RE: HTT: I learned to pray everytime I saw a Semi in my mirrors
Before you go spending a bunch of money, you might want to see if your hitch is set up right.
You shouldn't be having that much sway every time a truck passes you. We have just a standard W/D hitch and a anti-sway bar and have NEVER had any problems.
Three potential problems to look at is:
1) Not enough tongue weight (12%-15%)
2) The nose of the camper is riding too high - When you camper is hooked to the truck, on level ground, what is the front-back aspect?
- Front higher than the back = Bad
- Front level with back = OK but not great
- Front slightly lower than the back = Best
- Front a lot lower than the back = Bad
3) Try increasing or decreasing a link on the W/D bars. This can also effect your "feel" when driving. If not enough weight has been moved to the front (too few links) the front tires may be "floating". So when a big rig flies by, it may be causing the truck to sway, which then transmits it to the trailer.
Anyway, try out some things before spending lots-O-cash on a new hitch. A Equalizer will make a bad setup more stable, but you will still have a bad setup. You are better of getting a stable setup FIRST.
RE: Hybrid camping in bear country
Double barrel 12ga with slugs. .
Ok, just joking. . Seriously though, follow all the sanitary basics. I personally would not do thinks like fry bacon, spam, fish, hamburgers or similar meats inside the camper. The scent lingers and bears have a far better nose than you or I.
We will likely be going to Yellowstone or Glacier this year. I plan on having my daughters (ages 5 & 9) sleep on the inside beds. I'll also bring some OC spray with me and keep it next to the bed. I'll have to check if there is any difference between human OC spray and Bear OC spray. (OK, just checked. Both bear spray and human spray are in the 2%/3,000,000+ heat units. But the bear spray is a larger container)
If there are any warning about active bear problems, then we will just turtle for a couple nights.
RE: Hybrids everywhere!
Our HTT is our first camper. We never even did very much tent camping. But with two kid we decided that we needed a family hobby. Our girls love to go camping! We started out looking at pop-ups since I (mistakenly) though that my wife's Honda CR-V could pull a small pop-up. Wife really wanted a bathroom, so we started looking at the very large pop-ups. Then we saw a Hybrid at at a campground and started looking at them. Eventually we bought a 2006 Kodiak 214 and a good used tow vehicle. It took me forever to find a used 2500 series Suburban!
In retrospect it was really good that we went the HTT route instead of a pop-up. We had bought some land a few years before we bought the HTT and it has city supplied H2O and a septic system on it. With the HTT and the full bathroom, it is very easy for us to use our land for camping. I bring a small generator with and we can pretty much stay there for as long as we like. Having the bathroom with a shower makes it very livable.
Our longest trip so far has been 12 days. We went down the west coast, starting in SW Washington (where we live) to N California, and back again. Later this year we are out to either Yellowstone NP, or Glacier NP.
The other nice thing about a camp is that you can use it as a "guest room". last year we had 7 people stay with us for a week. (sisters and spouses and 1 nephew). We set up our HTT in the back yard and the four of us used it at night for sleeping, so our guests could use all the bedrooms.
As for the rain thing. . we have never had to fold up wet, or while it was raining. We have had it rain during the night, but it always stopped and dried out before we were ready to go. Guess we've just been lucky!
Suburban - Changing Sparkplugs - Help!!
2001 Suburban, 2500 series with the 6.0L engine.
Going to change the plugs for the first time as I'm getting near 100,000 miles on the truck. The plugs have a metal (or aluminum?) tube that wraps around each plug, and the plug wire connector.
So when I pull the plugs wires, should I pull just the wire, OR the wire and the tube at the same time?
I just don't want to go yanking on things, not knowing what I'm doing.
Thanks!
