RE: Killens Pond Gathering June 20-22 2008
We’ve been home since about 2. The weekend was fabulous. Everyone really helped me to deal with losing my job the manly way, sitting in the woods with friends and getting drunk! We really had a great time and really enjoyed everyone. Can’t wait till Elk Neck so we can see most of you again.
Finding the sweet spot
I’m new to diesels and I was talking to someone else who had a diesel and he said that every diesel engine has a certain RPM sweet spot where the power is optimum. If your RPM drops too low you waste fuel and lose power so you should down shift.
We only talked for a few minutes and I didn’t get the details.
We are in the process of adding pillar gauges for EGT, Boost, and Trans Temp.
Does anyone know exactly what this person was talking about? How do I determine what the range of this “sweet spot” is so I know when to up shift and downshift.
Like my sig says, we have an F-350, 7.3L, with a 410 rear end.
RE: Killens Pond Gathering June 20-22 2008
Well, Chris left to take the camper to Killens. He's probably about set up by now! I'm still at the house, finishing a few little things. Jello shots are in the fridge...LOTS and LOTS of jello shots, and it's taking all my willpower not to sample them! LOL! If these turn out well, we've got PLENTY of stuff to make another batch for Sat. croquet :)
Should be AWESOME campfire weather this weekend. I plan to do a whole lot of NOTHING, with a drink in one (or both) hands - LOL!
We'll see everyone soon :)
Jello Shots? You're lucky biggs can't make it or we'd be Bushwacking you again! Maybe we can just bring a blender!
RE: Killens Pond Gathering June 20-22 2008
Friday & Saturday, June 20 & 21
. . . Starting at approx 8:45PM
. . . . . . Get Smart
. . . Starting at approx 11PM
. . . . . . The Incredible Hulk
I'd like to see Get Smart but I have no interest in the Hulk. To our generation it will ALWAYS be Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby instead of some CGI animation.
Hey, the drive-in sounds like fun. Hope they have room for a long bed, crew cab, F-350!
RE: Killens Pond Gathering June 20-22 2008
Looks like we might be a little late. Shirley has to work till 5. We plan to pack tonight, I'll drive her to work in the morning and pick her up in the RV at 5. Not sure how long the trip will be from Elkton to Killens Pond with the weekend trafic headed to the ocean. We'll hopefully be there and set up by 7.
RE: Gel coat repair?
We asked our dealer about fixing the chip in our front cap. Its a little smaller then a dime and they estimated about $600 to fix it.
Since as stated before, they have to makethe chip bigger before they fill it, we figured that the worse we could do is make it a little more difficult for them to enlarge the area. We feel fairly handy, so why not risk it. If we do a good enough job, the repair is less than $30. If I mess it up, we waste $30 and a little time.
RE: interested on a 5th wheel... not sure.. help
OK, if you don't mind pricey, how bout the Titanium 36E41.
The bath is more or less in a hallway on the way to the master bedroom, and the kids have their own jack and jill bath at the other end.
It's also a bit heavy, so you'll need a 350/3500.
RE: Gel coat repair?
We have a small spot on our gel coat where a stone or something flew up and hit the front cap. We made a similiar post on our Everest Forum and got this web link in reply.
Gel Coat Repair Kit
We have not tried this yet, so have no experience. We plan to buy one of these kits on line and see how it works.
Our problem is a chip in the gel coat, not a crack that is running and getting bigger, so I think the patch kit might work.
Best of luck with your problems.
We'll probably go to the local marine store before we buy on line to avoid shipping costs.
RE: Short Bed vs Long Bed
They each have their advantages.
The longer the wheelbase, the more stable the ride.
The shorter the wheelbase, the easier to park and easier to maneuver in tight places.
The tradeoff is a personal choice. Our sig tells what we chose.
RE: Hydraulic slides vs Electric slides
Some of hte electric slide systems allow you to open and close any slide or all slides in any order. They hydralic slides open and close in a preset order and you usually have to go outside to the hydralic unit to turn off slides if you don't want them to open. This all comes at a price. Hydralic slides run off of a single hydralic pump. Electric slides require an entire slide mechinism for each slide. We have hydralics and are very pleased with them.
RE: Best way to brake down a hill?
Well Barney, the differences are a bit subtle, but very important. The braking power required to create a certain level of deceleration will vary when going up or down a steep hill. It is not a huge difference, but there is a difference. Prodigy and P3 add an extra step to the equation. You press on the brake pedal, the tow vehicle begins to slow down, the controller senses the rate of slow down and adjusts the braking power based on the rate of slow down. Since the rate of slowdown varies on road conditions, hills, traction, etc, the amount of braking power will not exactly match your pedal pressure and you also have to wait till the tow vehicle reacts to the brakes being applied, admittedly a very short time delay.
Brake Smart reacts instantaneously to the pressure you exert on the brake pedal. It actually senses the pressure in the hydraulic brake line. If you apply more brake pressure to stop while going down hill, it senses that and applies more brake power to the RV brakes to match what you asked the tow vehicle to do.
Bottom line, the differences are subtle. Keeping your RV brakes instantly in perfect sync with the tow vehicle brakes is definitely a nice feature and it is a little better than what Prodigy does, but it costs 5 times as much to do it that way. Like I said, it is better, but nowhere near 5 times better. My comment about Prodigy vs. brake Smart has always been that Prodigy, and now P3, are the best bang for the buck. But, if you are willing to basically overpay for the very best, Brake Smart is the very best.
On Edit:
Barney,
While I was at lunch I was thinking of this thread and came up with an example, though rare, where the Brake Smart would perform better than the Prodigy.
