RE: Door Locks
Answer to your question is probably yes. Does your lock look like this.
According to that site, they are interchangable with other brans.
RE: Lighting/wiring issue
Glad to hear you found it. I don't think it is time to eat crow. Those electronic gremlins can do some strange things. You caught him. Next time won't be so easy.
RE: Lighting/wiring issue
From looking at other forums, Expedition has a second fuse box under the hood. There is a seperate fuse for trailer running lights. On one forum, someone said it was fuse number 20.
Check owners manual for the truck, or, look for a buse box under the hood (drivers side) and check those fuses.
The fuses on my F250 look like this. They come in various amp ratings, and, they are color coded. The one you are looking for is probably pink (20 amp).
RE: Toilet paper holder
We use a free standing holder. Similar to this. They are available from several places. Walmart, Bed Bath and Beyong, Target, Sears, etc
RE: Lighting/wiring issue
Okay, connecting 4 and 3 with a length of wire gave me running lights. 4 and 6 gave me the Right brake light, and 4 and 5 the Left brake light.
So it looks like an issue with the harness on the truck, with 5 and 6. Guess tomorrow I will be taking the truck back for them to fix. What fun.
Have you checked truck fuses?
RE: Lighting/wiring issue
Test trailer first. On the trailer (7 pin plug), use a flasher, fuse, or a piece of wire to jumper between the pins on each side of the notch out. This connects the trailer battery power to your running lights. Do a google search for "running lights in campground", to see drawings and decsriptions. If they light up, the problem is in the truck.
Check owners manual for the truck. Find and check the fuse for trailer running lights. It's probably in a fuse box under the hood.
Could also be, a loose connection in the harness or plug on the truck.
We had a poster just a few weeks ago, who had similar problem. An RV dealer had installed his 7 pin plug. He took the truck back to have them check the plug. They told him it was good. It really wasn't.
RE: Your favorite way to charge tt batteries between trips
For short periods between weekend trips, you shouldn't need to charge batteries, if you have a battery cut off (like this), or, disconnect the batteries. Without any parasitic draw (LP detector, converter, refer, etc), they should hold a charge for quite some time.
Here is another version of cut off.
When you pull out of storage (battery hooked up), your truck and solar panel will top off the batteries.
RE: Heed help from RV expert ASAP
i noticed at the bottom of the wood trim on both ends of the slideout it looks like some water damage
Sounds like flood damage. There could be a lot that is unseen.
RE: window cover for Rockwood
There are a couple windows (with rock guard) on ebay. Here is one of them.
Kinro is one of the companies in Forest River's list of suppliers. Here is a link to their web site. Maybe you could contact them for a replacement.
RE: No tail lights
Check in this order:
Owners manual for the truck, find and check the fuse that sends power to trailer running lights.
If fuse is good, start looking for loose or corroded connections on the truck, or, between truck and trailer.
Trailer - Check condition of the plug (maybe a bad pin). Open junction box where pigtail is connected. Look for bad connections and corrosion. All good there? Start looking for bad ground, pinched or broken wires, etc.
In past month, there were two posters who found loose connections on backside of truck outlet, and, another two or three who had blown fuses in the truck.
RE: No 12 Volts on battery, fully charged
Thanks all, I will check the problems but I had 13.6 volts when I checked it and before leaving I put my battery charger on the battery and it is full. I have a 1996 Playmor. I followed the wires from the battery and they go to a thing that looks like a solenoid/old starter relay. Could that be the problem.
Does it look like this?
Use a meter to see if power is getting through this breaker. Between the two terminals, you should see same voltage as you see on the battery. Another way to test, disconnect battery and test for continuity between the breaker terminals.
Some have a reset button, some don't. They are available at most auto parts stores.
RE: Finally hit the scales
RETURNING TO THE ORIGINAL POST ---
Or, if you don't want to do that, you might want to consider that the "theoretical" values above are closer to reality than the measured heights.
That would mean the actual front end rise, after application of WD is closer to 1/4" than 1/2" -- which would mean you are not at the extreme limit of the "acceptable" range.
Ron
The measurements came about because, that is the recommended method in the owners manual. Ford says, measure the front and rear bumper. One of the local hitch salesmen told me to measure fender wells.
The fender well measurement (unloaded and loaded with WD) showed no rise on the front.
