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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: F150 5.0 V8 or V6 Twin Turbo
If it’s for pretty much being a daily driver, the 2.7EB has plenty of power, even towing 6-7000#, with good mpg. The 2.7EB has had less problems than the 3.5EB, oil pan leaks were somewhat common on the 2.7. If buying an F-150, I strongly recommend joining the F150 Forum, you’ll learn more than you could desire.
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Boomerweps
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06/01/23 10:58am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Roof Opinions Please
Check Utube for videos on RV roof cleaning.
I’d want to kill any mold first, clean it well, then decide if it needs coated.
I’ve heard nothing but great things about Henry’s Tropicool coating.
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Boomerweps
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05/29/23 03:36pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: New travel trailer Gulfstream Conquest 323tbr
Had a 5.4 in my 98 Expedition. Replaced the head exhaust gaskets, both sides, TWICE. They liked to leak. Cast iron header to aluminum head. Once started leaking it would etch into the aluminum. It only had 60000 miles on it when we sold it after 16 years.
Having the 5.4 as a base model engine in a Superduty is/was the same as getting the V6 in the F150.
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Boomerweps
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05/25/23 06:29am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Folding Step Leg maintenance
Take them out, wipe any rust off, spray them down with lube (especially any spring loaded locking balls), reassemble. Mine uses removable pins.
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Boomerweps
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05/22/23 10:36am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: What happens when you overfill tanks.....
The FW tank has an overflow at the top that may (should) feed a hose to a screened vent.
The GW & BW tanks have large vent pipes that extrude through the RV roof, to try to avoid any smells. They will back up through the drains if overfilled or be easily visible in the large toilet ball valve.
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Boomerweps
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05/22/23 10:32am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Sway Bars
First of all, you said "sway" bar. Are you really talking about a "weight distribution hitch (WDH)" or a "sway" bar - lots of people regularily say "sway" bar but mean WDH. Totally different tools for totally different functions.
Indeed. The bars associated with a weight distributing Hitch are actually called spring bars. Older design WDHs often used add on anti sway bars that used a friction adjustment to control sway.
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Boomerweps
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05/15/23 09:37am |
Towing
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RE: Fuel Ecomony - Towing
Thanks to all for your replies. The concern with fuel economy is not cost, but range. Trying to gain some confidence that a new gas 3/4 ton (probably Ford or GM) and leaning toward a Silverado w/ 6.6L and 3.73 rear end will go farther on a 34 gallon (or so) tank than the current truck takes me on a 25 gallon tank.
Then get a F150 XLT 3.5 Ecoboost with Max Tow package. Gets you a 36 gallon fuel tank. Mixed mpg- 16+, Highway mpg- 19-20
You can get the 36 gallon tank as a stand alone option. You can now also get the Max Tow package with the 5.0.
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Boomerweps
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05/13/23 07:54am |
Towing
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RE: Backwards buttons
Confusion sometimes occur from people working on house electric and mobile electric. House electric BLACK is hot, white is neutral or return, green is ground. Mobile 12vdc RED is hot/positive and black is return/negative/ground.
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Boomerweps
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05/12/23 12:56pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Can I add a bit of hose between drain and macerator?
My only concern would be getting that regular sewer hose fully drained, plus an extra item to clean.
But mechanically using it that way, no problem.
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Boomerweps
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05/08/23 11:12am |
Tech Issues
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RE: New to me used camper questions and thoughts
Swap out all the upgrades. They are worth more than what you could sell the trailer for.
STRONGLY CONCUR!
However, I would carefully inspect and test the old solar panels for wear and tear. If flexible panels they could be near end of service and not worth reinstalling.
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Boomerweps
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05/08/23 11:04am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: How critical is it to have a perfectly level trailer?
Hi Neu. I am not a fan of packing heavy objects at the rear of the trailer to offset hitch weight. Instead just consider getting them over or slightly behind the axle. Packing heavy items at the very rear of the trailer can introduce a pendulum effect which can cause a sway situation.
Check your manual to see if Audi has a maximum height on how much the ball can be above the mount. I know some manufacturers do including tesla.
Even swapping out the lead acid 12 volt for a lithium battery can help the situation.
Is your Audi a Plug in hybrid or full electric?
Happy camping Neu.
Thank you for the tip! And if I place a heavy object in the back of the trailer to reduce the tongue weight to an acceptable level, is that a good idea or still a bad one?
