Carla's Camper

[Carla618]

I made a mistake with the ball hitch. When I went to U-Haul I hadn't watched the weight distribution hitch videos on YT (or at RV Uni). The man who installs WDH's was leaving when I got there, so another guy helped me. I told him to put a ball hitch on via a drop hitch. I didn't know the ball hitch attaches to the WDH, not the receiver hitch or drop hitch directly.

Learned the correct way in Friday night chat group. Thanks for that.

So, Monday will be a do-over=/

 

[LargeMarge]

Some or maybe even most RV bumpers aren't made to support anything... Racks...are subject to tremendous shaking...dead weight isn't the only factor... Some are surprisingly thin metal just spot-welded to the camper frame.

.
I might visit my local fabrication shop.
I might see if they can mount the bicycle rack to the trailer frame... using non-RV methods and components.
.
I use the phrase 'non-RV' to encourage readers to avoid [staples into particle-board].

 

[Carla618]

.
I might visit my local fabrication shop.
I might see if they can mount the bicycle rack to the trailer frame... using non-RV methods and components.
.
I use the phrase 'non-RV' to encourage readers to avoid [staples into particle-board].

I'm thinking of a Class I hitch on the front of the truck. Only because I can't think of a better spot. The trailer tongue has the battery. I'll decide in May. Not taking the bike on my early trips.

 

[Carla618]

Today I got good news and bad about my travel trailer. Made an appointment to get the WDH installed at U-Haul, but realized my battery was dead from me never putting water in it. I needed the battery for the power jack. Actually, I did put water in it once I learned that I was supposed to. It took half a gallon of distilled water, so I'm guessing it had no water.

So I rescheduled the hitch install for later in the afternoon and bought a battery at an RV Repair Shop. It is an Interstate Deep Cycle... it's all they carried. Went home and put the battery on, then towed the trailer 9 miles across town to the U-Haul place (at 20MPH the whole way).

I felt like it was a disaster of sorts. No WDH, and the tongue drooped ... as well as the rear end of my truck. The truck jerked regularly all the way. And I thought for sure my transmission was gonna die on a couple hills.

Left U-Haul for a few hours and returned to see my truck and trailer perfectly level. He installed the WDH, the anti-sway bar and an anti-rattle thing. He even took it for a test drive and checked the brake controller.

A few things concern me now.

1) I think my truck is too old for what it is towing. I can really feel that trailer... never felt any weight in that truck ever. Not even with a truck camper. But this trailer is heavy... and might be overweight

2) at the RV Repair shop they asked me if my bearings were greased and packed. I told her I didn't know and she said they could do it... in a month. For $500. Yikes. Is that an average price?

3) I found several scales in town, but want to go to the CAT scale 11 miles from my home. It is at a truck stop. Here: https://catscale.com/ I need to see how much they charge.

The scale will only give me the total weight of the truck, tongue and camper, right? So I won't know if my truck is overloaded or my trailer? or both? I feel like I shouldn't leave not knowing if I am overweight.

4) One scary thing happened. Going down a steep hill, I applied the brakes often, but there was a light at the bottom and the truck had trouble stopping in time. The brakes felt like mush.

 

[bullfrog !]

Join Escapees and contact them as well as go to the nearest local chapter meeting/lunch, ask lots of questions. Someone there may be willing to help you figure out what needs to be done. Yes it is easy to overload a trailer when trying to carry all you feel you need to full time travel. Escapee’s has a mobile weighing program you may be able to attend. Trailer brake controllers and trailer brakes are adjustable. You need to be able to at least fine tune the controller fo different terrains and conditions.

 

[Carla618]

Join Escapees and contact them as well as go to the nearest local chapter meeting/lunch, ask lots of questions. Someone there may be willing to help you figure out what needs to be done. Yes it is easy to overload a trailer when trying to carry all you feel you need to full time travel. Escapee’s has a mobile weighing program you may be able to attend. Trailer brake controllers and trailer brakes are adjustable. You need to be able to at least fine tune the controller fo different terrains and conditions.

I did join, but there are no Escapees parks in Illinois. They are all in the south. But that does remind me, I need roadside assistance before I leave. Eg. AAA

Edit: Just noticed you said local chapter. I found it once. I'll look again. But I have to leave tomorrow or the next day. I'm meeting my family along the Gulf coast.

 

[Carla618]

I did join, but there are no Escapees parks in Illinois. They are all in the south. But that does remind me, I need roadside assistance before I leave. Eg. AAA

Edit: Just noticed you said local chapter. I found it once. I'll look again. But I have to leave tomorrow or the next day. I'm meeting my family along the Gulf coast.

