Utility Trailers & Recreational Vehicles (RV's)

I snaked the little wires from my installed digital DC volt meter... The display is under the sink on a toggle. The circuit breaker (AC) & fuse (DC) converter is in the kick space below this. I wired it to an open fuse (why is it open... only a few of the 9 slits are in use?) It didn't work. I unfastened my connections, clip lead to the DC mains, it works. Whew! I didn't toast the unit. Yes, same unit with salvage title. We are not RVing with it, we stick to the basics. Lights, fridge, stove, furnace, water. I shut the AC breakers off when I was working... DC shut off is on the bottom of the box on the tongue (3 group 24 RV batteries). I am think…

The trailer I bought came with an Eaz lift. It came with 500# bars. How do you size the bars? Gross trailer weight is 7,000# and 23' in length.

Hi guys, I was wondering about the installation of 5th wheel hitches on the 2002 3500 duallies - are there any specific problems to watch out for? I have taken a barely used hitch out of my '86 F250 and want to install it in the Dodge. I do have the spray in Rhino liner in the box if that matters at all. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance mariner

With my new to me truck and used a few time on short trips 5er toy hauler. the truck 04 qclb is as stock as it gets aside form a BHAF, and a cat 2um fuel filter. no gauges aside from my scangauge 2. the fiver is a 33' weekend warrior, it can handle 125Gal of water but i'm only headed up with about 25 or so. i plan on getting more when i get closer to my destination. it will have a Yamaha Rhino, a medium stihl 360 chainsaw, 40 gal gas in it's fuel station. cloths and sleeping atire for a family of 4+ 1 dog. awe yes the destination... i live in Flagstaff AZ, i'm headed to Colorado maybe into Rico or La Plata canyon somewheres wife wants to go to Ouray. as some of you m…

I would like to upgrade my trailer to LED bulbs. Can anybody recommend a good buld and/or source? I have 21 bulbs in the trailer so I will do it a few at a time. Thanks for the recommendations.

My Dometic refrigerator runs on either 120V or propane. What would be the procedure to add 12 volt? I assume it would be easiest to use a converter to run off batteries. How would I switch over to 120v if I plug it into a converter? Or would I simply run off batteries through the inverter when hooked up to shore power? How big of a converter should I consider? Seems like a good feature to have 12 volt operation while driving.

I recently bought a 1999 Wanderer Fifth Wheel. This past weekend we took it out for the first time. Everything worked fine, but we learned that the fridge really drains the batteries. We don't have a generator and the our camping spot didn't have hook ups. After 24 hours the batteries (2 12 volt) were dead. I forgot to pack my voltmeter but they were drained to the point that the interior lights were at about 25%. The fridge is a 3 way Norcold 9162 freezer on top and fridge on the bottom. It was doing fine in AC mode at home and LP mode for the first 24 hours. I noticed that all of the lights on the fridge were blinking/flashing indicating that something was wr…

Ive got the opportunity to tow a friend of mine's fire departments breathing air compressor/generator set up for them. It weighs in around 9,000 - 10,000 lbs. About 12 feet long, tandom axle. My questions, as Ive never really towed this much weight for this length of distance (roughly 125 miles @ roughly 65 mph): What do i need to worry about as far as my transmission goes, I do not have a gauge for it yet and wont before the trip. EGT's and Boost, what to watch for there as far as too high EGT's and best EGT/Boost combo to keep it cool. Ive towed many things so towing is nothing new to me. Boats, campers, trailers. But this is much heavy that most things Ive ev…

Hey Gang.... MoparMom and I just got home last night. We ran away from home with the RV. Went down south to Emmett, ID for the first night. Pick up a few things and a new BBQ grill for the RV. Then head back up Hwy 55 and turned off at Banks, ID and went to Hot Springs campground. http://goo.gl/maps/9nFRG Nice campground. Has water and vault toilets. Pull through spots for larger RV's or back in spots as well. There is a small hot spring on the other side of the highway but it a good hike down to it. Solar Power Update As for a good test run for the solar panels and inverter they worked awesome. I flipped on the TV in the hot part of the afternoon and st…

New camper 31.5 BHTS by Jayco. Weights from CAT scale: Steer axle 4720 Drive axle 8940 Trailer axle 4260 Gross combined 17920 Seems a little heavy. What do you guys think?

I've been neglecting the ToyHauler... I can't keep up with anything but having this 400 feet from the house really puts it outta sight / outta mind. Our big reenactment trip is in a couple of weeks & suddenly she's announcing all the problems like I'm supposed to magically fix them. I had a bad fall last Friday... but a divot in my head & assorted other bruises. At least the goose egg has gone down but there's a pretty good seam where I hit. Sorry to gripe... you all don't need to hear it all. After having a new rubber roof put on, it only fixed some of the wet spots... The way the roof slopes forward, the water is like Niagara Falls in a heavy rain..…

Well Gang. I created me a awesome RV storage spot under the edge of my spruce tree and guarded most of the summer sun from the south. It took a bit of tree pruning and ground clean up but I now have a awesome spot for the RV and no longer have to worry about the RV baking in the summer sun and moving all around the yard and killing the grass. etc. I still can have both solar power and city power here being the electric rock is under the tree. Solar is a bit limited but better than nothing.

