dennych1
Long Island New York
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Making the trek to alaska(denali and other places). Towng a 34 ft fiver is there any need to add a mudguard that goes competely accross the back of my Duramax to protect fron of fiver. Not sure if it would be worth it any help is appreciated.
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skipnchar
Topeka or somewhere else
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Joined: 12/17/2003
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If I'd have had them it would have saved me from washing the trailer about four different times. Rocks weren't so much a problem as mud from road construction sites. I stopped four different times along side a stream to wash the front of the trailer after lengthy stretches of very muddy construction zones, mainly in Canada.
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2007 Rockwood 8314SS 34' travel trailer
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Hook
Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
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Joined: 12/20/2003
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A guard will probably help. Make sure you do not mount it to low. When on gravel, if the truck suspension working allows the mud guard to bottom out on the surface of the road, it will throw up a shower of rocks and gravel. With that pin weight of the 5v'er I would look at about a 4" clearance. The brush style may not be as bad as a solid flap. The other thing I would recommend is wheel well fender flares, they stop alot of mud and gravel spray off the outside edge of the tires.
Hook
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dennych1
Long Island New York
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Maybe I will look at the brush type. You might be right about the gravel kicking up if it hits pavement thanks for advise.
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soren
north eastern,Pa.
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dennych1 wrote:Maybe I will look at the brush type. You might be right about the gravel kicking up if it hits pavement thanks for advise. During a few summers in the great white north, I have seen folks do significant damage with the combination of a long overhang on a motorhome, a full length mudflap that nearly touched the road when sitting level, and a toad that gets blasted by rocks from the flap. I spoke to one guy in Kenai with both headlights and the windshield wasted on a Subaru toad. When I said that it might be possible that his mudflap was an issue, he looked at me like I had two heads. LOL, some folks need to learn the hard way.
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brinasmemaw
southern Oklahoma
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I would definitely advise a mudflap on the back. We have used ours everytime we have taken a trailer up there & it has really cut down on the amount of mud we get as well as rock dings. I would NOT however recommend the brush type because the stuff just goes right through it & onto the trailer behind. Mac
Mac & Becky
Seeing North America one mile at a time
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cramermj
Traveling
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We installed Chevy aftermarket mud flaps (front and back) on our '04 duramax for our trip to Alaska last summer and had no problems. I don't know if they helped or not, but we had no real damage to the 5th wheel or the truck. We found the roads in generally good shape and have had more gravel chips from roads in the lower 48. Slow for frost heaves, go slow on gravel, and slow for fast-moving, oncoming traffic.
Above all have fun and take lots of pictures.
Jim and Mary
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Deb and Ed M
SW MI, USA
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Joined: 06/07/2004
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We covered the front of our Class C in "Transit Shield" - that adhesive plastic wrap they use to protect news car being transported. It's hard to put on and get it to lay smooth - ours was definitely wrinkly.
But at the end of our 9,000 journey, when we pulled it off, about 100 pounds of bugs and dirt went with it!! It doesn't leave any residue behind, either.
I don't remember who I got it from - I had just googled "transit shield" and found someone who sold it in 50' rolls
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alaskan-rver
Anchorage, AK
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Joined: 09/25/2005
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The mud on the roads up here rarely is thick. Instead, it's wet dust. What I'm trying to say is that you won't so much be flinging it backwards from your tires as you will be spilling it as spray out of your wheel wells, giving you those brown wheel-high stripes down the side. Your trailer will get coated on all four sides. When this stuff dries, you often need a pressure washer to get it off.
Rocks pop off tires in hard-to-predict ways. So, I doubt a mud flap will significantly impact the amount of dirt getting on your trailer, but as others have said, too low of a stiff one will cause far more damage than it will protect. The flap might offer some rock protection from your rear wheels, but that's really about it.
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dennych1
Long Island New York
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Now thAT IM TOTALLY CONFUSSED il sit back have a beer and think about it bay 2 or 3 beers.
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