Edit: found the local chapter and will reach out to someone with them. Thanks, Bullfrog

 

[frodo2222]

Today I got good news and bad about my travel trailer. Made an appointment to get the WDH installed at U-Haul, but realized my battery was dead from me never putting water in it. I needed the battery for the power jack. Actually, I did put water in it once I learned that I was supposed to. It took half a gallon of distilled water, so I'm guessing it had no water.

So I rescheduled the hitch install for later in the afternoon and bought a battery at an RV Repair Shop. It is an Interstate Deep Cycle... it's all they carried. Went home and put the battery on, then towed the trailer 9 miles across town to the U-Haul place (at 20MPH the whole way).

I felt like it was a disaster of sorts. No WDH, and the tongue drooped ... as well as the rear end of my truck. The truck jerked regularly all the way. And I thought for sure my transmission was gonna die on a couple hills.

Left U-Haul for a few hours and returned to see my truck and trailer perfectly level. He installed the WDH, the anti-sway bar and an anti-rattle thing. He even took it for a test drive and checked the brake controller.

A few things concern me now.

1) I think my truck is too old for what it is towing. I can really feel that trailer... never felt any weight in that truck ever. Not even with a truck camper. But this trailer is heavy... and might be overweight

2) at the RV Repair shop they asked me if my bearings were greased and packed. I told her I didn't know and she said they could do it... in a month. For $500. Yikes. Is that an average price?

3) I found several scales in town, but want to go to the CAT scale 11 miles from my home. It is at a truck stop. Here: https://catscale.com/ I need to see how much they charge.

The scale will only give me the total weight of the truck, tongue and camper, right? So I won't know if my truck is overloaded or my trailer? or both? I feel like I shouldn't leave not knowing if I am overweight.

4) One scary thing happened. Going down a steep hill, I applied the brakes often, but there was a light at the bottom and the truck had trouble stopping in time. The brakes felt like mush.

The Cat scales can weight all of it at once or you can do the front axle first then the truck rear axle and then the trailer axle to get a good idea of each component..they charge $11 an you can set it up all on their free app and not even go inside...as far as the brakes go the controller has 2 different settings 1 is for how fast the brakes come on and the other for how hard they come on..On mine at least I have to change the settings depending on the weight I am pulling I can set it so the trailer provides no topping power to all the way to the other end where it will stop everything with out putting on the truck brakes at all...my suggestion is you find a large parking lot and experiment with it...the brake controller will have a push knob that allows you to activate the trailer brakes without the truck brake pedal being...VERY IMPORTANT to know how to use it in case when driving IF the trailer starts to sway from side to side!

 

[camperdan]

I did join, but there are no Escapees parks in Illinois. They are all in the south. But that does remind me, I need roadside assistance before I leave. Eg. AAA

Edit: Just noticed you said local chapter. I found it once. I'll look again. But I have to leave tomorrow or the next day. I'm meeting my family along the Gulf coast.

smart move to go with AAA. I have only 'liability' coverage on the motorhome, so for me AAA roadside saves a lot of money. My main concern is not being able to change a tire. Only costs me $160 a year. Are you going to tow the trailer
to the gulf coast? With no time to fully prepare, which includes lots of practice (especially with braking), I am worried
for your safety. It is too soon.

 

[Carla618]

The Cat scales can weight all of it at once or you can do the front axle first then the truck rear axle and then the trailer axle to get a good idea of each component..they charge $11 an you can set it up all on their free app and not even go inside...as far as the brakes go the controller has 2 different settings 1 is for how fast the brakes come on and the other for how hard they come on..On mine at least I have to change the settings depending on the weight I am pulling I can set it so the trailer provides no topping power to all the way to the other end where it will stop everything with out putting on the truck brakes at all...my suggestion is you find a large parking lot and experiment with it...the brake controller will have a push knob that allows you to activate the trailer brakes without the truck brake pedal being...VERY IMPORTANT to know how to use it in case when driving IF the trailer starts to sway from side to side!

Thanks Frodo. I'll try to get to Cat soon. Babysitting grandchildren today.

I just checked my brake controller and there are no knobs. Just one short slider. In the photo, where it says Brake Force... that rectangle slides toward the green light. Should I try braking with the slider in different positions? Or, do I apply the slider when needed? That controller came with my truck... in retrospect, I should have bought a new one. Guessing that controller was new in 1995

 

[Carla618]

Are you going to tow the trailer
to the gulf coast? With no time to fully prepare, which includes lots of practice (especially with braking), I am worried
for your safety. It is too soon.

Yes, taking it to the coast. I'll get 13 hours of practice driving there Thanks for your concern, Dan. I'll drive slow.

