*Truck and Towing thread........ask your questions here.*

[tigger92662]

@Paulaparm If you have the chance, check out the app Fort Fiends. It gives a pretty good evaluation of the sites.

If you've followed along, you know by now we LOVE trip reports.

So if you have the time, even if it's after you get home, please regale us with you're exploits.

1st and foremost, enjoy The Fort and it's, well everything! Hopefully you have planned a few days to just relax and take it all in

 

[Stratman50th]

Go for a Premium Meadows site then. They are the most central loops at the Fort. It is a new category this year, but most of the loops in the middle of things are the new, pricier, category.

j

Big fan of the premium meadow sites. Premium because we fit. Meadow not because we use the trading post or that pool, we use the quiet pool by the cabins. We like it because it's almost right in the middle between the marina and the main entrance.

 

[jaredjohn4]

I prefer the premium sites just for the outside room to relax. We even used them when I was pulling a popup.
I just got back with my camper from eTrailer in St. Louis this week. Didn't beat the snow out of town. It took 5 1/2 hours to get there, but the snow came in Wednesday and it took a little over 8 hours to get home. I had the cruise control set at 35 for about 50 miles and never got passed. Good thing I just put new tires on the truck and the camper. I had the drum brakes on my 38 foot Keystone Cougar 326RBS 5th wheel replaced with hydraulic disc brakes. It feels a lot better when I step on the brakes now. The camper is just about ready for my end of March spring break trip to the Fort. It took 3 days for the install because if eTrailer doesn't have a film of an install, they film it and do the install for free. So in about a month I'll be able to watch online all the work they did.

 

[Teamubr]

I didn't know eTrailer did installations too. I've been there many times. Our race shop was less than 10 minutes from there.

Glad you made it home safe and sound. The eTrailer area got more snow than I did on my side of the metro area.

Let me know if you think the disc brakes were worth the $$. I need to replace the brakes on my camper this year, but the $1400 is a lot to bite off. Did you get THIS electric over hydraulic kit?

j

 

[jaredjohn4]

Yes, Wentzville got the most of the snow, but just wasn't good heading back towards Chicago. Got the electric over hydraulic kit. Yes it is pricey. Close to $2,000 out the door with a cheap hotel. I thought them doing the install was the best choice since it is cold here and I'm not sure who I would trust to get it set up right. They added in a couple more lines during the install and they had all the parts there. Once I hooked on the tech rode with me as we changed the controller setting on my Ram until they worked great. I'll know more after my spring break trip. They have about 4 trailer sized bays on the back side of the building, 4 truck sized on the end of the building, and I'm not sure how big the ones are on the front. There was about 8 campers parked out back.

 

[Teamubr]

They have about 4 trailer sized bays on the back side of the building, 4 truck sized on the end of the building, and I'm not sure how big the ones are on the front. There was about 8 campers parked out back.

I had never been around back. I thought the ones out front and on the side were just shipping/receiving.

Good to know. I have always done my own work. I have built race cars most of my life and figured a trailer can't be that hard. As I get older, I get more likely to pay someone else to do it.

j

 

[jaredjohn4]

I got the idea from watching a video blog from Keep Your Dreams Alive.

I really liked the idea of oil instead of grease for the bearings, but they don’t do that on my 5300 lb axles. I ended up with:
Qty Description
--- ---------------------------------------------------------- ------- -------
4 8-213-5UC1 Hub 6 On 5.5 5.2k W/bearings Races And Seal 4 - $307.64
4 GS-2250DL Grease Seal 3.376odx2.250id 22333vb 4-$17.16
2 K2R526D Kodiak Kit - 12 Rotor - 6on5-1/2 - Dac - 5.2k To 6k 2 -$576
1 Tuson Rv Brakes Actulink Actuator - Disc Brakes - 1,600 Psi 1-335ACT-1600
1 Kodiak Brake Line Kit - Tandem Axle - 20 1 -20TA-BLKIT
And like I said, the full install of each part should be online at e-Trailer in about a month.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

The rig shakedown was a month in the making between weather and work, but we finally got her out for a short trip.

We love the trailer, but we're a little disappointed with the whole RV industry. So many nail/staple holes with horrible filler jobs. The filler either doesn't match the area or it looks like they applied it with a sausage tied to their fingers. So many little things that you'd think someone would catch between the manufacturer and the dealer. Loose screws, unprogrammed LCI GC 3.0, stickers left all over everything that the installer is supposed to remove, etc.