Yeah gang... I ran away with the RV once again. This trip I learn a lesson. Consider you short cuts and road conditions wisely. MoparMom and I ran out toward Lewiston, ID for a two day getaway. But on my way to Lewiston I normally always take Tolo Lake cut off and sneak across a few miles of dirt roads to save a bit of time. Well this time the roads where wet and possibly freshly graded. I look in the mirrors and could see mud being slung as high as the roof. I couldn't resist I had to grab the camera and shot some pictures.

I have been wanting to upgrade the bolts/bushings on my TT from the OEM dry bolts and nylon bushings to wet bolts and bronze bushings. I found that the complete kit from Dexter was the best way to go, not only do I get the wet bolts and bronze bushings, but I get their EZ-Flex equalizer which will absorb more impact shock than the springs alone. I got the kit a couple months ago, and just got around to installing it last week. The parts are excellent quality, and based on the condition of the OEM nylon bushings I was due. I have approx 7K miles on my TT, many of those on rough dirt roads, and about 1/3 of the OEM bushings wouldn't have made it another season witho…

I needed to replace the tires on my fiver so after researching tires (didn't want any "China Bombs") I decided to get Maxxis 8008 tires. The only problem is there are no dealers anywhere even remotely close. So, I let Google do the walking for me and found a place called Simple Tire that had the best price of $88.99 each plus shipping. I ordered four tires and once they got here I realized I screwed up and ordered the wrong tires. The tires I received had a capacity of 2150# and both axles weigh 8920#. I thought crap, this means I need to order the right ones and try to sell the wrong ones.... I was looking on Simple Tire's website for the right tires (cap 2540#) and they…

I have been reading quite a bit about different converters and charge rates, specifically some claims that PD's seem to drop off earlier than other brands. That is not what I have noticed on my setup, so I figured I would test mine from 50% SOC and take some notes. The batteries are a pair of Lifeline AGM GPL-6CT 300AH 6V's, which where new this spring. The converter is a Progressive Dynamics PD4655 that was new in 2013. I got the batteries drained down to an approx 50% SOC (12.21V after sitting disconnected for ~1 hour). I was plugged into a 30A RV circuit on my house, with an input AC voltage of 118.2±0.5V thru-out the test. I took readings every 1 minute for …

Well coming home from my mini-get-away trip. I stopped in Council, ID and used the truck scales to weigh the truck and trailer. Truck Front Axle: 4,160# Truck Rear Axle: 4,640# Truck Gross: 8800# Truck GVWR: 8800# Trailer Axle: 8,020# Trailer GVWR: 8,500# GCW: 16,820# Funny part is I'm a ways from the axle weight limits yet on the truck at 5,200# front and 6,084# on the rear. But hit the GVWR right on the nail. Pull the trailer good and strong no issues at all. Seems like I kept putting more and more gear in the RV and storing there so now the RV weight has been creeping up. Time to do inventory and find out what I do need and don't need. When I bought…

These are the highest load rating 14" tires I've been able to find and at a good price. $100 with free shipping. These are load D and 65 psi tires. 8 ply. There are only a handful of load range D tires out here and I feel a reasonable cost. I was thinking about going to a 15" wheel to get more options, but these fit my needs. 15" wheels turns out won't work for me. Not enough space between axles to allow for larger wheels. Especially if you needed to use chains for snow.

I'm on my way of installing solar panels on the RV. These are not going to be roof mounted but free standing. MoparMom and I figure you could just fold up the panels and lay them on the bed while travelling. Right now I'm doing a bit of bench testing and so far I'm very pleased with the 45 watts worth of solar panels. This solar panel kit is from "Harbor Freight" for $139 buck on sale. Then while I was there I picked up a 1200 watt inverter for 120 VAC power. Figuring against typical Amp hours of deep cycle batteries I figure 1200 watts is more than enough. 10 Amps x 120 Volts AC = 1200 Watts = 12 Volts DC x 100 Amps Then figuring common RV deep…

Like many others, I got tired of trailer tires barely rated for the load, and even cheaper quality trailer tires. I wanted to upgrade my existing 15" tires but was some what limited by the 6 x 5.5" rims. The goal was to upgrade to 16" wheels but I found the selection of 6 x 5.5" rims max'ed out @ 3200lbs then I came acrossed these: http://www.samsclub.com/sams/greenball-spoke-16x6-white/prod3110109.ip?navAction= They are rated for 3760lbs so you can mount G rated tires on them and NEVER have to worry about blowouts. Better still they only run $43.00 and NO shipping charge. Not much in the way of styling but they are functional. I plan on pairing them with some 23…