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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Towing Numbers Headache....:(
Are you asking about a brake controller? Yes there are literally dozens of brands but only two or three types. The cheapest and the worst are the inertial type. The best are time based like the Prodigy. Do not skimp on this item as you will be rebuying it sooner than later. Camping trailers all will have electric brakes. Basically they are old fashioned drum type brakes with the addition of a magnet that rubs on the drum pulling the shoes out.
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donn0128
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12/07/09 09:28pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: 4x2 or 4x4 for towing ??????
Strictly for towing a 4X2 is far simpler. Especially where you live. Now, if you also like to do some off roading in that LA gumbo then a 4X4 would be the preference truck. There is no one correct answer. It all comes down to your life style and how much you want to spend. Living where I do my last truck was a 4X4 and quite frankly I never used it when pulling my fiver. So this truck is a 4X2 and NO I do not drive it in the snow. It was bought for my trailer toter and it does just fine with less maintenance, better fuel economy and better ride, plus it sits lower to the ground. Thereby allowing me to tow my fiver easier.
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donn0128
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12/07/09 09:22pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: 1st time in for service nightmare
You really need to learn to do your own work. Things like electrical and plumbing are really simple in an RV and there is no real reason to pay some idiot 75 dollars an hour for doing the work and leaving it a mess when they are done. There are only one or two places within an RV I probably would not do myself. And those items are simply because I have not had a need learn how to do it yet. An RV is a very expensive toy and unless you have endless amounts of dollars laying around to throw down the drain, you better learn to do a lot of things yourself.
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donn0128
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12/07/09 09:07pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Weight Question
In reality your limiting factor in towing a fiver will be the trailers pin weight. Most people agree that 20% of the fivers GVWR will be a good estimate for pin weight. Bottom line then is your trucks ACTUAL as scaled weight loaded ready to camp minus the GVWR numbers from the drivers door post. Now, to the as scaled weight 200 pounds for a hitch. 300 if you need a slider hitch.
Since you live in Canada, BC to be specific and your provincial police pull you over, and if you are over the trucks GVWR you will be cited. So you MUST stay under the trucks GVWR.
So, if your truck has a GVWR of 8600 pounds minus as scaled weight of lets call it 6800 for arguments sake right now, plus 200 for a hitch so your trucks ready to camp weight is 7000 pounds. Subtract that from the 8600 you cited and you have 1600 pounds left over for pin weight. 20% pin weight will give you an absolute maximum fifth wheel trailer of 8000 pounds GVWR. Not much of a fiver IMHO. Personally you would be far better off getting a TT.
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donn0128
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12/07/09 08:53pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Genesis Folding Porta Bote
I have a used 12 footer that I will trade straight up for an instaboat if your interested.
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donn0128
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12/07/09 04:24pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Buying a truck to haul about 10500 lb. 5th wheel
I understand that, but I am not mistakenly inventing numbers. I have the figures for my trailer both brochure and actuals on the scales and they work out. Not meaningless at all. Our UVW makes sense. I have no reason to think the newer ones have phoney UVWs all of a sudden.
A newer "26" is essentially the same as ours except stronger tires. They gave it a higher GVWR because of those tires. The new one has the same pair of Dexter 5200 axles as ours and everything.
I'm just saying our truck can handle the new one same as it handles ours (since it is the same,) of course with us loading it the same as we do ours so it weighs about the same going camping. How is our truck all of a sudden disqualified just because the trailer has new tires?
I suggest that other brands have done the same as Komfort by going to Ds instead of Cs (Wildcats did) and achieved higher CCC (and GVWR)on the same trailer by doing so. Doesn't mean you have to use all that CCC.
I don't know how we could carry more weight than we do now anyway. We always have a full fresh water tank and everything else imaginable and there is still cupboard and cargo space available. Brochure UVW is 7,706 and we usually scale at about 9,500 so our usual cargo is 1,800 including full water. I see the smaller new Komfort "24" has a CCC about 4K! (it has strong tires) Lucy's rock collection could go in that, but who else would need so much CCC? Crazy. It's all about having more than the other brand has I guess as a selling point.
