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RE: Reese Hitch Adaptor in new F350, 5th wheel not level
Should be able to adjust the pin box higher on the mount to lower the front of the trailer. You can only go so low before you run out of clearance between the bed rails and the bottom of the trailer. You want about 6" or more clearance there. Once you get to where you have 6" clearance, if the trailer is still not level, you'll have to raise the trailer at the trailer axles to bring it up to match the truck.
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/25/12 11:32am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Where should I carry the generator
I would put a front receiver hitch on the truck and carry the generator on a hitch mounted cargo carrier, or built a hitch mount straight onto the generator itself.
Here is my front hitch with a small gang box mounted to it I built that can hold a small generator inside.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn7/desertrider33/0618001906.jpg
I built a hitch mount for a friend's generator to use in the rear hitch of his camper van.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn7/desertrider33/0709011803.jpg
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/25/12 11:21am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: extend frame instead of hitch?
If the truck will be used mostly with the camper, you may just want to stretch the frame in the middle, between the cab and axle, to lengthen the wheelbase length, while keeping the axle to end of frame length the same. That would eliminate the extra long hitching situation, as well as distribute more of the camper's weight onto the front axle.Seems like this would only really work with a flatbed truck, considering that the length of the bed on a pickup would remain the same regardless of the frame length. Extending the bed would be a considerably bigger job, especially when you're talking about getting body lines to match up on the sheet metal. As someone who's chopped and channeled several vehicles, I know this is no small feat.Yes obviously I'm talking about using a flat bed on the extended frame. A flat bed is far more useful and space efficient than a sheet metal pickup bed anyways. Ditching the factory pickup bed almost goes without saying.
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/25/12 11:05am |
Truck Campers
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RE: extend frame instead of hitch?
If the truck will be used mostly with the camper, you may just want to stretch the frame in the middle, between the cab and axle, to lengthen the wheelbase length, while keeping the axle to end of frame length the same. That would eliminate the extra long hitching situation, as well as distribute more of the camper's weight onto the front axle.
I have a cab/chassis F350DRW with about 2-1/2 feet longer distance from the back of the cab to the rear axle than a regular 8' long bed pickup. The bed is 11' long and an 11' camper would fit completely on the bed of the truck, with no need for an extension hitch at all. Since the truck has a regular 2-door cab, the wheelbase length is actually shorter than my crew cab long bed pickup by about 7" (161" for the cab/chassis, versus 168" for the pickup) and the overall length is about the same for both trucks (about 20').
Compare lengths of both trucks parked in the same parking area.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn7/desertrider33/0810011410.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn7/desertrider33/0825091741.jpg
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/25/12 08:38am |
Truck Campers
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RE: did the anti sway bar make the difference?
I've put swaybars on last 2 trucks. 1st was a Roadmaster 2" replacing a 1" factory unit on 04' Ford. It made a huge difference. Last truck was only 1 1/8"as that was as big as I could find at the time for 06' dodge. The dodge didn't have one from factory but the difference was great but not as drastic as the big honker on the ford.A 2-inch diameter sway bar for a pickup???? I've never seen one anywhere near THAT big! :E :E
The factory sway bars on my F350SRW are 1-1/8" front and rear and the F350DRW has 1-1/8" front and 3/4" rear. I think the Ranger's front sway bar is only about 5/8". LOL
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/24/12 07:07pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: 3rd vehicle strictly for towing? Need advice.
69 cylinders for me-
Ford 302 V8
Ford 351 V8
Int'l 7.3 V8
Int'l 6.0 V8
Ford 2.5 I4
Ford 2.4 I4
Honda 500 single
Honda 250 single
Honda GXxxx single
Kohler CH20 v-twin
Kohler 12hp v-twin
S&W .357 mag 6 shot
S&W .357 mag 6 shot
S&W .38 spl 5 shot
S&W .38 spl 5 shot
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/24/12 06:50pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: extend frame instead of hitch?
I've seen some old trucks around here With the frame extension setup. It's possible. Still not as strong as my off the shelf SuperHitch with extension.Depends on how they're designed and built. They can certainly be made to be much stronger than a Superhitch, if needed.
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/24/12 06:29pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: did the anti sway bar make the difference?
I've always said that any truck carrying a truck camper should automatically have sway bars front and rear. My truck came with both front and rear sway bars from the factory. Just changing out the spongy factory rubber sway bar bushings for both bars with stiffer polyurethane bushings made a very noticeable difference in the effectiveness of the sway bars, even with my fairly light 2500 lb camper that I had at that time. I couldn't imagine not having a rear sway bar at all while carrying any kind of very heavy load in the bed of the truck, let alone a high profile load such as a large truck camper.
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/24/12 06:25pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: extend frame instead of hitch?
