Few camper newbie questions.....

[tom37]

My 2 cents for what its worth,

1 The fiberglass sides are the only way to go.
My 26' TT had tin and it was a nightmare. Not sure why it happened but
the water would find its way down each panel and back up the lip right
to the indoors.

2 If your buying used, and its got a rubber roof, check it out close. I had
to replace mine and its a job I would rather not do again. Mine needed all
new plywood and rafters as well due to the water damage.

 

[towcat]

Try to set the fifth wheel height at about 51" which is a good height on most fifth wheel trailers. If you're too high at the lowest setting on the hitch you can often unbolt the pin box on the trailer and raise it up.



DOT flat don't give a rip about GVW, GCW, GVWR or GCWR as long as you are plated and licensed for it. Look at all the duallies hauling 3-4 cars on a wedge, these guys are often running 32-40k gross. Only thing DOT is hanging these guys running around in duallies is for sleeping in the back seat which is not a legal sleeper berth.

65' is OAL for RVs and RVs are exempt from all the commercial regs....Unless you are hauling RVs for a living, then it's no longer an RV, it's a commercial vehicle.

not completely so.
WADOT brought a friend's RV trip to an immediate end at the Oregon/WA port of entry. He was towing a fiver with a F250 SC that got an arrowcraft dually conversion. This was the first time he was ever inspected with the combo. The fiver weighed in at 13k gross. I had to go get his trailer with my CC dually because WADOT said it was too much for the F250 chassis. Only thing I didn't like was he attempted to carjack my CC from me to finish his trip. Ummmmm. nope. sorry. I'm too attached to my truck.

 

[tonkadoctor]

not completely so.
WADOT brought a friend's RV trip to an immediate end at the Oregon/WA port of entry. He was towing a fiver with a F250 SC that got an arrowcraft dually conversion. This was the first time he was ever inspected with the combo. The fiver weighed in at 13k gross. I had to go get his trailer with my CC dually because WADOT said it was too much for the F250 chassis. Only thing I didn't like was he attempted to carjack my CC from me to finish his trip. Ummmmm. nope. sorry. I'm too attached to my truck.

Why did he even pull into the POE and cross the scales, he ain't a commercial vehicle.

 

[92F350CC]

being that he's in kommiefornia, I'm not surprised at all.......
I used to tow doubles behind my 86 F250 6.9 when I'd go camping. not fun at all. was a 26 foot trailer with a sandrail behind it. The damn thing whipped around all the time, but i never got stopped

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

Heath... Welcome to the RV world!

As for GCWR, my 94 F350 CCLB ZF5 had a GCWR of 19,000lbs. E4OD equipped OBS trucks had a GCWR of 20,000lbs. I don't know how much it helps. As info, my 99 CC dually also has a GCWR of 20,000lbs. The GVWR on the truck itself, is 11,200lbs. It weighs 7,900lbs when it's fueled and us inside it. Our fiver weighs in at 11,000lbs. Combined, we're at 18,900lbs and I like having the 1,100lbs cushion.

When you're considering weights, forget about dry weights. The only ones that count, are fully loaded and ready to go camping weights. Never exceed your GAWR's, GVWR's, or GCWR.. One other thing to think about... Your camper's weight can add up VERY quickly! I sometimes wonder how our camper gained so much weight!

As far as a hitch goes... We have a Reese 16,000lb slider hitch. We bought it when we had the short bed '05 F350 and didn't bother replacing it, for the LB trucks. Even with the LB trucks, sliding the hitch makes maneuvering the fiver MUCH easier. You never want to tow, with the hitch in maneuvering position! Our hitch also has the double-pivoting head. I would never go to a single pivot head now!

 

[hesutton]

Thanks guys. All good stuff! We are buying a 32 ft, bunkhouse 5'er. It is in excellent condtion. Fiberglass siding, lots of storage, big slide and big awning. You can *** without opening the slide (Travis...). The guy is going to give me all his jacks, levelers, hoses, and what have you as well.

I was hoping to have a hitch, but I'm going to try and get one ordered today. He will pull it to my place for me, but I'll need a hitch soon.

Heath

 

[hesutton]

Ordered a Valley Pullmaxx 16K hitch today (Thanks Steve "spg"). The camper is being delivered as I type this. Gotta find a good place to store it out of the weather if possible. Once i get the hitch installed, I need to take it on a pull to see how we work together so to speak, and for a local trial camp before the Rally.

Heath

 

[OLDBULL8]

Sounds like a real nice 5er. With kids a bunkhouse is ideal. The only problem I see is if your towing with that 86 with a 6" lift the nose of the 5er might be setting high. If the 5er has 3 steps into it you may be OK, hook it up, you should have no less than 6" clearance from the bed rails to the bottom side of the 5er. Installing the hitch, make sure your no less than 2" in front of the rear axle. If the 5er is a 102" wide, you have to have 54" from the hitch (pin) to the rear of the cab for tight turns. An off set hitch on the 5er is available to get that. You might want one of these. they are really nice for hooking up and a lot of other uses, like where are the kids, or mounted on the back of the 5er when backing into a camp spot if they don't have pullthru's or as a rear view camera going down the road.

 

[hesutton]

The only problem I see is if your towing with that 86 with a 6" lift the nose of the 5er might be setting high.

Not pulling it with the F250, but with the F350. No lift on the F350 at all, so I should be good there.

Heath

 

[hesutton]

Still waiting on the 5'er hitch. I'm getting antsy to get that sucker and get it on the truck. I'm hoping to pull it to a local campground next weekend.

Heath

 

[92F350CC]

It would be neat to see picks of the rig when it's hooked up.

 

[Agnem]

Heath, congrats on getting the camper. We felt that we got a good deal on our 30 footer, and you couldn't ask for a nicer riding and handling combo. About 16K total weight on the scales.

You must be registered for see images

 

[hesutton]

It would be neat to see picks of the rig when it's hooked up.

I will for sure. I just need the dang hitch. (can you tell I'm getting impatient waiting?)

Heath, congrats on getting the camper. We felt that we got a good deal on our 30 footer, and you couldn't ask for a nicer riding and handling combo. About 16K total weight on the scales.

You must be registered for see images

Thanks Mel. I certainly hope it pulls well. The 12.5 hours to PA for the Rally will be a good test run eh?

Heath

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

The 12.5 hours to PA for the Rally will be a good test run eh?

Heath

You should know for sure, if it's up to the task!

We're camping this weekend too... I had to put a new set of injectors in the 99, before we could leave yesterday. I broke them in real good!

 

[hesutton]

Shoot Gary, I wish I were camping right now. Still inspecting the V-J's at the office.

The good news is the hitch was delivered via FedEx just a few minutes ago. So, that means, I have to get that sucker on the crew cab this weekend so I can camp next weekend.

It should be fun installing a 5'er hitch in this heat/humidity.

Heath