peety3

On 6/27/2019 at 3:59 AM, rickeieio said:

Let's assume the hitch is operating in it's sweet spot of about 50 psi.  When you unhitch, the head rises, and we would expect to hear a rush of air escaping, at 50 psi.  But in reality, your pressure is near zero, because you've removed the load.  Thus, the air escapes very slowly.  It's likely that the leveling valve is fine.

The bags were at 50psig, which is about 4.5x atmospheric pressure, and therefore they had about 4.5x the (normal) volume of air in them. If you remove the load, that air will expand the bag to the limit, probably doubling the volume and thereby lowering the pressure to 2.25x atmospheric, or about 20psig. At that point or perhaps after a short delay, the valve should begin releasing pressure to bring the height to where it belongs (a point of equilibrium of pressure/volume/weight of the suspended part of the hitch).

If you crank down the landing gear and release the load gradually, it should equalize steadily either as fast as you release the load or at least by the time you climb back in the cab and separate the rig.

If I were "you", I'd assume that I'd be taking my A/B/CDL-A/CDL-B test at one of those 25 sites, and I'd study anything you see in the <whatever-you-want-to-call-it> manual.

You're going to get a lot farther in your big RV if you're ready to demonstrate safe driving that you will if you just stand up and proclaim "Ima good Driver, my belt buckle says so".

 

LOL, Peety, I put it in quotes on purpose. The truck was a purpose built, ordered new from Kenworth, RV hauler. The only conversion was adding the bed. I had to come up with something to get the point across that this was a stand alone motor home. It was bought with the fridge, microwave, 1800 watt invertor with a shore power option for the truck, a Carrier APU with shore power option to run the AC and heat with either the 6,000 watt generator or on shore power and was factory singled. It was never titled as a commercial truck and the only thing we have done is add the bed to convert it to a motorhome.

 

Having the build sheet from the factory stating it was not a commercial vehicle and was for recreational use only was a big help in convincing them. Not to mention having a picture of the truck in front of Larry's shop in Texas for the "conversion" to a motor home.

Good thing I've got thick skin...you're welcome for the "help".

I gave the tax assessor the paperwork from MHC, plenty of pictures of other trucks that are "motorhomes" in other states, pictures of our truck at Larry's place being "converted" to a RV hauler truck and the cover of our build sheet. The build sheet turned out to be very helpful as it plainly said the truck was "non commercial, recreational use only"

I recognize that I'm a stickler (Nazi?) for good grammar, but I'd really encourage you to NOT put converted in quotes. Essentially by doing that, you're saying that another, different word belongs here, but you're going to use the word converted out of context and improperly as a fake word in place of what should be there. Instead, you're really and truly talking about a conversion here: it's being converted from a commercial truck (basic conveyance as a power unit to haul a trailer for hire with freight inside or upon it) to a motorhome (fridge, microwave, shore power, shore powered HVAC, cable TV, etc.) with a more recreationally-purposed bed/body (for transporting your car, which has even less debate about intended use) with cabinets for belongings that relate to living wherever it is that you've set the parking brake.

Leave no question about the words you've chosen and you'll present yourself as more authoritative on the subject, helping you maintain a little more power in your negotiations.

Being the math geek that I am, I looked up the trans specs and color me surprised: splitter gear is actually an underdrive not an overdrive (which now that I think about it, makes sense). So...16th (direct drive) is 7D for the old-school folks, but if 16th is set up for 60mph, 17th works out to 69mph and 18th works out to 82mph in the sweet spot, which is fairly convenient anyway. OK, time to stop dreaming and start sleeping for the night...or...

Peety welcome to the forum. You will find it a pretty friendly place and you should learn enough to stay in "trouble", so to speak.

 

A comment on your dream truck.....in RV or non-commercial heavy haul use the 18 speed is not necessary. Stick to the lower geared trucks and you will be far happier. The 600 hp is very cool, but again not necessary. Of course, I'm running a turned down D16 so I'm with you on the "more is better". Mine is down to 515hp. That is WAY, WAY more than enough. And my trailer is 28K lbs.