I also have seen on these forums how UVWs are said to be notoriously inaccurate. I know ours is accurate. If you are worried about the UVW info on a trailer you are considering, just see if it and the other figures for it compare with other trailers of similar size. From what I've seen they are in the same ball park among different brands.
And again I will ask you what does the UVW ( unladened vehicle weight) or "dry" weight have to do with anything?
They are totally meaningless, just like you have proved in your comments. Your trailer ready to camp is 9500 pounds. That is the only number YOU need to be concerned with. That and whether your truck is capable of handling that load without exceeding the manufacturers specs for your TV. Especially in BC as they are checking RVers for overloading as I now understand. So again if you were trailer shopping and bought a trailer strictly on the "dry" or shipping weight numbers and based your TV on those numbers you would not be allowed on the BC highways when you were loaded ready to camp because you would be over the truck manufacturers specs. get my point?
Lacking actual ready to camp weights, the reasonable and prudent thing to do is base everything from the manufacturers GVWR for the trailer. Whether you load to that number or not is irrelevant. In fact if you load lighter than the GVWR numbers you will reap the benefits of having more power and better fuel economy. VS ending up loaded exceeding the manufacturers specs.
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donn0128
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12/07/09 01:51pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Buying a truck to haul about 10500 lb. 5th wheel
Where are you getting the "about 11000 pound" number from? Is this taking the "dry" weight and adding a guesstimate for food/clothes and personal items???
If so, forget your guess. Instead get the trailers GVWR and then lets start using that premise for your ready to camp trailers weight to figure out how much truck you will want.
That is the safe way, but it would be a mistake with our trailer in newer years. They changed the stock tires from Cs (like ours) to Ds and added about 1,500 to the GVWR but the UVW only went up a couple hundred.
So if we went by trailer GVWR we would think we couldn't handle a newer "26" when it actually weighs about the same as ours. Some poor guy who didn't know that and followed the GVWR "rule" would think he could only handle a "24" and end up not getting the trailer he wanted and could have handled.
Based on that I wonder about other brands with similar size 5ers with D tires on them and GVWRs in the 11-12k range. I bet it is the same thing--it's all about stronger tires, not about the trailer.
So I would say it is ok to take the UVW and add say 2,000 for an idea of what you would have to handle and not go by the full GVWR.
Sadly you are mistakenly taking the "dry" or as your stating "UVW" which again are totally meaningless numbers. Heck if I were to go strictly by the brochures and the weights as listed in the cabinet from the manufacturer I could pull my fiver with a 3/4 ton pickup. When in fact my AS SCALED weight is 13,350 pounds, with a GVWR of 13,500 pounds. My brochure pin weight is 1750 pounds and the actual AS SCALED pin weight is 3000 pounds. Without having actual as scaled weights to go by the only safe numbers to use are the trailers GVWR.
My state has one rule in the drivers manual which states "reasonable and prudent". Meaning that if the speed is posted at 55 MPH and the roads are covered in ice and snow that I could be stopped and cited for driving 55. Because the conditions are not ideal. People need to learn that term when shopping for truck/trailer combination and base their actions on it. IMHO!!
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donn0128
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12/07/09 11:31am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: A new truck problem
Instead of cutting away material from your pin box, I would first try raising the trailer as high as I can get it. Cutting away material on the pin box, unless you know what you are doing could weaken it to a point of no longer being safe. Newer trailers generally have several holes in the spring hangers just for this purpose. Once you have that accomplished start with a perfectly level trailer and determine what other adjustments are necessary to correct the problem. BTW that is exactly why I would not buy a new anything. The sides of the beds are getting so high it is nearly impossible to reach over the side to put or get anything. And I am not on the short side! What are the idiots thinking?? But I say the hand writing on the walls when Ford started the fiasco several years ago on their F150's.
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donn0128
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12/07/09 11:18am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Buying a truck to haul about 10500 lb. 5th wheel
Where are you getting the "about 11000 pound" number from? Is this taking the "dry" weight and adding a guesstimate for food/clothes and personal items???
If so, forget your guess. Instead get the trailers GVWR and then lets start using that premise for your ready to camp trailers weight to figure out how much truck you will want.
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donn0128
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12/07/09 09:20am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: First time buyer. Tell me why I should buy a fifth wheel!
