Fifthwheels will cut you short in a turn. When making a turn, the trailer wheels do not track behind the truck wheels. The turning radius of the trailer wheels cound be several feet shorter then the truck, depending on the length of the trailer. The longer the trailer the shorter the turning radius.
Ray,IN You said the RV brakes locked up stopping the truck. So when you say locked up, I should have been burning the rubber off rather than burning the brakes up? The brakes did engage but to the point where the tires were locked and leaving skid marks. The trailer is new; do you think I need to adjust the brakes? Shouldn't the dealer have done that?
Things happen! I came close to having problems myself. Had to have a pro deliver my 279efs Cougar to Don Pedro Lake as my GMC 2500HD Duramax CC/LB got lost at the rail yard. He watched as I used all my boards and then lowered the support legs till they maxed out. Wish he had reminded me to drop the legs. A few days later someone hooked up and let me do it right. My father in-law provided the sewer hookup along with a beautifully built holder for the 15' of hose. Ended up with 3 eight-foot hoses with only 1 fitting. In addition, the beautiful device for the sewer was built on my driveway. It could not keep itself up on the uneven ground where the sewer outlet was. By the way, everyone loved my fix for the holder. 2-8ft and 1-4ft lengths of PVC rain gutter with the lengths stacked to adjust and banded by short bungie cords. A length of 90lb chain (overkill but still light) over each slider beam and around the gutter which was adjusted up and down by S hooks. Very adjustable! Took my parents up for the weekend when I picked the trailer up. Remember to do things yourself! Turned around and my Father had removed the wheel locks. He thought it was time because we had started to lower the front of the trailer. Lucky the trailer didn't move as we were on a pretty good incline. Oh well, he meant well. Then I found out that some idiot forgot to bring my trailer mirrors. I won't do that again. It's not worth listening to my wife. There were some other glitches but all minor. Live and learn. Thanks Fishwar those were good reminders. I don't have to worry about merging speed. My Duramax w/Allison Trans pulls the loaded trailer, loaded crew cab, full of fuel, with 4 good size adults up the ramps fast enough I need to let off to merge. Drive safe and have fun!
Just a frendly reminder to everyone: People tend to forget that when merging onto an interstate, that even when there's not a yield sign present, it is an implied yield for traffic merging from an onramp. If there is an accident, the one coming from an onramp will get the ticket. Traffic is not required to move over and let you in. Most will do it out of courtesy if they can do it safely. I drove an eighteen wheeler for more years than I care to remember and around once a week or so, some car or such came flying up an onramp and tried to play chicken with me because I wouldn't move over and let him in. I couldn't. Nobody in the lane to my left would let ME over. There was one in Salt Lake City one time wanted in and I couldn't get over to let him in, so he got right up to the absolute end of the onramp and shot right in front of my right side bumper. I had to slam on my brakes, and my rear trailer tried to come around and pass me. I got my rig straightened out and looked out my left side window in time to see him shoot me the bird. I guess I did the right thing. A friend of mine told me that I should've hit him, but this jerk had his family in there with him. Had he been alone, I might have been tempted, but I'm just not the vindictive kind. What goes around comes around. The Bible talks about the law of the harvest: What you sow, you also reap.
I like the idea of a laminated check list. I always fear I am going to leave the TV antenna up or something more serious. I learned alot from other peoples mistakes by reading on this forum for several months.
2002 F250 CC SB 2WD PSD Prodigy, Pace Edwards Trac-Top cover, Line-X, Husky 16K 4-way, chrome tube grille.
2002 Jayco Eagle 277RBS Fifth Wheel with slide awning
Gee...I fit right in. We went on our second trip out with our new fiver this past weekend. When extending the main slide, I hadn't noticed that a vertical cabinent door had opened into the side of the slide until it was sliding open. Slide ground to a halt, but not before ripping off offending door. After an hour rebending door hinges, I managed to make things right. Lesson learned!!
The worst time is when you arrive late and are tired. I like to drive past the sites to survey them and then turn around, find the one I like and park. At one of our favorite campgrounds I took a turnaround that was not intended for fifth wheels. In my defense, it wasn’t marked either. Damaged both sides of the Jayco Quest we used to have including a broken window. This only came to $3000.00. My insurance company was quite appreciative.
Another was encountering a sheet of fiberglass that blew off the top of an 18-wheeler. Broke the windshield and took off the right rear view mirror on a relatively new F250.
Then, the first trip our with our new Cardinal (to the dealer for a checkup), I dutifully pulled into a parking lot to check the wheel lugs (aluminum wheels with a warning to check the first 150 miles). The entrance to the parking lot was a deep dip and I rubbed off the bottom of the poorly designed ladder. The ladder extended below the rear bumper , which was nice for climbing the ladder but is kind of impractical. The dealer turned the bottom of the ladder into the bumper for $35.00. He did a nice job. I then bought a ladder buddy to put on the bottom of the ladder when climbing it.
I’ve had my share.
Nyles & Carol Nielsen
Full Timers
2002 F350 CrewCab Dually PS,Taylor Wing,PressurePro, Air Springs/W compressor,gages, V-Box tailgate box, WD Exhaust Brake, ATS Trans/CoPilot, Gear Vendor REMOVED for reliability.
2005 Holiday Rambler Alumascape 35'.
Sounds like we've all been there, done that! Our first trip to storage place with our brand new Cardinal (our walkie talkies had not yet arrived yet via an eBay purchase) and I told hubby I'll follow behind you in my car talking him thru turns and such via cell phone-guess who forgot to turn on his cell phone? So I am dialing like mad trying to raise him and watch in horror as he rolls the right trailer tires over a curb. When we arrive at storage, after giving hubby the devil (he's used to it-maybe it was no accident he left phone off!) we looked around inside and the TV in the bedroom had slid out of the overhead bin and landed face first on the bed and then leaned gently against the mirrors of the full length closet! Nothing broken but we were sure lucky. Then our first experience at dumping the tanks, hubby forgets to check and make sure the valves are closed to the black water tank and as he takes off the sewer cap he got a baptism! Someone at dealership had forgotten to close the valve when doing our walk thru and we forgot to check it anyway before opening the main line. His sneakers had to get tossed as the smell was . . . well, let's say I knew he was nearby before I even saw him wearing those things. Talk about a baptism by fire . . . I'd rather have the fire I think! Now the rubber gloves get put on, bucket goes under the main valve and the outlet valves are checked once by him and again by me before we open the main one.
Even our neighbor, who has many years to experience in RVing was showing us some tips on the awning and let go of the strap accidentally ("Boy that's one strong spring" he muttered) and we watched the awning go flying back up to the trailer and smack it with the sound of a gunshot. Then you heard things falling and crashing inside as all the kitchen cabinets opened up and sent my plastic dishes all over the trailer! All pictures on that side of trailer went flying also-even the heavy duty velcro and tape I use on wall things couldn't hold that force. So we have been very lucky and use a checklist every time we arrive/depart from any location.
On our first vacation with our new 5er I pulled out of the alley behind our house and as I started to turn right a car cut across in front of me to make a right turn. As I was cussing him out I forgot to make a WIDE turn and pulled our brand new 5er into a telephone pole.
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