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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Diesel Jetta as TV?
Both for the OP and especially for Dave towing with a Gas turbo Jetta, I suggest investigating the high heat benefits of synthetic oil. High heat is brutally hard on oil additives and viscosity index improvers. Synthetic based oils simply have fewer of those vulnerable molecules to break up an make sludge.
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Guest
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06/17/08 07:49am |
Folding Trailers
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RE: Jayco 17C and my Honda Pilot
I stand "corrected." The empty camper tongue weight is 35# below the probable vehicle receiver rating limits.
By all means, load up with batteries, propane, power tongue jack, gear and people and motor off happily. After all, you've got 35 pounds to SPARE! ;)
I believe in light duty tow vehicles! I use a Honda minivan myself to tow a light duty trailer: in my case a popup. Works very well and is within all its ratings. Go figure.
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Guest
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06/16/08 02:24pm |
Hybrid Travel Trailers
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RE: SUV Extinction
I own one of the best rated minivans out there, a Honda Odyssey. I'll put its rear seat space and comfort against that in a Suburban any time! That said, it IS still tight in either of those vehicles. And both are virtually indistinguishable from the space in the rear seat of an Outlook. The big (and shocking) difference is the cargo area BEHIND the third row. Shockingly enough, the Odyssey has the MOST of those three due to no rear differential allowing a very deep cargo area. The footprint of the Sub cargo is much bigger, but a couple FEET shallower. This means that much of the 'rated' Sub cargo area is above the seatback level where you won't be too happy having stuff falling on the passengers. The Outlook cargo space is similar to the Burbs, perhaps a hair smaller.
NO 8 passenger SUV or minivan has truly simple rear seat access. There isn't room. On any of them you need to fumble with one seat to make access to the rear. On that count, the 8 passenger Outlook is (IMO) actually the best of the bunch.
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Guest
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06/16/08 02:18pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: FW sequoia owners - comments?
What happened to the Jayco?
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Guest
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06/16/08 01:14pm |
Folding Trailers
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RE: Diesel Jetta as TV?
Dave, I used to have an 02 1.8T with a stick and really miss that car (the times when it worked, anyways). But I recall the manual saying not to tow at all with that engine combo (though it had tow ratings for the other engine combos). How'd you get to a comfort level towing with it? Have you ever pulled over and had a look at the turbo after a long grade (I'm thinking it might glow in the dark...)
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Guest
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06/16/08 01:13pm |
Folding Trailers
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RE: Jayco 17C and my Honda Pilot
I'll second what Chuck said and make a further observation.
The smaller hybrids with single axles seem to have a brutal tongue weight. IIRC, the Pilot can't take more than 500# tongue weight and the 1 axle hybrids I've seen are all over that.
Just yesterday, I saw a Honda Odyssey like mine pulling a Cub hybrid TT. The HTT was setup with an Equil-i-zer brand hitch, but the squat was still pretty noticeable. Far worse than the squat was the obvious wheel alignment problem you could see from the overloaded rear axle. The inside edge of his tires are going to go bald FAST if they last that long...
Hitches available for the Odyssey (and I believe the Pilot) are limited to 500# tongue weight even when using wdh. Having seen that rig, maybe I know why.
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Guest
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06/13/08 01:37pm |
Hybrid Travel Trailers
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RE: Mechanic almost destroyed my transmission
Flushing the ATF is like flushing coolant: totally unecessary if you are doing it at decent intervals. Flushing is for getting the crud that results from inadequate replacement frequency out.
I simply open the drain plug on mine every 15k miles and replace the ATF that comes out (~half). No muss, no fuss, cheap and very effective. The ATF is never in long enough to go bad.
Never had a tranny problem.
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Guest
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06/12/08 05:10pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Is Fleetwood the only one with flushable toliet?
Depends on what you mean by "flushable." IMHO, no RV at nearly any price has a 'flush toilet.' They all drop waste into a holding tank and have a provision for rinsing the bowl afterwards. That ain't a flush.
Most pups have small, hand-carried tanks you bring to the DS. The Fleetwood HWs have a fixed black tank that cannot be removed. You have to bring the entire camper to the dump station (or transfer to a portable tank and bring THAT to the DS (worst of both worlds).
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Guest
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06/12/08 04:58pm |
Folding Trailers
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RE: thinking about buying a pop up
There are but a handful of campers that can fit a family of 5 AND be pulled by a relatively fuel efficient vehicle (i.e. minivan). The best are the Jayco 1207 and the Fleetwood Sun Valley (which I own). We too are a family of five and we pull the Sun Valley with a Honda minivan (carefully outfitted with brake controller and Reese350 weight distributing hitch).
Pros of a pup vs other RVs:
+ garage storable
+ Less tow vehicle beef required
+ Better mpgs (especially with lighter vehicle above)
+ Lower battery draw (fewer lights, no fans, no parasitic draws)
+ Easy towing/visibility/windage
+ Lower initial cost (for those towable by CL II vehicles anyways)
Cons
- Rainy setup teardown
- Less storage, harder access
- No bathroom/kitchen access at rest areas
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Guest
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06/12/08 12:39pm |
Folding Trailers
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RE: Wisconsin Dells popular vacation site devasted by tornado
Lake Delton is indeed a manmade lake created through construction of a dam. The disaster that emptied the lake was NOT a failure in the dam, but failure of natural soil that had formed a ridge between the Wisconsin river valley and the stream that was dammed to form Lake Delton. It appears not to have previously occurred to WI DNR regulators to evaluate the native soil conditions for failure as rigorously as they check manmade dams. Again, the DAM didn't fail, a former ridge of native soils did.