I have a gasoline engine, not a hybrid, 2.0T with 252 hp and 370Nm of torque in stock.
Thanks for the tip on the lithium battery. My battery is actually on its last legs, so I have more than one reason to consider replacing it with a lithium one.
I don't have the user manual at hand, but I have a photo of the sticker on the hitch itself. It seems that the maximum height is 6 1/4. However, I'm not sure what they meant by 1/2. The diagram is confusing to me. Could you help clarify?
UPD: Aaah, now I understand. The maximum lifting height here is 1/2 inch. What am I supposed to do now? Can I drive with the trailer lowered down?
As far as I understand, with a single-axle trailer, I can tow it with the tongue tilted forward. I just need to remember about the tongue weight and the clearance.
https://i.postimg.cc/jjWv1gPf/image.png width=800
Whoever approved that hitch sticker needs fired. WDH only limits!
And that diagram of where the ball should be is nuts. Most hitch rise measurements are listed by its base, so 1/2” in this case. Only time I’ve seen the top of the ball used for measuring is in a WDH set up manual. And unless you buy an oddball (pun intended) tow ball with an extended base, no regular tow ball is 5 & 3/4” tall, most are 3-4” tops.
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Boomerweps
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05/07/23 08:37am |
Tech Issues
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RE: How critical is it to have a perfectly level trailer?
Another reason to go LiFePo4 battery is NO outgassing, so you can mount it anywhere and no liquids so it can be mounted in any orientation.
My emergency trailer brake power is supplied off a bolt on a buss bar exposed behind the front frame crossmember. It’s also where the primary battery cables connect to the trailer 12vdc system. I cut a hole in the floor there and rerouted the existing supply cables into the storage area to remount my battery inside.
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Boomerweps
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05/06/23 07:36am |
Tech Issues
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RE: How critical is it to have a perfectly level trailer?
You don't say what you are towing with, or what you are towing. My question: is the trailer tongue weight too much for your tow vehicle making the tow vehicle rear sag too much. You pictures don't show enough to tell.
The car is sagging, but not too much.
I have an Audi Q5, and I understand that it is not the ideal car for towing a trailer, but the tongue weight at the time of the question was within the acceptable limits: 405 pounds out of a maximum of 440 pounds.
I do not plan to exceed the upper limit. In the worst case, I plan to carry the propane tank in the car's trunk or put something heavy behind the rear axle. I have not yet weighed the entire trailer to accurately answer this question.
20# propane tank weighs 17# empty, plus 16# normal propane fill on exchanges, nets you another 33# on your tongue weight for a total of 438#. So you can tow with your propane tank installed, securely mounted. For longer camping, a 30# tank only adds 2 more pounds empty, plus 10 more pounds propane. You’d need to pull a few items from the trailer front storage to do so to be in specs. You might want to consider a LiFePo4 replacement battery. Normal batteries weight about 60-65#, LiFePo4 weighs 25# for a 100AH unit.
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Boomerweps
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05/05/23 04:29pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: renogy dc to DC charger 20 amp output
Telcom jars? If these are any kind of lead acid or AGM battery, it appears they may be damaged from being depleted too low and likely won’t fully charge. Sorry ;(
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Boomerweps
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05/01/23 10:47am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Changing from lead acid to LiFePo4 battery?
Made the PVC pipe frames with legs for the flex panels. Screwed them on using the panel corner grommets. Not considering putting the panels ON the TT until I get all the parts to properly wire everything inside. I just press fit it all together for size verification and it is well stuck together! No glue needed right now. I did gently hammer it snug.
While working I discovered the battery is now at 100% charge. It says that on the top mounted display. Just using the basic WFCO converter but I did hook the panels up for about 3 hours the other day. I’m not bothering to change out the converter. I’ll just buy a stand-alone charger for $40 if I later decide I need it.
