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Forum
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RE: Still Having Problems With TC and Truck
Oh, sorry. I thought this was all caused from rust. I guess I have your situation confused with another member’s.
In that case, I’d be reluctant to replace the bed with another factory bed. Maybe a flatbed is in order
:):)
No worries. I just get a little excitable. Appreciate the help and ideas.
Hmmmm. I’ve been intrigued by a flatbed setup. They look kinda weird since the TC is made for a standard bed. Do people usually build some boxes around the edges or something for looks?
I carry campers on an Aluma single wheeler flatbed on a F350. I have boxes under the camper wings - one side is camp kitchen stuff the other is tools and what not.
Aluminum Aluma flatbed pros:
light weight -350 lbs +/-
tail skirt sits above the factory bumper/trailer hitch equipment on a pickup
don't rust
LED lights and headache rack equipped.
Very easy to set up so it can be lifted off the chassis for fuel tank repairs etc
Sills are adjustable for different width frames - pickup truck vs cab & chassis trucks with SAE standard 34" wide frame.
Don't need to be painted but can be.
Frees up all the wasted air space inside a pickup box to be used for storage with a pickup box type camper.
I tie down direct to the rub rail/stake pocket area with short Fastguns - no "tie downs" required.
The whole area of the bed is usable there are no enormous wheel houses stuck up on the hauling deck.
You don't have to reach over chin high best in class box sides.
Cons:
Fenders / mudflaps / trailer hitch / trailer electric connection not included.
Aluma decks do not accomodate or have factory installed gooseneck hitch. They can be modified to use a B&W type.
Some welding and frame attachment fabrications required
Fuel filler fabrications required
Tool boxes can be added below deck. Stock toolboxes are not that common seems like due to the narrower distance from frame to the edge of the deck vs decks made for trucks with dools. $$$ for custom ones where I am at.
Aerodynamics are poorer than fleetside pickup beds.
Some people don't think they look as nice as a fleetside pickup box.
They raise the camper higher in the air by the depth of the sills, bed deck, and mounts fabricated to suit your truck. On my truck the bed is 4" higher than the bed of a pickup.
You cannot haul unsecured cargo.
If your box mounts are damaged you will be into the job of exchanging boxes for repair or replacement of those as well. And then you will have the same equipment that sounds like eventually fatigued and started to fail.
The floor and mounts of a fully loaded pickup bed are being worked and flexing as the truck travels - once fatigue begins to take hold a pickup bed will fail without being rusted. We have a local company that has installed treated plywood box liners in oilfield pickups for years to give the floor especially additional structure to stand up to carrying full payloads of tools, subs, pup joints, valves etc etc on rough pavement, rough gravel, and snow drifted and mud well access roads day in and day out.
Why? Because the stock pickup boxes were failing prematurely.
Anyhoo that's my 2 cents.
P.S. I have seen a left front wheel removed from an 8 month old GMC pickup by a kettle pot hole that was deep enough the tire and wheel fit waaay down in it due to LOW SPEED. Tore the ball joints apart. They had grease.
The truck owner called the little city hall and asked if they intended to plant a spruce tree in the hole if not maybe slide over and fix it.
So do I believe it could damage a 3/4 or won ton fully loaded with a camper in the same manner? yep I do.
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noteven
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07/26/21 02:42pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Battery electric has competition
Sorry folks it is not an "one team or the other" piece. The featured company builds battery electric machines now.
The questions/comments so far are addressed in the video.
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noteven
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07/26/21 02:00pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: parking on a slight driveway
If you have a propane refrigerator do not operate it unless level.
this ^
or operate slides
or drain for freezing weather properly
Other than that the trailer won't care.
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noteven
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07/26/21 08:36am |
Travel Trailers
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Battery electric has competition
Real world uses for battery electric is discussed.
Why battery electric is unsuitable for high hour / long range needs is discussed.
Mesmerized politicians discussed. Why the stampede?
Real world inflationary costs of battery electric discussed.
A better solution is being developed.
Caution: 27 minutes of attention required - that part was hard. Oh and understanding of English dialects.
What could power heavy and long range vehicles
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noteven
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07/26/21 08:32am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: ALDE heating and water heating system. Comments welcome.
Actually Alde USA, which used to be in Vancouver, Washington, is now in Indiana.
The Alde has been in Roadtrek Class B's for a number of years. It takes up less space than a furnace and HWH.
When it works well it is great -- hydronic fluid circulating to convectors and heating the floor directly.