If I do a 53' Featherlite trailer with "nice" interior furnishings, a granite shower, and a toy hauler bay big enough for a Mercedes E-Class or possibly an S-Class, my rig will gross at least 65k if not somewhere in the 70k range. I think that 600 will come in handy, as will the 18-speed. This is going to be a true high-cube trailer: it'll be 13'6" tall from tip to tail, 8'6" wide from floor to ceiling, and the luggage bays and tanks will use up the underbelly space pretty well.

Also, having lived in Texas and with in-laws living there, I'm almost certain we'll be popping through to visit. My vision is to gear it so 15th (7D aka true direct-drive) puts the engine in its sweet spot for 60mph (max legal speed for big trucks in WA state), but 16th might put the sweet spot around 65mph, 17th might be right around 70, and 18th might be around 75mph, so I at least have a chance of tickling 85mph on TX 130 someday. I know it's a six of one vs. half-dozen of the other, but I believe that direct drive is going to be more efficient than overdrive ratios. Admittedly, I was a Caterpillar fan for years, right up until I discovered that they exited the highway engine market. Their sweet spot was 1350...now I'm seeing that the new Volvo engines are happy down to 1050, which may completely disrupt my concepts of ideal gearing.

For someone who thought they read through ALL of the HDT forum, I somehow missed this post until stumbling across a link to it elsewhere.

I'm a 40-something guy working at Microsoft In Redmond, WA, and I've had the itch to drive a truck since I was perhaps three years old. I've got some classic books from when I started to read, talking about Big Al's Trailer Truck, and such. While I was in college, I got my CDL class A with tank and double/triple-trailer endorsement. I've never driven professionally, but I've put it to use for several years as a volunteer FF/EMT while living in Texas. I've got a long way until retirement, but BIG plans nonetheless, and I'm intending to get into the HDT/RV world in a rather unique sequence compared to most of you:

1) In perhaps two years, sell my "extra" vehicle, a 2001 Ford Excursion, which we use to haul our gorgeous tandem bicycle, and get an HDT. It'll probably be a Volvo 780: Volvo so Mrs. Peety will be willing to drive it occasionally, and a 780 so there are lower windows on the sleeper box and I can use the workstation area for extra people at times. I'll drive the HDT to work 1-2 times per week, just because I can. I'm thinking I'll put an APU on the rig, so I can keep the cab cool while I'm at work.

2) We'll rent a 5er now and then for certain adventures, but more often than not, we'll just go do things in the HDT that we couldn't do in a car/SUV (or the Excursion), like take our two dachshunds with us on road trips or even just be able to go to a bicycle ride and have the convenience of a cooled cab when we finish the ride, and a place to change out of bike clothes with headroom AND privacy.

3) After I win the lottery, or if I can truly get ahead of my retirement savings efforts, I'll go purchase (brand-new) my dream truck, a sparkle blue Kenworth W900L with an 86" Studio Sleeper, a 600HP Cummins, and an 18-speed automated Eaton. After that's happily on the road, I'll work with Featherlite to build a 53' travel trailer with a master bedroom over the kingpin, who knows how many slide-outs for the living/sleeping areas, and a ~18' car carriage area on the back of the trailer either over or under a "bunkhouse" area for the kids (who haven't been created just yet, but soon). I do plan to register this rig as commercial to enjoy the longer length laws available to me.

So for now, I'm just soaking up all that I can on HDT conversions, and saving my bonuses and such with a target of October 2016 for a HDT. I might leave it tandem with commercial fifth-wheel for easier resale, but we'll see what comes of it. My wife and I are into bicycling, with a rather custom daVinci tandem that allows either person to coast; nonetheless it's probably the most teched-out tandem out there. We're also into photography, sometimes spending $1000 or more to rent extra photo gear to take along on various cruises.

Anyhow, that's the basics of "me". I'm really looking forward to contributing what little I can, and soaking up what everyone else brings to the forum. Hi!