RE: Planning a trip to Amish Country next year help
IMHO the kids are too young for such an extended trip. They will get nothing out of the Amish culture.
Suggest you wait another five years and go to Indiana or Ohio; much closer to Texas.
It isn't really for my kids, more for me and my wife, and the kids have been on trips as long, this is the lifestyle we live so they love it.
Haven't thought about Indiana or Ohio but we really were thinking about the east and going through the Smokies in the fall for the scenery anyways.
Planning a trip to Amish Country next year help
We are planning on a trip to Lancaster County, PA next year and was looking for some input since we have some time.
What is the bext time of year to go? My kids are home-schooled so we don't have to worry about summer time, I'd like to go in the fall if possible.
My wife loves reading books about the Amish and really wants to get a feel for their lifestyle so what kind of things or places do we need to go to and see.
What are some good FAMILY FRIENDLY (kids under 5) campground. I like to have a good view and a little space between us and our neighbor, shade trees preferable. I have looked at some and found that not all of them have full-hookups, which I would prefer to have.
Those that have traveled there from out west, what are some concerns about towing, laws, etc that I need to be mindful of while traveling some of the eastern states? Routes to avoid with a large rig, etc?
Any input would be great, thanks in advance.
RE: need input
Was looking at doing the same thing, still not quite sure yet, wife doesn't seem to keen on it although I see no problems. Only thing you'd need to watch out for is to make sure you don't overload the front axle on your truck with a quad on top if you have a 2500HD.
As far as pictures, if I can get hold of him, a guy I met while camping in Colorado this year had a picture on his phone that he took of a Ford F-350 with a rack over the cab that was supported all the way out to the front of the truck frame that he carried 2 quads on, loaded front to back, and towed a fifth wheel.
It has been done just for your info.
RE: 08 chevrolet 2500 6 inch lift
Yep..... I have noticed on here though, seems most dont like big lifted trucks and towing..... check out dieselplace.com and its the other way around...
Great place for GM & Chevy guys!!! I spend alittle time on there:W
WHAT!? I don't know that I've ever seen you on there! ;)
Isn't that considered a second home or business for you? Do you get a business tax deduction for all of the time you spend on there?:B
Seriously though, if you are a Chevy or GM enthusiast, D-max especially, that place is worth its weight in gold for help! My wife hates it, I wonder why?
RE: Changing carpet on flush floor slides
I'm kinda picky and would like to change the carpet under the bed just because I would know it was different! I guess it would be a pain in the butt to take the bed out but since I am going to basically have to remove everything from all the slides anyway to allow the installer to work unimpeded, I might as well go there too.
Is there anything on the bottom side of the slide to actually catch on the carpet? I am actually looking at installing it with sheet rubber mat in 1/4" thickness for a pad, it is supposed to be one of the best pads available because there is no airspace to cause the carpet to wear. Because this is thinner than the padding now, I figure I can go with a slightly thicker knap carpet. I need to bring in the slide and monitor the clearance underneath to see if this would be possible I guess. Geez, so much for a simple upgrade!
RE: 08 chevrolet 2500 6 inch lift
HaulinBass02 ... your on here also... nice seeing you.
Did you catch what I posted in the thread you started about my mileage just the other day?
Haven't checked it lately but now I will. I still have to figure a way to get better mileage out of my LBZ, it just ain't right. I may just take it back to the stealer and tell them it sucks fuel.
RE: Duramax LLY Overheating
Can I get the oil cooler for my LBZ? I still run warm going up and down mountains out west and want to get it to run cooler to keep the fan off or cycling a lot less. Difference between my old LLY and the LBZ is that the cooling system of the LBZ can actually cool the truck off. The LLY never could, it just had too much working against it.
RE: 08 chevrolet 2500 6 inch lift
I'm glad Norcalnick and DA Inferno stepped in there because it CAN be done and is done all the time. Those two guys and a host of others on some of the diesel truck forums have done this with no problems.
Trailer will handle just fine as soon as you get it leveled off. Until you can hitch it up and get the bed clearance you won't move it without problems. At worst you're looking at having to build a subframe for the trailer suspension to get it lifted. I have thought about blocks between the springs and axles for mine but we're only talking about 2". For yours unless you have a lot of adjustment in the hitches (pin and bed hitch) you're looking at probably a minimum of a 4" lift for your 5er to get it level again. You just have to watch to make sure you aren't pushing too high on clearances up at the roof.
