Star Dreamer

Make some light weight panels with fake windows and a door to wrap the bed of the the truck to simulate a motorhome, maybe that will help! 

I think for a 32k trailer, ET may be your only choice. Our Heavy Duty ET Junior is rated for 32k and a 8500 pin rating. If you plan on a 32k trailer you want something with at least a 6500 pin rating (20% minimum of trailer weight). A 25k trailer would be 5k pin weight to get to 20%. 

We also found that during the Pandemic, many locations had restrictions on how full the campground could be so many restricted the number of sites that were available and to avoid having to handle money and interact with people, went to only sites that were available to online reservations. Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas was one of them.  We had reservations and had no issue but upon arriving they said they were filled up and only online reservations were being accepted (we had met a couple at our previous stop that wanted to go there and asked us to see if they had any availability). When we pulled in and parked, there were a lot of sites that were open, even a complete campground area. I also think it was a staffing issue with not enough people to keep up with bathrooms, etc...

On 3/28/2021 at 10:17 AM, odigity said:

For context, those bunks are on the right side of this ramp section.

(I don't intend to carry a toy.  Gonna use that space for my Soloflex.)

A piano in the very nose is going to add a lot of tongue weight to the trailer, that may affect your pull vehicle. Until you get the trailer and can do weight calculations, you probably will be better off planning for a lighter keyboard. You will also get a lot of up and down movement in that area. Noise level may or may not be an issue but the humidity changes will be. Do you plan to remove the piano when not using the trailer? The summer heat can get pretty warm inside if you are not keeping the AC on even in storage. 

What was the payload capacity of the trailer you are buying?  

16 hours ago, Kirk W said:

We seem to have wandered off to debate other things so I'll try and bring things back as I have some of the same questions. We are starting to make plans to head from TX to Rock Springs, WY for Escapade and have rarely made advance reservations, but are considering it now. Your experience seems to indicate that reservations will be needed, at least in any popular areas. Can anyone offer more information about stopping in RV parks along the roads while traveling for the coming summer? 

A lot depends on your set up. We have a 46' 5th wheel and are 72' overall length. So we don't fit in all campgrounds. I like to pre plan my route as I do not want to get my self into a spot that has a low bridge, weight limit, or tight turns and no way to turn around. I use a lot of Google Satellite view especially in campgrounds to see what the sights look like and what the access roads are like. You can even measure in satellite view so I can see if the sites are long enough. This is not something I can do easily on the road so pre planning is necessary. 

On a longer trip, I will typically have the important stops reserved well in advance (many weekends are getting harder to reserve so they need to be done early) and stops near the end of the longer trip can usually wait but I try to do them before leaving. I do look and pay attention to reservation cancellations as plans can change. On our next trip I purposely reserved a more expensive campground as it had a better cancelation policy compared to another near by that was cheaper but you paid the whole amount up front with no cancelation refund and this was for a week stay.

I have had our fall trip (Sept, Oct, Nov) planned out but am just going to start making reservations. A lot was dependent on what was happening with the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta as we are scheduled to volunteer there and it was questionable if it was going to be held this year. Last year we tried and it was cancelled and had to redo reservations then. 

I usually map out the general locations we want to see, then find campgrounds that can accommodate us near those. I note them on a spread sheet. I then check miles a drive times between locations and see if we need to make stops in between and if so now look to see what is in those areas if it will be a one night stop or there are some other sites to see to make it a longer stop. These get added to the spread sheet and now I can start filling in dates so I can get my start and ending dates (wife likes to know when we will be home so we can make doctors and haircut appointments).

Once I have a good plan and locations for stops are determined, I start making reservations, usually starting with the state and national parks as they are the hardest to get into (during my planning I do check to see if they have availability for the time frame we are looking at). If no spots are left,  I  now look for a private campground in the area.