Nothing that I've found hurts the functionality nor anything in the long haul. Though I'm not sure a rookie RVer could figure out all these problems like we did. Just a good reminder that we look like bags of money instead of people to most of these company.

Complaints complete, here's the good stuff!



First meal, homemade pizza. They tried really hard to NOT pose nice for the shot.


A nice spot in Weston Bend SP near Weston, MO. This shot was before I realized the LCI GC 3.0 was not calibrated. Hence the trailer leaning to the front left.


The right side of the rig. The ground was a soupy mess from all the melted snow, but the kids still enjoyed riding their bikes while DW and I worked on organizing, and installing some small projects: bed rails for the bunks, hung some stuff in the basement, installed a handled on the screen door (ran my drill through one of the screen panels by mistake...DOH!...more to fix for the next time).


Happy (and tired) campers in our recliners after a long day working on the rig.

Now we need to figure out the personality of everything so we're ready for FW this June!

Jack

 

[chartle]

The rig shakedown was a month in the making between weather and work, but we finally got her out for a short trip.

I don't see any pics.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

I don't see any pics.

Take 2. Tried linking the photos, but my service has been dorking with permissions lately.

 

[jbrostek]

@Part-Time Paradise Great looking rig! We just got a GD 380FL and looking forward to the same. We noticed stuff like that too and really I think its the dealer. My last rig I bought from a different dealer and they took the time to sort out all those things. Though the filler was something I took up with the manufacturer and because I am a little OCD I got some proper matching color caulking and fixed them myself.

Happy Camping ahead! Our first outings is end of March, but many weekends after that between the race track and planned outtings to places like Luray Caverns and Hershey.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

I've been looking for a new tow rig, came across the beauty. One day hopefully

 

[Teamubr]

How is the setup inside? With the 2nd door, I'm thinking REALLY nice Crewcab.

j

 

[jbrostek]

Peterbilt 335 or 337 custom cab?

https://schwalbetrucks.com/
Found some western hauler conversions too.

 

[rideswithchrist]

! So...
we are buying a 21-23' hybrid, which will be around 5K gross and towing with a Suburban (loaded with 2 adults and 4 skinny kids until 13).
We want to get a weight distribution hitch to help with any sway- but I don't want to spend $500 OR have to unhook to back up because we will forget and break something.

Best suggestions and why would I not go with the chain link type?

 

[Teamubr]

Michelle,

Chain or trunion bar type WD hitches both work fine and are about the same as far as setup/removal. There are 2 kinds of sway controls that go along with the hitch. The cheaper type friction bar that should be loosened (or removed) when backing and the type that has a friction link at the end of the weight bars. That type lets you backup without removing or loosening anything. The non-removable setups are a little more expensive, but are still well under $500 for a rig your size. You get hitches (and weight bars) based on the tongue weight of the trailer.

Here is a decent set that should be good for a 5,000 lb trailer. It is $363 with free shipping.

https://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Distribution-Hitch/Fastway/FA94-00-0600.html



j

 

[rideswithchrist]

Well, the camper came with a hitch! It does have the chains, and no sway bar but it towed better than we expected.
Except it is a brick. What a shocker after towing popups around. We averaged 9mpg with our Suburban.

 

[rideswithchrist]

How many miles is "too many" on a tow vehicle?
Our Suburban just rolled over 205K and I had planned on keeping it until 300K- BUT I am reconsidering now that we are towing a 5,000 pound camper.

 

[PaHunter]

How many miles is "too many" on a tow vehicle?
Our Suburban just rolled over 205K and I had planned on keeping it until 300K- BUT I am reconsidering now that we are towing a 5,000 pound camper.

That all depends on the vehicle, has it been taken care of has the transmission been taken care of. I know some people here are also over 200k on their vehicles. Our tow vehicle is at 655,000 miles. So ultimately only you and hubby can decide how many is too many.

 

[rideswithchrist]

That all depends on the vehicle, has it been taken care of has the transmission been taken care of. I know some people here are also over 200k on their vehicles. Our tow vehicle is at 655,000 miles. So ultimately only you and hubby can decide how many is too many.

Chris, what do you tow with?
I know Ed has over 200K on his Suburban too, so I think with more maintenance we can keep ours. I like my Burb and don't want to replace it until we have to. (I don't like the chipping paint though).