DA Inferno- how tall is your 5er setup and how did you lift yours and how much? I am still thinking about copying Norcalnick with my truck and will need to lift my 5er a little for clearance and am not very sure about lift blocks no matter how they are installed.
RE: '08 F-150 Test Drive (And Tow!)
I like the F-150. There was a time when I thought I was going to have to downsize and the F-150 was my top choice after driving all of the big three and the Titan and Tundra (previous model).
I am not a die hard fan of any of them, I'm actually looking at getting a F-450 when my lease is up on the Silverado.
Hard decision to make, but I'd get the F-150, think about this, unless you can pay the Titan off in cash when your lease is up, you're buying a used truck. How long are you going to have to finance it and for how long and at what payment to pay off a used truck? With the good deals that are out there, how long would you have to finance the F-150 and for how much to own it outright and have a newer truck? Just food for thought. BTW, the only reason I leased the truck I have now was to eat a ton of negative equity in my old truck (lots of bad decisions before that) when I needed a bigger truck when we went full-time. I will probably buy whatever truck comes next with a hefty down payment.
Good luck.
RE: 5TH AIRBORNE HITCH
My 5er has almost 2900 lbs of pin weight. I put the airbag in the second hole from the front (towards the front for heavier pin weight) and even there I put almost 90 psi while hitched up to get the line on the shock. I found that this is actually where it rides the best, I tried letting air out to see what it would do and it bounced quite a bit, more air and it had a little bit of chucking albeit softer than with a standard pin box. For my rig, it dialed in just right when the line was just barely visible on the shock. You'll just have to play with it, but it helps if you know your pin weight and you can get the airbag in the right place, that makes a big difference to the amount of air you'll need and the ride comfort. BTW, love the hitch, it was a had to have before we went to Colorado this summer and it was the single most best thing I have added to my 5er.
Changing carpet on flush floor slides
I am really wanting to upgrade and change the carpet and padding on my 5er. My deal is that I have flush floor slide and the carpet that is on the slide has a sewn in finished edge on the carpet since it overlaps the carpet on the main floor by several inches. I assume that I can get an installer to finish it out like this as well, I might even be able to do it myself if I had to. Also, there is no padding under the carpet on the slides and it has worn down rather quickly. I am going to add padding and thought that I would extend the padding to lay in the gap between the slide and the main floor and glue it to the bottom side of the overhanging carpet. Does anyone think that I would have a problem if I did this? When the slide retracts it lifts that edge up so I don't think that the padding would get hung up.
Is there anything special or different that I need to do to be able to change the carpet out? One big question I had was, how do they attach or hold the carpet down? Is it stapled and what kind of staples should I use? Oh and how do I replace the carpet under the bed slide? Do I have to disassemble the bed or take it out?
Secondly, my aunt, who is very new to RVing (I've been doing it quite a bit longer than her even though I am half her age) said that she had expressed to her dealer her desire to change the carpet out and he told her that she could not. His reasoning behind it was that if she removed the carpet and replaced it, the slides would not work right. I thought this was odd and have never heard that. The only difference between her 5er and mine is that she has hydraulic slides. My guess is that the dealer thought the weight change on the slides would prevent them from working properly and I don't see that being an issue. I want to give her a real answer since she wants to upgrade as well. Any thoughts on this for either one of us?
RE: Companion hitch, Came today. I have a question.
SoCalDesertRider gave a perfect example of why B&W allows the Companion hitch to adjust fore and aft. With the GN portion being mounted properly, which I am sure his is, this would put the kingpin 6 inches in front of the axle. This may not work well for his situation (too much weight transfer forward, not enough clearance between cab and 5er, not enough room to allow tailgate down to hitch up or any dynamic specific to his rig) and he could then adjust the Companion mounting arms to place the kingpin back 2-4 inches, closer to the axle itself rather than so far forward, making room for clearance in front (front of 5er) and behind (tailgate of truck).
RE: Companion hitch, Came today. I have a question.
