RE: 1150 vs. 990
I am planning on getting a Chevy or GMC 3500 4X4 duely long bed pick up....but I am hesitant to pack around that much camper, i.e., one that extends 3 frigg'in feet aft of the truck bed.
Get a Ford.... Mine's fine. :B
RE: Extreme TC - with everything!
I could see that thing strapped to the back of a DeLorean that's heading Back to the Future.....
But when that thing hits 88, watch out cause s&^%'s gonna come flying off.
RE: Do I really need a Dually?
There are quite a few AF 990 owners that use SRW trucks.... My AF 1140 is only several hundred pounds heavier than your 990 and I cannot imagine hauling it on anything but a dually truck. I personally would not want to do it but than thats my sole opinion.
Ditto..
Not trying to play the weight police on you, it CAN be done. AF builds HEAVY campers. As mentioned above, my 1150 isn't much less than a 990. You'll want to spend some money on upgrades. But if you go with a DRW, you won't regret it.
I have a 1150 on an F350 DRW, and in addition to being a dually, here's what I've got--
F550 rear suspension/Spring pack (no bags)
Roadmaster rear ANTI sway bar
Rancho 9000 shocks
Torklift tie downs
Large amount of whiskey
I almost TBone'd an idiot TODAY taking my TC in for routine service on my lunch break. This guy decided he wanted to make a UTurn RIGHT in front of me. How could he not see a rig this big?? :h
Anyway, I had to dynamite the brakes. It only got a little out of kilter on me. I'm not sure how comfortable that would have been on a stock or lightly modified SRW.
On the upside - the County Sheriff behind me didn't like the guy's UTurn.
What really chaffs yer hide when TC'ing?
I rarely go to campgrounds. I'm set up for boondocking-extra batteries, inverter, generator, auxiliary water pump, etc(no solar, not much good here in Seattle).
Anyway, went to a campground in the north Olympics a couple weeks ago. Been there many times.
* Got there, pouring down rain (which is normal here).
* Campsite was flooded, had to dig our own drainage ditch to drain it-- Park Maintenance hadn't done any drainage control.
* Trail to the lodge hadn't been maintained/graveled, it was a muddy mess.
* Woke up Saturday morning to chainsaws-the campground decided Saturday morning was the best time to do park maintenance, and it went on ALL DAY. Park maintenance DID decide that chainsaw work was ok, on a Saturday when the campground was full, but no drainage control.
* This is a hot springs resort. They've always provided towels to all guests (costs $35/day for RV spot, $15/PP for the hot springs). This year, they decided that RV'ers have to BYOB--towels are for guests of the cabins only, even though it's still $15/PP.
Put it all together, and being treated like a second rate guest because I was in a campground and not a cabin, that really chaff'd my hide....
RE: Rear Sway bar upgrade from stock--suggestions?
Today's project on this rare non-raining day here near Seattle, put on the sway bar and new shocks.
OMG what a difference. HOLY %^&$. WOW. It seriously was like going from a SRW to a DRW. Drove it around and as soon as I pulled out the driveway I could tell the difference. Came back, added Rancho 9000's, made it even better.
Ordered mine from Etrailer.com on Thursday, it literally was here THE NEXT DAY!! Ground shipping was free, and yet it was here the next day.
I think a Roadmaster Front ANTI-sway bar is in my future. And definitely from Etrailer.
RE: GPR in Ford-Fe50 Powerstroke
Can't answer that for you as far as location, but when you do find it, just disconnect it for now and see what your batteries do. Don't order another one until you know this is it.
Do you have a volt meter with at least a 10amp amp DC current setting? Most can do 10 amps. Or, how bout a test light?
RE: Rear Sway bar upgrade from stock--suggestions?
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd211/swarf_rat/Bigfoot10_4/Swaybar2_zps5ff7dae8.jpg
That was the deciding picture for me. Thanks, you helped me make a decision.
Ordered the Roadmaster today, and while I was at it, ordered a set of Rancho 9000's. Should make a difference. I'll wait and see on the front, credit card is smoldering slightly right now.
RE: GPR in Ford-Fe50 Powerstroke
Mark_Be, not to bust your chops, but you're thinking the wrong truck. You and I have an '01 7.3L, the OP has a 2005 6.0L. Totally different animal when it comes to the glow plug system. Those use the solid state controller rather than a simple solenoid.
Likewise, he wasn't asking if it worked, but rather, he thinks it is causing a drain on the batteries when the truck sits.
OP--before you go buy a new one, unplug it. See if you still have a battery drain. That is by far the easiest way for you to check. My bet is it isn't your glow plug module. If you need additional help, we can get into voltmeters, your fuse block, and various other ways of troubleshooting.
Do you have any aftermarket electronics--aftermarket stereo, amplifier, alarm system, etc?
Rear Sway bar upgrade from stock--suggestions?
I did a search. Most of what I found was people who went from not having one at all to adding one.
