Star Dreamer

I90 in MN on the east side of the state had a very bad section that would cause chucking of a trailer being pulled and you head in the truck just kept bouncing back and forth. Luckily that stretch of road was repaved about 10 years ago and is much better. We just took I90 all the way across from South Dakota and didn't really experience any bad stretches but there was road construction at places which is typical of many states in the summer time.

One thing to think about if you plan to use the trailer with slides in while traveling from one location to another is access to important items like bathroom, bedroom, kitchen (refrigerator and microwave), etc.. with slides in. The two floor plans you noted block access to some of those items. Also I could not find their warranties online so check to make sure that using them for full time use is still covered. I did not think those were very big units buti did not see what axles they use, capacity and brand, and the carrying capacity was not very large. Remember that it has to be able to handle water & propane weight along with all your personal items.

Is your trailer registered as an RV or a trailer (like a cargo trailer or utility trailer) ? If like a trailer, then do you really have two RVs?

We use to live in MN with our HDT and they do not require RVs to stop. We just went thru SD and MN a couple weeks ago and even though lighted signs show truck to pull in, we never do. So far in the 20-25 states in 10 years with the HDT we have been in, I haven't seen any that said RVs (except for agriculture stops). We keep waiting for them to pull out after us but hasn't happened yet.

Hmmm, we recently had our microwave trip our inverters circuit breaker, twice now, and come to think of it after reading this post, I recently have a power strip plugged into an outlet on the other side of the kitchen. I may have to remove that power strip and see if we do not have that issue any more too.

I can easily carry a 14' canoe in my Toyhauler as it handles a 17' Full size van. Do you have a rear window in your 5th wheel that could've changed to an opening window to be able to put canoe inside the trailer?

This website still seems to be working correctly. https://eastcoasthdtrally.com/

I have seen smart cars on the back of MDT too.

Also try to get the number off the part you are trying to replace as they can just look it up by part number or cross reference chart if they are a good parts person. Problem is now most just want to enter it into the computer. I recently went to get spark plugs for my smart car and one of the questions they asked was does it have an electric motor, LOL. If had an electric motor, I wouldn't need spark plugs!

Does the lift use a battery operated remote or a wall mounted switch? If it is a remote, try replacing the battery in the remote. It is also possible that the remote control board has failed and you would need to locate that to determine if it can be replaced. Many of the lifts use a linear electric actuator to do the motion and as mentioned are usually 12vdc. I just had to replace a remote control board on a system I use as the actuator would not lower but would raise up. I was able to reverse the wires to get the actuator to lower temporarily.

I just had them do an overhead adjustment on our Detroit 14L but we were not blowing oil out. Are you sure it needs an inframe? Have you contacted a Freightliner dealer to see if they would do it? Maybe also try Fitzgerald Truck Service

Most do not have electric, but it is more about your battery juice and inverter size and how long you can go without being plugged in. Most of the HH locations are only for one night so solar doesn't work at night anyway.

We have used Harvest Hosts locations quite frequently with our HDT. I do verify that they have a large parking area and if it is a grassy area, I look for alternate locations in case it rains. This location was on grass but due to possible heavy rains coming in that night, they asked if I could park on some nearby concrete. I said I would be happy to and even mentioned if they moved a stand by their volleyball court, I could keep my driving over grass to a minimum when leaving and they moved the stand.

Has the truck been modified to have RV plug wiring? I thought that year Volvo had a computer to monitor the lights. Any possibility that is messed up?

Could be one of these or multiple of them or other stuff. Tires out of balance, bent drums, wrong drive line angle, driveshaft out of balance, bad u joints, Etc...

I have only just started the pre-planning for our trip. We know we won't be able to cover our typical day of driving due to slower travel speeds, extra stops for sites and watching out for frost bumps. I have been in Edmonton in June for business when they had snow, luckily it didn't last long! Realistically with the border still being closed, we would probably do 2023 but we can plan either way.

We are thinking of doing Alaska in 2022 but not sure where we will cross into Canada at since we most likely will be coming from South Carolina. Depending on the location of the Rally, if it is too far North, mid May would be too early for us. We use to live in MN and we could still get snowstorms up there in mid May. I was thinking of trying to cross the border around the mid to end of June. Where are you thinking of doing the rally at? Dave

The fan usually always runs at a slow speed. When the fan clutch kicks on it will spin faster. Do you have a switch to engage the fan manually? (Our Freightliner has one) I can usually tell when the fan has kicked on automatically as it is quite loud (and our cab is loud too being a Freightliner) and drops the power a bit but it doesn't usually kick on until it is 210 or so.

Do a search in the forum for Financing HDT and you should find some previous posts on this subject. To answer your question is there is no good source. It may be easier if you are buying new thru RVH Lifestyles but for used there are not many choices. You might be able to go thru a credit union that you might have a good relationship with, take a loan against another vehicle you have that us paid for, take a signature loan out, or like we did, take a loan against our 401k that my company I worked for allowed us to do and pay ourselves back the interest. You may need to get creative.

I have heard of one and seen one. The Watts on wheels posted an issue they had with trailer swing with their tote that was on the back of the trailer and we saw a bumper pull trailer hit a show car while we were loading our show vehicle up at the Indy World of Wheels show a few years ago. They tried driving between a couple of parked cars and then turned sharp to drive out and the back of the trailer hit one of the cars. We came close to hitting a tree while pulling out of a campground in Florida but I had the wife watching just in case and she said we cleared by about 6". I had to watch a sign post and low hanging branch on the other side and landscape timbers in front. Was a very tight manuever but took it slow and only had to do a short back up motion once.

That looks like a Freightliner Columbia, very similar to our Century. I don't think I have ever seen one without air brakes, do you have the yellow and red knobs on the dash? As mentioned, licensing varies by state or province, knowing where are you located at may help us help you.

Most likely the trailer will cut the corner on the inside some even if you have the hitch behind the rear axle. Because of this tail swing to the outside might not be an issue but you may want to watch it. That turn at least looks like it had a wide gravel area to allow you to cut the corner but if it had been questionable for us at 72', I would have pulled out of our site and then backed up to the prior road going that direction.

I have found that riding with the air out of the seat and it all the way down helps. The air ride cab limits the shock. I also watch for tire skid marks on the pavement and will either slow down or change lanes.

I used door latches similar to these, but I bought them thru etrailer but it doesn't look like they carry them now, they have a paddle style. https://www.buyersproducts.com/catalog/truck-and-trailer-hardware-14/latches-445/t-handle-latches-610 For hinges, we used stainless steel piano hinges that we ordered from Discount Steel which is now Coremark Metals. They also did the laser cutting of our bed side panels which included the door faces with the mounting holes for the latches in them. I laid out the drawing and sent them the DXF file to make them.

If it were me, I would avoid 80 either way around Chicago and NW Indiana. You will most likely hit bad traffic there unless you can time it go thru late at night. On our trip that we are currently on that will take us to Grand Rapids MI and then to Madison WI, I am purposely heading around Lake Michigan thru the Upper Peninsula just to miss Chicago, plus it will be a much more scenic drive and we get to visit some nice state parks. I do not see a good alternative route for you heading east but heading south and west, I would probably run US 31 south from Michigan to Indy, then I465 around the west side of Indy to I70 and then head west. Enjoy your trip!