13' height.. yikes!

FTWingRiders · 03-11-2013, 06:25 PM

Hello all,

Been along time TT man, but stepping up to a 5'er (325srx), in a couple of weeks. One of my biggest concerns is with the height. Listed at 13'. I'll be taking an actual measurement after it's home and all loaded up. My question is.. How much problem will I have with toll booths, gas stations, bridges... etc.

I'm a 23+ year driver at UPS driving the small package cars, so I'm very aware of looking at road signs, scanning for hazards, and getting the "big picture" while tooling down the road. However this will be the Tallest I've towed.

Just wonder how much of a problem this has been for everyone. I realize that once you're off the major highways you really have to pay attention to anything that might be too low.

Thanks for any input anyones willing to share!!

Forrest

SteveC7010 · 03-11-2013, 07:05 PM

You will still not be as tall as an 18 wheeler. That means you're good on interstates, and probably many state highways and routes. It'll be the underpasses in cities and on secondary roads that will be your greatest concern. And there are some US and State routes that do have low clearances here and there.

When you know your exact height, you'll be able to watch for overpasses and bridges with height limits and work your way around them.

This link may help a bit: http://www.aitaonline.com/Info/Road/...learances.html

x96mnn · 03-11-2013, 07:06 PM

Had a friend of mine make a wrong turn and take the top clean off the camper with a low overpass side road.

You can actually buy trucker gps systems that you can load the height of your rig into and it will map you a route or clearly tell you of a low over pass ahead and take most of the worry out. They are not much more then a regular GPS.

DocData757 · 03-12-2013, 06:00 AM

Garmin (and probably others) make a GPS with a Truck Mode where you put in the height, width and length of your rig and it will route you to avoid places you will not fit.

**JRTJH** · 03-12-2013, 06:39 AM

Remember to keep your Garmin or other device up to date and if you're "real close" on height, you might want to be extra careful. Summer is the time that maintenance crews resurface roads and quite often they add 4 to 6 inches of overlay without getting signs changed quite at the same time. So, just be careful thinking you've got 5" to spare when maybe you don't

**hankpage** · 03-12-2013, 07:11 AM

If you already have a Garmin GPS you can get .csv or .gpx files to add to Points Of Interests from POI Factory when you join for free. The ones that I use "combined rest stops", "Flying J", "Wi-Fi" and "Low Clearance". There are many there that include campgrounds and state park entrances and most can be setup with audible proximity alerts. ( they have some for Tom-Tom also)

labs4life · 03-12-2013, 07:26 AM

Follow truck routes when you can. Tractor trailers are 13'6" standard without getting oversize permits. If a bridge is 14' or less, they USUALLY have extra signage and flashing lights. Just pay attention and you will be fine. It is when we lose focus that stupid creeps into the picture!!

Congrats on the new rig and enjoy!!!

campingcpl · 03-12-2013, 07:54 AM

Like hankpage has mentioned the POI Factory web site has a lot of great POI's. I personally use the POI's from http://www.lowclearances.com/. I pay $15.00 a year to keep a subscription and regularly get emails on updates to the data base. I then can customize the height that I want to go up to (since my TT is only about 12', I only go up to 13' for my notifications). It works great with my Garmin Nuvi 1490.

FTWingRiders · 03-13-2013, 05:55 PM

Thanks for all the replies. I really appreciate it. Nice to know most major roads should be fine. Loved the link to the bridge clearances by state. They listed one only a few miles from me, knew about it, but nice to see it posted. Looking into the POI sites, I need to investigate further if they work on my Zumo 665.

Hmmm... thinking about it, my first concern is MY driveway!!! I've got a low wire I need to measure...LOL!!!

SAABDOCTOR · 03-14-2013, 08:37 AM

just be carefull with that low wire!! is it a power line phone or cable. if you think it's power call your power company. my vission is you put a tape messure on the wire and zap your smoked. besides if it is too low they are there and can raise it and your safe. i do not mean to sound like a snob or anything but accedents happen my all your travels be safe and fun enjoy

antiqfreq · 03-14-2013, 08:54 AM

We always have our Rand McNally atlas with us, along with out Garmin GPS and our MS Streets map program. The Rand McNally lists laws, clearances, etc in their book and when we entered a state I'd look up all those roads and make sure we weren't on them if our GPS mapped us that way.

Jo

rode2nowhere · 02-24-2014, 03:44 PM

ordering the garmin 2597, any inputs on this model?

unyalli · 02-24-2014, 06:08 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCvPqaSyOos

bg71361 · 02-24-2014, 06:16 PM

My last unit was 13'3" I had no issues going pretty much everywhere.

GlutenFreeRV · 02-24-2014, 08:55 PM

After doing a little research, we recently bought the GPS unit from Good Sam. It has a function for you to enter your rig stats, including height, and it will route you on "safe" height roads.

rode2nowhere · 02-25-2014, 03:32 AM

my trailer is 11ft. 6 inches so I figured would be ok with the height,,,,

wva3185 · 02-25-2014, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by x96mnn

Had a friend of mine make a wrong turn and take the top clean off the camper with a low overpass side road.

You can actually buy trucker gps systems that you can load the height of your rig into and it will map you a route or clearly tell you of a low over pass ahead and take most of the worry out. They are not much more then a regular GPS.

Be careful with this. I have a Garmin 465T and a Garmin RV 760 and every now and then it will say that the route you are on has no truck/RV information. It tells you to "Watch the traffic signs".

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