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RE: Two axle or one?
My first brand new car was a 1972 Suburban C20 with a 402 cubic inch engine. I believe the C20 (3/4 ton) GVW rating was 7700 pounds. That is about what current half ton pickups are today. GM did not offer a 1.73 rear axle but did offer a 3.73 rear axle.
Because of your 350 engine and the oversize pickup tires you will be happier towing as light a trailer that works.
If you go with single axle to save weight you would be best served to replace the trailer tires right away with an 225/75R 15 in a Load Range E. The key here is load range E. Not C. Not P225. But load range E.
sorry, typing faster that old brain can handle. Yes, 3.73, not 1.73... by golly, that would be some TALL gears; something for the flats of Bonneville if you could get a push to get started.
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Kodiak Brown
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03/17/12 01:14pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Two axle or one?
We pulled a 3000 lb 18 foot single axle trailer with our Bronco (in sig) for many years. We only have 104" wheelbase. We had zero problems - even had a flat tire on the trailer once and didn't realize it till saw the tilt of the trailer in the rear view mirror.
Good luck!
That's good to know, thanks. I'm leaning towards single axle and saving the weight. I might try one when the times comes to see how it feels.
Thanks all for your comments
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Kodiak Brown
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03/16/12 09:51pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Two axle or one?
Thanks for all your comments. Has any of you ever towed a TT with a short bed pickup like mine? My wheelbase is about 115 or 116". A lighter trailer by a 1,000 lbs or so sounds nice as long as a single axle isn't going to be jerking the back of the truck around. I'm thinking that a lighter single axle may be better in hills of the mountains and a heavier duel axle might be better on the freeway straights.
Am I thinking right on this?
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Kodiak Brown
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03/16/12 05:38pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Two axle or one?
I would favor the lighter unit if I spent much time in the mountains just because of performance. As far as single or double axle, that was probably my first question on the forum. I thought the double might be safer if I had a blowout, but the feedback didn’t support that. And what little personal knowledge of incidents I have doesn’t either. If I did a lot of high speed interstate cross country travel the question might surface again, but most of my travel is two lane at lower speeds with a lot of mountain driving. I’ve been pulling a 3000# single axle since 1989 and don’t think about that issue anymore. By the way, do you get 25mpg with that 1.73 axle? :)
These trucks only get between 11 and 12 MPG freeway no matter what you do to them. I've heard that the optimal mileage is attained where the HP & torque curves meet. On my truck that's about 2400 RPM.
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Kodiak Brown
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03/16/12 05:20pm |
Travel Trailers
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Two axle or one?
Hi guys,
I'm thinking about my post-class A days and was looking into getting a small trailer to pull behind my restored 1/2 ton pick-up. It's a 1972 Chevrolet 1/2 ton short stepside 4x4 350/350 with 12.50 tires and 1.73 gears, and with a class III hitch. Assuming I get the truck all the anti sway and weight distribution equipment, my question is this; which ultra light trailer configuration is the safest to drive with my truck on the flat and through the mountains? Does the duel axle trump the extra weight?
20'6" 2600 lbs dry - 375 lb hitch - 3850 lb GVWR - single axle
or
22'7" 3675 lbs dry - 450 lb hitch - 4950 lb GVWR - dual axle
Thanks
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Kodiak Brown
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03/16/12 12:22pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: What kind of fluids are in danger of freezing?
Good advice all, thanks
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Kodiak Brown
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11/13/11 11:20am |
General RVing Issues
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What kind of fluids are in danger of freezing?
This is my first winter where I'm going to be parking my RV in Southern Oregon over the winter. I'll have no power to connect to so I'm planning to winterize as recommended. My question is, what other fluids in an RV are in danger from periodic freezing? Examples are: shampoo, windex, 408, 303, turtlewax, liquid soaps, DEF, spray silicone, spray 409, etc.