I already have the Ford Camper Package rear sway bar option from the factory. I also have the rear spring packs, overloads, and perches from an F550 (long story). It's done me fine for years, but now I'm looking for a sway bar upgrade.
The sway bar didn't come from an F550, so working under that assumption, what is going to give me a SUBSTANTIAL upgrade from the stock F350 rear sway bar?
I've already looked at Hellwig, and they don't look much bigger than stock, rather, they look like they are really just meant for people who don't already have a rear sway bar.
RE: What size Olympian Wave Heater?
I installed the Wave 3 in the galley area of our AF 1140, and tied the gas line into the rear of the frig. The Wave 3 is nice for those chilly days. They are really nice since they don't require any electric to work. When it gets near freezing, we like to use the on board furnace since then the basement gets heated.
You can easily have the best of both worlds. Heat your basement, and use your Wave, without the furnace.
The basement "heat" in our AF's is nothing more than a small box fan that circulates the camper's heated air to the basement. It is NOT a vent from the furnace. You should have a vent near the bed-step, another next to the slide out switch. One is the fan, the other is an open vent to the basement to allow the air out that the fan pushed in.
Take the fan out, and add a simple A/OFF/B switch, or what Radio Shack calls a Double Throw Single Pole switch. Take the hot lead from the fan, put it on one side of the switch. Add a wire from a constant 12v source and wire it to the other side of the switch. The center pin on the switch now goes back to the fan + lead.
Flip it to the 12v position to run the fan constant, regardless of the furnace.
Flip the other way to only run the fan with the furnace.
Center it to turn completely off.
These box fans draw next to nothing, on the order of 100mA (or 1 tenth of an amp) of current. Running for 10 hours straight means a whopping 1 amp-hour of drain on your batteries. In comparison, our furnaces use a 5amp motor, which means it draws 50x more current.
Even though the furnace cycles on and off, running the basement "heat" fan 24x7 will draw far less battery power than the furnace, and you get the benefit of the better propane efficiency of your Wave.
Another bonus - your floor stays warmer.
:)
RE: Seeing AC/DC on the cheap! -- pics
I see on the eBay listing that they need a power isolator & transformer (for AC). What did you use and where did you get it..them??
A transformer and isolator? That's interesting, the one I bought them through didn't say that. If you run it through a transformer, it won't read line voltage, you'll read whatever the output side of the transformer is supposed to put out.
Seeing AC/DC on the cheap! -- pics
Got these AC and DC voltmeters off Ebay, if you do a search for Blue LCD Voltmeter, you'll find several of them. Total for both was just over $10.
Made the housing myself out of simple ABS plastic. Since there was a 110v outlet and a 12v light right there, I tapped my power for each meter off those.
http://home.comcast.net/~boatycall/rvnet/gauges.jpg
Honda Generator recall
This was brought to my attention by RedDog1, aka Wayne, moderator in the Truck Camper forum.
I have one, and since a lot of people here in the 5'er forum do also, I thought I'd pass this on.
Clicky
RE: Satelite TV for Fver
Buy the dish tailgater save u some hard ache.
I agree, just got out Tailgater and receiver (not current dish customers)set and account activation was a snap. Pay as you go is just that you need to keep one months billing paid, next month you only need to make up the difference for days used.
Plan is to make a ladder top mount, it is light enough to toss up each time out, safer there also!!
x3!!
I absolutely LOVE mine. Full HD, completely automatic, turn it on, tell it what state you're in, eg, WA, CA, PA, etc, (Intoxicated is not a choice), and literally five minutes later you're watching TV.
Cost is substantially less than any other FULLY automatic dish system. Self pointing dish and matching HD receiver is $500 through Dish for existing or new customers. I already had the compatible receiver, so I got the antenna for $350.
RE: RV re-sellers
I believe he was referring to one of the basic rules here, "For Sale" posts are a no-no.
Since there is no reference to a rig for sale, we'll let this one slide, I've ran into the same issue when I tried selling a rig several years ago, so I feel this has merit to post.
No one is breaking RV.net's rules on this thread so long as you're not referring to a rig for sale.
One request here---Please do not post, "I'm trying to sell my rig, I'd like to hear more about this". I will have to delete it.
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RE: Max length of 30 amp cord?
ok, so before I pass this on to the tech forum, I'll say this. I'm an electrical engineer, so I don't recommend you do this without an electrician.
Long story short, I have a 10kw home generator, and a whole-house transfer switch. Instead of picking individual breakers, I installed a large master transfer switch to either power the entire panel off gen power or landline power.
This way, any 220v appliance in my house can run if I need it to. Of course, I can't run the water heater, do a load of laundry and cook a turkey in the oven all off a 10kw gen, so just like camping, common sense has to be used as far as genny load.
For wire on a 220v 5kw gen, you're not talking a lot of amps per leg. On a 100' run, I would say you can use 10-4, but 8-4 would be better. Whomever installs your transfer switch can easily make you a custom cable to connect the gen.