It’s October and you decide to drive into the mountains to view the changing colors of the leaves. You leave on Sunday morning and are headed down the mountain. It is raining lightly and the roads are covered with leaves, not an unheard of situation. Or it is snowing lightly, less likely situation. Either way, you come to a panic stop situation and slam on the brakes. Due to the slippery conditions you lose traction and the tow vehicle start to slide. The Prodigy would recognize your “deceleration” as a gentle slow down because that is how the truck is stopping because of the skid and it would then gently apply the brakes to the RV. If you had a Brake Smart, it would sense the “high pressure” of the brake pedal on the hydraulic fluid and apply maximum braking power to the RV.
RE: Best way to brake down a hill?
Larry,
The newer brake controllers like the Prodigy, P3, Brakesmart, and others will tell you how much voltage is being supplied by the controller to the trailer brakes. That voltage varies according to how hard you press down on the brake pedal and the rate of deceleration of the TV.
Barney
Barney, your statement is not quite accurate. The topic of this discussion deals with braking downhill. Prodigy and P3 work off of a motion sensor that senses the deceleration of the tow vehicle, then adjusts the braking power according to the deceleration of the tow vehicle. Since this topic deals with hills, it has to be stated that it takes more brake pressure going down hill to create the exact same rate of deceleration as it does going uphill. Even when not towing, you have to hit your brakes harder when you are going down a steep hill.
Your statement is however accurate about Brake Smart. Brake Smart does place a sensor in the hydraulic brake line. It knows when you hit the brakes harder. It knows when you let up on the brakes slightly as you approach a traffic light. It knows exactly how hard you are pressing on the brake pedal at any moment and instantly adjusts the power to your brakes accordingly.
So, basically, I disagree with only one word in your post. You need to change the word “and” to “or” in your last sentence. “That voltage varies according to how hard you press down on the brake pedal or the rate of deceleration of the TV.” Prodigy and P3 don't know how hard you are pressing on the brake pedal and Brake Smart doesn't need to know the rate of deceleration.
RE: Hitch and brake controller advice?
Prodigy is an extremely good controller for about $100, but you said a 14,000 lb 5er. The Brake Smart controller will cost you over $400 and should be professionally installed since you have to install a sensor into the hydraulic brake line, but it is definitely superior to the Prodigy. Is it 5 times better, definitely not, so bang for the buck, Prodigy is your best choice? But if you are willing to pay whatever is necessary for the best controller, go Brake Smart.
Prodigy works off of a motion sensor that senses the deceleration of the tow vehicle and then adjusts the power to the brakes accordingly. Brake Smart senses the exact hydraulic pressure in your brake lines and uses that to set your braking power. The changes are instantaneous and exact – but expensive!
RE: New to 5th wheeling
Since you already have a TT, there is very little else you need for a 5er. That said, there is one thing you have to learn to do that was mentioned briefly here, and that is a pull test.
After hitching up, raise your front landing gear to about 1 to 2 inches above the ground, no higher. Then take off your wheel chocks and hook up your 7-pin connector. Get in the cab and push the button on your controller to set the brake. Put the truck in gear and try to move forward. If the controller is working properly and the king-pin is hooked up properly, you won’t be able to move. The second part of the test is to let go of the button on the control and move forward a little (this is why the landing gear has to be slightly off the ground). If everything is OK, set your parking brake and go back and raise the landing gear the rest of the way.
If you did not hook up properly, the 5er will come loose from the hitch and drop an inch or two onto the landing gear. If you raised your gear completely before the test, the 5er will drop onto your truck bed, ouch!
Do this every time you hook up!
RE: Leveling the front jacks (or should you)
We carry a couple blocks of 6 x 6 x 12 to use as a base for the landing gear and also a couple pieces of 1/2 inch plywood. Drop the landing gear down to the 6 x 6's, raise them to the first click, then stuff as many 1/2" boards under each side that will fit. When done the most we are off is 1/2 inch.
We also carry a couple 1 foot square pieces of 3/4 inch ply. If we are really on unlevel or soggy ground we put down 2 6 x 6's side by side, then cover them with the 1 foot squares and let the landing gear down in the center of all that.
RE: fridge stopped cooling HELP!!!!
Is it a Norcold frig? Is the light blinking 5 times? If so, here is a thread we posted a while back when this happened to us.
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/20157322.cfm
Exchanged Propane Tanks -- read and be careful
Thought this was important enough to share. There is a link below that confirms the message.
For any of you who use gas grills and exchange propane tanks, please read the warning below and check out the link attached. This has been verified as a real warning, so please be careful and have a safe holiday weekend.
Meth cooks are getting exchanged propane tanks from places like Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc. and emptying them of the propane. Then, they are filling them with anhydrous ammonia (which they now have a recipe for by the way). After they are finished with them, they return them to the store.
They are then refilled with propane and sent back for you and me to buy. Anhydrous ammonia is very corrosive and weakens the structure of the tank. It can be very dangerous when mixed with propane and hooked up to our grills, etc. You should inspect the propane tank for any blue or
greenish residue around the valve areas. If it is present, refuse to purchase that one.
You should check out the following website for more details. They also have pictures.
http://www.npga.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=529
Credit: copied from Mooky Mouse on the Everest Owners Club Forum
RE: Killens Pond Gathering June 20-22 2008
We’re grandparents again! My son, or should I say daughter-in-law, delivered Kendal at 11 lbs 15 oz on Sunday afternoon. She wasn’t due until July 2nd, but all is well, the baby is fine except just a little on the small side.
