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Old 03-26-2019, 04:42 PM   #1
cookinwitdiesel
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Finally had our first trip!

We finally took the trailer out for a weekend 6 months after we bought it.

Glad to report everything went pretty smoothly and was uneventful.

Some observations from our trip:

1) I could tell the trailer was behind me when driving. Anyone claiming otherwise is either full of it or dangerously oblivious! I felt plenty comfortable driving (first time with a trailer other than bringing it home from the dealership) and the truck did its job fantastically. Was never "white knuckling" it - even on the way out there which was pretty windy.

2) I had a basic Curt WDH from the dealer that they set up with a little friction plate for anti-sway. I did not have the anti-sway piece in place for this trip as I wanted to see what it would be like. It definitely felt like the trailer would wag the truck ever so slightly but nothing big or scary even as trucks went by. This was more noticeable when moving at higher speeds. the WDH spring bars were in place. Just required more attentive driving.

3) We stopped by a CAT scale on the way home. I weighed 3 times but unfortunately, they were slightly incompetent and lost the 2 reweighs, and the wife was NOT going to wait through me doing them again (apparently, we were there a full hour). The 3 scenarios I wanted to weigh were 1) truck + trailer w/WDH, 2) truck + trailer w/o WDH, 3) truck only. I only got the first one this go around – will have to try again later. The weights were as follows:

Steer Axle: 4880 (Front GAWR: 5200)
Drive Axle: 4760 (Rear GAWR: 6200)
Truck Total: 9640 (Truck GVWR: 10000)
Trailer Axles: 6540 (Combined GAWR: 8800, Trailer GVWR: 9660)

As noted above, the truck was close (360# under) but not over its GVWR. We noticed that the truck would rock up and down a lot from any bumps to the point that my wife was getting motion sick – we bought her Dramamine for the ride home. Is this typical of a bumper pull? Would a fifth wheel have the same issue since the truck carries the weight very differently?

4) “Pull Through” sites are still very tight and not ideal for a long truck/trailer combo it seems. Maybe a fifth wheel would have faired better, idk. Ended up running over the edge of the ring around the firepit so the next morning (we got in around 9pm) I went out and bent that back into shape and cleaned it all up. The backside road to get to the pull through site did not give very much space at all and still called for a pretty tight turn radius to maneuver into the spot. Successfully parked, unhitched, leveled the trailer, then went to plug in shore power and realized I had to pull forward another 6 feet to reach to post haha. Good practice 30A Extension cord has been purchased.

5) They say you should check the wheel pressure and lug torque pretty much any time you stop and will be going again. Well I was dutifully doing this, pressure was always good. I have Load Range E tires but they are considerably overkill for my trailer (came with LR Ds) which I filled to 70 PSI (only needed 65 PSI to match the OEM gear) so that there would still be a little give for added suspension to the trailer. The lug torque on the trailer tires though surprised me. There was always at least a 1/16th turn or more on every lug before hitting the 125 Lb/ft I had set the wrench to. Made me feel much better knowing I was re-tightening them back down but also had me concerned, what if I had a longer run between stops? Is this to be expected?

We had the trailer pretty modestly loaded (really just kitchen gear and food). All of our clothes and my tech stuff I am never without were in the truck with me and I had a FULL compliment of tools in the truck (picture below). Next trip I will put more in the trailer since it was pretty underloaded and the truck was closer to its limit.

Now that I got a little stick time in the trailer, planned upgrades (lol).

-I already have the ParkPower kit to have a detachable shore line power cord, that will probably go in tomorrow (what type of sealant should I use around the inlet?).

-I also bought some peg board and accessories to clean up the pass-through storage considerably. I do not have a fifth wheel but there is still a sizable amount of space that I can utilize in there.

-I want to wire up a 12V circuit in the passthrough to put a simple light in there as well as mount and power the repeater for my trailer TPMS system (which I have not yet installed for this reason).

-It was down to the low 30s but not freezing at night and high in mid 50s during the day, the furnace was on full time for wife and baby (18 month old) comfort and we did in fact kill one of the 20# tanks on the trailer. I think I am going to get 30s just to have some more juice available. We were grilling too with my Weber Q2200 modded to use the quick disconnect on the trailer, so that also contributed to the usage. I will still always have a spare 20# in the truck just in case.

-Not as urgent but down the road I want to get 2x or 4x 6V batteries for extended battery run time and maybe an inverter to allow some boondocking. Would also look into solar panels, automatic transfer switch, and anything else that makes sense as part of the project. The batteries I found that look good are $280 a pop so this is a NOT urgent one haha.

-Going to want a 2nd TV for the bedroom, that is easy enough

-The storage space under the bed is a pain to access due to the 10” memory foam mattress we already put in the bedroom (heavy) so I have a mind to either remove the panels and make it open below the bed to store stuff there as needed, or make a door/drawer to make it more usable.

-If I get REALLY bored, I may consider modding the trailer to a 50 Amp shore line and Power Center but this is least likely to happen, I think.

That is the end of report, feel free to offer feedback or advice.

Thanks for reading!
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Old 03-26-2019, 05:16 PM   #2
Sinton4616
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Nice. Similar boat here, bought the fiver in Sep and due to "life happening", will finally take her out for our first trip end of April. Cannot wait.
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Old 03-26-2019, 05:24 PM   #3
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Good to hear all went well.

What rating WD bars are you using? If too light, they may be contributing to the bounce. Airing up the trailer tires to max may also help.
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Old 03-26-2019, 05:37 PM   #4
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Max would be 80 psi on the trailer tires (Goodyear Endurance). OEMs had 2540 rating @ 65 PSI, the new ones are up to 2830 @ 80 PSI. Axles are only rated at 4400 each so there is a ton of available reserve capacity in my tires.