We then start booking other spots and try to fit in a few one night boondocking spots to help safe money enroute, usually using our Harvest Host membership. These can add to the site seeing opportunities also as we have done some museums and different things that we normally wouldn't have stopped at if we didn't need to spend the night 

10 hours ago, CA_Tallguy said:

Is anyone mounting their Jackalopee in a location where they need more than an IP65 rating?  Seems unadvisable.

An enclosure for these relays is a luxury more than a necessity.  The relays could be mounted in a toolbox, drawnbox, or the cab, for example.   Most people I would guess have many electrical components mounted in various places and few are probably in IP65 or greater cases.

The enclosure I posted does have means for protecting the wiring in the back -- which would be required for the IP65 rating.  There are numerous alternatives on Amazon if you are looking for something better.   This one was the highest rated and is marketed to off road enthusiasts, so I'm guessing that over the road use is a lighter use case.   4.6 out of 5 stars from 1510 reviews which is about as good as it gets.  I find the reviews and customer Q&A on Amazon will likely address or surface any issues you may be concerned about.  https://amzn.to/3eWNttx

We have seen the Jackalopee mounted outside the on the rear of the cab and I think I recall seeing one mounted at the rear next to their hitch. We have seen so many trucks at the various rallies that it is hard to remember them all! 

Alternative methods are good, but obviously may not be for everyone and in some cases the simpler the better. Me, I hate soldering and avoid it at most cases, I would rather use crimp connectors and a bunch of heat shrink and tape because I can't solder for crap. 

Thanks for the info but further review is necessary, the first item you mentioned shows an IP65 rating which is not waterproof. IP65 rating is dust proof and can resist water projected from a nozzle. The bottom of the case is open and then probably can only be mounted certain ways. No wiring is included. I didn't check the other links. How much time would you expect it would take to assemble the relays and jumper wires assuming you have the tools and knowledge to do it? I would guess about two hours, so at a $75/hour labor rate, You are probably into it total for about $200 or more. 

Good suggestion but probably the whole box assembly would be better off mounted in a completely sealed enclosure with a terminal junction block for the wiring so that you can easily hook up and unhook wires without disturbing the seal on the back side of the relays.

Be sure that ask them about the speed rating. There are different ratings, my Daytons are only rates for 75mph and in most cases that is enough for me but sometimes when I am bobtailing I have to watch that I do not stay up or above at that speed for long.

3 hours ago, CA_Tallguy said:

I looked up the Jackalopee -- Seems awfully expensive for a bunch of relays.  Doesn't Tekonsha 119130 for $30 do the same thing?

You could then get a splice it into the middle of a 7 way round to 7 way blade pigtail and you are done for about $60.

Seems like you could do it for even less $$ if you just wired up a 7 way blade socket from the Tekonsha adapter.  And I'm guessing there are other adapters out there for even less than the Tekonsha.

Etrailer has an article talking about ways to do this.  They list 4 different adapters for combining the brake and turn signals.... https://www.etrailer.com/question-111684.html

Our truck had the Hoppy version when we bought it. Went thru two of them and I biggest issue is it went bad either on a trip or was noticed during our pre trip inspection and now there was no time to order a new one and get it installed before traveling. Also the Jackalopee has additional features like LED lights and other connections to make hook up easier. If you go the Hoppy version carry a couple of spares, it might last a few years or a month, no way to know. We no longer use those units.

9 hours ago, Travelin Randy said:

just discovered this site looking for a 500k volvo780 to pull a momentum 397 was looking for bed options and pix i need one that i can put a smart and 4 seat SxS on a ramp over the smart so stretching wheel base and deleating through axle would like some pix and insite by anyone who has done it

You need to do some measuring  and math as I do not think you have the height to do what you want. Bed height is around 48", smart car is around 62", space to under side of ramps for SXS at least 6", ramp thickness around 2-4", puts you at about 10' off the ground leaving only 3'6" for the height of the SXS before you get to the legal height in most states of 13'6".

We did some winter camping while doing car shows and can offer our opinions.