It does, however, require maintenance, including periodic flushing, bleeding the system, and fluid exchange.
On forums devoted to Roadtrek, the Alde is a frequent item that "just doesn't;t seem to be working right". The company's US division has not been very responsive to the consumer, and technicians that know it are uncommon.
In my opinion the Alde is over-engineered for the task it has to do. An RV furnace and water heater are more reliable, if somewhat noisy.
Thanks for the head office correction.
In my Cirrus truck camper the Alde ran fine for the 400+ days I used it. As I mentioned in the post above the water temp was set too high and I had the pressure relief open and lose some antifreeze when camping at 9800ft
I used regular aluminum compatible green antifreeze in mine. Potable antifreeze is recommended because in the event the heat exchanger for the water heating portion were to crack it could allow fluid into the hot potable water. I recognize the taste of glycol so I reasoned I would not drink the hot water and check what is wrong.
The system is unpressurized vented to atmoshphere so some fluid is lost to evaporation over many hours of operation.
"Bleeding" - not sure what Roadtrek means - but if the system is installed by an oem such that air that enters the system due to a fluid change or owner neglect needs to be pushed downhill that is troublesome. The one time in 2-1/2 years I did a fluid change I filled the system and ran it, topped it off, then went for a drive with the system running. The rocking and rolling burped it quite nicely.
I did help 3 or 4 other Alde owners by referring them to which page in the owners manual answers to their "issues" could be found :).
The main issue I had was ENDTRH* disorder, kinda like cats get.
*Excessive Napping Due To Radiant Heat
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noteven
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07/25/21 07:01pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: RV Hot Skin (Exterior electrification)
I had volts on the skin of my trailer one time. I was plugged in to a house receptacle (15amp) while visiting. Got advice on this forum to check polarity at the source.
The house receptacle had reverse polarity. Probably since it was built. Connected the receptacle correctly and no more stray current on my trailer.
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noteven
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07/25/21 01:16pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: ALDE heating and water heating system. Comments welcome.
Hi folks. We are looking at a little trailer for our next RV. The unit has an ALDE hydronic heating and cooling system. It is a Swedish system and seems quite common in Europe. Wondering how many have or have had this system and what they thought of it.
Thanks in advance.
Cheers.
unless somthing has changed there is no cooling in the ALDE system, it would have a normal ac on top of the unit like any other trailer. the ALDE is heating, or heating and hot water. Myself, I wonder why it has taken so long to get an efficent silent and powerfull heating system in RV's that require way less battery power. I am even looking at the feasability of retrofitting one of these systems into my Truck Camper.
Steve
Steve - Alde North America is based in Seattle. I don't believe they are selling components to the non OEM aftermarket (yet).
Alde (and Truma) are very popular in Europe in RV's and boats. There are suppliers in the UK who sell the components.
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noteven
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07/25/21 01:09pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: ALDE heating and water heating system. Comments welcome.
I was very satisfied with the Alde system in my Cirrus 820 truck camper.
Alde invented his heating system in 1949.
If you understand convection/radiant hydronic heating (heat moves to cold, heat from the sun gets here without blowing air, the thermostat is not a throttle, the system heats the materials of the interior until everything is at set temperature - floors, table top, toilet seat- , set temp doesn't need to be as high etc etc) you will be happy with it.
It is not capable of supplying endless hot water for steaming 50gallon showers. Normal camping showers are fine.
It will supply heat / hot water on 100% AC shore power electric at 1500 watts, or 750 watt on 15amp AC shore power. If 750 watt is not sufficient, it will supplement with propane so will run on both at the same time. It will run on 100% propane when not on shore power. The combustion and circulator systems are 12v DC from the vehicle.
The circ pump will make a quiet whine when starting, the fluid will gurgle quietly in the resevoir. The gas valve will make a quiet soft thump sound when it closes. To put all this "noise" in perspective when I was camped remote in the quiet desert, the fridge flame drowned out the sound of the heating system.
In -5C early morning hours +15C afternoon cool desert camping with good sunshine, the camper ran on 170watt Zamp solar without operating generator for days in late January - February. Any amount of cloud and a short generator run would be needed daily.
The one advantage a hot air system has (Webastor, Espar, "Chinese diesel heaters", conventional RV screamer furnaces) is knocking down humidity quickly on rainy cool mornings.
Being a hybrid convection/radiant system the Alde does warm the air just not with afterburner speed.
Hope this helps.
