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Grassy

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Everything posted by Grassy

  1. Thanks all. Great food for thought. Regardless of what I buy I fear it is going to be a step down from my McCall. Appreciate your input. Ian.
  2. Folks,I am buying a one ton soon and was just going to go with the hitch offered by the truck company until several folks mentioned a ball hitch.I was under the impression that a ball hitch was more for horse / utility trailers and they had a tendency to break 5th wheel trailers. I gather this is now incorrect.I have been told that instead of a for / aft motion, with a ball you get of hobby horse or rocking motion when towing.My 5th is a Arctic Fox 29-5T.I haven't bought my replacement truck yet so this is a good time to research.Thoughts ?Thanks
  3. Thanks Kirk. I wasn't sure if they existed.. Appreciate the help... Ian
  4. Hi, Have been Rv'ing for 16 years now.. and slowing down a bit Have started thinking about moving to another rig.. a non def diesel super c that preferably has a Freightliner M2 up front . ..so it would have to be pre '08 or '09 .. Not having much luck finding one.. Were they made then ? Any idea where I can look ? Thanks Ian.
  5. Hi, Have been Rv'ing for 16 years now.. and slowing down a bit Have started thinking about moving to another rig.. a non def diesel super c that preferably has a Freightliner M2 up front . ..so it would have to be pre '08 or '09 .. Not having much luck finding one.. Were they made then ? Any idea where I can look ? Thanks Ian.
  6. Is the Winegard PA-6002 Pathway X2 Satellite still considered to be the best bang for the buck ? We plan to use the DISH network on the road.. Thanks..
  7. Please. And if you can, do something on air pressure in the tires. I bought a tmps last summer and have been absolutely fascinated with what has been happening with the tires while running and with the warm / cold temps we have experienced. I have asked a few questions on several boards and from the range range in responses, it seems that pressures and when to fill are a mystery to all. Now that I am home, I had planned on contacting Michelin and for an explanation. I run 6 steers on my TV and 4 Lts on my trailer. With all you work on bags / springs..have you studies how air pressure affects them ? Ian
  8. Since I seem to be the last known user of the McCall hitch I will continue the story. I have tried to find others that are using in but no joy. last summer, I blew an air bag on the back of the hitch. Had to repair it on the road.. and best guess between the repair dude and me is that the rear airbags were too large. All I knew about this hitch before buying it was that it sat in a lot of garages and was passed on when the truck was sold... and unfortunately, I did not keep the rear bags when I replaced them. I get home from the trip and the same airbag has been abraded but not worn through. That is why I asked about shocks .. they seems , in retrospect, pretty dead to me. My truck has been a massive learning curve for me. I replace that bag again and the shocks. And, I nipped away at some of the material in the bar that did the damage. And yes, I used Monroe shocks...glad I got that right. Oh, I had to increase the pressure a bit to lever the 5th wheel. Last November we headed to Texas. Pa and Ny had rough patches ..but La .. wow.. anyone has driven through there knows how rough it is. All is good with my hitch. Coming into Houston we were diverted off the interstate and we were hauling through back roads far faster that was comfortable with the local LEOs urging us along when I hit a whopper. I didn't know then but I snapped the welding on one shock and nipped bag. Found out later when I was checking the bags that we nipped that bag again but Carl (member here) , who was beside me, noticed that I had broken a shock. He and my son, helped me fix that shock and re attach a slider on the unit. I did order a spare but in the mean time, I put a piece of duct tape over the abrasion as an early warning sign to replace the shock. In January, we left Mission Tx and headed west along the Mexican border. We then toured Nm and went into Az as far as Tuscon. Back to Nm (Roswell, white sands) the up the west side of Tx on secondary roads then across to Texarkana into Ar. Then back through Maine. The hitch was solid with zero rubbing on the duct tape. I can only conclude that the shocks are multi purpose..not only to slow doing the up/down for/aft movement but also to prevent the hitch from destroying itself. Would love to talk with someone who uses this hitch.. I will say that it gets a lot of attention with the folks that understand hitches...for an 18 year truck, it gets a lot of attention too. We cannot make the HDT rally but we head back to Tx in November. Cheer, Ian.
  9. Grassy

