First trip report

[lockmup68]

Just got home from picking up the Teton in Casper, WY after leaving Hutchinson. 2,982 miles for the first trip in the HDT. First half bobtail.

 

Dropped truck off at the International dealer two weeks before the rally to get the ABS light checked out (and hopefully fix the transmission shifting issue. Also wanted to get all the fluids changed to have a baseline to start, since the truck is new to me.

 

The rear ABS harness was the culprit as it had 20+ butt connectors in it vs. ordering a longer harness. $105 harness, but took them 6+ hours of shop time to diagnose.

 

First it was going to be ready Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday, then Thursday, Then Friday morning....finally got truck at 3 pm on Friday. Went straight from the dealership to the sign shop to get the vinyl letters put on the truck. The ones that were on there were faded and not visible. Replaced with what was on there, "Recreational Vehicle, Not for Hire."

 

Got home about 5 and started loading up, first was loading the Escape so Aimee and Carsyn could drive home from Hutchinson whilst I went to Casper to pick up the trailer. Loaded up Escape, threw in all the tools I thought I might need, luggage, food, etc.

 

Since the truck was in the shop the entire time after I picked it up, we did not have any time to familiarize ourselves with the truck and test/try out anything. I couldn't get the refrigerator to come on. Pulled it out of the cubby to find a bunch of spaghetti, or what someone called "wiring." Decided to punt that project until we got to Kansas, so threw everything in a cooler. \

 

Finally pulled out around 8:30 pm. Of course, started raining like crazy about an hour later. Baptism by fire should be my motto.

 

Arrived in St. Louis about 1:30 am and crashed with some family.

 

First observation, the headlights need help. I'm used to the HID's on my F350 and the headlights are dismal. Second observation, need new wiper blades. Good news is trans shifted great, AC blew cold after system rebuild, so that is good.

 

Saturday, headed to Kansas City to see some more family. Sunday afternoon, arrived in Hutchinson. While in Hutchinson, I figured out some of the wiring, got the refrigerator working and the jackknife couch/bed working.

 

Two days of great info, conversation, instruction, and meeting great people, Aimee and Carsyn headed home to Nashville and I headed to Casper, WY to pick up the trailer. Slept two nights in the truck, first night at a rest area, and second night at the Flying J in Casper, WY. Love the cool weather.

 

During the prebuy checklist process, found a couple of things on the trailer that needed addressing. Parts were ordered before I got there and they didn't arrive on Wednesday or Thursday, So I took the trailer to the Fort Casper Campground and stayed in it for two nights waiting on parts to arrive. One of the parts arrived on Friday and after UPS didn't deliver the part on Saturday morning, I decided to get a head of the weather and leave and they can mail the refrigerator temp sensor to me.

 

So the my HDT is really long to begin with, add on a 40' Teton on back and it is REALLY, REALLY long. I had 1,500 miles to get used to it. Good news is I spent three days driving and didn't do any damage to the trailer or any curbs or other trucks or anything. I even sucessfully backed it in to spots at truck stops several times.

 

What needs addressing:

1. The trailer brakes being activated whenever I use the left turn signal, only sometimes full on, mostly just a tad, but annoying nonetheless.

2. Hitch height/pin box drop problem mentioned in another post

3. inverter wiring; shore power and generator power the inverter fine; however, when truck is running, the inverter is not active. There was another inverter shoved in the spaghetti mess that I wired up and used while the truck was running off the house battery bank. Ran the genset when needed to run the refrigerator and the bunk mini-split AC (which needs charging)

4. mini-split AC needs freon or something.

5. House batteries need testing/maybe replacing; not holding much of a charge/tripping breakers, maybe an amp issue due to old batteries.

6. dome lights/door lights not working-might be a fuse issue, several fuses missing; the truck has the resettable fuses/circuit breakers. No one had any in stock, so ordered some and picked them up at Napa in Casper on way out of town. Need to set aside some time to trace and troubleshoot.

7. wiring spaghetti behind the refrigerator; trace, identify, mark and clean up; use a fuse block and grounding block (any recommendations?)

8. Install USB power ports up front.

9. CB turns on, but no signal? Hooked up to antenna and power.

10. rear air bag dump valve would have been nice in a couple of the truck stop parking lots to level out the truck for sleeping and for future unhooking

 

Big thanks to everyone who organized, taught, welcomed, advised, and befriended us. Great group. Looking forward to more.

 

Thanks,

Shannon

 

[Bob86ZZ4]

Great report. It doesn't seem like an unusual amount of issues. I look at things like this as my chance to make it the way I want it. I had a huge pile of wires and crap that I pulled out of a car I bought that had a terribly installed alarm system. Sorry about that long diagnosis problem for the abs harness.

 

Is it possible the CB radio had the PA switch turned on? When my PA switch is on the signal meter still works so it looks like it's receiving but I don't hear anything. I use that switch all the time to mute it when idiots start blabbering junk I don't want to hear. It's much easier than turning down the volume for a bit.