It is close enough for me, I don't think more measurements are needed.
RE: Finally hit the scales
Are you saying that when you hitched up with the 1200# Drawtite and applied WD, the front of your truck ended up being 3/4" above the unitched height?
If so, your Drawtite bars must have been significantly under-tensioned.
With 1180# tongue weight and 1200# bars, you should be able to get the front end back to the unhitched height.
Did you measure the front-end rise when hitched with the Drawtite, but with no WD applied?
Ron
I didn't measure front end rise (hitched with no wd) on the drawtite. I don't think the bars were undertensioned. I used tongue jack to raise the tongue and rear of the truck, then the pipe to pull up the snap brackets. The were plenty tight. The front end rise was 1/4 inch higher than I had with the Andersen hitch. I do have to say, the drawtite is old and pretty well worn, so, it may not work as a new one would.
I got this from Andersen.
"We do realize that in some cases –depending on the truck/trailer set up– we are 'softer' on the weight distribution side. In the past we have seen vehicle manufacturers ask for 70, 80 and even 100% of the lost weight to be returned to the front of the vehicle, but as vehicles have advanced in suspension and design over the last several years we see many mfrs slowly changing that number to be closer to 50%. Our goal is to get the tow vehicle close to level, but there is no need for perfect leveling (or a specific percentage of reclaimed weight) when it is designed to carry a load just fine. I recently had a customer who said that his trailer tows perfectly now and is the smoothest ride ever, outshining his 'other-brand' WD hitch, but he noticed the numbers on the scale were different and it didn't move as much weight forward as his old hitch. I had to smile and say 'It doesn't matter if the numbers aren't the same –as long as it works well." Again, we want to make sure the tow vehicle is not drastically 'un-level', that is what is important, not the exact numbers. If everything feels good and it is towing well, perfect numbers aren't really important. After hundreds of installations we have found that it is just as effective to basically "sight level" the tow vehicle and get it as close to level as you can by tightening/loosening the Tension Nuts or making small adjustments to the height of the ball."
It pretty much describes my situation. It does tow pretty well and it meets Ford spec for leveling the vehicle, but, the FALR numbers don't look good to those who insist on 100%.
I went to another hitch place today. This guy told me the exact opposite as what I was told yesterday. This one looked at measurements and scale sheets, and said "that Andersen hitch is doing what is is supposed to be doing. You don't need 100% FALR as long as truck and trailer are close to level as you can get (same thing Andersen told me), and he looked at my drawtite hitch and said the wear is mostly caused by the grease collecting dirt, which grinds down the metal." Yesterday, the other hitch guy said it was wearing down because it didn't have enough grease.
Yesterday, I was told I need a new hitch. Today, I was told, you got it rite, keep using it, come and see us if and when it wears out or you don't like it.
RE: Finally hit the scales
Your interpretation is correct. I called Ford. Apparently, for 08 F250, they were more concerned with measurements than weights. I was told to "do the measurement front and back, hitch up, and measure again. Front should be no more than (plus or minus) 1/2 inch of unloaded measurement and rear should not be any higher than unloaded measurement."One interpretation of what you were told by Ford is that zero difference from unhitched is optimum and up to plus or minus 1/2" deviation is acceptable.
If that's the case, then it's up to you to decide whether you want to settle for "acceptable" or try to get more load distribution to get closer to "optimum".
Ron
That's true. As long as rear end is lower (they don't say how much) and front end is plus or minus 1/2 inch of unhitched measurement. That's what is in the owners manual. If plus 1/2 inch is acceptable, that is not 100% FALR, and, any minus measurement would be over 100%. I have the 1/2 inch at 45 - 50% FALR.
Except for 100% FALR, my scale numbers look good, my measurements meet Ford specifications, and overall, the ride is smoother than with my old hitch. I still have a little wiggle with bow wave. More from mini vans than big rigs. But, getting rid of all of it, would be impossible. I did the scales out of curiousity, mostly, and started this thread to see if my calculations were correct. I think it was you, who asnwered that. The rest, kind of blossomed.
I still have the old hitch, and, I took it along today. After hitching up and measuring with the Andersen, I did the same with the Drawtite (1200 lb) trunion bar hitch. Front of the truck was 1/4 inch (over the plus or minus 1/2 inch) higher than with the Andersen.