Most vans could be insulated in the roof and side walls but not much in the floor and and I doubt any ambulances are insulated very much at all. The same would be for truck campers. 

As you will probably need to rely on propane heating sources for extreme temps, you will want space for extra propane tanks or availability to have a larger tank delivered and filled. 

You will want to verify that campgrounds are open in the winter and will have water and sewer hook ups available. You will need heated hoses for the winter time (I don't even know if they make heated drain lines). 

I would probably look at travel trailers like Artic Fox and Northwood or even a Fishing Ice House as they can be lowered to the ground to help keep cold air out from underneath.  May have to use a composting toilet and portable drain tanks if no sewer hook ups are available. 

You will want the truck to be separate so you can use it as a daily driver without breaking camp just to go in for supplies, etc...

You will want to look for extra insulation, full body pans, use rugs on the floors, dual pane windows with insulated panels to cover them. 

In the long run, it may be cheaper to get a motel or extended stay for the duration. Do the math to determine what works the best but plan high for heating costs.

Thanks Carl and Donna and all the helpers for putting on the ECR.

Here are some of our pictures

Since the code mentioned the Federal Highway vehicle classification, maybe copy the description that indicates what makes a vehicle a commercial vehicle from the federal standards. I think there may also be something that discusses recreational vehicles in there too but I am not an expert on those items. Maybe a former or current DOT officer might help, there are a couple on the forum.

Whenever we buy a vehicle or RV from out of state, we always tell them we are exempt from paying their sales tax. We will pay the sales tax at the time of registering in our home state. We currently live in South Carolina which limits sales taxes on vehicles to $500 maximum which is better than paying any other states taxes and then trying to get reimbursed from the other state for paying it.

3 hours ago, CA_Tallguy said:

Yes, that's the realization I'm coming to as well.  This makes a lot of sense when in motion (trucking or RV'ing), but not for camping.  So frustrating to be so close to what I need!  If only the larger sleepers with the wetbath were more common (and less expensive), it would be perfect.

Toyhaulers with a 16+ ft garage and 5000lb+ cargo capacity in the garage are pretty much unicorns too, unfortunately.  Here are some options in my notes:

• grand design 398M (18ft garage) - made from ~2018+ (used listed for $72k)
• weekend warrior
  • 4620M (20ft garage, 7k axles!!) - ~2017+? 24k GVWR, 15k dry weight
• ATC Game Changer - almost ideal, $150k
• Forest River Work and Play
  • 38FCR - may fit existing toad... kitchen is L shaped in the garage.  Entry door is in front of garage too. 1 small popout in the bedroom.
  • 38FKS - 17-8 garage, 1 slide for couch, bed over the nose
  • 40WCH -- 17ft garage with 2 slides!
  • 40FKS - 19-9 garage but the floor plan is the more typical "car hauler" and crowded
  • 40BTS -- only 12 or 13 ft cargo, 3 slides
  • 40WTS -- only 12 ft cargo
  • 40RLS - 16ft cargo but glass doors prob enough to allow nose of GL through?
  • 44 - huge garages.... RLS floorplan looks best
• KZ
  • venom v4020dq - interesting front living setup, 20ft garage area NOT counting WD closet.  Height in the kitchen may be not so great.  Maybe $60-70k used
  • V3916TK - approx 16ft garage
• McKenzie (Monoco) Dune Chaser
  • 34, 38CK - 20ft to first cabinet + 3.5ft into kitchen
  • 34SKS - 15-9 to cabinet, 19 into kitchen/entry door space
  • 35 and 38 SKS

And I did go through a search trying to find smaller class A's or C's with 15k towing and those are also unicorns. Most rigs GVWR are pretty closely matched to the length of the rigs.  You need to get up to a tandem axle to really increase towing.... and then suddenly you're at 42 feet in rig and adding 2 or 3 lbs in coach/chassis for every 1lb gain in towing capacity.

There are a few rare exceptions such as Dynamax RV's but generally "short" and "15k towing" are mutually exclusive.

