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Forum
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RE: Weight Calculations
First thing you MUST do is load up your truck just like you will be loaded ready to camp. That means wife, kids,dogs,tools,ice chests loaded. Well you get the picture. Now go to the scales and get an accurate weight. Next add 200 pounds if you have a long bed,300 if short bed. This is for the hitch. Next, look at the drivers door post and get the trucks GVWR number. Subtract your scaled weight from this number. That is your REAL WORLD net cargo carrying capacity.
When you go looking at fivers, forget terms like "dry" or "shipping" weights. They are meaningless. Instead look at the trailers GVWR number. This can be found on the approx 2X3 tag near the left front corner of the trailer. Take 20% of that number and you will have a good approximation of the pin weight for that trailer. Now, does the pin weight added to the as scaled weight of your truck fall under the trucks GVWR? Yes= you have a good match. No= you have a bad match. It IS that simple!
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donn0128
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11/20/09 07:59am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Houston to West Coast
My only suggestion right now is to get your self to WA state first and drive south along the coast on US101. Much better views that way. Along the coast there are literally hundreds of places to stop and see the sites. From Houston to WA is your choice as to how and when to get there. Where are you going to in WA?
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donn0128
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11/19/09 08:18pm |
Roads and Routes
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RE: Tundra or Titan or Dodge?
Yeah, i would think the 1500lb tongue weight would be a little safer. I mean, 400lb tongue weight on a 7500lb trailer would be less than 5%.
I think that wouldn't be a good thing.
Now who's loading an additional 1500lbs to the back of the tundra? I thought we were discussing a trailer with a 1000lb pin?
It's amazing how these threads jump all over the place.
Nope, It has always been all about towing a fiver per the OP post number 1
"Looking for a tow vehicle to match with a Flagstaff fifth wheel"
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donn0128
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11/19/09 07:18am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: 2008 Dodge 3500 6.7L Towing Capacity
How much do you want to tow? I tow my 13,350 pound fiver up and down any mountain in the Pacific North West with the cruise control on and have no problem maintaining the posted speeds.
I believe that the truck as listed has a 23,500 pound GCWR
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donn0128
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11/18/09 10:28pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Tundra or Titan or Dodge?
Dragging 7500 pounds around with a tongue weight of ? Maybe 400 pounds is a whole lot different than towing a 7500 pound fiver with a pin weight of 1500 pounds. With a proper hitch setup that 400 pounds is fairly evenly distributed over the entire truck. With 1500 pounds of pin it is located directly over the rear axle. Now add 1500 pounds to your Almighty Tundras loaded ready to camp rear axle weight and I suspect that you will exceed at least one of not more of the manufacturers numbers. That being, tires/wheels/springs or axle ratings. There are a few fivers that claim to be 1/2 ton friendly. But the manufacturers generally site "dry" or "Empty" weight numbers when they make these claims. I have yet to see anyone actually have or use a trailer "dry". Call me stupid, but it is far more prudent lacking actual ready to camp weights to err on the side of caution and make all your calculations based on the trailer manufacturers GVWR numbers. At least if you do make your purchasing and towing decisions based on these numbers you will not be in for any surprises when you actually work up the nerve to go to the scales for real world numbers.
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donn0128
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11/18/09 10:21pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: 4 RV virgins from the UK - please help us hire an RV :)
IMHO you are not leaving yourselves much time to see anything except through the windshield.
I hate to put it this way, but you might be far better off renting a large van one way, packing some sleeping bags and tents and go camping. You can always buy a couple of inexpensive ice chests for the food. The rest of the stuff could be shipped with you on the airplane or purchased locally and donated to a homeless shelter upon departure.
Inexpensive tent=$100 US dollars
Sleeping bag and mat= $100 dollars US
Ice chest= $50 dollars US
Some pots and pans= maybe $75 dollars
So for less than $500 dollars each you could be pretty well equipped for some tent camping. Versus what? $300 dollars a day for a motor home
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donn0128
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11/18/09 01:11pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Another Slide Question
Dirt or binding of the slide mechanism. Lack of lubrication. Bad motor that is overheating. Bad switch, low battery. Take your pick and start checking. Any or all could be causing your problem.
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donn0128
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11/18/09 01:06pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Tundra or Titan or Dodge?
I assume that you mistakenly believe that you can comfortably tow that fiver with a 1/2 ton truck? Big mistake. Get a Dodge 2500, you will not regret the added capacity and it will easily handle the fiver in question. The others will all be marginal before you add anything to the truck or trailer
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donn0128
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11/17/09 04:12pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Fifth Wheel Ranks
10K is not going to buy you much of a fiver that will not be really old and/or require a lot of work to get into shape to tow up the Alkan highway.
No matter what, your truck depending on age will likely be limited to a fiver no longer than 25 feet. Are you sure this is a really prudent idea?