Thanks for advice
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Kodiak Brown
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11/13/11 10:12am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Temporary Storage in Cold Weather
Is it possible to run a 100' extension cord out to your coach sometimes they have outdoor outlets?
I asked the dealership about running an extension cord and they said it was too far away (it's a large dealership). I think I've decided to use antifreeze in the drains and gray & black tanks, drain the fresh water tank, leave the water heater on propane, leave one roof heater set to propane heat-45 degrees, and set the generator to auto-start when the batteries get low. I'll be gone for a couple of weeks and I'll see how it works for short periods of time.
Thanks all for your input... I'll let you know how it goes.
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Kodiak Brown
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11/03/11 04:06pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Temporary Storage in Cold Weather
The cost differences for me in Medford are $60 per mo. for fenced-in blacktoped outdoor storage or $352 per mo. for indoor storage with power. That would pay for a lot of generator diesel and propane. Now trying to calculate the useages, hmmm...
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Kodiak Brown
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11/02/11 02:12pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Temporary Storage in Cold Weather
Depends on how cold it gets where the water is. If that setting will prevent temps below freezing at the location of your plumbing and holding tanks it'll be fine but if it doesn't you could get SOMETHING frozen. If you have electric hook ups then a couple of space heaters should do a pretty good job without the danger of running out of LP. If you don't have electricity you'll probably flatten your batteries long before the LP runs out.
Maybe I could also leave the one cargo light on in the plumbing compartment, that shouldn't use-up too much electric power; I have a 6 battery set-up.
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Kodiak Brown
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11/02/11 01:24pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Temporary Storage in Cold Weather
Does your storage location provide power for the coach?
I'm to store it at an RV dealership in town and they store it in the back of their fenced-in inventory, so, no there is no power. I wish I could afford to reserve a spot in an indoor facility with power but it's not to be for me.
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Kodiak Brown
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11/02/11 01:22pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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Temporary Storage in Cold Weather
I hope this is in the right forum but here goes. I've got a new 2011 Tiffin Phaeton that I will be storing from time to time in my son's town of Medford Oregon. I'm goint to be driving it up and staying in it for a week, then comming home to California with the toad. Anout two/three weeks later I need to return to Oregon and stay in my RV again for a few days. I was wondering if I could just leave the hot water heater on and one of my three roof heaters on propane and low (45 degrees). Would that be enough to protect the pipes from freezing if the weather got down to the mid 20's? Also, has anybody done this before and know the approximate propane usage pre week?
I would appreciate feedback, especially from those who have done this before.
Thanks all
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Kodiak Brown
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11/02/11 01:13pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Diesel exhaust with no support, who's warranty?
I had the exact thing happen to my Allegro Bus. Tiffin paid to re-paint the fiberglass around the opening as the heat from the exhaust tip singed the paint. My local dealer beefed up the bracket. This another example where Tiffin saved $10.00 at the time it was manufactured only to pay more later to fix?
Adam
Hmmm, that's not what I wanted to hear but I'm glad I did. I guess I'll be bringing it back in to the shop for some more warranty work.
Thanks for letting me know your experience.
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Kodiak Brown
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10/15/11 11:24pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Diesel exhaust with no support, who's warranty?
I'm curious what kind of work you had done that required removing the exhaust pipe.
I too would suggest fixing it soon to prevent heat from wrecking the body panel.
Nothing was done to the exhaust as a repair, I'm guessing it was done as they were assembling the RV at the factory.
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Kodiak Brown
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10/15/11 11:22pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Diesel exhaust with no support, who's warranty?
There is a Tiffin dealer here in town but I noticed the exhaust problem the day after I got it back from fixing other things.
I think someone at Tiffin probably disconnected the exhaust pipe so it would go through the hole in the body part easier and never re-attached it. By the looks of it, and the tension in the pipe as it's spring loaded against the side of the fibreglass, I don't think the rubber bracket could be re-attached to anything to make it re-center the pipe in the hole. To re-align the pipe I think its going to have to be disconnected from the flex section and re-positioned. I'd like to wait a while before bringing it back to the repair shop as long as it doesn't do any damage to the body panel.