 

[maki2]

The manual for the brake controller should tell you about testing the force it creates by going to a location without traffic then applying the breaks so you can feel the force. The slider is handy because in some situations you might want more breaking force such as on steep downhill slopes. But you need to establish a physical memory of where your hand needs to be to use that control as looking for it while driving takes your eyes off the road. Also put it on your safety checklist you do when you hook up and turn the ignition key on to the check all your trailer turn signal lights, etc

What can I say, it is like many things, it depends on the weight of the trailer plus the weight of your vehicle and it is a judgement call you will have to make. Or try to find a friend who regularly pulls trailers to go along and give their opinion of if your choice seems good or not so good. That is what I did as I had never before pulled a trailer or used trailer brakes. Fortunately I had such a person available. But it was still up to me to learn how to do it. Things can happen, sliders get accidentally get shifted in position and you do not notice that so you do need to memorize over time what feels just right when you do brake. The time to start that is by doing those test drives before you go out onto the highway. A big empty parking lot at a mall in the early morning on a Sunday when the stores open later than other days is a great place to practice all kinds of trailer towing skills.

 

[Carla618]

Things can happen, sliders get accidentally get shifted in position and you do not notice that so you do need to memorize over time what feels just right when you do brake. The time to start that is by doing those test drives before you go out onto the highway. A big empty parking lot at a mall in the early morning on a Sunday when the stores open later than other days is a great place to practice all kinds of trailer towing skills.

That slider doesn't stay where it is placed. It springs right back to where it started. That's why I asked if I use it as needed. I'll try to track down the manual.

Last night my daughter's boyfriend stopped by en route to somewhere. He hauls vehicles with a semi tractor trailer. I asked him to take the truck and trailer on the interstate. He drove it quite a while and said the truck handles well and everything seemed fine.

Now I need to ask him and the WDH installer if they used that slider on the controller.

 

[Carla618]

One more issue I found with the truck/trailer combo: I can't put the truck gate all the way down. The electric jack blocks it.

Thinking of selling the trailer when I get back from the coast. When I had a truck camper my biggest problem was watching for low clearance warnings. Towing a trailer has lots of issues. And expenses.

 

[Camper]

I sold my camper last Saturday in 1/2 day, with several more guys ready to buy.

I'm going back to an easy to tow cargo trailer.

 

[LargeMarge]

... it is a judgement call... That is what I did as I had never before...

.
I have zero experience as a trailer manufacturer.
I am comfortable -- mostly -- using the judgement of the trailer and brake-controller engineers.
.
.
[edited to add]
An aside:
Points awarded for 'judgement' with both 'e's as Mother Nature intended...
... instead of that unpronounceable 'dgm'.

 

[LargeMarge]

Male Bumper-Pull Insert/Draw-Bar Bike-Rack
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www.curtmfg.com/part/45810
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I acquired one of these at a second-hand store for a couple fedbux.
I will torch off the top lip-reinforcement, then weld on a steel plate.
Drill the plate, and bolt on a vice.
.
[edited to add]
*** Entertainment Purposes Only ***
This could go wonky with distributor bars.
.

 

[Carla618]

.
I have zero experience as a trailer manufacturer.
I am comfortable -- mostly -- using the judgement of the trailer and brake-controller engineers.
.
.
[edited to add]
An aside:
Points awarded for 'judgement' with both 'e's as Mother Nature intended...
... instead of that unpronounceable 'dgm'.

At some point maybe 5-10 years ago I kept having to look up judgment when posting or writing something. I couldn't believe there was no "e". Funny.

 

[Kyz1]

Today I got good news and bad about my travel trailer. Made an appointment to get the WDH installed at U-Haul, but realized my battery was dead from me never putting water in it. I needed the battery for the power jack. Actually, I did put water in it once I learned that I was supposed to. It took half a gallon of distilled water, so I'm guessing it had no water.

Carla,
I would bet that the battery was neglected long before you had it. It was probably long overdue for replacement anyway.

 

[Malamute]

The slider on the ones Ive used was to manually apply the trailer brakes, such as when it starts to sway, or on steep downhills where you may want more trailer braking than normal. There may be a small wheel on the side to adjust the brake force to desired level, thats what all the ones Ive had were equipped with. Lighter trailers would need less force to avoid skidding the tires when used, heavier ones more per application of the truck brakes.

The trailer brake should automaticaly work when the truck brakes are applied. Older ones used the brake light wire to initiate trailer brake application. The slider will probably move when the truck brakes are applied. The older ones also slowly applied the trailer brakes more as long as the truck brakes were on, if it caused the trailer brakes to skid or lock up I let off on the truck brakes a second to reset the trailer brake to avoid this in some conditions, like slow moving traffic or on dirt or gravel.

If you dont have any paperwork with the brake controller it may be available online if you search the maker. Youtube may have vids also.