    Value of Truck

    I tried that when I was looking at class 8's..trying to figure out a good price.. could not find any rhyme or reason for some of the prices. I suspect the same will be for our trucks.. you have to add a bit for rarity.. I am guessing that I have put on 10K miles in the 4+ months we have been in the US (Maine to Az) and we have seen 3 MTDs for towing Rv';s and horse trailers and one was from Canada. Cannlot figure out where they all are ?
  10. Update. Ran into a ex airplane mechanic who rebuilt my system. It is a heck of a lot quieter and heats faster now. After trying to contact the folks at cheap heat to find a dealer, they couldn't bother to respond by voice nor e=mail. I contacted several places where we are parked and most had heard of them but that was as far as I got. It looks to me that they have gone under or are in the process of... I think this is a topic I will dig further into..but not while I am on the road. Thanks
  11. I have used propane in enclosed spaces.. but in my experience, they add a tremendous amount of moisture ... We tend not to be long stayers .. we are being charged electricity where we are now at in Mission.. I have heard negatives about baseboard that is why the cheap heat interests me.. I have emailed the company with no response.. are they still in business..and I have looked for local dealers.. but no one lists them.. Thanks, Ian.
  12. Anybody hear of or use the "cheap heat" add on option ?
  13. Our present sony back up cam that is mounted on the upper back of the cab is just not working. Especially is less than perfect light conditions. I saw a back up cam on a pedestal just ahead of the 5th hitch recently.. the owner wasn't around..didn't see the brand of it. Have done some searching and cannot find. Antone have any recommendations ? Thanks
  14. Folks, Since entering the states we seem to be doing a lot of winter camping ! Which means we are using our suburban 35F propane heater a lot. It the past, it was rarely used. We had problems with it and had the sail switch replaced in Lisbon Tn. I have the old the sail switch and the metal part will only go back into position occasionally. The system died again in Hot Springs Ar .a couple days later...identical symptoms..btw, the repair guy tested the board before he replaced the switch.. but we were leaving that day. We are now in Shreveport , La and it was cold last night but we have a little 750 watt heater..it works but have to unplug it if we want to use the coffee maker or toaster This is do-able but... This rig has been rock solid and wondering if this system is a lemon. We will be doing a lot more cold camping with hook ups...need advice. Oh, my son who is an electrician will be with us over xmas in Tx.. I think I would like to maintain the 30 amp connection.. I am thinking of tapping into it.. add a separate fuse box..and just put one in the main part of the rig... probably at the back of the rig. The latest discussion of this on this board was in '15..wonder if technology has changed. thanks all..
  15. I shall look into this...I want to pull one of the existing units and to take a look..
  16. Wow. You have given me more quality info that I have been able to find. No.. no indicators but I came to that number (40) with having the 5th level . I understand that a level trailer tows/handles the best. We are careful drivers.. we keep it just under 65 and with the height of the cab, are able (on the most part.. had one surprise) to gauge and adjust to what is happening in front of us. We were in Quebec once and running at speed around a corner and ran into a parking lot. Hard on the binders and all was ok. I had wondered about the 60 number so I will start dropping it. Comfort and safety are our goals.. I *appreciate* your advice. Thanks.
  17. I have a 31.5 foot Arctic Fox that weighs in @ 12K. When I installed the hitch, I put the horizontal and vertical air bags on different zones. I haven't been able to find any literature on inflation rates so with some playing, I normally run 40 in the vertical and 60ish in the horizontal. I run about 100 psi in my rear tires but thinking when we head out for the long run, I should go a bit higher. I have Michelin on it with a bit softer sidewall. I did weigh everything when I first got it and used the inflation tables for the tires to come to those numbers. Am I off ? 1.. always seeking to do better. As for the shocks, I will install 4 identical units. Thanks Ian.
  18. Phoenix, Thanks you.. time to go into research mode with the shocks. I attribute the acquisition on serendipity. When I bought my truck, my truck it had a ball hitch on it. The last owner pulled a race car trailer with it. Before him, it pulled a boat. He had this hitch and he knew nothing about it ( i did) and I had him toss it in with the sale. My rig is a mystery. I have done much research on it as I can and I only stopped when I started hitting brick walls. After it was shipped to a high volume Freightliner dealership, it disappeared for months until it reappeared at Beaudry RV for sale new. Freightliner has no idea where it went. I think Sport Chassis did the work while it was still owned by Freightliner but cannot confirm. Records are not that good and i think there were a lot of conversion companies that have disappeared. I have looked at many other conversion companies ..I see some similarities but nothing exact. It isn't a biggie for me but I am curious. Regardless, the hitch looked like it had very little use and I am impressed with it.
  19. Phoenix, Excellent recap. Did he use standard auto shocks on it ? Thanks..
  20. I don't see any so I need to pull one off. I will be doing that later this week. Hopefully there will be a number that I can follow up on.. thanx
  21. I have a McCall Hitch. Would like to swap out the 4 shocks before we go on a long haul later this year. They don't look like they need to go but since we will be on the road for almost 6 months, better safe than sorry. Are they a special sort of shock like for class Cs or can I use a right length car shock ? I am swapping out the shocks on my 5th as well and found that auto shocks would actually hurt my trailer. Unfortunately, McCall hasn't been around for awhile even though there were rumours that his son was manufacturing them again. I looked at the design sheet and the orgin of the shocks is not mentioned. Would these work ? http://www.shockwarehouse.com/site/product.cfm/id/19160/name/555025-Monroe-RV-GasMagnum?gclid=EAIaIQobChM
  22. I was starting to believe that I have been the only person screwed by GS ERS. I broke down i hour outside our capital.. I had to wait 5 hours on side of the road. Repair was easy. Got a bill just under 1K. All I got was "too bad".. and that dude you mentioned contacted me as well when I started complaining on line but I didn't even get the offer for a smoke.. I was going to go AAA because of the rep and they will tow a class 5.. but since my rig still is in storage, I haven't pulled the trigger yet. Great discussion. Does coachnet have a package for for returning to origin ?
  23. Great post. We travel with 2 Beagles as well.. Faffy and Lulu... 32 and 20 pounds. This post is of interest because we will be spending a big portion of our time in the winter down south... Ian.
  24. Grassy

    Getting New Seats

    Hi. I have a damaged spine in 2 areas. Generally, most car and truck seats are very uncomfortable for me and generally cause pain. When I bought my Freightliner, it had the stock seats in it...so, I replaced them with a set of Commodore. Lots of adjustments and backcycler is just awesome. Last summer, did a run of 10 hours one day..and 11 the next and I was w/o pain..which is saying something. BackCycler BackCycler http://www.nationalseating.com/en-us/product/seat/commodore-truck-seat As mentioned, seats are very personal and none of the truck supply companies stock chairs so i took a chance..American made too.. Good luck in your hunt..
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