rickeieio

Will do.  It'll likely be pretty close to the end of June.

Just found this thread.  My child bride and I are leaving south-east Indiana in a few days to meander to Alaska.  We took the old rig up there in 2010, the year we turned 60 and celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary.  Now, 10 years later, we're going again, and not being in any hurry.

So far, I have one night's reservation in Wisconsin, and plan to stop in South Dakota and North Dakota to visit friends.  All other plans are cast in jello.  We'll likely roll into Grande Prairie for a night or two, and visit with Darryl and Rita, from this forum.

If you see a bright red KW hauling a white smart car, and towing a red/white/black Newmar toyhauler. that'd be us.

Progressive has a tow clause.  It's been discussed at length, recently.  Very few agents can write this policy.

Okay, I'm wrapping my head around it now.  I applaud your re-purposing an existing bed to save money.  Sometimes, it's easier to just open your wallet, but not nearly so satisfying.

Re my previous post:  by offset, I meant in the vertical plane, not fore-aft.  My bad.

Nine inches above the rails is roughly 4 more than most of us are using.  But, given than many of the newer fifth wheel trailers have a higher hitch placement than the old standard of 47", you may be fine.

I suppose you have chosen that bed height to accommodate pass through storage?  Possibly for ramps?  There are other solutions for that issue.  Both Robert Trim and I built beds a couple years ago, utilizing pass throughs while keeping the bed lower.  His is under bed, mine is between tool boxes aft the drive wheels.

Totally depends on your trailer pin box.  Some trailers have little to no pin offset, while others have a lot.

In theory, given a generous offset, your hitch could be level with the bed surface, or even recessed a bit, which would require backing under the hitch, then lowering the trailer nose into place.  To me, that's a recipe for disaster.  We built our bed with the head about 3 inches above bed height, and no bed behind the hitch, allowing for hitching without altering the trailer height.

Now you've got me thinking of a bed where the portion behind the hitch is removable to allow for hooking up.......

Glenn, perhaps you'll recall that much of this type info is listed in the Resource Guide...😁

I'm not qualified to say whether 5 x 5 x 1/4" is sufficient, but being an old farmer, I'd go with a heavier wall thickness. Or, more of them.

Is the current tubing bolted to the inside of the frame rails?  If so, I'd remove them and replace with 1/2" thick angle.  Raise or lower to get you height needed.

You plainly state you don't want Chinese tires, but I'll mention a brand I've been using.....Sailun.  I have them on the trailer, had a full set on the Volvo, and also on the drives on our farm truck ( Mack tandem ).  So far, no issues.

But I agree with your logic of not needing first line tires on something that's not seeing many miles.  I do lean towards better tires on the steer axle though.

Tires are like oil.  Lots of opinions that aren't backed up by numbers.  😁

55 minutes ago, jenandjon said:

Blinkers, brake lights and tail lights all work. It's just the brakes that dont. 

You know a retired farmer who tinkers on campers......  It's only a couple hunnert miles back.

It was kinda funny how while Jon and I were thinking out loud about his electrical problem, I remembered having a similar issue a few months ago, when my inverter had overheated, and needed to be re-set.  He looked for a re-set button and found the switch had been accidently been flipped off.  But we had a nice visit, and he bought me lunch.

There’s more. I’ll let Jon fill y’all in further. 
 

Bright spot is, Jon and the boys got a chance to visit us, and the repair cost nothing. 

We've traveled through most of the states west of I-75 in the past few years, with a 21k trailer pulled by a tandem axle Kenworth, and have yet to pull into a weigh station, or see a sign indicating that we should.

Well done sir!!!  Enjoy.

I think I understand the advantages, but it seems a high price to pay.  I grew up with a copper roof outside both my bedroom windows, so the sound of rain is not undesirable.  And a leak hasn't been high on my worry list either.  Every leak we've had has been a failure of a protruding fixture, no the roof.  

What does a spray-on roof cost?  I've heard some pretty hefty numbers, but haven't actually priced it myself.

Good for you!!!!  It looks like you retired!!!  We love the Big Horns.

So, I gotta wonder, are modern rv roofs poorly made?  Our 2008 has the original roof, nothing ever done to it other than washing, which it will get again this week.  I had it inspected a couple weeks ago, and the rv tech said other than being dirty, it was in very good condition.  Lest you say that perhaps this rig has been under roof for most it's life, we bought it in 2015, and we believe it was never under roof up to that point, and has been under roof perhaps six months since.

So, why the interest in  "forever" roofs?

Circling back to this, I just did the math......  We paid Good Sam $80/yr for 14 years, and the one time we needed a tow, they denied us.  14 yr x $80 = $1120, just double what we paid out of pocket when we got a tow in January.

I'm fine with self insuring.

Jon, we're just north of there, near Lawrenceburg.  call me at 513.284.6927

3 hours ago, lappir said:

I've heard of doing that at "Campgrounds" but what advantage is there in your shop? I guess if you are searching for a leak you wouldn't have to start the truck to build up pressure. 

 

Rod

True, plus, if it's in the shop for an extended time and looses pressure, I can plug in and air up in a couple minutes, v. idling the engine for much longer stinking up the shop.  The air fitting is next to the battery lugs for jump starting, so I can leave the air and trickle charger hooked up for as long as it's sitting there.  I park under roof behind the shop, and plan to put an access port in the wall to run cords/hoses out as needed.

Made up an adapter to air the truck with shop air. PACCAR puts a male Parker cat. 1 fitting on the frame rail by the left steer tire to connect for towing. One Bh1-62 and a shop coupler, and now my truck can be aired up before starting the engine. 
 

What Kirk says, but with a twist......  Yes, a vehicle must be licensed to the owner.  However, if you own property in another state, and keep the vehicle there, it may be licensed in that state, complying with that state's laws.  Also, for Indiana to claim licensing jurisdiction, said vehicle must be garaged 60 consecutive nights in Indiana.  (I advise researching this, as it was told to me by the local Indiana BMV, who doesn't have a good track record.)

We live on the Indiana/Ohio line, and our farm is in both states. All our rv rig lives at the farm shop, in Ohio, and is licensed accordingly.  My every day pick-up is also licensed in Ohio, even though it comes home to Indiana with me most nights.  But, when we travel, it's in the farm (Ohio) shop.

So, usually, a vehicle needs be registered in the state in which it resides, not where the owner resides.

X2 what Phil wrote.  It would likely save you a lot of work, and maybe some $$, to find a 23k# rated axle. Nearly all the newer trucks with an air tag use that as their drive axle.

Also, don't forget that even with a heavier axle, your tires might not be up to the task.  So many details......

Circling back to a post above, do some ciphering to be sure you aren't overloading the rear when hitched up.  Pin weight likely transfers weight from the front axle, depending on hitch placement. I can't imagine having the hitch far enough back to carry a Jeep, that you can even get close to being safe singled.

As above, plan ahead for what you may do in the future.  I left both our trucks tandem, and haven't regretted it.  The difference in fuel, tires, etc. is small compared to the advantages of having the better ride and traction.  It does suffer a bit in maneuverability, but not much.