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That’s the hitch clamp I just bought - it seems better made than the first one I tried. I’ll be checking it out tomorrow - I’m heading out tomorrow for a week (Phoenix to Vegas and back). I normally remove my bar when I’m going to be somewhere for a few days also, though I’ve been getting lazier about that recently. I don’t have lock nuts for it though - it’ll be interesting to see if the nuts work loose over the trip.

I’ll be interested in whether they consider the issue warrantable. I must say that the answer “get a 5er” is certainly - umm - creative. I looked at 2 different ones (the AF small 5er is nice) and came to the conclusion that there’s no way I could manage one on my own. I’ll stick to a travel trailer. I took another look at my hitch and receiver, then ordered a hitch clamp. There’s a certain amount of play with it, I don’t know if a clamp will help in my situation, but figured it was worth a try. Is the damage on both sides of the receiver or only one side? I’m curious.

No, I bought my truck new over 2 years ago. I used a 2” bar and insert for only 1 trip before getting the 2-1/2” bar and the locking pin for it. I don’t remember now what pin came with the original hitch (whether it was a bent pin or a straight pin with a knob on one end), but it did have a cotter pin. It was a little short and the cotter pin got caught and mangled on that one trip I took with it. I only just noticed the damage recently, but I suppose it could have happened earlier. Someone on another board who uses the same extended hitch I do mentioned that he had this issue with his receiver, though he has a 3” receiver and bar (no idea what he uses for a pin though). The next time I unhitched it was harder to remove the pin/bar and I noticed the damage. My friend put it down to using the extended bar with the trailer further back than it would otherwise be, with that causing more movement/stress on the receiver. That does make some sense to me but I wonder if something else is going on instead. And would a hitch clamp help? I understand the U-bolt type of “quiet hitch” thing (had one but the U bolt sheared off), but I think there are other types of hitch clamps. I’ve never noticed my hitch being particularly noisy, so would be looking for something that stops free-play between the bar and the receiver.

I have a locking straight pin but am getting some of the same deformation on my F350’s receiver. I’m using an Andersen hitch with a 2-1/2” bar, so no sleeve. It has two holes - the one I was using was the extended length one, so I could open my F350’s tailgate with the trailer attached. My trailer is only 5700 lbs with 750 lbs tongue weight, could the fact that it is further back than most hitches put it make that much difference? Would a hitch clamp help? There is a certain amount of play between the bar and the receiver, but not a huge amount. The last couple of times I’ve towed the trailer I’ve used the second (shorter length) hole, can’t tell if it makes a difference or not.

My original account goes back to 1999 or 2000, not long after we bought the house. I switched it to a mobile account when they stopped my grandfathered DNS access (2 years ago? It was after I had sold the house). I’ve been using a Winegard G2+ antenna with an H23 receiver - while the G2+ antenna is easy to set up, it’s still a bother when I’m traveling - I rarely bother unless I’m going to be somewhere for a while. I’m now using Fubo for TV stations - it’s working well enough for me.

Just got off the phone with them - my account is in “pending discontinuation” status until the 18th. They leave the account in that status until the end of the period I’ve paid for apparently (no refunds for unused portion of the month). They don’t send out the email about what to do with my receiver until the account has been disconnected on the 18th - so I won’t get an email until the 19th. OK, I can buy that explanation - they told me when I called in the beginning that I could continue to watch until the 18th, but my Winegard G2+ antenna is such a pain to set up so I won’t bother.

Your account must have been more interesting to them than mine - I haven’t received any calls from them. And I still haven’t received an email from them about whether they want my single receiver back. Now I’m beginning to wonder if the person who I talked to really did put in my disconnect.

That trailer might work. However, don’t count on the hitch weight being 630 lbs - that’s most likely the hitch weight for a basic trailer without options or batteries. The one that you linked to has a microwave and air conditioning. Add batteries some water and your stuff, and the trailer will probably spend most of the time close to its GVWR of 7750. I would expect the hitch weight of your loaded trailer to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 950 lbs. That still leaves you 270 lbs for cargo. It’s doable, if you are very careful about what you take with you. You are so smart to be looking at all this now, before you buy anything! I’ve been reading a thread on another forum about someone who went by the published dry weights only and bought a tongue heavy trailer based on its published hitch weight. The first time he towed it with his Tahoe, it was a disaster. He sold the Tahoe and is in the process of selling the trailer, losing money on both - he’s very bitter about the whole thing. You certainly won’t be that guy! Keep asking questions!

