deal thru Good Sam with GMAC... Paid 6 months.... Next invoice was higher, 6 months later it was higher ... third time it moved up a lot and I shopped and found a deal as good as GMAC was the first time... Look at other posts on this forum and you'll see it has happened a lot... GO figure.. (I know, lots of thing affect rates, but my record, credit score, etc,. never changed) If you haven't shopped in a while, you should.
RE: Ford F350 axel ratio 3.31
I pulled 14,000 lb 5vr (CAT scale weights), and 8100 lb. truck weight (total 22,100) last summer around 6000 trailer miles with the 2012 F350 SRW 3.31 4x4... Pulled fine and handled well. We were at max listed payload weights.
RE: Fifth Wheeling in the Colorado mountains?
If you are going to get close to 14,000 lbs., a loaded 5vr will be too much for the SRW. That is, based on the manufacturers door sticker maximum payload. I had an F350 2012 SRW for the reasons you stated. Payload sticker said 3500 lbs... Start adding the hitch weight, passengers, tools?, full tank of fuel, you've quickly wittled that 3500 lbs down to under 3000. Put a loaded 5vr with a GVWR of 14,000 lbs, and you're overweight. People do it all the time, you'll hear people telling you it's OK, they do it, but the numbers don't lie. You'll pull it fine, but will be overloaded. Those automotive engineers know what they're talking about - and, don't ever listen to a car or RV salesman... Do your own research to confirm your weight requirements.
RE: Calculating Fifth Wheel Maximum Weight
It's all about how you pack the truck & 5vr... Some pack more than others which I'm one of whom packs heavy. All my tools in the truck, generator, hydraulic jacks, jack stands, bikes, ladder, chemicals, cleaners, not to mention the pots, pans, food, frig stuff.... and on it goes. Hooked up, My SRW F350 was over loaded about 600 lbs. so I got a Dually. The door sticker said 3400 lbs payload - you just can't do anything to increase that number. The SRW pulled it just fine and had no sag at the rear, but I wanted to be under my truck and tire rated limit.... Four tires on the back just felt a lot more comfortable than two. Now I got plenty of capacity and greater piece of mind.
RE: Looking for RV sized recliner (RV salvage yards?)
Personally, I wouldn't bother with RV stuff, most of the time it's built cheap.. We got a couple Lazyboys in our 5vr, and I know they have some small sized chairs available... Take your maximum dimensions and check out furniture stores in person or on-line.
RE: marine grease or not
Marine grade wheel bearing grease won't hurt a thing, but won't add anything either. The marine grade works better in boat trailer bearing that get submersed when launching, as a protection against rust, but nothing replaces good ole periodic maintenance.
RE: Trailer wheel bearings
Proper lubrication was part of my career/job for 40 years... It's a complex maze, but, I will say this.... You will be very secure with any name brand lubricant as well as trusted specialty brands - as has been stated, an NLGI #2 Lithium Base grease. Don't mix with other grease types. The key is to put it in very clean, don't use dirty hands or rags, keep the bearings covered until ready to install, and always replace the grease seal whenever it has been removed. A good seal will keep contaminants out, which is the key to long bearing life. Trailer manufacturers suggest an annual repak, so synthetic grease is an overkill and won't gain you anything at all in this application. Synthetics have their place, but again, don't waste your $$$ for wheel bearing lubricant that is changed annually.
P.S... Measuring bearing temperature will be an indicator if you start to get rising temperatures. However, once the temperature starts to rise, there is already spalling of the raceways and the bearings are no longer any good and should be replaced. The time until a complete failure will vary based on many factors, but the bearing has gone beyond it's designed limits once spalling begins. Spalling begins as microscopic wear due to metal to metal contact from lack of lubrication or contaminants. Proper lubrication and keeping out contamination (good seals), coupled with proper maintenance (following factory recommendations) will result in long bearing life (likely forever).... You see on occasion trailers sitting on the side of the highway jacked up, obvious a bearing failure - My guess, these folks didn't follow the guidelines.