So I got to agree that it's probably a Tiffin issue.
Thanks for all your opines
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Kodiak Brown
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10/15/11 05:28pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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Diesel exhaust with no support, who's warranty?
Hope you can help,
I have a 2011 Tiffin Phaeton 40QTH on a Freightliner chassis and today I noticed that the exhaust tip was not centered in the fibreglass body hole. It was pushed hard against one side of the hole. When I looked up from under the body panel, I noticed that the exhaust pipe support bracket 16" from the tip was not attached to anything and was why the exhaust pipe was resting on the fibreglass.
My question is this: Who do I bring it to for warranty repair? A Tiffin certified repair shop or a Freightliner certified repair shop?
Seems like whenever I bring it to one place for something, they say I should go to the other guy.
Opinions?
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Kodiak Brown
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10/14/11 09:22pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Solid Surface Countertop Hardware Failure
Thanks for all the additional advice.
I did call Tiffin on this issue and spoke to someone in Service. He tried to guide me to the dealer to get this fixed, but when I explained my concerns, he told me it would be ok to have it fixed at a local countertop shop (much better). The funny thing is that when I asked him what kind of solid surface material this was, he told me that it was "Corian". If it's really "Avonite" as you indicate, it would be sad that they don't even know what product they are installing in their rigs. I'll check samples until I find a match.
I also did recommend that he look into their fabrication practices and think seriously about updating their methods of hardware attachment.
Thanks again
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Kodiak Brown
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08/28/11 11:35pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: RV Park recommendations for the South West?
Thanks all for your inputs. The Oasis in Vegas looks great! Trailer Village will work good too as it's near one of my destinations there in Roswell (my aunt & uncle).
As for Albuquerque's Balloon Festa, I'm going to be passing through that week and thought it would be nice to spend a couple of hours watching balloons and taking some photos. If there's no good rv parks available, or if there is going to be too much traffic or other hassles, we'll park someplace else.
How crazy do things get in Albuquerque get during that week, anybody ever been there then?
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Kodiak Brown
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08/27/11 06:11pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RV Park recommendations for the South West?
Hi all,
I'm going to be heading down to the southwest from Northern California in about a month and was wondering if anybody had any recommendations for good RV parks in a few of the towns we will be traveling through. We're kinda spoiled so our favorite words seem to be "Full Hook-ups". We'll be in a 40' Class A with toad and the towns we're interested are: Las Vegas, NV - Gallup, NM - Albuquerque, NM - Roswell, NM - Carlsbad, NM. I've already got reservations for Grand Canyon Trailer Village and we'd like to spend a day or so in Albuquerque during the week of their Balloon Festa.
I'd love to learn about some greats spots to park along the way.
Thanks,
Gary
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Kodiak Brown
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08/27/11 11:58am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Solid Surface Countertop Hardware Failure
Thanks for the advice. The trouble is I know a good amount about solid surface countertop materials and the way Tiffin fastened the hardware at their factory is NOT the way it's done. You never use "wood" screws on solid surface material. There are special fastener "inserts" that need to be machined in with a router. Very easy to do when you're fabricating the tops at your factory and you've been trained properly. But, I'm very doubtful an RV dealer is going to be set-up to machine solid surface material and install inserts to re-attach my hardware. I'm thinking they will try to replace the woodscrew with another woodscrew and maybe add some crazy glue or something to make it hold for awhile.
Actually, as flimsy as this hardware was attached, I was sure someone else must have had the same problem as me. Before I drive 300 miles to my dealer, I think I'll call Tiffin and discuss with them what would be a good lasting fix and where to get it done.
I'll post the outcome, wish me luck,
Gary
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Kodiak Brown
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08/23/11 11:37pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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