Reading this thread is really interesting to me, since I’m a bit on pins and needles about my cancellation. A continuing story, isn’t it? Still waiting on a promised email…

You called a month ago and just now got your letter? What were your receivers? That worries me - did you get an email about it all before the letter? I’m going to be between addresses off and on, and really want to figure it out sooner. I’m guessing they won’t want my old receiver back (at least 10 years old, I think).

My experience talking to DTV has been mixed, sometimes it has been dreadful but recently I’ve talked to people who have been helpful. When I sold the house then DTV stopped the grandfather DNS about 3 years ago, I called and was directed to the right person to set up a mobile account (for more money). And the person I talked to on Saturday was pleasant, easy to understand and (possibly) helpful. She said it would take 24-48 hours to get the email telling me what I need to return and how to do that - I haven’t yet received it. I didn’t think to ask if it would be business days or not - I’ll give it to tomorrow before I call back.

I called yesterday to cancel my DTV account. I talked to one person who said she had marked my account as canceled, said that I would continue to receive service until my month was up - no special offers. Then she said I would receive a letter about what I would or would not have to return. My address is Texas and I’m in Arizona, so I asked if I could have them send the letter to me here - she said that I’ll receive an email 24-48 hours after the phone call. I’ll be interested in seeing if I do get the email, and also what they want to do about what I have to send back. When I sold the house 3 years ago, they wanted the receiver I was getting rid of along with the card that was in it - the two to be sent back separately. At that time they sent me a box with a return label so I could send it back. I sure hope it is going to be as easy as taking the equipment to either UPS or FedEx, like you did. I don’t want to have an empty box sent from Texas to me here in Arizona.

Good for you for understanding the problem with having too much trailer for a truck and doing your research before you plunk down money. I’m active on a Lance owners forum and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read posts by people who buy one of their bigger trailers because it is “within specs” for towing, but then discover that things aren’t that simple, they have too much trailer for their TV and their towing experience is scary. Recently I read about someone who was having trouble with their air suspension system and getting their WDH set up. I don’t know if they ever really solved issue, I know they switched to a ProPride hitch because they couldn’t get the E2 hitch provided by their dealer dialed in correctly, but still had issues. If your truck has air suspension, make sure you understand how to use it with a WDH. If you narrow your search to a couple of brands, do a search for forums that are specific for that brand. You can get a better idea of what to expect from that brand and for specific models (I know Lance makes two trailers almost the same length. Because of design, one is naturally tongue heavy while the other is a bit tongue light - makes a difference as far as tow vehicles and trailer loading). Have fun with your search!

Forgot about the rPod - I’ve always liked them and the 192 has a good floor plan. I haven’t looked at them this time around (in the past they were smaller so not what I wanted), but I probably should check them out again. As far as full-timing - I’ve met 2 different people (both singles) who were full-timing in TAB 400 trailers. I wouldn’t be able to do it, but they were happy with them.

I think you are looking at the numbers slightly incorrectly. The number that is most important is the combined cargo and dry weight - 4500 lbs. A couple of other websites refer to this number as the trailer’s GVWR. That means the trailer is not designed to weigh any more than 4500 lbs. - it can’t weigh 5216 lbs. The 3796 lbs (shipping weight, according to Keystone’s website) should include a full propane tank (I think that’s normal industry-wide). But water is not an extra weight allowance. Water is considered cargo - so falls under the 704 lbs of cargo capacity. I agree that 27 gal is a really small fresh water tank. Another thing that isn’t normally included in the dry weight is battery(s). Batteries are provided by the dealer, so the weight of the battery is part of the 704 cargo capacity. That weight is variable depending on what battery you and your dealer decide on (some are very heavy). So all of a sudden, that 704 cargo capacity is actually more like 350 - 400, depending on what battery(s) you get. There are a number of ways to deal with the water situation - one is to camp somewhere with hookups, so you don’t need a full fresh water tank and can dump your tanks when you leave. The listed tongue weight for most manufacturers is usually the tongue weight for a dry trailer, and is often a whole lot lower than what it will actually be. The interesting thing about this trailer is that 520 lbs is 12% of the GVWR of 4500. I can’t tell if the trailer is likely to be a tongue-heavy model naturally or if the manufacturer actually listed a realistic tongue weight. A trailer’s design can influence whether an unloaded trailer is tongue heavy or tongue light, and tongue weight can be influenced by how you load the trailer. Anyway, some points to think about when you are trailer shopping.

