Utility Trailers & Recreational Vehicles (RV's)

Hey guys. My wife and I have found a great local company that rents 2015 travel trailers so instead of buying we will most likely rent for our travel/camping adventures. Although I've towed plenty before, I've never towed a travel trailer and with that, not entirely sure of neccesary things I should bring. For you more salty travel trailer guys, what are things you can't leave without when towing? Any sort of check list or things you've found helpful in the beginning of your towing days to stay organized and bring what was needed? I try to be as prepared as possible, especially with the family involved, so I look forward to all of your…

This morning I'm bring the RV over to the guest house to dump the waste tanks. Everyone knows you start with your black tank then switch to the grey tank(s) after the black is emptied. Right off the bat I pull the rod completely out of the black tank knife valve. (Oh Flippin' Great!) I'm off to New Meadows, ID to pick up a new valve and install it. At least I had the luck of the draw and the valve opened and dumped. Instead of yanking the rod out without dumping. (Ewwww! that would be nasty!). Just another adventure of turning wrenches I guess.... Also got to check the wheel bearing I've got one creating a squeak now... Not a good sign...

I picked up some 5000 k axles for my car hauler, swapping out the 3500 k axles. The deal is that the new ones are to narrow and I am hoping to extend them. I have a few options, one is to cut them in center and put a sleeve inside,or box the outside with a larger diameter pipe. Or option two is too cut the spindles out of new axles and weld them to a new pipe cut to the proper length I need to fit the trailer. being careful for a true alignment when welding on the spindles, also I know that some trailer axles are cambered and if I use new pipe I will not have a camber in the axle, so dont know if this is a good option or not. Or option three (which would be the most expen…

After about 30 years of towing trailers and beating up tail gates and a couple of back windows and side mirrors knocked out over the years from rocks bouncing off the trailers on gravel roads I broke down this morning and bought a nice set of Rock tamer adjustable rock guards off amazon. I thought when I was pulling my dump trailer to the farm was going to lose another back window, had a couple hard hits and they made my wife jump a bit when she heard it too lol. A bit late in the game after having had a couple tail gates repainted over the years too but better late than never. I also noticed a couple dings on the front side of my pontoons to…

This is a future mod I'd like to do when spare fund are available. I'm really getting tired of packing along all kinds of lumber and blocks for the trailer tongues. I've seen some industrial trailers with a handy drop foot then you don't need to find a round of firewood or large wood block to place under the jack to unhitch. Seem like I'm going through wood blocks fast because they are left on the ground to absorb moisture and rot. So I found a handy trailer tongue jack that will lift my RV to my BigTex without a wood block on the ground. https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Jack/etrailer/TJDA-5000S.html

I have put my foot down and finally got approval to buy a camper. I am tired of packing for camping. I am tired of loading random bins into the truck to go camping, but mostly I am sick of tents, I am sick of sticky small tents haha. I have been looking into used Truck bed campers of the Popup variety. We do a lot of off the beaten road camping so a large camper isn't going to happen. We also have goals of getting a horse trailer at some point and going places to ride for a weekend. So that leaves me with the popup slide in style. Am I off base here? We have ~$2000-$3000 budget for this. I have been looking on Craigslist …

I'm not happy with the furnace for the RV for camping. We do a lot of boondocking. Tried the big buddy heater, but not fond of the fumes. Supposed to be safe, but still kinda stinky. So now I've ordered a Nu Way propane heater made for ice shacks. They are vented with 3" pipe. Cheap, $169 to your door. Then you've got the venting stuff. Only expensive thing was the thimble to go through the roof. Got one made for boats $70. Rest of pipe is cheap single wall. Got the 3000 model which is 16,000 btu. I wrestled with going wood. But problem is that the little stoves require constant stoking. Besides, btu storage is already there for propane and the existing tanks…

My trailer was not designed for cold weather use. Both hot and cold waterlines cross the trailer and are not protected. I plan to re-route lines inside the trailer. And maybe even terminate them from going to the bathroom with valves. This would mean no running water in bathroom in winter, but a milk jug will flush toilet. And I don't care about the shower or sink in there. Tub is generally used for storage anyway. ? Even if waterlines are visible in the interior, it'd only be pex pipe. I'd rather see it than have it non functional due to winter shut down. So the hot and cold water at kitchen sink would be functional. Nice features to have. …

