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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Measured TT length
Manufacturers seem to rate them by box, but the RV lots by overall length. Easier to command higher $$$ for a 30' then a 27'.
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bluwtr49
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09/05/08 07:26am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: McKesh Mirrors
I agree that the McKesh are probably the best available. Used them on the Jeep before we bought the Tundra with factory tow mirrors. Factory mirrors are better but for an accessory item the McKesh are great.
My old ones will be an E-Bay item in a few weeks.
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bluwtr49
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09/05/08 07:24am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: mini van tow vehicle
By the time you get your 2001 all set up for towing, it might be better to trade it in on a newer model that already has a tow package. Usually a factory tow package includes extras that are really expensive to add after the fact. Quite a few folks tow with mini-vans so may might select a differant one that is ready to go.
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bluwtr49
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09/03/08 07:40am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Leave the AC on All Summer?
I have gone both ways and found that on really humid and hot days, leaving the AC run, on a timer, for 2-3 hours a day keeps the interior dry(er). When it's only hot, I not as concerned but I don't like moisture accumulation in the TT.
A couple of years ago, I left the AC run at 80 for a couple of months and the electric bill jumped by about $60.00.
We also keep the house ac running when we're gone for the same reasons.
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bluwtr49
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09/01/08 06:33am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: 2007 Ford Expedition and Jayco Jayflight G2 29BHS
The tonque wt dry may be a bit high but you actually have some control over the "on the road" wt by your loading technique and using the FW tank to balance the TT. Careful though not to get the TW to low or problems will result.
The dealer is correct in that the W/D hitch will transfer some wt back to the TT axles. Up to 33% but I use 25% as a rule of thumb for a properly set up hitch. That should leave you somewhere around 630 lbs on the hitch. I stongly suggest a Shurline tonque scale and remember it will read high if under the tonque jack (shorter lever arm) instead of the coupler.
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bluwtr49
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08/31/08 08:27pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: disgusting toilet question
In my experience, DW seems to work the best.
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bluwtr49
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08/31/08 08:14pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: My first Tow...weight problems HELP!
What I find interesting about our numbers is that you have a pretty high cargo rating and a pretty low tow rating. Now I have no idea what engine Ford put in the '95 F-150's but I'm inclined to bet that you have a fairly high rear end ratio.....3.43?????. If so, simply changing that to something lower might be a relatively inexpensive way to pick up some ooomhp for pulling grades.
Regardless, it appears you are within the capabilities of the truck and I would suspect you'd be OK. As other have said, you may have some struggle on steep grades but I have no idea how many miles of mounntain driving there is along that route.
You certainly should not need a 3/4 ton diesel to pull 6900 lbs. There are a whole lot of good gassers that will do it quite nicely.
As far as the comment that a gasser will die before 100K....ignore it unless you will be towing for all of the 100K. My old chevy pickup 1/2 ton, 350 engine, towed for over 50K of it's 200K life and was still going strong when I sold it.
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bluwtr49
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08/31/08 08:23am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: RV solar Panels and how it works
To do what you want will take a generator. I doubt you TT has enough surface area to mount all the solar panels you'll need to keep that large of a battery bank charged.
Just a quick guess, you'll need somewhere around 2,000 AH of battery capacity. That comes to about 10 golf cart batteries.
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bluwtr49
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08/28/08 06:12pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Fuel efficency experiment
On the trip we're currently on, I slowed from 65 to 55 and picked up about 17%. Now that was with the old rig so we'll see what the new Tundra pulling the new Cougar does when we start heading south in a week or so.
Of course, as everyone know, north is all uphill an south is all downhill.
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bluwtr49
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08/28/08 06:02pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Heartland North Trail
We also looked at them. Interestly, all the build details they seem so proud of appear to be copied from the Jayco Jay Feather. Honestly, we were not that impressed when compared to the Jayco.
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bluwtr49
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08/27/08 08:28am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: What Size & Type TT do you pull with you Hemi 1500 Ram?
What Size & Type TT do you pull with you Hemi 1500 Ram?
Truck specs.
2008 Dodge 1500 QC SB 4x4 Hemi Auto 3.92
GVWR= 6,700
GCWR= 14,000
Max. Trailer= 8,500
We are currently looking for an affordable small lightweight easy to pull TT. Preferrably less than 25 ft. long and under 5k lbs. I still have my weight distributing hitch and sway control from my last TT (10 years ago).
So what do you pull with a similar truck and how does combo work together? Any suggestions on a TT brand size or type? Anything I should look out for?
We looked this weekend at a few 20-26 ft. TT's and realy liked the Dutchman 18B, 18F and 25C-GS.
Thanks.
Mine wasn't a Ram but it was a HEMI in the Jeep. JayFeather 25Z at ~6,000 lbs loaded. The HEMI pulled it very well even with the 3.73 gearing. Equal-i-zer hitch.
Mountains at 55-60 in 2nd gear spinning at 4200 to 4500 rpm and very happy. In some respects this was a better matched combo then what I have now.
Good luck, you should get a lot of responses from very content Ram fans.
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bluwtr49
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08/27/08 08:14am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: TT: Buy new or used?