I believe I have 1000# springs/WDH setup. My hitch weight should be about 950# I believe (wish I had those other weights to be sure.....I have weighed with a tongue scale before but that was with the trailer empty). Picture of what CampingWorld provided with the trailer attached. Has "normal" round spring bars with chain links at the end

Truck tires were aired to 60 PSI fronts and 75 PSI rears per the door sticker (Goodyear Wrangler SR-A). They are rated at 3195# @ 80 PSI.
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Old 03-26-2019, 06:14 PM   #5
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Congratulations on your maiden voyage! Sounds like it was a good trip.
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Old 03-26-2019, 06:41 PM   #6
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Yep, only time the wife got frustrated was at the weigh station so I did pretty well!

Oh, and I forgot the 18 month old daughter had ZERO interest in sleeping in the trailer (new place I guess). We had to lay on the sofa next to her in her pack-n-play until she fell asleep and sneak back to the bedroom. Naps were also non existent (unless in car seat in the truck)
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Old 03-27-2019, 12:56 AM   #7
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Glad things worked out for you. You'll find that a small electric heater will work wonders when you are using someone else's power rather than YOUR propane. And they are quiet. And easy to use with an extension cord off your power pedestal. That way it doesn't affect your 30 amps of service.
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Old 03-27-2019, 05:07 AM   #8
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As a matter of fact, I did pick up one of these and needed a reason to install it

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NI38MG/

Also got me thinking about putting in a nice looking electric fireplace. The wife was saying she liked them in the fancier trailers!
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Old 03-27-2019, 06:14 AM   #9
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Electric fireplaces in RV's are a "double edged sword". For people who generally camp with full hookups and have power available, the fireplace can provide ambience and heat in a "permanently installed appliance". That "permanently installed" issue can be a problem, depending on how the owner uses his RV. With hookups, the loss of about 6 cuft of storage space may be acceptable, but, if the owner typically dry camps or does not use their RV in places where electricity is available, then the fireplace is typically "in the way".

Depending on how the owner uses storage space, for those who dry camp, a 1 cuft electric heater may be a better choice. It's available when heat is needed, doesn't take up nearly as much storage space, can be stored "out of the way" when not used and is far less expensive than the electric fireplace.

For each owner contemplating installing a electric fireplace, the questions to ask are:
Do we have the space to dedicate to a fireplace?
Will we primarily have electricity when we need the heat?
Is there some "available space" to easily install the fireplace?
Will we use it enough to justify it?

There's no "right or wrong answer". Each owner must make the choice based on how they use their RV and what they want in convenience/ambience from it.
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Old 03-27-2019, 06:26 AM   #10
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Oh I was just looking at the "portable" $100-200 Home Depot ones, not a built in. So removable when not needed.
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Old 03-27-2019, 05:49 PM   #11
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Finally had our first trip!

Glad it went well. Your 18 mo will adjust. You never said where you went camping. I grew up in Northern Va.
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Old 03-27-2019, 06:19 PM   #12
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She did a lot better the 2nd night (normal bedtime) vs the 1st night (1am bedtime due to having to make camp and get set up late). But ya, I am not worried about her long term. She got to eat the first official meal in the trailer haha.

I am a born and raised NoVa resident and bought the house I grew up in last year - so no plans on leaving

We went to Harper's Ferry - to the KOA there. Didn't want to go too far from home in case something major happened with the trailer. On the way home, we went west to Winchester since the nearest CAT scales were out that way then just an easy I-81 to I-66 to get back home.

Fun fact, Google does not care that you are in a truck with a 30' trailer when you need to get from Harper's Ferry KOA to that CAT scale haha - lot of windy country roads and even a one lane bridge at one point. As long as you keep the speed slow and comfortable it was not stressful at all though. That one is on me for just trusting Google and not taking the initiative on planning the drive better. It would be awesome if Google Maps had an RV/Truck mode for navigation, because I love Android Auto and want to continue to be able to use it heavily
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Old 03-27-2019, 06:32 PM   #13
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I don't have any experience with "truck mode Google Mapping" but there are some "work around apps" that will help.

Take a look at this website to see if it might interface with your phone/google mapping to get you the "RV profile" that you can input to stay on "truck routes"

https://www.connectedwiki.com/google-maps-truck-mode/
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Old 03-27-2019, 06:35 PM   #14
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I will take a look, thanks!
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Old 03-28-2019, 02:44 PM   #15
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I’d heard the Harpers Ferry KOA is pretty tight maneuvering in and around. Did you find that to be the case? I know what you mean about the roads between Harpers Ferry and Winchester. They can be very winding and I wouldn’t try them in the 5er.
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Old 03-28-2019, 03:01 PM   #16
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Well, I did clip the fire pit pulling in to my space in lol

Fixed it best I could with tools on hand
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Old 03-28-2019, 03:43 PM   #17
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Looks like you may not have been the 1st to do that.
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Old 03-28-2019, 07:45 PM   #18
cookinwitdiesel
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My site had the fire pit 3-4 feet closer to the backside road than the others in the row of course Due to this I am guessing anything with a longer wheel base than a Class C would have had the same problem. ANYTHING with a trailer was likely doomed to do the same as me. And to exaggerate everything, it had rained for 2 days so the ground was soup and everything got muddy haha. Trailer tires on that side were CAKED.

Note on the (amazing) truck and Allison Transmission though, I do not think it ever got over 200f and the truck barely ever needed to go over 2000 rpm.
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