I don't know what to think about that hitch salesman. According to him, anything less than 110% FALR is bad weight distribution. I didn't have the heart to tell him that GM is onboard with 50% on some of their trucks. He has a Chevy and appears to be a little partial.
RE: Finally hit the scales
For 2008, the online manual reads:
3. Attach the trailer to the vehicle and adjust the hitch equalizers so that
the front bumper height is within 1?2” (13 mm) of the reference point.
After proper adjustment, the rear bumper should be no higher than in
Step 2.
This reasonably could be interpreted as an acceptable range of:
minus 1/2" to plus 1/2" with a midrange of 0"
or
0" to plus 1/2" with a midrange of 1/4".
In either case, a measured height increase of 1/2" would be at the extreme end of the range.
Since I've seen no indication that Ford considers their 2011 specification to be retroactive to 2008, I would shoot for a front-end rise of not more than 1/4".
Better yet, you might want to contact Ford's technical department to see what they have to say. It's always good to get an "official" opinion.
Ron
Today, I hitched up using Ford's recommendation of zero lift on rear and plus or minus 1/2 inch on front.
What I got was plus 1/2 on front and minus 3/4 on the back. According to Ford owners manual, this is within range.
Then, I went to a place that sells hitches, went over the numbers with them, and was told "no amount of lift on front is good, they don't care what the owners manual says".
RE: Patching covered underbelly??
I had to do a patch from some road debris tearing a hole in underbelly. It was about about 8" square. I used a peice of sheet metal mounted with screws. The patch was still there when I traded the TT, four years later.
RE: Finally hit the scales
It looks like you have your SES set to high. Do you have the 1" rubber spacer in?
MM49
SES is not supposed to engage until there is a load. Installation instructions specify a 1" gap (when unloaded) between the axle and Timbren spring. That is what I have. If I put spacers in, there would be no gap, and SES would be engaged all of the time.
Part of the confusion may be the rear spring blocks have been changed.
This truck came from factory with snow plow package. Due to heavier front suspension, it looked like it was squatting, with no load, whatsoever. On level ground, rear fender wells were 1,5 inches lower than the front. The fix for squatting appearance was, remove the 2" F250 spring blocks, and install 4" F350 spring blocks. Now, on level ground, rear fender wells sit .5 inch higher than the front. Could be why I have no room for SES spacers.
RE: Finally hit the scales
For 2008, the online manual reads:
3. Attach the trailer to the vehicle and adjust the hitch equalizers so that
the front bumper height is within 1?2” (13 mm) of the reference point.
After proper adjustment, the rear bumper should be no higher than in
Step 2.
This reasonably could be interpreted as an acceptable range of:
minus 1/2" to plus 1/2" with a midrange of 0"
or
0" to plus 1/2" with a midrange of 1/4".
In either case, a measured height increase of 1/2" would be at the extreme end of the range.
Since I've seen no indication that Ford considers their 2011 specification to be retroactive to 2008, I would shoot for a front-end rise of not more than 1/4".
Better yet, you might want to contact Ford's technical department to see what they have to say. It's always good to get an "official" opinion.
Ron
Your interpretation is correct. I called Ford. Apparently, for 08 F250, they were more concerned with measurements than weights. I was told to "do the measurement front and back, hitch up, and measure again. Front should be no more than (plus or minus) 1/2 inch of unloaded measurement and rear should not be any higher than unloaded measurement."
I didn't measure at the bumpers, but I assume, since wheel well measurements didn't change, the bumper measurements must be close too.
I did the scales, mostly out of curiousity. I had read posts about poor FALR with the Andersen hitch, and, was curious to see what mine was doing.
It appears to be doing what it's supposed to do. Next time I hitch up, I'll measure the bumpers and see how it compares to measurements I have now.
RE: Finally hit the scales
Thanks Ron.
You are correct, WDH was not attached when I used the Sherline.
My fresh water tank is located near the very back of trailer. Thirty five gallons would weight approximately 280 lbs. I think it's quite possible that could take 200 off the tongue. However, even with a full fresh tank, I should still have close to 1000 lbs tongue weight. That would be about 12% of trailer gross.
BTW
The WDH is one of those new Andersen WD hitches.
Numbers listed for wheel well heights are as maesured. You suppose the Timbren SES has something to do with that?