Best decision? Get a TT of around 25 feet and go camping. There is in reality very few fivers that are really suited for a 1/2 ton. Most that are will be under 20 feet long. Dry weights are totally meaningless ion the world of towing. Top that off with your trucks low GVWR/GCWR numbers will really limit you when you load it up with everything and everyone and go to the scales. You will quickly see that you are probably close to max weights before you add a trailer (20% of the GVWR if a fiver and between 10-12% for a TT)
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donn0128
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12/05/09 08:56pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: axle relocation
Yes, it is fairly common for people to "flip" their axles. Of course you do not actually flip the axles. What you do is take the axles off the trailer and have additional spring perches welded on top of the axle tubes. Then you simply reinstall the axles under the spring pack. Should not even need alignment if the welding shop is good and they do their job correctly.
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donn0128
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12/04/09 02:58pm |
Towing
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RE: New Ford or New Chevy
None what so ever. There are a LOT more folks buying Fords than any other brand and the vast majority of them as very happy with them. Added benefit is they're made using their OWN money not yours.
That is such a line of whooey! It is very regional as to what brand sells more. Overall maybe ford is still number one? I don't know. But around here Dodge is king.
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donn0128
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12/04/09 11:43am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: New Ford or New Chevy
2010 EPA regulations have demanded that all diesels conform to the new standard. Ford and Gm have chosen to go the urea (pig pea) route to achieve this new standard. Do a search for urea at the top of the forum and you should get hours of reading. Basically what happens is that a small amount of urea is injected into the exhaust to supposedly help clean the exhaust up. At this point in time the tank needs to be refilled (by an authorized refilling station) about every oil change, so 6000 miles. The cost today is around 1 to 1-1/2 cents per mile. No telling what the cost could be next week or next year. Dodge in their 2500/3500 series pickups choose back in 2007 to use a different method of meeting the 2010 regulations without the urea (DEW) tank. There was some problems with this system, but as I write this most trucks are running just fine thank you using DPF (diesel particulate filter) system. People really just needed to learn how to treat the new systems and there was a few flash updates to the software that run the engine and now all is mostly good. without the added cost at each oil change. Your choice. But personally I would buy a Dodge or wait at least three years and see how much the DEW systems will actually cost and how reliable they are.
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donn0128
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12/04/09 11:40am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: AVG 9.0
Dump AVG and install the microsoft security suite. Seems to work well is less intrusive and has some fairly high ratings.
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donn0128
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12/04/09 08:32am |
Technology Corner
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RE: CD to external hard drive question
Stick the CD into the drive, open it and select all, click copy, open the ext drive and select paste!
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donn0128
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12/04/09 08:30am |
Technology Corner
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RE: Looking for more tow power
Instead of spending hugh amounts of dollars on add on's why not simply check the local wrecking yards and get a late model 8.1L and automatic and drop in the truck. NOTHING you add on will give you an increase in fuel economy except making it a diesel.
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donn0128
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12/04/09 07:45am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: New Ford or New Chevy
Buy a new Ford with an unproven motor and the addition of a urea tank which will need refilling periodically or buy a Chevy with a urea tank? HUMMMMMM Personally I would buy a Dodge and not have another item to spend an undetermined amount of money to refill.
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donn0128
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12/04/09 07:40am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Roof rotted on a 2008 Coachmen 2600
Contact your insurance company, the selling dealer and maybe a lawyer. Were you advised before purchase that this was an X rental unit? That alone could be considered fraud by the selling dealer. Maybe also time to get the government involved.
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donn0128
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12/03/09 09:49pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: brake problems
As a member of the CCRVC I cannot remember the last time I say someone complaining about braking problems. What makes you believe this is common with Cedar Creeks?
Electric brake problems can be basically traced to only a few things. Rust, bad ground,bad magnets,grease on the shoes, broken wire, and out of adjustments. Which have you checked to confirm that are correct?
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donn0128
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12/03/09 09:34pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Win 7 upgrade...
If you have an upgrade CD then hopefully your manufacturer sent you a drivers CD too. IF not, you might want to hold off for a while longer. Also someone mentioned that there is a web site that offers testing of your computer on line to be sure it is compatible.
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donn0128
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12/03/09 07:55pm |
Technology Corner
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