nutters4nutters

I follow Big Truck, Big RV on you tube and he seems to love the F450 for the turning radius.  Sweet truck, enjoy!

3 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

So....hopefully it wasn't cast iron.  

It was worth it 🙂

Whats funny is how long we had wanted the motor home, but the reality just never really fit in.

We had some good and bad times with Rhino, but in the end we decided to go a new direction 🙂

It will be very interesting to see how a 10 day stay at the fort will be in our new trailer.  We arrive on August 13th.  Sadly, Rhino never got to stay at the Fort, but he did visit Disneyland.

We have had it a few months now and done several trips.

The good-

• Love the layout.  Our favorite feature, the trash hole.  For anyone that's had to deal with the age old trouble of where to put the bleeping trash can, we love it.
• Kid digs the bunk
• I love not towing

The sad-

• Went to pick up the unit and pulling out from storage we get a waterfall out of the joint at the bottom of the fiberglass front cap on the passenger side..  Keep in mind this was stored inside, very clean but this is 100% my fault.  See, I hate heights, ladders and anything that puts me more than a few inches off the ground.  I should have gotten up there and inspected things better.  Never fear though, called our body shop and will be getting it in to have the front cap pulled to inspect, dry, effect any repairs needed to deal with the water.  I don't believe it's been chronically leaking, so that's good.  More than likely it sat a long time and the sealant dried up and once it started getting used some cracks formed and water got in.  No sign at all of water getting inside the bunk area.  I did swallow my fear, get on the roof, and reapply sealant to close up any potential gaps.  We have had MASSIVE rain since then with no signs of any water getting in.  In short though, water bad and not nipping things in the bud quickly can turn a simple lower cost repair into a major expense down the road.
• Setting up a right proper toad or tow dolly means $$, someday we will have our car with us.  Mean time, two walkies and a follow car when we decide we really really need a follow car.
• Furious day driving around replacing the propane leak/CO detector right before we were headed out for a trip.
• The steering likes to wander a little, I think an alignment is in the cards.  This was expected though, so not a huge deal..  I also think some upgrades to the sway control is in order to reduce body roll.
• The entertainment switch box thingy is a nightmare to work. Ugh.
• The overhead doors above the dinette and sofa have issues.  The hings have a plastic piece that inserts into the door and they have come lose/out on several doors.  My sad attempt at fixing that have not worked well.

Unfortunately we won't be hitting the Fort in a few years with this unit, waiting out some updates at DW before we trek back.  We did do a 10 day road trip in Rhino for Thanksgiving though and that got us some solid time on the road.  We even got iced in for several days at Palo Duro Canyon state park.  Way glad we topped off the propane.  I wish I had had my new camera gear for the trip.

Only thing we wish were different was recliner/love seat option and the big fridge.  Other than that we are super happy with the RV and love having the motor home.

I do have a YouTube channel where I will be putting up videos on some of these issues and how they get addressed over time along with our 2016 Texas State Park series.  Texas Rv'in is the channel name.

A few years later and the winner is!!!!

Class C

We looked at more trailers, Class A's, Disel Pushers and everything in between.  In the end we liked the Class A's better, the Fleetwood Excursion 35B Diesel Pusher the best.  Just that 160k price tag...  There are a few gas models with the same/similar floorplan, but the Class A price tag was just a bit out of range.  In the class C world, the Forest River 3010(Sunseeker)/3011(Forrester) was the floorplan we liked best.

Meet Rhino, a 2012 Forrest River 3011DS we found used with 3900 miles.  Comes with 2014 tires, assuming the original tires had issues since it's obvious doing the math that Rhino has spent a lot of time stationary.  We pickup Rhino tommorrow and go straight to a single overnight.  Next week is a trip for an Oil Change and Generator service.

I tow a 20'ft ultralight with a 2013 Expedition.  This will be the last tow vehicle we have that is not at a minimum a 3/4 or 1 ton truck.  Before that we had a F150 towing a Jayco 29BHS.  It did the job and the EcoBoost had plenty of power but it was never as stable as I wanted.  With this trailer and the Expedition we use LT tires on the Exp and a Hensley Cub for the hitch.  This combination makes it a breeze to tow although the V8 screams a bit.

You can never have to much truck and if you think you will upgrade the trailer down the road get the most truck you can afford IMHO.  Swapping vehicles get's expensive :/

Was that recently? 

We were there the 8th through the 13th.  This month.

