Grassy

Thanks all. Great food for thought. Regardless of what I buy I fear it is going to be a step down from my McCall. Appreciate your input. Ian.

Folks,I am buying a one ton soon and was just going to go with the hitch offered by the truck company until several folks mentioned a ball hitch.I was under the impression that a ball hitch was more for horse / utility trailers and they had a tendency to break 5th wheel trailers. I gather this is now incorrect.I have been told that instead of a for / aft motion, with a ball you get of hobby horse or rocking motion when towing.My 5th is a Arctic Fox 29-5T.I haven't bought my replacement truck yet so this is a good time to research.Thoughts ?Thanks

Thanks Kirk. I wasn't sure if they existed.. Appreciate the help... Ian

Hi, Have been Rv'ing for 16 years now.. and slowing down a bit Have started thinking about moving to another rig.. a non def diesel super c that preferably has a Freightliner M2 up front . ..so it would have to be pre '08 or '09 .. Not having much luck finding one.. Were they made then ? Any idea where I can look ? Thanks Ian.

Hi, Have been Rv'ing for 16 years now.. and slowing down a bit Have started thinking about moving to another rig.. a non def diesel super c that preferably has a Freightliner M2 up front . ..so it would have to be pre '08 or '09 .. Not having much luck finding one.. Were they made then ? Any idea where I can look ? Thanks Ian.

Is the Winegard PA-6002 Pathway X2 Satellite still considered to be the best bang for the buck ? We plan to use the DISH network on the road.. Thanks..

Please. And if you can, do something on air pressure in the tires. I bought a tmps last summer and have been absolutely fascinated with what has been happening with the tires while running and with the warm / cold temps we have experienced. I have asked a few questions on several boards and from the range range in responses, it seems that pressures and when to fill are a mystery to all. Now that I am home, I had planned on contacting Michelin and for an explanation. I run 6 steers on my TV and 4 Lts on my trailer. With all you work on bags / springs..have you studies how air pressure affects them ? Ian

Since I seem to be the last known user of the McCall hitch I will continue the story. I have tried to find others that are using in but no joy. last summer, I blew an air bag on the back of the hitch. Had to repair it on the road.. and best guess between the repair dude and me is that the rear airbags were too large. All I knew about this hitch before buying it was that it sat in a lot of garages and was passed on when the truck was sold... and unfortunately, I did not keep the rear bags when I replaced them. I get home from the trip and the same airbag has been abraded but not worn through. That is why I asked about shocks .. they seems , in retrospect, pretty dead to me. My truck has been a massive learning curve for me. I replace that bag again and the shocks. And, I nipped away at some of the material in the bar that did the damage. And yes, I used Monroe shocks...glad I got that right. Oh, I had to increase the pressure a bit to lever the 5th wheel. Last November we headed to Texas. Pa and Ny had rough patches ..but La .. wow.. anyone has driven through there knows how rough it is. All is good with my hitch. Coming into Houston we were diverted off the interstate and we were hauling through back roads far faster that was comfortable with the local LEOs urging us along when I hit a whopper. I didn't know then but I snapped the welding on one shock and nipped bag. Found out later when I was checking the bags that we nipped that bag again but Carl (member here) , who was beside me, noticed that I had broken a shock. He and my son, helped me fix that shock and re attach a slider on the unit. I did order a spare but in the mean time, I put a piece of duct tape over the abrasion as an early warning sign to replace the shock. In January, we left Mission Tx and headed west along the Mexican border. We then toured Nm and went into Az as far as Tuscon. Back to Nm (Roswell, white sands) the up the west side of Tx on secondary roads then across to Texarkana into Ar. Then back through Maine. The hitch was solid with zero rubbing on the duct tape. I can only conclude that the shocks are multi purpose..not only to slow doing the up/down for/aft movement but also to prevent the hitch from destroying itself. Would love to talk with someone who uses this hitch.. I will say that it gets a lot of attention with the folks that understand hitches...for an 18 year truck, it gets a lot of attention too. We cannot make the HDT rally but we head back to Tx in November. Cheer, Ian.

I tried that when I was looking at class 8's..trying to figure out a good price.. could not find any rhyme or reason for some of the prices. I suspect the same will be for our trucks.. you have to add a bit for rarity.. I am guessing that I have put on 10K miles in the 4+ months we have been in the US (Maine to Az) and we have seen 3 MTDs for towing Rv';s and horse trailers and one was from Canada. Cannlot figure out where they all are ?

Our present sony back up cam that is mounted on the upper back of the cab is just not working. Especially is less than perfect light conditions. I saw a back up cam on a pedestal just ahead of the 5th hitch recently.. the owner wasn't around..didn't see the brand of it. Have done some searching and cannot find. Antone have any recommendations ? Thanks

I shall look into this...I want to pull one of the existing units and to take a look..

Wow. You have given me more quality info that I have been able to find. No.. no indicators but I came to that number (40) with having the 5th level . I understand that a level trailer tows/handles the best. We are careful drivers.. we keep it just under 65 and with the height of the cab, are able (on the most part.. had one surprise) to gauge and adjust to what is happening in front of us. We were in Quebec once and running at speed around a corner and ran into a parking lot. Hard on the binders and all was ok. I had wondered about the 60 number so I will start dropping it. Comfort and safety are our goals.. I *appreciate* your advice. Thanks.

I have a 31.5 foot Arctic Fox that weighs in @ 12K. When I installed the hitch, I put the horizontal and vertical air bags on different zones. I haven't been able to find any literature on inflation rates so with some playing, I normally run 40 in the vertical and 60ish in the horizontal. I run about 100 psi in my rear tires but thinking when we head out for the long run, I should go a bit higher. I have Michelin on it with a bit softer sidewall. I did weigh everything when I first got it and used the inflation tables for the tires to come to those numbers. Am I off ? 1.. always seeking to do better. As for the shocks, I will install 4 identical units. Thanks Ian.

Phoenix, Thanks you.. time to go into research mode with the shocks. I attribute the acquisition on serendipity. When I bought my truck, my truck it had a ball hitch on it. The last owner pulled a race car trailer with it. Before him, it pulled a boat. He had this hitch and he knew nothing about it ( i did) and I had him toss it in with the sale. My rig is a mystery. I have done much research on it as I can and I only stopped when I started hitting brick walls. After it was shipped to a high volume Freightliner dealership, it disappeared for months until it reappeared at Beaudry RV for sale new. Freightliner has no idea where it went. I think Sport Chassis did the work while it was still owned by Freightliner but cannot confirm. Records are not that good and i think there were a lot of conversion companies that have disappeared. I have looked at many other conversion companies ..I see some similarities but nothing exact. It isn't a biggie for me but I am curious. Regardless, the hitch looked like it had very little use and I am impressed with it.

Phoenix, Excellent recap. Did he use standard auto shocks on it ? Thanks..