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Old 06-08-2018, 10:12 PM   #1
Fishsizzle
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First few weeks with new Alpine

Sooooo, some of you know about the stressful situation I put myself in with my choice of 5th wheel, given the Truck I have.

I had to take a break from here. What was meant to be an awesome time buying a new 5th wheel, was nail biting. I wanted some miles under my belt so to speak.

I’ll talk a bit about the Alpine, then the truck. And don’t worry dually guys, in the end you will win.

So first the Alpine, it’s a 3661FL and we love it. Have two trips in it, everything has worked great. I had a hiccup with the Anderson 4 way, mainly because I thought it was 3 way, but have that down.

The unit pulls very nice and straight. My Wildcat pulled like a wildcat that was strung around it’s neck and drug. It’s was never right from day one. No matter what level I set the tension on the bars, or air in the bags, this thing always tried to swap ends on me. I was absolutely spent trying to keep this thing in my lane. Even empty to get rid of it nearly swayed us off the road. So glad its gone.

Now the truck. Me being dumb, gullible, stupid whatever you want to call it, I read Fords tow guide and thought that what was printed was the weight I could tow. It was brought to my attention several times in various threads that there was no way my Truck could handle this Trailer. I won’t recommend this truck for this application, as it is considered overweight. I will instead tell you how it did.

The 6.7 gobbles up the road., I mean flats eats it. While I know that the 5th wheel is there, going down the road or up hills, the truck doesn’t care. I’ve been over Hood, over Satiam and Willamette Pass, and I swear I could go as fast as I wanted. Until you need to take a curve. Now this is where I see the need for a dually. This truck could get someone into trouble. Because it can tow so well, it makes you feel rather invincible. But there is a fair amount of roll and understeer. You must slow down, which it does fine, in order to not be pushed by the 5ver. I have never towed with a Dually, but I imange this is where they would shine, as well as a more smother all round ride.

Jake worked great, set it at 45 and never touched the brakes going down Santiam Pass along Suttle lake. It held pat. Set the brakes in the truck to heavy for the trailer, and it stops fine. However, again, I do not recommend sticking with this Truck, I won’t. HW and I have already decided to purchase a F350 Dually sometime after the new year. As we start to add all this stuff needed to “camp” I will need to be able to put more gear in the truck, and less in the 5th wheel.

I’m having the HW ride behind with her “gear” to keep weight out of the Trailer. We have to run with setup as we have biz stuff to invest in and can’t really take a loss on this new truck with only 7500 miles on it. I’m a little more set up as I have load range F tires, 5100 billstiens, riderite and hellwig. I do these upgrades on everything I get, include HW F150, so I’m cheating in this review and it would make a stock Truck even more susceptible to the weight of this 5th I would think.

After all that. Thanks to those who reached out to me while I struggled with even being able to be here based on my Truck. I took off what I drive in my Sig, as I do not want anyone to follow in my footsteps. I’ll post a few pics here, but that’s it for the Truck until I get a new one.

Thanks for reading this far, and now I’ll get back in work on the inverter 😜😜😜
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Old 06-09-2018, 02:34 AM   #2
chuckster57
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Nice trailer!! You will love the DRW when you get it.
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Old 06-09-2018, 03:15 AM   #3
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Fish, welcome back to the forum. All our experiences, good and bad, help others here to make better decisions in the future.
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Old 06-09-2018, 04:48 AM   #4
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Did exactly the same thing. Bought a truck I thought would be enough, bought a new trailer and it wasn't enough. Had to run it 2 years to keep from taking a bath in it. It was ok but stressful towing. Bought a new 3500 and a much better experience.

Glad your trips went well. Enjoy.
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Old 06-09-2018, 05:01 AM   #5
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It's what we do with the lessoned learned that makes the difference. Thanks for sharing!
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Old 06-09-2018, 05:12 AM   #6
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Thanks again for encouraging words. I see you have a slider in your long bed. I think I’ll keep my Demco even though New Truck will be a long bed.
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Old 06-09-2018, 05:12 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by flybouy View Post
It's what we do with the lessoned learned that makes the difference. Thanks for sharing!
Appreciate that!
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Old 06-09-2018, 05:14 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by ctbruce View Post
Did exactly the same thing. Bought a truck I thought would be enough, bought a new trailer and it wasn't enough. Had to run it 2 years to keep from taking a bath in it. It was ok but stressful towing. Bought a new 3500 and a much better experience.