The other thing people talk about is how ill-suited most RV's are for bumper pull due to the typically loooong overhang past the rear axle.  That acts as a lever magnifying every extra pound in hitch weight.   Towing a toad with 4 wheels down is fairly easy on the frame, but most trailers I would haul will have some heft in hitch weight and that is pretty hard on the rig, I hear.  There is a device called a "trailer toad" you can get to solve this and I've also pondered if I could retrofit a lift axle on some RV to add capacity and protection from damage.  A third option to solve this may be upgrading a rear axle and frame.

So this seems to push me towards a toterhome or showhauler type unit, either pre-owned or custom build.

 

 

You can add a Dune Sport Toyhauler to your list of 5th wheels and bumper pulls. Ours has a 20'+ separate garage and handles our 5700# custom van on the back. They regularly build them for jeeps. We did triple 8k axles. They build to order so you will not see them on dealer lots. You can build an initial estimate on their website and then contact them (or they will contact you) to add custom features that you want. We have had ours since Sept of 2019.

On 4/25/2021 at 2:40 PM, trimster said:

Finishing up the templates for the bed skirting. Fun exercise. It will be painted the same as the truck when finished. The open space in the rear is where the box for the generator will go.

Oh... and we added another family member. Something for the truck to carry around. Sold the Goldwing. The Spyder is something both of us can drive. I'm guessing that once the wife gets comfortable in the drivers seat...I'll just be watching the view from the back.

 

So does this mean you need 3 ramps now!

It sounds like what you are looking for is pretty rare which not only means the price will be up there but you also have to consider how wore out that unit may be. 

You have to understand that most of the HDTs were commercial OTR trucks and the driver's used the truck stop showers and jugs for the toilets. No need for a working toilet or shower in the truck. You would better to look for a smaller sleeper or day cab truck and then a Toyhauler with the garage size you need and living quarters. Both those types of units are more readily available. 

Another option would be to find a smaller class A and use an aluminum trailer to help reduce weight or get one of the smaller Super C units. 

My cousin has an older Class A and he pulls a 28' enclosed trailer with his Jeep, Golf Cart and trike in it. I do believe he had to beef up his hitch on the Class A though. 

We went with a Dune Sport unit out of Mesa AZ. They build to order so you will not find new ones on any lots. You can have it built to your wants and needs. They have been great to work with on our warranty items. We had it built in September of 2019 and probably have close to 35-40k miles on it already. The price range was in our price range versus a more expensive custom build from New Horizons or Spacecraft which also tend to be heavier units. 

You can build a base estimate on their website and they will contact you to add pricing like slides or give Casey a call and he do it right from the beginning. Dune Sport mainly builds Toyhaulers but will build other types of units, you will just have to ask them to price it out. Basically you are only paying for the items you want and need this way. 

I probably should add, that we carry a smart car on the truck and have a 47' long fifth wheel. You could easily shorten the truck and hitch location up by 2 feet and the trailer length by 5' and get down to the 65' you would are seeking.

A lot depends on how you want to camp and travel. We have used our sleeper as a mini motorhome a couple of times, when we went across country to pick up our trailer and a year later when we had our one year warranty items taken care of and couple times when we did not want to bring the 5th wheel. 

The wife will sometimes climb in the back and take a nap while we are driving down the road and we have stopped for a night and used it instead of the trailer. 

We have a porta potty in ours along with a microwave and 12 v refrigerator. We also like the extra space inside and would not like a day cab for it's lack of space. 

Yes the primary reason was to allow us to register as an RV. In your case if you are going to run a business or use it for racing it may not matter if you have to go commercial. 

The 65' length limit is not on all states and as you mentioned it has not been an issue in others. We are 72' long all hooked up with our current trailer (was longer with previous trailers) .

We also like the extra space so we can carry extra people if needed and still use ours as a daily driver. With our current trailer, we haven't had to much any more as we can fit our Dodge Journey SUV in the toyhauler garage.