RE: what bearing grease
Proper lubrication was part of my career/job for 40 years... It's a complex maze, but, I will say this.... You will be very secure with any name brand lubricant as well as trusted specialty brands - as has been stated, an NLGI #2 Lithium Base grease. Don't mix with other grease types. The key is to put it in very clean, don't use dirty hands or rags, keep the bearings covered until ready to install, and always replace the grease seal whenever it has been removed. A good seal will keep contaminants out, which is the key to long bearing life. Trailer manufacturers suggest an annual repak, so synthetic grease is an overkill and won't gain you anything at all in this application. Synthetics have their place, but again, don't waste your $$$ for wheel bearing lubricant that is changed annually.
RE: Does max turn front cap need slider hitch
I have the Big Horn with the 88 degree front cap.. I also had the Ford F350 short bed and never felt like I needed the slider hitch. Never needed to get that much of an angle when backing in, nor did I want to cause that much stress on the tires/suspension. The newer model Ford short beds are 6'9" - I think that's the longest short bed of the big three, which helps too. Having said this, I also had the Reese manual slider - just in case, but never needed it.
Now I have the long bed F350 Dually, so no more question regarding slider, but even with the long bed, there are limits.
RE: Fiver's first bath
I use Rain-x wash n wax. Leaves a coat of wax each time I wash and is a lot easier than doing a wax job... SO far, still have like new shine after 18 months of full time sun....
RE: Dealer wants more $$ after delivery! Seriously???
If you were convinced that if he had made an honest mistake and 'overcharged' you; and would have promptly returned the money to you, then you may need to at least listen to his story; then decide. However, you made your decision based on the price, right?
RE: Oregon Coast Trip
101 is a great trip which we did in 2011 from Eureka, CA all the way through Washington when we continued on from there to Alaska. Take your time - It was one of our favorite parts of our trip which began in Florida. The Hwy 101 portion was in late May - no crowding problems at that time - cool weather, but great!
RE: Carrying a ladder with the RV. What's the best one to get?
I use the 7 ft. folding step ladder we got at camping world... It folds down to about 4"x6" x 7ft. long which I can slide/store in one of those 6" square PVC fence posts from Home Depot. This way I can store the ladder out of the way, and put stuff on top of the PVC. When I want the ladder, just slide it out of the PVC. Some have mounted these under the RV or trailer suspended from the frame.
RE: The Hartford Rule Concerning Insurance
Our car and 5th wheel are with Hartford as they had the best rate if we combined the two. House is with another carrier, but I would think that most insurers would give a discount for second car, or multiple vehicle coverage. Can't see that they would "require" you to insure car and MH with them... What if someone doesn't have a second vehicle? You may have misunderstood that insuring the car would give the better rate.
RE: Ridiculous price of Fifth Wheels
We have been searching for over 8 months and still have no new unit. We have narrowed it down to a few that have some quality but the closest authorized dealer is more than 300 miles away.
The majority of TT we have looked at are what I would call pure junk and show little to no quality in the construction and the manufactures/dealers have no problem asking upwards of 25k to 30k for them. We will not settle for junk and if need be we will spend another 8 months looking as we are in no hurry.
We did come across a few models that are only available in the east and after contacting the manufacture who suggest we contact our authorized dealer. After asking our authorized dealer when they plan on getting the certain model in they informed us they did not plan on it but would order the model we want for us. Seems we have the egg before the chicken as WE WILL NOT purchase a new trailer without physically checking it out first.
It can only get better as the search goes on.........:B:B:B:B
We looked for over three months and understand. We finally bit the bullet and toured four of the manufacturing plants in Northern Indiana to see how these four built the units. After narrowing it down, based on how we saw them being built, we chose and placed a factory order - 6 weeks later we were owners. Placed the order via telephone, visa card, and document fax... Met dealer first time when unit was delivered....