Glad your trips went well. Enjoy.
Thanks, Truck is ok, but want the best. Love the trailer
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Old 06-09-2018, 05:19 AM   #9
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As a side point, a 1 Ton SRW would technically have enough play load, it’s would still be close.

My father in law has a 17 F350 crew/long. It has a 3300 payload. But with 2900 pin weight, passengers, gear, fuel, etc, this truck would be overweight as well.
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Old 06-09-2018, 06:31 AM   #10
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I’ll share an experience that reminded me why I won’t tow a big fiver without DRW.

2009, towing a ‘97 Jayco 323RKS. 36+ feet tag in kitchen said it weighed 8975, what a lie more like 12000. Pin was 1975. Back to the story

On highway 40 in Missouri doing 67 MPH. Inside rear drivers tire let’s go. I was able to ease over to the shoulder and change the tire. I think about what could have happened if I only had 1 foot on the ground on each side.

Same trip coming west in Wyoming on I80. Truck in slow lane and trailer in the fast lane due to side winds. Rear of truck stood its ground as the trailer moved with wind speed.

I will NEVER tow without a DRW.
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2012 Copper Canyon 273FWRET being towed by a 1994 Ford F350 CC,LB,Dually diesel.
Airlift 5000 bags, Prodigy brake control, 5 gauges on the pillar.Used to tow a '97 Jayco 323RKS.

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Old 06-09-2018, 12:06 PM   #11
Fishsizzle
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chuckster57 View Post
I’ll share an experience that reminded me why I won’t tow a big fiver without DRW.

2009, towing a ‘97 Jayco 323RKS. 36+ feet tag in kitchen said it weighed 8975, what a lie more like 12000. Pin was 1975. Back to the story

On highway 40 in Missouri doing 67 MPH. Inside rear drivers tire let’s go. I was able to ease over to the shoulder and change the tire. I think about what could have happened if I only had 1 foot on the ground on each side.

Same trip coming west in Wyoming on I80. Truck in slow lane and trailer in the fast lane due to side winds. Rear of truck stood its ground as the trailer moved with wind speed.

I will NEVER tow without a DRW.
I’m with you. I’ll be in a Dually as soon as it’s feasible. Thanks for your experience
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Old 06-11-2018, 04:59 AM   #12
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I've had 4 trucks in 8 years. Can anybody top that stupidity?
Truthfully, I was OK until I weighed the cabover very heavily loaded for a winter trip. I've only pulled the 5th about 200 miles with the new dually, but it towed great with the 2 extra wheels. And a world of difference hauling the cabover on a recent 1,000 mile trip.
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Old 06-11-2018, 05:36 AM   #13
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I've had 4 trucks in 8 years. Can anybody top that stupidity?
Truthfully, I was OK until I weighed the cabover very heavily loaded for a winter trip. I've only pulled the 5th about 200 miles with the new dually, but it towed great with the 2 extra wheels. And a world of difference hauling the cabover on a recent 1,000 mile trip.
Told ya'
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Old 06-11-2018, 07:16 PM   #14
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I have a 2017 Alpine 3660FL and pull it with a 2016 F350 SRW LONG BED 4X4. All I can say is I have not had any issues pulling or stopping. Went over the San Jacinto mountains in California I believe it's highway 74. Handled very well. Have pulled rv from El Paso TX to Anaheim to San Diego to San Antonio. So far truck and rv have met all my expectations. Have done a few upgrades to rv by adding more return air grilles, a.c. vents, outlets, led lighting etc...
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Old 06-11-2018, 07:29 PM   #15
Fishsizzle
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Originally Posted by E Rod View Post
I have a 2017 Alpine 3660FL and pull it with a 2016 F350 SRW LONG BED 4X4. All I can say is I have not had any issues pulling or stopping. Went over the San Jacinto mountains in California I believe it's highway 74. Handled very well. Have pulled rv from El Paso TX to Anaheim to San Diego to San Antonio. So far truck and rv have met all my expectations. Have done a few upgrades to rv by adding more return air grilles, a.c. vents, outlets, led lighting etc...
Pulling and stopping haven’t been an issue either with the F250. It pulls like nothing is there, well very little anyway.

We will just be putting more gear in it as time goes on. Looked at an F350 Dually today. 5400 payload. That’s amazing amount of stability. I’ll need a long box anyway, might as well get 2000 lbs more payload I figure. It might be a bit before I can though. This F250 isn’t bad, just not exact tool for job I guess

We are kindred spirits of sorts with our trailers. We love ours and look forward to many trips in years to come.
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