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donn0128
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11/17/09 03:05pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: carriage tow vehicle
Get a dually and don't look back.
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donn0128
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11/16/09 09:42pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Are Replacement Radios Available?
Go to Best Buy and look at the Pioneer Inno replacement. It has the capability to record from up to 5 different stations at once. Can be taken from RV to car to truck to home. No need to have more than one radio that way. Had a remote control too. And best of all it is also portable.
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donn0128
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11/16/09 05:00pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Weight formula for 5th Wheel
Basic rule of thumb.
Take your truck to the scales loaded like you would normally go camping and get an accurate weight.
Look on the drivers door post and get the manufacturers GVWR number. add 200 pounds for a regular hitch and 300 for a slider hitch to your trucks scaled weight. Subtract this as scaled weight from the GVWR. That will be the net cargo carrying capacity that YOUR truck will be able to handle without exceeding the manufactures GVWR.
If for example you have a net cargo capacity of 1500 pounds, that is the maximum pin weight for a fiver.
Again as a general rule of thumb a fiver will have a pin weight of 20% of the trailers GVWR. So in my example if you can have a 1500 pound pin, that translates into a fiver with a 7500 pound GVWR.
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donn0128
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11/16/09 04:51pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Basic Diesel Ownerhip tricks
Locate the fuel filter. On the bottom of the filter canister you will see a small drain valve. Place a can under it and open the valve to drain any water.
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donn0128
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11/16/09 08:00am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Dodge and Ford among the Clunkers?
Quit reading articles in magazines like Forbes! That are blatant in their anti American, anti economic growth attitude. We as Rvers are among the problem so we should be the first to give up the pleasures in life that we have worked so hard to get. We burn way too much fuel stealing it from others less fortunate preventing them from getting to the welfare office to collect their government substance.
Mr Dodge 3500 Dually gets 17 MPG on the highway empty and 10 towing my 13K fiver. At the end of the day I have spend maybe 50 dollars for fuel. and 20 dollars for a camp site with a view I can never get at any five star resort hotel in the world. I can cook my own food thus saving me another 75 dollars a day. I traveled for business a LOT in my life and would never exchange one day in my trailer for a month at any hotel I have ever been in.
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donn0128
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11/16/09 07:49am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Newbie question
Heat inside + cold outside = condensation = moisture = potential problems. Best thing you can do for your trailer is to use some sort of dehumidifiers. Whether you use an electric one or the crystals is up to you. When it is below 32 degrees on a regular basis the crystals would be my choice.
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donn0128
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11/16/09 07:42am |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Portland to Coast
Sorry to disagree with everyone. Drop off of I5 at Longview,WA cross the bridge and take hwy30 to Astoria. Stay at Ft Stevens state park. Next night you could stay at Netarts bay RV park. We will be there this week for 4 days.
Next night stay at either Beverley beach state park or South beach state park. Both only a few miles outside of Newport. Next best is Winchester Bay RV park. Next best place south bound is Brookings harbor RV park. Then you are into California. Depending on how far south on US101 you want to go, either take hwy20 from Ukiah back to I5 or continue farther south and join back to I5 just north of San Francisco. Those are a only a few of the wonderful state and private parks available to you in Oregon.
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donn0128
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11/15/09 09:10pm |
Roads and Routes
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RE: Home Theatre Systems for Dummies -- Help
Do you want cheap or quality sound? IF you want cheap, then stick with the speakers found in the TV. If you want a quality surround sound system go to someplace like Crutchfield and nose around. Couple of years ago they were offering an Alpine system that had a head unit capable of playing any format including DVD,CD,MP3,WAV and an amplifier that supported as I remember 5 speakers. Plus you could add a TV tuner. All powered by 12VDC.
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donn0128
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11/15/09 08:58pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Basic Diesel Ownerhip tricks
Cummins specifically advises against the use of fuel additives. If you want to get the real skinny go to the Cummins web sire and search out their recommendations. Letting a diesel sit or idle for long periods of time is hard on them. Keep up on the filters, oil,fuel,air use the correct grade of oil, and don't skimp on the quality and you should be able to get 350k out of it with no sweat.
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donn0128
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11/15/09 08:50pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Carpet
Send me a PM. I have a guy that did the hard flooring in my fiver from damage caused by the dealer. I just got a quote from him for some work in the house and he is very reasonable and does good work. I am in the Portland area.
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donn0128
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11/15/09 08:44pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Sirius radio help
Have been a fan of satellite radio for many years. I can get my favorite music genera all the time. Plus with the proper pieces I can transfer the radio to the fiver in about 30 seconds and be listening there. Only time I listen to broadcast radio is if I forget to grab the sat radio when going to the store. There are literally dozens of stations that offer all sorts of music content for almost any listener. Including talk radio. To me it is worth every penny of the subscription fee to have no commercials.
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donn0128
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11/15/09 08:00am |
Technology Corner
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