If I recall, don't quote me, I was "locked" once the first FastPass+ was used and could not change anything until the remaining 2 had been used.  I kept getting a error on the app on the phone, that of course said they were having a system problem.  When I went to a Kiosk that's how it was explained to me. 

We just got back and I have nothing good to say about FastPass+

We were a last minute booking, booked on Monday and left for the parks on Friday.  The day we booked getting any fast pass for our stay for the Mine Train was impossible, booked solid.  With the new system we could either wait in hellish lines to do both Soarin and Test Track in the same day or book fast passes on 2 separate days.  End result was we only managed to get 1 ride in on each.  Last time we went under the old fast pass system we got 2-3 times in on each.  Overall my impression is the new system is resulting in underused Fast passes and longer standby line times.

I approached a cast member about how unprepared Disney was to deal with the results of their new system after they got snarky with some guests waiting in the long lines forming at the Fastpass+ kiosk.  Seems they put the Kiosk in an area that had to remain clear for traffic and were not prepared to deal with that.  So, what brilliant genius put a Fastpass+ kiosk in a traffic area?  The same one that didn't think that 15 minute lines would be forming around them as people tried to use the horrible outdated touch screen technology to use them.  Seriously, touch screen mouse pointer interfaces are so 10 years ago, go talk to Apple or Samsung and learn how real touch screen interfaces are done, K?  Anyways, they said it was usually not like this but over the 6 days we were there, it was like that every day, every time.  I told her I understood it's not her system and she had no control over it, but it still sucked and we hated it. 

You can book your Fastpass+ on the phone, but must visit a Kiosk to add another after you use your three, and you must pick 3 from what I could tell.  Kind of a pain.  The app is great for hunting down last minute dinner/lunch reservations.  Probably to good :D

In the end it meant less times on the rides we wanted, forced standby for some rides since we did a last minute booking and forced booking for rides we did not want.

When I bought my first trailer used it had C tires on it.  Not sure if it came with those but when I did the math they came up barely adequate for being able to carry the unit fully loaded.  Since they were weather checked and would not pass inspection I just replaced them with the D's.

Take your GVWR, subtract about 10% to 12% as not all of the weight will be carried by the trailer, the TV will be taking on some of the load..

In my case GVWR was 7500 -12% = 6600/4 = 1650 pounds per tire.  Load Range C I looked at was rated at 1760, not giving me much over.  I went with the D's, figured a little extra would not hurt.

Our trailer has a roof top AC with the standard controls on it, Fan Speed, AC Level (Low/High) and a temp dial that goes from cool to Arctic Freeze.

Is there any way to fit these with a Thermostat that would cut the unit off after a certain temp is reached inside so it did not run 24/7?  It's a small trailer and we certainly don't need to freeze ourselves out in the evening.  I don't have the details on the make/model handy but can get them easy enough if needed.

There are a lot of things that can lead to a bounce.

1. Are you loaded or unloaded?  Mine always rides better with some weight.  We always have some fresh water on hand just to give the trailer some weight as we tend to roll pretty light anyways.
2. Tension on the spring bars, depending on your setup.
3. Tires, type and inflation.  After switching to E rated LT tires I noticed less bounce and I don't even run them at high pressure, just more than the stock P rated tires we replaced.

I've found that hitch adjustment, air pressure and loading have a pretty noticeable impact on tow quality

I have another adjustment I will be making to my Equalizer before this weekends trip, hopefully to add more tension and level the trailer a bit more.  After this trip I'll be installing a Hensley Cub.  It will either be a huge waste of time and money or the most awesome thing since sliced bread.  I'll add my opinion to the slew of them out there when it's all done :rofl3:

Will do.  We have been there before about a year ago, this will be our third stay.  They have some really nice facilities, the kids have a blast when we go up there.  Will post up some photos.  I like Fredricksburg for the German food.  The WW2 Museum they have there is pretty cool.

Did our first trip, 1k miles to Monroe LA and Back from San Antonio

The Good:

Mileage was around 9.6

Acceleration and performance was good, if a bit screamin at times.

Stable in some heavy cross and head winds, winds good enough to stand fairly large flags on end with some nice gusts

No porpoising, heavy bounces flattened out quickly and it felt very stable.

The shorter setup than our old truck/trailer combo was much easier at gas stations

The Bad:

About 8-9 hours in each day the area around the shifter felt a little warm to the touch, trans was certainly getting a workout.  Each day was about a 11 hour haul.  It was not a easy road trip.