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Boomerweps
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05/01/23 10:39am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Change to LiFePO4 battery for Freedom Express UltraLite
I swapped my 5 year old LA battery, that was still doing fine, out with a cheap LiFePo4 battery. Has Bluetooth monitoring. Did NOT swap out the converter. Battery arrived with 92% charge (also has a small % digital readout on the battery top). I added a battery disconnect, my TT did not come with one. I also was told that the non-lithium option converter would not fully charge the battery 100%, maybe 80-85%. Some others just bought a $40 stand-alone charger to top them off and equalize the cells occasionally. Haven’t bought one yet. Another option was to use a solar controller with lithium setting and solar panels to top off the battery. I connected mine with clamps (still getting install parts) and let the panels do their thing for a couple hours (supposedly 800 watt panels x2) a few days ago. Now the battery is reading 100%! I hadn’t checked the battery before the solar hookup so I don’t know the beginning charge there. The WFCO replacement lithium option converter is $234 IIRC plus install hassle. I’m holding off on that while I’m considering getting an inverter and second battery. I added an SAE jack in addition to the Furrion 10amp max solar jack to handle higher amperage. Finally figured out the Bluetooth monitor setup. Unfortunately, I tried before and set up a password that I cannot retrieve so I cannot track battery history. But I can get up to date data with not signing in.
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Boomerweps
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05/01/23 10:14am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Changing from lead acid to LiFePo4 battery?
Set the flex solar panels on the ground by the TT. Hooked them up in parallel with the supplied Y cables. Just used the supplied clamps to the battery from the controller. Rather than have the converter running at the same time, I just pulled the 30TT plug to shut off AC power to the TT and the converter, rather than crawl on the floor to open the converter breaker. As I was hooking up the panels, I tested their voltage output with my meter (good), but noticed the supplied short MC4 cables had the WRONG ends on the red and black cables that I had previously hooked up red to controller positive and black to negative, like normal color coding. I had to reverse them to get the right polarity from the panels. Lesson learned the easy way this time. A meter is a must. 18vdc from the panels, 14+ shown supplied by the controller.
I actually unplugged the TT this morning, we had freezing temps and might have more and I don’t trust the really cheap LiFePo4 BMS. Glad I hadn’t run water into the TT yet. Got a partial refund yesterday, I was suppose to get the Bluetooth monitored battery, I did not. Going to move my battery disconnect to a more convenient place soon. After I receive more parts, I’ll get everything properly mounted for ease of use. I also will make a portable controller for my suitcase panel to plug it direct into the TT 10 amp Furrion inlet. I had thought there was a controller built into the suitcase, nope. That was in the power box/solar generator. I will be adding a second higher power solar input SAE style direct to my current (excuse the pun) controller.
Received my industrial strength Velcro in today, still thinking about mounting my flex panels with that to the rounded TT front. Secondary method under consideration is a PVC Pipe frame with adjustable brace for tilt.
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Boomerweps
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04/25/23 03:55pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Twisted Receiver Square
Is there some adjustability in the mounting holes and maybe it just needs re-aligned? As the chance that a brand new hitch is bent or fabricated that far out of tolerance is very slim.
I’ll have to find the pics of a row of new F150s with the droopy hitch tubes and post them here. Everybody gets lazy and let’s things go when they should not.
Old Navy saying, “You get what you INSPECT, not what you EXPECT.”
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Boomerweps
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04/24/23 11:28am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Twisted Receiver Square
Make him replace the hitch prior to buying it. After purchase they will blame you.
First time I’ve seen a twisted one. Couldn’t use a hitch platform too well.
Generation thirteen Ford F-150 standard duty hitch receivers also have poor quality control. Many angle downward at the back, easily seen from the side and especially with a ball mount installed. Makes it look like someone overloaded the tongue weight and bent the receiver down. NOPE, factory delivered that way!
Mine does it but it hasn’t bothered me enough to fight for a level replacement. Very well documented on the F-150 forums.
You should download an angle measuring app and measure the hitch twist. Then if/when they replace it, check the new hitch’s level. Compare the other truck hitches on the lot. With the Fords, you can stand back and look down a row of trucks and clearly see the downward dog hitches. The twist will have to be seperately looked at.
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Boomerweps
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04/23/23 07:07am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Black Tank Help Needed
PS I always thought the backflush caps with the hose connection were gray water drains.
That’s the only thing I use them caps for. Always pack an old garden hose with so I can be environmentally conscious and recycle and irrigate the local flora in the hot dry summer!
Lol.
I bought one of the basic caps with a garden hose fitting because it was see-though. One experience with leakage past the black tank valve when removing the cap is enough. Now I have a visual warning to be prepared for a problem. The garden hose connection is a bonus for draining any leakage before pulling the whole cap.
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Boomerweps
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04/23/23 06:57am |
General RVing Issues
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