First, It has been a long time since I have torn into an engine. I had to have the head on my atv milled. I wasn't paying attention when I pulled out the push rods. I was putting the head back on and noticed the push rod difference. The top of the push rod looks machined into a half circle. First question, is this normal? If so, which valve is it for? Second question, if it is not normal will the missing part fall directly into the oil pan? Before I tore it down the engine had no power, I could see puffs of smoke come out of the head and the block. Hence the milling. Trying to figure out if I need to rebuild or put a new engine into the atv. …

Well the family and I are looking to take a camping trip for a few days in August so I was looking at renting a travel trailer from a nearby business, they have decent prices. The trailer I'm looking to rent is a 17ft Cascade weighing 4500lbs with a 1200lb tongue weight. Right now I'm 100% stock. Nothing in the trans, no extra power in the motor, this should be no problem right? I only have the stock hitch and it say's 1000 is max for tongue or am I reading that wrong? Some concerns... - running 305's so max psi is 40ish psi - weak stock trans, although shouldn't be any major climbs to worry about, but some decent hills n such. - tongue w…

Well I went looking at travel trailers today and I have found two different brands with the same floorplan and the same price... One is a Jayco SLX264 BHW the other is a Coachmen Catalina 26??? Same price same floorplan Jayco touts their 2 year bumper to bumper warranty and I think Coachmen may offer something similar. Does anyone have any thoughts about either, or toss a coin?

Anyone need a 14" camper vent? I bought it for my camper thinking it would fit, but my camper has a smaller 9" vent. $35 shipped?

It's nice to have to have a clean bathroom to use anywhere you go but with the new bathroom laws? Sheesh this country is on the brink. Isn't it weird you guys what's going down? I can't believe it.

If camper batteries are way down is it hard on the Alternator?

Last time out with the 5th wheel the right side fender decided to customize itself. I was wondering if any one else has had this happen and what they did or have an idea. New replacements are $150 each which I think is a lot for molded ABS. There is aluminum trim fenders for $90 each or rubber trim for $50 for two. One other thought was take the other side off and have fiberglass copies made by one of my customers that glasses surfboards. http://www.icondirect.com/keystone-5th-wheel-travel-trailer-fender-skirts-fs710/ http://www.trailer-fenders.com/tandem-axle http://pacerperformance.com/products-footer/flexy-flares/universal/no-lip-side-mount/led…

Alright guys I am looking to purchase my first ever travel trailer . So I have looked at Jayco's which I like but then I looked at a Keystone Springdale 240 and I really like this setup. easy to tow I didnt want anything to long since it is my first TT. http://www.johnniewalkerrv.com/rv/las+vegas+nv/keystone+traveltrailer/7650/keystone+springdale+240bh the price is 24,000 and now there is a sale pending. So I did a little more research and found a Coleman CTS244BHWE on sale for 17,995 http://www.lasvegasrv.com/new-travel-trailer-rvs/2016-coleman-coleman-cts244bhwe-1243015 I like both models but the coleman is more in my price range right now not to say I …

I'm purchasing a fifth wheel and it all ready has the axles flipped. Will there be a diference in towing or safety? Is it really needed?

Trailer has a huge roof with most of it's area sloped forward... We thought all the water would run off the nose. We had a new rubber roof applied (painted on) which improved it greatly. The rubber roof runs up & over the vynal insert in the edge extrusion (screw cover). Undoubtably the camper putty failed but removing theextrusion is a one way street... to the junk yard. I'm really hating this type of construction. We were getting rain water in the window tracks whch I now suspect was running inside the walls, entering the window channels & flooding the window tracks. After drilling additional the drain holes in the window tracks, the window tracks were…

I need batteries for the 5th wheel I just purchased. What do you guys use? What keeps a charge longer and last longer? 2 12v or 2 6v stacked to make 12v?

Just got paged out to a house fire which actually was a RV. When I arrived at the scene the owner managed to put the fire out himself on the RV. So from that point it was a matter of inspecting the RV for any remaining smoldering material. What I learned about this... Make sure you inspect around your furnace for anything that might burn like dust and lint build up. Look and see if there is any electrical near the furnace ducts or anything might get hot. Like this particular RV was a toy hauler and had the furnace stuffed between basement storage and the entry door. Most of the electrical is ran near the furnace area. Always use the proper sized fuse for all your…