If they are going to fix it right, they'll need to assess what is under the REST of that ridge and take measures to avoid seepage creating the kind of quicksand conditon that likely caused this failure.
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Guest
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06/11/08 08:33am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Are Minivans Doomed?
I rather doubt they are doomed. They make too much sense. Sales stink right now because families with more than two kids are feeling the pinch hardest. Eventually though, we all WILL have to replace worn vehicles and minivan sales will recover.
What other vehicle will get 19 mpg in suburban school carpool use hauling 6 kids, get 25 mpg on family freeway trips and get 19 mpg towing a 12 foot popup and family of 5 in the van?
None that I'm aware of. We'll be back for another when this one wears out.
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Guest
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06/11/08 08:18am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Can a RAV4 V6 tow a popup?
RAV4 has the same 3.5 V6 and 5 speed tranny as the Sienna.
I've towed our Fleetwood Sun Valley popup with a Honda minivan with a 3.5 V6 and 5 speed tranny for some years now. My minivan weighs a lot more than the RAV4 and it still has plenty of power on the road. The RAV would be even better since Toyota allows you to lock in D4 in rolling terrain and avoid tranny hunting.
For wdh, just make sure you get the 2" receiver hitch and use the Reese 350mini wdh which is specially made for popups and other very light trailers.
I agree with another poster above, check out the Sun Valley over the Cheyenne. This is one case where just looking at trailer GVWR is a disservice to the shopper. The Sun Valley GVWR is 3,500, but it weighs the SAME empty as a Cheyenne (around 2,100#). How much stuff you put in it is YOUR choice. Nobody forces you to load to GVWR.
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Guest
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06/11/08 07:24am |
Folding Trailers
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RE: Fleetwood folding trailer heater
Depends on the battery. Look at your battery and find its Reserve Capacity. IIRC, you divide that by 2.4 and that is the number of USEFUL amp hours it provides (below which the fan will run, but the furnace not ignite).
Furnace draws 3.5 amps. Lights around 1.5 amp each. Add up your demands and pick a battery accordingly. Google 12 volt side of life for more info.
We get 3-4 nights of very light furnace use from a G27 deep cycle battery with minimal lights and water pump use.
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Guest
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06/09/08 04:46pm |
Folding Trailers
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RE: Yellowstone trip gas prices and MPG
The Odyssey is one of the few vehicles that CAN benefit from premium when towing. Honda tells you right in the owners manual to use premium when towing. And the engine compression ratio suggests that it needs it at least a portion of the time (higher than 10:1 ratio).
Great report.
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Guest
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06/09/08 07:18am |
Folding Trailers
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RE: Honda Oddysey towing Airstream Classic
Phil,
It is starting already:
Toyota Highlander has a 5,000# tow rating.
GMC Acadia / Saturn Outlook 4,500#.
Honda Pilot 4,500#.
These are all minivans disguised to look like SUVs (aka crossovers). 2/3 use identical powertrains to the minivans in their lineup. Only reason the third doesn't is that maker doesn't BUILD minivans anymore (or possibly is quitting their ancient model this year).
The GM one even comes prewired for brake controll and aux power and has a tow/haul mode that includes boosted voltage for better battery charging on the trailer.
If profit margins swing away from SUVs and trucks and into more efficient vehicles, expect to see bigger tow package ratings real soon on the more efficient vehicles.
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Guest
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06/06/08 04:29pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: My TV has 135,000 miles and still goin'
108,000 miles so far, maybe 10% of that towing.
And it is a MINIVAN towing a popup at 7,800# GCVW. At ease weight police, I'm almost 500# below the limit.
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Guest
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06/06/08 04:01pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Parking the Truck--Anyone else?
Isn't this the TV forum? Whats the tow rating on that bike? ;)
There is a LOOONG similar thread on one of the other forum areas.
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Guest
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06/06/08 03:58pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: 29bhs and Toyota Sequoia TV
There seems to be some confusion about wdh and how it works. The reason a receiver has such big differences in WC vs WDH is not based on the HEAD, but on how the receiver mounts to the vehicle. When in WC mode only the bolts directly above the receiver are in tension; they support the entire tongue weight. When in WDH mode, the torque applied to the receiver spreads the load out across all the bolts holding the receiver to the frame. Using my 160# figure and assuming the trailer axle is 12 feet behind the receiver and that the front receiver bolts are 3 feet forward of the receiver opening, then the 160# results in 640# added to the front receiver bolts. That's a big deal and is why WDH adds so much capacity.
As to my Buy American comment: if you care, you can easily compare the US parts content on the window sticker on every new car at the dealer. No need to ask sales drones, it is there in black and white. If you don't care - well then thanks very little.
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Guest
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06/06/08 03:52pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Fleetwood Evolution Battery Charger
Fleetwood switched to the WFCO converters with integral 3 stage charging in mid 2002 model year. The other makers all promptly followed.
Works great for us. Same Walmart G27 deep cycle since spring of 04 with no issues.
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Guest
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06/06/08 03:40pm |
Folding Trailers
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RE: 1997 Geo Tracker
Geo Tracker, AKA Barbie Jeep tow a 12 foot pup? Maybe across a parking lot, but certainly not on the road. And I'm a big fan of light duty tow vehicles for light duty trailers!
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Guest
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06/06/08 09:19am |
Folding Trailers
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