Mileage was around 9.6

Still get that "sucked in" feeling when a big rig blows by, but it's not as bad as I have had in the past.

I think the tires made a huge difference in the experience.  I don't regret them a bit.  That spongy feeling was gone and everything felt way more planted.  Everything on the trailer worked great.  Still hooked up out front and we roll out again Thursday for our local spring break visit to Jellystone Wine Country.  Lot shorter drive this time!  I was a little nervous making our maiden voyage a 1k plus mile trip but happy it worked out well.

New tires are a go.  Hurt the wallet a little bit but I think we will all feel safer on the LT tires instead of the P's.  Itching to get it out on it's first trip :)

Reconfigured the hitch and it's sitting much more level, hair nose high unloaded.  This should level out nicely when we get some cargo.  Tows pretty good, can still feel the tires but at 65 with some wind and traffic it was not concerning at all.  Yesterday before the adjustments we could feel it moving around a lot more. 

Weighed the setup at the hitch jack with a tongue scale and came in at about 780lbs with full propane, trailer unloaded.  Will need to keep an eye on this and move the scale right up to the ball.

Parking it was fun, homey left us little room but backing this unit up was a breeze.

Need one of these

Also most 1/2 tons and SUV's don't come setup well for towing.  Check gear ratio's and tires.  Usually these can be optioned out at the dealer for something better to tow.  Example is our Expedition, 3:31 gears and P rates tires.  Comfy ride and better on gas but feels spongy towing and screams a little going up hills.

2015 and up the 3/4 ton Suburban has been discontinued.  The Expedition in the EL model will come with the 3:73 gears and have a bit longer wheelbase, though you do lose some capacity with the longer version .  Look at the 2015 coming out with the Ecoboost.  This should make a really great TV for smaller/lighter trailers.

If you have a Carmax nearby they will also transfer one, found 14 that meet the criteria, Under 60k miles, less than 30k.  I'm not a huge fan of theirs, but they always seem to have a good selection.

The pickup:

1. The brake away cable was shredded, glad I checked.  Got a new style I need to get worked into it when I get a sec.
2. Safety chains needed some work to reach
3. The crank lift had sunk into the mud and would need to be removed and cleaned, A LOT.  I told him "Hey, guess what?  When you take that off you can put on this new shiny electric tongue jack I have sitting in the truck.  You won't have to clean all that caked in mud out."  Boo ya, free install.
4. The CD Jensen radio thing in it was terrible, we knew it was though when we bought it.  When we got there it was out and a shiny new Sony head unit was in it.  SWEET!
5. All the repairs we asked for were done.
6. Everything else checked out good.
7. They helped me get the hitch parts installed.

I need to tweak the hitch, she is riding a bit high in the front putting to much weight on the rear wheels.  This job should be much easier with the Electric jack on it.  We need to load it to, to see how it rides then too.

Other wise the tow was good with the Equalizer 4 point hitch.  This is even with the stock P Series tires.  Had a heavy head wind and we got moved around a little bit by the big rigs but overall not a bad trip.

The 3:31 gears are not good though.  Not good at all.  Poor thing has to really work it hard in wind and up little hills at highway speeds.

Pictures!

I had the Eco in my 2012 F150, we parted with it when we sold out last trailer.  An Expedition and a F150 just made for some very uneconomical daily drivers and the F150 lost the coin toss and was replaced with a Focus ST.  I'm sold on the EcoBoost engine though, guess I need to start saving :)

Great article. Thanks

I have a rudimentary understanding of physics, but can't for the life of me understand how it, utilizing the same contact point with the TV, works....but work it does. I have weight distributing and anti sway both. Worth every dime. Even with my Super Duty truck, there is a NOTICEABLE difference without the gear.

You will notice on the specs, even the Super Duty trucks, that full tongue/towing capacity for the truck cannot be reached unless you use a Weight Distribution system.  Ford has some of the better towing guide information out there IMHO.

I think I had a small heart attack when I saw my spot and had to back in.  We had pushed through and it was dark when we got there.  That was the opposite of fun =)

Amazing how fast a vehicle can go up, even when it's not a Tesla.  I try to always roll with a Fire Extinguisher and basic safety kit.  Even though, if mine caught on fire I think I would just try and step back and wait for the pros if there was nothing immediately around me that would be in danger.  Fire + Flammable liquids scares the crap outta me.