I’m envious of you and all that solar!! And I’m a perfect example of someone who’s needs have evolved over time. Which is why I think it is SO important to really think about what your needs are and where you think you might go in the future as far as power needs. I was getting by very nicely with 370W on the roof, 120W portable with 300Ah of lithium batteries. I wasn’t a big user of power - 30-50Ah a night seemed to be how much power I used, and while it’s short of the 2 to 1 ratio of watts to amps, it was enough to keep up with my limited power needs. Then I bought Starlink a couple of weeks ago and am currently testing it out. I also just signed up for Fubo for live TV, so I’ve been watching TV, something I haven’t done before when I’ve been boondocking. Now I’m using over 60Ah a night and it hasn’t been that cold. It’s been partly cloudy and my solar isn’t keeping up. So now I’m researching how to add another portable panel and the wiring I would need, which varies depending on what portable panel I get (there doesn’t seem to be a lot of consistency between manufacturers and even different lines between manufacturers. I have no idea how best to approach it and whether I should be looking for more than another 100W. My head is swimming. Based on my experience, I wish I had originally “dreamed big” and put in a bigger system to begin with, rather than start with only enough solar to keep a single Group 29 battery charged.

Payload could well be your most limiting factor, rather than tow rating. Check the door sticker for how much payload your particular truck has (it’s very vehicle dependent and two almost identical trucks could have different payloads, due to differences in features). If your Ram has a payload of something like 1,600 - 17,00 lbs and you look at a trailer that has a GVWR of 10,000 lbs, you can expect a tongue weight of at least 1,000 lbs and perhaps more. So that would leave 600 - 700 lbs for you, your wife, one or two kids and anything else you end up carrying in the truck (cooler, firewood, chairs, dog, laptop, etc.). A hybrid would be one possible solution, though you have to be a bit careful about the trailer’s cargo capacity also. I’ve seen some smaller bunk models (under 10,000 lbs) that might be suitable for weekends and shorter trips for some people. The big thing is to be prepared to compromise. Know what you can and can’t live without - you can’t take everything with you. It’s amazing how quickly weight mounts up - I ran out of payload with an F150 with over 1700 lbs payload and a trailer that weighs 5500 lbs. I have too much stuff.

I missed the edit - made the assumption the new person was legit. Oh well, it was still fun to read my thoughts from a year ago and how my situation has changed.

I would also like to know what comfort you are sacrificing. I admit that I don’t particularly like to dry camp when the temps get high enough to need AC - when temps get up to 90° I look for power hookups. I’m not crazy about running a generator for all day to keep cool enough to live, but don’t mind firing it up to cool off the trailer in the early evening, if I’m overnighting somewhere that’s in the high 80s or very low 90s, and want to cool off the trailer before the outside temp goes down. It does take more thought and equipment to dry camp comfortably, so it takes more money up front. It does take more attention to detail than camping with full hookups - I keep an eye on my batteries and my fresh water tank more than if I have hookups (black and grey tank monitoring is the same). That does introduce a certain amount of stress to life in a way. Not everyone will be interested in that stress and paying attention to their systems or want to do the modifications that make life comfortable. This thread was fun to read through again - I enjoyed reading my comment from last year, when I was getting ready to install lithium batteries, a big inverter and another solar panel. 18 months later with that equipment and I’m once again thinking about an upgrade, though this time it’s only adding a solar panel - I recently bought Starlink and am using more battery power to power it - I’ve been spending a few days in Kaibab National Forest as a systems test. It appears that I have enough battery power, but would like to have more solar power to keep them charged, rather than depending on having to run a generator on a frequent basis. My fresh tank is still my limiting factor, I’ve got pretty much everything else figured out. I’ve been full-time now for 3 years and while I would be willing to spend another winter in an LTVA near Quartzsite again, I ended up getting an annual site in Apache Junction. Instead, my dry camping has been occasional, a few days to 10 days. I still enjoy it and don’t find that I’m giving up any comfort. Granted, I don’t own a hair dryer, but I do use the microwave and a single cup coffee maker.

That’s an incredibly open-ended question! There’s many answers to that question, it depends on why you are asking that question and what it is you are trying to do. How big is your house battery bank? Are you looking for a way to keep your batteries charged when your RV is in storage outside? Or is your converter failing and you want to run the 12V system on solar instead of shore power (I’ve done that)? Are you looking to overnight occasionally without shore power? Anything electrical makes my head swim and my first attempt at solar was done wrong (undersized wiring and too long wire runs - something I never considered). I ended up going to a good solar installer (AM Solar but there are others equally good) who worked with me about what I wanted and did the install. I’ve added to my system a couple of times and am now thinking about another addition, but that’s because my needs are changing. I think if you give more particulars, others will give you much better information than I can.