We just went through this and the prices for new are so deeply discounted that the differance was minimal. For me, I would have to have at least a 20% (50% preferred) differance in the same model to go used, otherwise I would take new every time.
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bluwtr49
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08/26/08 10:33am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Jeep Commander and a travel trailer
Aren't the GC and the Commander based off the same chassis with the Commander being minutely longer and having a third row seat? I also thought I read it appeared more roomy because of it being more upright on the sides and windshield. I am not knocking either one, just saying what I have read and that the possible differences other than weight might not be all that large.
Yep, that's about it. Jeep thought it would have more appeal to the soccer moms with the 3rd row seating but has not be well accepted. If you want towing in a luxury SUV with 3 rd row seating, look at the Chyrsler Aspen. It's basically a good looking varient of the Durango.
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bluwtr49
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08/22/08 05:10pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Info wanted on Rear Kitchen in TT
We thourghly enjoyed our rear kitchen Jay Feather 25Z for all the reasons mentioned. Now we have a rear living and like it even more because of the view out the picture window.
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bluwtr49
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08/22/08 05:02pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Jensen TV and Radio/CD/DVD Surround sound system
I guess one of us could read the manual but's that's so boring.
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bluwtr49
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08/22/08 11:19am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Jensen TV and Radio/CD/DVD Surround sound system
Yep, just noticed the same thing. It looks like they just didn't run the other wires neccesary to play the TV audio but I'm not sure. Unfortently, the units are at opposite ends of the salon so running an additional cable isn't all that easy.
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bluwtr49
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08/22/08 09:56am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Keystone Cougar Travel Trailer
So far so good. One of the first things we've noticed is that the Cougar is so solid. It just feels substantial we've only been in it a week or so.
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bluwtr49
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08/22/08 07:13am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Question about towing an 05 Cougar
I'd like to thank everyone for their advice about the trailer. I'm fairly new to this whole game, so I really appreciate hearing as many different opinions as possible. It's also help me realize that the numbers given by both the car and trailer manufacturers are only a starting point. I took the Cougar out for a tow last week and I brought ~500 lbs worth of bagged sand meant for the sand box with me. I put most in the trailer and a few bags in the back of the truck to help simulate a packed trailer (I knew it wasn't enough weight, but it was all I had). The technicians hooked up an Equal-i-zer hitch, and I found the truck did fine with it on the highway and the roads around it.
After reading everyone's posts and spending a lot of time thinking about it, we decided to purchase the trailer. I just got back from our first trip with it and we had a really good time, but it was certainly a much different experience towing it as opposed to the pop-up. There was a little more wiggle in it than the test tow, but it wasn't horrible looking back at it. I was pretty nervous the entire trip since I didn't know what to expect. I just kept it at 60 and it did fine. I got ~8.5 MPG up the mountain, and ~10 MPG on the trip home.
It was a fairly straightforward trip, with ~10 minutes of town driving to the highway, 45 minutes on the highway, and the RV park was right off the highway. It was in the Adirondack mountains, but nothing too bad. Realistically, I think we're not going to do much beyond that with the Expedition. We might try some different parks deeper in the Adirondacks, but I don't want to push my luck too much. These short trips mean that we don't need to bring a fully packed trailer, and it gives me a chance to get more comfortable towing the trailer. I found that the hitch made a ton of noise as we were turning, which made me very nervous. I don't know if that's normal or not. Thanks again to everyone for their tips and advice.
Sounds like you're doing great. Yes, the Equal-i-zer makes some noise and the occasional load "POP" certainly catches DW's attention. Lube it well and eventually it "breaks in" and doesn't make much noise.
I found some "wiggle" also with my Jeep and eventually got rid of it but re-adusting the hitch as the dealer didn't do it anywhere near well enough. I also changed the TV tires to a much higher load rated tire....went from a 105S to a 110S using the Cooper Discovery ATR's. With the tires at max cold pressure the stiffer sidewall made a HUGE differance.
Also, keep an eye on the hitch, the 3/4" bolts will tend to loosen until the U-shaped bracket bends far enough to grip the shank. Think 320 ft/lb of torque for those bolts. The head adjusting bolt and washer stud will also loosen and require retightning.
Good luck and keep us posted with your adventure.
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bluwtr49
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08/22/08 07:09am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: brake controller setting
OK. I'll bite: What's "SWAG" stand for?
Sisters, Wives, and Girlfriends??? :? :p
Scientific Wild Ass Guess
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bluwtr49
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08/21/08 05:29pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Clear as mud
Most of this information is golden but even he discounts the accuaracy of the W/B to TT length issue. A couple of years ago we had a thread that must have gone 15 pages trying to find the origin of that data. As best anyone could figure it first appeared somewhere in the 50's or 60's and then got picked up and used in any number of databases.
Look at the info as being ultra-conservative. Then look to you TV manufacturer and see if they give you a max length and frontal area along with the tow rating. Some do and some don't. If you pick a TT that is 80 to 90% of your tow rating, chances are the length will be OK as well. Survey other folks using the same TV and see what their experience is.
Last, I'm working on an unofficial survey that indicates a ratio of less the 2.8:1 (TT overall length to TV W/B) seems to work well.
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bluwtr49
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08/21/08 05:16pm |
Travel Trailers
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