trimster

5 minutes ago, rickeieio said:

 

Down on the farm, we'd call that "going over center."  Never a good thing.

Understand. But I'm playing with some close clearance on the pinbox and the bed. Still playing with this. I need to jack knife the rig and look closely at what's going on back there. My hunch is that I can let the hitch down a bit.  Just being cautious. 

So, with older rigs that look great, how are we to deal with the 'we don't accept any trailers over 10 yrs old' RV park mentality?

Another rock-your-world run yesterday. Hitch performed well.

I have it aired about 1" above the suggested fill mark (mark is 1" higher). I think it's dialed in for this trailer. Watching the hitch-cam, it's busy doing its thing, taking the abuse.

I am going to pull the shocks on the hitch when I hit home base and see if they are still working after all these years (2008 build date).

My guess...and this is exactly what it is.... with all the newbies out there, I'm sure claims are up. As well, the vast amount of full-timers (for whatever reasons)...are driving up claims. Plus, the inflated parts costs and looooong wait times to get insured repairs.

All this will push premiums up.

Ya. I had the same problem. I called and they gave me a June 12 (2 weeks out) ship date. Interestingly enough, they shipped the next day. However, FedX was a nightmare and kept loading them onto the delivery truck but not dropping them off. I had to go to the dispatch warehouse and get them myself. The box they were packaged was held together by 1 staple at this point and the ramps were worse for the wear. FedX in Salt Lake is really bad right now.

The ramps are great. Beefy. Advertised measurements are spot on. This was critical in my case as they had to fit into under-bed boxes that were just under a 1/2" bigger than the ramps width and height.

So we landed in Ocean Park, Wa.

Oyseter heaven! 

Here for a week then need to be in Vancouver for a few days to get our Can Am trike serviced.

Although our next stop is Olympia,  might change that and come back here. Very chill. 30 min to Astoria. Hmmmmm.

5 hr pull yesterday from Albany,  or. to Ocean Park, WA. On the coast where it's mucho cooler.  

Beat the snot out of the hitch. Up hill, down hill with hard braking, bad roads (the ones that take your seats full-range), and nothing broke. Nice!

Watched my hitch-cam. This Trailer Saver was taking the brunt of it with seeming little effort. Does take a load off ones mind knowing the hitch part of the system is up to snuff.

I do want to extend the Schrader valve to an easier location to reach. Maybe the auto leveling valve upgrade might be the trick. Hmmmm.

On 6/2/2021 at 7:10 PM, rickeieio said:

... the non-standard sizes I want, an outfit called RCIndustries in Elkhart, IN is the best.  Got bids.  Heart stopper time.  $2,800 for 4 boxes, none of them big.  Plus, one needs a 20" door in a 24" box.   

So my 6 custom boxes (2 storage,  2 ramp, one generator. One tool storage with rollout drawers) were $3300 installed.

Not cheap, but it was a demanding build for him.

3 hours ago, Kirk W said:

We spent a lot of time in the Astoria OR area and kept quite busy. It may be difficult to get into, but check out Ft Stephens State Park.

Ya, they are booked. So we are staying on the Washington side in Ocean Park/Oysterville. That gives us a 20 min ride into Astoria which is fine.

Thanks for the suggestion.

13 minutes ago, lenp said:

Robert, I live just outside the little town of Madras in Central Oregon.  There are some great rides around here but I much prefer Eastern Oregon around the John Day area.  

Do you like dry camping?  If so, I know a great lake just north of John Day at 5000 foot level (cooler). Also some really great rides around there.

PM me if you want more info.

Lenp

Thanks.

We tried to get an rv site in John Day a few weeks back. No such luck. Ended up in Prineville.  Nice spot for a week or so. Wonderful rock & gem show while we were there.

Hitch installed. Whooohooo!

The shop did a great job and did it in essentially one day (picked up the truck 10am the next day). Went above and beyond. If you need work done in the Albany, Oregon area.... Sheet Metal Solutions. Big operation that knows what they are doing.

I was a rush job, they squeezed in. Only $920 out the door. I was expecting way more. Like most places out here, cash saves you 3%+ credit card fee.

They built a platform that can be removed if I change hitches down the road. But this hitch mounts on typical rails so welded to the riser frame are beefy rails.

I've done a test hook to the trailer and the height seems to be spot on. We'll pull the hell out of it Friday as we move to the coast of Washington. Looking forward to watching a hitch in the camera that does not flex all over the place and helps with chucking.

We're currently in Albany, Or. Headed to Washington state. Looking for suggestions on where (city) to stay for a month in or around Northern Oregon or Washington. 

We like museums, local activities,  motorcycle riding, good eateries. 

Suggestions welcome.

Thanks all for the input. When someone asks 'what else can go wrong'...with this trip.

Ya, that.

My daughter found this....

https://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/threads/sleeper-fan-switch-flashing.191287/

So, there's a low voltage indicator light on the sleeper control panel that's blinking.

And here's a bit of weirdness....the sleeper fan switch was blinking. Once I turned off the switch (engine & key are off) all power came back.

I can't find anything in the manuals about that. 

And the truck fired right up. So maybe not low batteries? I did have it on 4 amp trickle charge all night. But only found the blinking lights this morning. 

The last thing I did with the cab interior lights was to turn on the red door panel lights so they come on when the door opens. Doubtful that's the cause because I opened and closed both doors testing them...all was good. 

The last major wiring work was a bit over a week ago by the dlr looking for and fixing the DEF derate. All lighting was fine after that service.

This is a head scratcher as to how it can just sit there and knock all cab interior lights and power sockets, out.

Went out tonight to lock up the truck, opened the door and no interior lights. Worked yesterday. 

No power to the cigarette lighter plugs, to the sleeper lights. 

Turn on the key and the dash lights up. Goes thru pre-start. 

Where do I start looking?

Where are the fuses for this?

All makes sense.

I filled the drivers side until it read full on the gauge. Drove around and parked for a while. Now the gauge indicates 3/4 full, so some of the fuel migrated to the passengers side tank during the drive.

That would indicate that all is well with that system.

Thanks for the help all.

Found a local fab shop.  Scheduling is the issue now. Always something.  But we can extend our site here.

Ditto.

Also read the comments by others . Found one that said long rigs okay, but the comments said otherwise. Seems some of the HH don't understand what long is.

Got the hitch...

Email hasn't arrived.  Hmmmm.

Ya. Pretty much. 

Thanks.

24 minutes ago, rickeieio said:

We've been pulling with the 3 bag TrailerSaver on our 770 for 8 or 9 years.  No issues. We have a 5x5x5/8" angle bolted to the inside of the frame rails, then the hitch bolted to the angles.

Put a leveling valve on it and do away with the gauge.  Several of us have done it, Geodog, Paul G, and myself.  Likely others too.

Possible that you could send a photo or two of the way you have it mounted?

2 minutes ago, Randyretired said:

I  do think Henry's is a better design but the cost to change is not worth it to me.

This is my logic as well. I'll probably get the hitch for $850 and put another $300 in materials + labor to mount it up. Way cheaper than the Comfort Ride + install. 

I drive up to see the hitch later this afternoon.