In the one-person’s-opinion category, I spent some time this summer looking at new Winnebago, Arctic Fox, ORV, Ember and one Lance trailer. They were all new 2022 models, not older, used ones. I haven’t looked at Airstream since 2015 and at that time I thought there was a big disconnect between price and value. Small holding tanks, lack of storage space and so on. At the time the one I was looking at had “bluetooth ready” on the radio, while Lance and others were putting in bluetooth capable radios. No idea what they are like now. In many ways, I wasn’t impressed with any of them. The Arctic Fox and ORV were better built than Winnebago. Both had models in the size I was looking at but both had things that were deal-breakers for me (though I’m still thinking about checking into special-ordering a particular Arctic Fox model, if I can talk myself into a 27’ trailer). Those deal-breakers might not matter to anyone else though. I looked at the FLX line as that’s the size I wanted and it would be nice to not have to completely upgrade the 12v system like I would with other trailers (I’m looking for 400Ah battery power, 3000W inverter and as much solar as I can manage to get on the roof). I liked their interior design, but wasn’t as impressed with their construction as I had expected to be. I’ve talked to a number of people who have owned older Winnebago trailers and loved them. I recently saw a couple of Ember trailers and was impressed. I didn’t look at them that closely, but they seem well built and if I ever get serious about replacing my trailer, I’ll give them a second look. They are designed more for rugged use and can be ordered with a large lithium battery bank, a big inverter and extra solar. Which has left me looking at Lance. I currently own and full-time in a 2016 Lance 1685 that I bought new in December 2015. It has held up well, though starting to show it’s age - it’s an RV with close to 70,000 miles on it after all. It’s an outstanding floor plan for a solo traveler, with a ton of storage space, though the payload is somewhat limited (GVWR for mine is 5500 lbs). However, Lance made some changes for the 2022 models that are deal-breakers for me, especially as far as the 1685 goes. They are now heavier, with a higher GVWR. They lost some storage space I use constantly and re-arranged things so that there’s more space in the front pass-through but less space under the bed (my main storage). I’m going to wait and see what they do for 2023 before I go looking at trailers again.

Traveling solo is different than traveling with someone else, regardless if that other person can help much with chores. IMHO it is not harder, just different. I didn’t start RVing until I was a widow, but my DH and I did many road trips. I’m now a year away from 70, been RVing for over 6 years and full-time for almost 3 years. I pace myself differently now, but I haven’t stopped going. It’s more a matter of finding your personal rhythm for travel.

I agree with others that there’s too much else that goes into the makeup of a trailer’s GVWR than just the axles, brakes and tires. My trailer’s axle rating add up to more than the trailer’s GVWR - does that mean I can safely load my trailer to the axle weight and ignore the GVWR? My experience with my particular trailer says no - I’ve occasionally been in that spot and have had some issues/damage that were most likely related to being overweight.

Someone I know through a manufacturer specific RV forum reported having his lithium batteries stolen while his trailer was in storage. The batteries were in a battery compartment with a cabinet type lock (OEM) that wasn’t very secure - the thieves used pliers or something like that to rotate the whole lock. Apparently his trailer wasn’t the only trailer targeted in his storage facility, and all of the ones targeted had some sort of Bluetooth capability. The thieves just go down a row and look for a signal - something to think about when choosing batteries. My lithium batteries don’t have a Bluetooth capability but my solar system does, not sure what I would do if I weren’t full-time. I’ve heard of lockable battery boxes but haven’t looked recently for them. I ended up moving my batteries inside since they fit into a spot that wasn’t particularly useful for anything but a perfect size for the batteries. I started to look for some sort of locking box to put on the tongue where the batteries used to be but wasn’t interested enough to really research it. Several people on that forum have reported stolen trailers from various storage facilities in the past year or two. I don’t know anyone who’s had a trailer stolen at a campground or out boondocking. I do know someone who once had a smaller propane tank that was attached to his grill stolen at a densely occupied boondocking site near Quartzsite a couple of years ago, but that’s been about it. I have a coupler lock and will use it when I’m boondocking but tend to not bother if I’m in a campground.

Sounds awesome! I, too, considered rPods but that was before they started coming out with the dry bath models. The new ones are very enticing, I really like the looks of them. I ended up buying a Lance with a 16-1/2 foot (box - 21’ overall) trailer. Good luck to them. And I hope they do well with the truck, too.