Back to the OPs original question, it is almost a trial and error situation. I would start with the kingpin directly over the axle. That is where the dealer put mine but for me it didn't work. Too much weight on the back axle and it unloaded the front too much. It also caused the extended pin box to hit the bedrail when I made a sharp turn because it was too far back allowing it to pivot into the truck bed. Fortunately for me, it only scraped the plastic on the bedrail covers and didn't dent anything.
I then adjusted it forward 2 inches (I think that is right) and it placed more weight on the front axle, and the pinbox did not hit anymore when I made a sharp turn. (Don't ask me how adjusting it makes a difference in hitting or not, it just did)
Yes, the instructions are kind of vague and there is a lot to consider when you adjust the hitch. Best thing is make sure it is level to tow and you may have to play with the front to back adjustment. If you have a shortbed truck, no matter how much you adjust front to back, it won't ever make a tight turn, I would just refrain from adjusting it to sit with the pin behind the axle.
Now that I think about it, seeing how the B&W GN hitch installs in so many different truck completely differently, (ball is not always installed over the axle in all trucks) I see why they put fore to aft adjustments on the Companion. The installation of the B&W itself in some trucks puts the ball aft of the axle and on some puts it far forward of the axle. B&W was thinking about this when they designed the Companion allowing it to adjust back and forth to put the kingpin in a prime location no matter what truck it is in.
RE: Lift blocks on trailer, safe or not?
Best idea so far is re-arc the springs.
Not a bad idea but my question now is would it change the spring rate making them stiffer? I guess that it would only be an 1.5" taller that they would need to re-arch them. Could I not then just have an add-a-leaf put in and gain the extra inch?
As far as changing the equalizer that is not an option as I have the Trailair Equaflex. I would not be willing to give that up as it helps absorb a lot of road shock.
Lift blocks on trailer, safe or not?
I am probably going to need to lift my 5er a couple of inches to tow level with my truck. It has an adjustable suspension and can go about 1" higher if I move it to the last set of adjustment holes. This would only make the trailer "almost" level. I would like to get it all the way level and would probably need to go up 1" more. Is it safe to add 1" blocks (quality steel blocks) between the axle and springs on a trailer?
BTW, I cannot adjust the hitch and pinbox anymore. They are both adjusted all the way up (pinbox) and down (hitch). The way it sits now is about 1" high in the front.
The reason behind all of this is because I have a need to lift my truck about 1" in the rear for clearance purposes. By doing so, even with the suspension on the trailer being adjusted up, it would still be about 1" or a little more pin high. I towed with it like that to Colorado and back, I just didn't really like the fact that it sat like that. I would like to get it more level. Any suggestions?
RE: Ice chest cooler vs small refrigerator
Where the heck am I going to keep all of this stuff? Me and the DW have already decided that a mini-fridge in the storage bay would be ideal so the kids wouldn't keep tromping in and out for drinks. Then there is the icemaker since I love sweet iced tea. Anything else I can throw in there while I am at it?
RE: gray and black water gate valves.
I'd like to know more about this as well. Mine leaks water down to the cap, it is enough that if I forget, I take a shower in whatever decided to leak down. In Lake City when we arrived, it wasn't a very nice way to welcome me to the mountains. I'd say it leaks about a 1/4 gal of water, no more. I figured if the valves weren't closing all the way, all of the contents in the tanks would cause a continuous drain into the cap and have a lot more liquid there, but it is the same amount every time. I have even let the end section drain (thinking there was just some water in the pipes still) after the valves were closed for 15 mins (first thing was dump, then tear camp down) and it still had liquid in the cap when we got to the next site. Any help?
RE: Frame damage and possible repair?
I would think that the cost of a repair like that would dissuade the insurance from doing a frame replacement or even a repair. Whatever they do has to be able to withstand a serious amount of flex, bumps, jolts and all kinds of abuse, especially given the area that was damaged. I would also demand the rest of the 5er be given a thorough inspection, especially the pinbox as previously mentioned. It would be hard for me to trust a 5er like that after being repaired from an accident such as that. If you think about how the frame is built, it is usually jigged and checked for square and what not, cambered, etc to make sure it is right. There is no way they can guarantee the frame is "as good as" it was before the accident.