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noteven
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07/25/21 01:02pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Tag axle for truck camper rigs
I don’t see a tag axle Kayteg - those are steerable and hydraulic levelling trailer axles. Being I n Scotland there is a good chance the prime mover (the “sem eye”) has a tag.
That’s a cool image.
I always thought steering trailer axles would be useful on a RV trailer so the axles could be back where they belong vs the teeter totter arrangement.
A guy would need a Nuff Truck to hold up the other end.
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noteven
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07/23/21 06:39pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Tag axle for truck camper rigs
Do you detractors run up to every tag/pusher axle equipped heavy truck you see and help save them from the disaster equipment that’s about to fail them?
Explanations of how more axles with brakes under a load is a hazard are welcome.
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noteven
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07/23/21 08:56am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Tag axle for truck camper rigs
I have built several tag axles for pick up trucks and truck campers. Mine were designed so you could lift them off the ground or inflate the airbags and transfer 1800lbs to the tag axle without affecting the front axle weight, all with two switches on the dash. I patented the idea and presented it for manufacture. I soon learned that any time you modify the suspension of a vehicle the liability goes out of sight.
Yes.
I see nothing wrong with adding a tag axle especially with brakes if the truck is operated properly. For ditch driving and such it depends on how much wheel travel is designed into the suspension.
Last week I met a truck camper rig with a tag under it on the highway near the Alberta Rockies.
It is interesting this company has the equipment certified as a trailer ( or "Tag Trailer") so it is not a modification to the vehicle.
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noteven
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07/22/21 09:06pm |
Truck Campers
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Tag axle for truck camper rigs
Tag axle article
Code 13 Roll the Weight Police
edit - quoted from the article:
"In 2017, after several people showed interest in purchasing our unit, I decided to design a tag axle to sell. We faced two initial challenges. Number one was to submit a “Request for Interpretation” to DOT/NHTSA. That process took 18 months, moved through NHTSA Chief Crash Avoidance Office to Chief Counsel and resulted in a favorable interpretation of the design. NHTSA, Chief Counsel, determined that the unit would be considered a trailer not a tag axle and would carry its own GVWR. The designation was as a Weight Distribution Truck Camper Trailer (WDTCT) requiring a VIN number, lights and brakes."
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noteven
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07/22/21 12:07pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: 1/2 ton towing a 5th wheel
I tookalook at the Ford 2019 towing guide.
There is a listing of maximum trailer weights the different vehicle series can be spec'd for. (can be not all are can be not all are can be not all are....)
F-150 can be spec'd for a tick more rear tow trailer max weight than 5th wheel coupled max weight.
That's kind of interesting.
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noteven
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07/21/21 09:18am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: New ram 3500. Are my weights ok for this truck.
I just bought a ram 3500. Also a new tourque t285. I set up my weight distribution hitch. Here are the weights and what’s going on. Empty weight is 5220 front, 3260 rear, total 8480. I put the hitch on and set it up and these are the weights. 5240 front, 5040 rear, 10,000 trailer. Total is 20280.
Here is the problem. When I first set it up I used small spacer and lost 400 lbs on the front, and it seemed to ride better than the way it is set up now. It steers better this way, but it seems to be kind of bumpy. It also looks real level this way with the 20 lbs on the front axle.
What do you guys think.
Thanks for the help.
WD hitch setup video
Here is a video describing principles of weight distribution setup and adjustment.
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noteven
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07/21/21 08:59am |
Tow Vehicles
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Cybertruck design bureau?
Sneak peak behind the scenes
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noteven
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07/21/21 08:44am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why put the fridge in the slide out?
keep it a little warmer in the sun?
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noteven
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07/20/21 08:14pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Speed limits
Driving trucks on 2 lane highways a lot teaches you to detect the "pre left turn pass" - the small vehicle has followed you for 30 miles just close enough the vehicles behind them cannot pass ... anyways they've been following, now they pass... spidy senses alert ... and yep, within a minute or two it's stand on the brakes and on with the left turn signal ...
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noteven
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07/20/21 08:13pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Vanlifers are parting ways with their vans after Covid
clicky
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noteven
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07/19/21 04:49pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Love my truck and camper.
Those are good trucks Specta
Nice looking rig
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noteven
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07/19/21 04:48pm |
Truck Campers
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Canada opens land border and more airports to US visitors
Canada will open it's land border and more airports to entry by US citizens and permanent residents who are fully vaccinated.
August 9.
Canada Border Services Agency
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noteven
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07/19/21 04:24pm |
General RVing Issues
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