Gerry R

I've been thinking for some time a TPM system sounds like a good idea, especially one with heat sensing. I wondered which system, the inside wheel or valve stem cap was better, and what brands have been the easiest to setup and use and is most dependable. I tried a thread search but couldn't find anything but I may not have done it right either. Anyway thanks for the ideas.

I'm a strong believer in knowing what my rig weighs and how it is balanced. I think that is especially true of a srw truck pulling a 5er. It's all about safety. Load your rv as you will use it then find your nearest scale. It is my opinion that the majority of srw trucks pulling 5ers overload their rear axle, sometimes by a lot. Just my 2c

Last year I changed over the tires and wheels on our toy hauler from 225 75 15 ''China bombs'' to 225 75 16 Michelin LT tires. With the wheels I went from 65psi 2500lb rims to 90psi 3040lb. The tires have about the same rating as the old ''China bombs'' but the rims gained about 500lb capacity but most important to me I no longer worry about those crap tires blowing out.

It might be helpful to know the wheel size and how much gross axle weight you plan on,

When traveling the girlfriend and I have different duties upon arrival: she helps spot our toy hauler then she hooks up everything while I deal with unhooking and leveling the rig. Two weeks ago we pulled into a RV park in Walker Ca. each did our thing, got out of the 80*+ heat and were feeling how good life was when kaboom and the whole trailer shock. Upon going out to see what happened the right or door side of the black water tank was resting on the ground. It seems that my lady had mistakenly hooked the fresh water hose to the swisher for the black instead of the fresh water fill just inches above and over filled the black tank. I could have made the same mistake. It was Saturday afternoon, the closest town was Carson City 1:15 hour north. I tried using my AAA RV+ only to find them useless as the lady said they'd only tow. I explained under no circumstances could it be towed and would have to be dealt with there. AAA worthless. We are just basic Good Sam members without roadside or insurance but I called anyway. A gentleman answered and explained that without roadside he would have to charge me $263 to get help but I said whatever. In 15 minutes a guy from a Carson City mobile RV repair called and said he'd be down about 10 in the morning. At 10:15 he arrived, looked at it and said that it's pretty common to see this and it's caused by very light gauge steel angle (1/16th) used to hold the tanks in. He jacked up the full tank with a floor jack, removed the bent angle and hammered it straight, reinstalled it and ran two pieces of strapping under both black and grey tanks for a great fix. He worked slightly less than two hours and charged $160 and said Good Sam would give him money for the commute. I guess my $263 paid most of it but for us it seemed very reasonable for a 2 1/2 hour road trip and got us out of a real pickle. While you probably won't have trouble near Carson City in case you do the guy to call is Pete Pope, Action Mobile RV Service, 775 671 0110. I suggest you look under your rig to make sure there is some kind of bar or band under all tanks. Our Komfort didn't have any.

With my truck a 2004.5 dually 4x4 auto towing our 9k bumper pull toy hauler I get between 9.5 and 11 at 65mph. We just completed a trip to Richfield Utah via West Yellowstone and back, and for the whole 4000 miles averaged 10 with many 6% grades. Our 2001 2500 4x4 auto averaged about the same at 60mph. I haven't figured out why why the 2004.5 gets the same at 65 the old one did at 60, or why the 2001 got 15-18 empty where the 2004.5 only gets 11-12 empty.

MikeThere is a logical missconception about toy haulers having gas fumes. In our experience with two different THs the only time we had gas fumes was when our Yamaha generator tipped over. With that big back door it was aired out in a couple of hours with no futher smell. We've talked to many other TH owners and found the same thing, no fumes. We travel most of the time with our Polaris RZR in the back of our truck though because on most of the ATV jamborees we attend (five so far this year) we have to trailer to the staging area so it's just more handy to leave it there and save the TH for bringing our other ATV.

We have a 22 ft bumper pull toy hauler and as anyone pulling a TH knows they are heavy compared to a similar travel trailer especially tongue weight. Ours, while being rather short, weighs in between 7400 and 8700 lbs depending on toys, water and fuel in the fueling station, but usually has 1100+ on the tongue. Our old hitch, a Eaz-Lift 1,000/10,000 has always been a bit over loaded on the tongue but not gross and has shown no signs of damage. But now our TH is in the shop getting the tongue extended about 24 inches so that we can place our Yamaha gen, new air compressor and the usual batteries, propane cylinders and electric tongue jack out front, with the additional length AND weight a new heavier hitch is called for. Until I get it back and can weigh it I'm guessing I need a hitch rated around 1,400/14,000. While I'm very familiar with round bar WD hitches using chains I'm thinking of maybe going to a trunnion type with either bars or chains. Has anybody out there used both and can give me some type of comparison between those two kinds?

I was surprised that I couldn't find any comment on this. My probe is located between #5 and 6 cylinder. Up till now I've always used 1250* for when to ease off because that's what I used on my old 2001 24v, but wondered if newer 3rd generations are different. Does anyone have any information on what Cummins thinks?

Rogan is right about ambiant temp. My 2001 and now my 2004.5 take longer in summer to cool down. I will let mine run until down to 350* especially when it has been working hard with high egts. A friend of mine with a first generation found out the hard way what happens when you don't: $1200 turbo.