On 4/13/2021 at 9:32 PM, kb0zke said:

We've been fulltiming in a MH for several years and are now considering a 5'er. All of our fuses and breakers are inside the coach, so someone would have to break in to replace any pulled fuses or reset tripped breakers.

1. Some 5'ers have hydraulic leveling systems, while others have only hydraulic legs at the front. I assume that those systems have some sort of electrical control for them, which means that there is a fuse or circuit breaker somewhere. If that is pulled/tripped, will the system remain level, or will the weight of the coach cause it to drop?

2. Related to above, are there safety pins that are placed in the legs to prevent it from dropping too far?

3. Can those leveling systems be used to raise the coach enough to remove the wheels and tires? I'm thinking that when the time comes to replace the tires it would be easier to raise the 5'er up so that the wheels can be removed and taken to the tire shop for replacement tires, then reinstalled.

1) Some 5th wheels also come with electric linear jacks for front jacks and leveling jacks. Our Toyhauler came with them originally and we have replaced them with hydraulic jacks now. The electric jacks have a fuse in the fuse panel inside the coach. The Hydraulic ones use a circuit breaker near our batteries which are in a locked side compartment (but has the typical CH751 key so not very secure). Both units used a control panel which is located in our basement which has a  much better lock system on the door. With the power off the jacks do not retract or extend however if you have a seal leaking, the hydraulic jacks could retract over time. Obviously get any seal leaks fixed as soon as possible. 

2) No safety catches or pins, if worried about dropping, use jack stands with appropriate rating under the frame.

3) Our electric jacks would not lift the rear of the Toyhauler if we had a vehicle in the rear. It was one of the reasons why we changed to hydraulic jacks. When we had the hydraulic system installed at Bigfoot, they had the whole coach up in the air with the tires a good 8-10" above the concrete. But like others say, do not rely on them solely, use jack stands if planning to go underneath. If I was just changing one tire, I could use the jacks as I have the other two tires on that side to help keep trailer up if the jacks should fail, but I also carry a 20 ton hydraulic jack that I can use as my secondary safety means. As a side note, when we had our IS system installed at Morryde, they used the hydraulic leveling system to raise the trailer but still put jack stands under it 

You need to weld frame extensions to mount the ET hitch on. Check this video out.

https://youtu.be/Vz3bamGlltw

29 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

OK, you have my attention now.  Please share the details of how you do this?

My son did this on a later model pickup truck he owned and had it paid for. Simply went into the bank and asked for a car loan and it fell under the age limit of vehicles that they loan on. Actually the loan value they would loan on it was more than he had paid for it originally too. Since the interest rate was better than doing a personal loan it worked to his advantage.

Something else to consider, RVs depreciate very quickly after they are bought and banks may be reluctant to loan on them especially if they do not know if the person will pay the loan back because if a lack of credit history. You did not mention if you are putting any money down on the purchase which sometimes helps as they reduces the depreciation the bank will take if you default on the loan.  

Usually it is much easier to get a car loan in today's banking system.  Yes, you will pay a higher percentage rate due to this. Do you have anything else you can use for collateral to get a loan on like a car you currently own without a loan on it?  

You may be better off holding off for a year doing research and trying to establish a credit rating. 

As a side note, if you start traveling for work, will all of these new locations be in mild enough weather for an RV or will you need something that will handle more extreme weather changes? You also mention a Class B or C, will this also be your primary vehicle to run around with on a daily basis or will you have a daily driver you will need to bring with? If so you need to make sure your RV is large enough to handle pulling that around when changing locations.

Our trailer is 13'4" to tip of AC units and if I remember correctly, the ACs are about 11" tall putting the body of the trailer around 12' 5" high. I also think our Freightliner MidRoof is 12'0" to the top of the roof and looks to match up pretty close to the height of the trailer. I think the Volvo 730/740 is similar in height. Unless you plan to go with a Spacecraft with mini-spilts, and want the extra height of the condos, you might might to keep considering the shorter height cabs.