I did a thread search but couldn't find anything. I am thinking about a two camera setup for my hitch and the rear of our bumper pull toy hauler with a switchable screen so I can switch camera inputs. A year or so back when I looked the wireless systems seem to have had reception limits the wired ones didn't have. Any of you that have one type or other I'm interested in hearing what you have, how its working for you and what did it cost installed.

My 2004.5 has the tow/ hall switch but it doesn't seem to do much different than my old 2001 when it was just on/off for overdrive. With both I leave it in overdrive and let it kickdown on its own then I may hit the switch to hold it till I want it to go back into 4th. I pull a 8k+ toy hauler and it seems to be just fine using overdrive.

JohnWhat kind of transmission upgrades would you make?

Let me know how you come out.

I've searched the transmission threads and couldn't find out what would be involved putting a PacBrake or similar exhaust brake on my stock 48re. My combined gross weight is 17.5k and so interstates are no problem but on secondary roads where you can have 10% and higher grades I could use more stopping power.

We just returned from spending a month in the UK and driving about 2600 miles. While I have put almost a million miles on standard transmission cars I didn't like the thought of driving on the opposite side of the road AND trying to shift gears with my left hand in traffic so I asked for an automatic. When we arrived at the Alamo rental in south London (Kennington) the gentleman said that with the miles we had planned a diesel made the most sense so a practicaly new Golf was brought out. I should say that gas and diesel both sell for about 1.45 pounds / liter and with the pound selling for $1.62 that works out to a little over $9 per gallon. The car has a seven speed transmission that couldn't be faulted but is set so that when the car stops the engine quits till you let off the brake and it starts right back up, much like a Prius. I don't know if US versions do this. It got a very consistant 45 mpg, with about 2/3 road miles and the rest city. Though the US version of this car has a six speed automatic I would expect similar fuel consumption. The reserve fuel light came on when we had achieved 630-650 miles giving a range close to 800 miles. The only reason I'm relating this is because I feel this is a great little car that doesn't drive like a little car but gets wonderful mileage and is comfortable with a decent trunk.

My 2001.5 had a 53 block and the numbers were about 1 1/2 inches high on the driver's side front corner just above the pan. When I traded last summer mine had 104k with no problem. Much has been said but I think probably around 5-10% crack with many under warranty that were fixed but not everybody has been that lucky according to the forums I read. The facts seem to be that all 53s were cast in two foundries in Brazil but only one foundry produced the thin water jacket on the passenger's side midlevel towards the firewall. Those were only about 5mm thick whereas the others were at least 11mm. One other thing I found interesting is that not all of the thin ones end up cracking.

I put a temp probe in my old 47re and in my 2004 and both seem to respond pretty much the same. I pull a 8500lb toy hauler over much of the west and found that the only time my trans temp goes over 160* is when going under 30 mph pulling a hill with ambient temperature also having some effect. I've never had a reading over 195* but have heard others say theirs has gone to 220, which is the highest safe temp in my opinion. Above 220* the life of your transmission is shortened depending on how high the temp gets and for how long. Others more knowledgable than me will probably chime in and that's good but that is my opinion.

What you've said is true except LT tires are rated for less load than the same size ST. In my size of 225 75 15 STs are rated for 2540 lbs whereas the same size in LT is a bit under 1900 if I remember correctly. But as you say the LTs have a higher speed rating. The answer for me is next time I change out tires I will get 16 inch rims rated for 80 lbs and go with 225 75 16, probably Michelin as I never hear anything but good about them.

I haven't decided on anything yet except the fact I want two cameras and a 7 inch moniter that I can switch between cameras. As for the location on the RV if practicable above the ramp center seems best.

I've been toying with the idea of a backup camera both for my TV but also for the rear of our 22 ft toy hauler. What I have in mind would be a single 7 inch monitor that I could switch between the two cameras but not see both at the same time. I hear that the wireless models don't seem to perform well but are way easier to install/read cheaper. I figure that there must be people on this forum that have one or the other so what's your opinion and if you don't mind saying what brand, how are they working and how much they cost that would be great, thanks Gerry

Hi allI just found this Dodge forum and am anxious to learn more about my common rail. My 2004.5 qclb 4x4 replaced my 2001.5 2500 4x4 qcsb last summer with both being autos. We pull a 22 ft K2 bumper pull toy hauler loaded with our Polaris RZR. So far we've only made one 1800 mile trip to Utah and back and was very pleased with the performance and 11 mpg average, besting the old truck by 1 mpg but around town is not so good running between 11-14. But as I usually just use it for towing it doesn't matter much, I'd rather do better towing. Gerry

A friend with a 28 ft Montana 5er just had both right side tires blow or shread and did some damage to the underside of the trailer. I've seen this happen before and have thought about protecting the underside so I just had the underside of our bumper pull toy hauler lined with 18 guage sheet metal and hope it will do the job if my ''China Bombs'' go south before I replace them with 16 inch Michelins in a couple of years. Has anybody else tried this and have tire blow or shread because I'm curious to know how it works. Gerry