Don't mean to hijack the post, but it fits right into trying to solve this problem. Just a thought after looking at my boat trailer..... it has a extra long tung on it. I just picked up a Tractor Supply 5x6 utility trailer and it looks like it would be simplicity itself, to just get a 2' longer piece of 2x2 hd channel to add in for the tung. What are the downsides to thisThat can work, depending on the details. If the camper is very long and also hangs down low, the extended trailer tongue under the camper can come up and hit the bottom of the camper when going through a dip. A shorter camper, or one that doesn't hang down much, may not have a problem with that.
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/24/12 01:49pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Would you push it?
I don't see a problem with it. Enjoy your weekend boating. :)
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/24/12 01:46pm |
Towing
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RE: Disconnect battery before arc welding on frame?
IMO DISCONNECT BATTERY at battery itself unless POSITIVE that disconnect switch removes ALL connections. A battery is pretty much a short for high freq pulses. You do NOT want those to get to a control board.Yes, definitely need to take extra precaution when tig welding aluminum with AC and high frequency, wherever there are electronics connected to the structure being welded. HF can wipe out computer electronics easily.
Common arc welding or wire feed welding is much less of a risk, but precaution is still always a good idea.
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/24/12 01:44pm |
Towing
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RE: Disconnect battery before arc welding on frame?
As a welder, I would make a point to unhook any batterys. Both sides just to be safe. Far easier and cheaper than replacing things. Murphys law seems to always kick in on these things.Ditto on unhooking BOTH cables! Sometimes not everything shuts off with the batt disconnect. CO/Propane detector comes to mind.As a welder, I also agree with both of the above posts.
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/24/12 01:41pm |
Towing
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RE: California Registration Cost?
Yeah, she's in for a rude awakening once she gets out here, especially with that kind of poor planning, no real job skills and lack of resources to fall back on. Good luck to her.
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/24/12 01:38pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: F-250 Truck with 5.4L gas engine
5.4 with 4.10 gears should pull respectably. Less so with 3.73 gears, but still should be able to handle a trailer that's not too heavy. This is provided the tires are the stock diameter.
The spark plug problem was in the '99-'02 V10 and 5.4, I believe.
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/24/12 01:31pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Where to buy 2x2 steel tubing
x2 on buying from a local metal supply yard. Most metal suppliers sell 2x2x1/4 sq tube in 20' sticks and some will sell half-sticks at 10'. Most metal suppliers also have a scrap yard out back where they sell descent used metal too, so check there first for smaller pieces of the tube before going inside to buy a new one. Most suppliers will also cut the tube on their chop saw for a minimal fee, usually $1-$5 per cut.
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/24/12 01:16pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: extend frame instead of hitch?
If ya search around you may be able to find one of the old sliding channel bumper assemblies that used to be common on pickups for campers and towing before the days of the standard receiver hitch.That sounds like exactly what he's trying to build and that's what I was thinking when I started reading his post.
Easy enough to fabricate one from scratch. Don't know how long it would take searching for a used one from so many years ago.
I did have one of those for my old dually when I had the 10.5' camper on it, several years ago. Worked just like a receiver hitch extension bar, except it had 2 receivers and 2 tubes sticking out, with a sort of 'bumper' at the rear and another receiver in the middle, like a normal hitch.
Someone else here on the forum built a very nice v-shaped version of the double-tube receiver hitch. It's in a sticky post in the TCU section of the forum, in the hitch section. He did a very nice job on it. I forget who it was... maybe Matthew-B ?
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/24/12 01:11pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: California Registration Cost?
Yeah I wouldn't use personalized plates as a way to circumvent the law. May get away with it a few times, but eventually, they'll catch up with you....
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/23/12 10:10pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Matching Tire/Wheel Size to 19.5 inch Visions?
245-G 19.5's will have plenty of load rating and be about the same diameter as the 285/75-16's you have now.
285/70-19.5's are way too tall to run without quite a bit of suspension lift and I doubt anyone even makes a wheel wide enough to run them on regular 8-lug pickup hubs. Plus, you don't need anywhere near that much load weight rating anyways.
For what it's worth, I run custom made heavy duty steel 16x8 wheels with my 285/75-16E BFG's. The wheels are rated 4000 lbs. My axle weight is 6500-7000 without trailer and up to 7500 with trailer. The tires and wheels perform great and no problems in 5 years, loaded miles almost all the time. Truck is rarely empty.
Hmmmm. Another alternative! I browsed through your pics and couldn't find pictures of the stocktons. Are they polished aluminum ones? Do they offer that? If not, how much were the wheels you ended up going with?My Stockton wheels are powdercoated heavy duty steel. They look nice and the powdercoat silver color reasonably matches the color of the American Racing aluminum wheels I had on the truck before. They also offer chrome, though I was not willing to pay extra for chrome. The wheels were about $250 each, if I remember correctly.
Here is a pic.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn7/desertrider33/0608081113.jpg?t=1242078146
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/23/12 09:15pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Can I put a reveiver on the campers bumper
Put a heavy duty receiver hitch on the truck, suitable for use with a hitch extension bar, such as a Torklift Superhitch or Reese Titan hitch, and use an appropriately rated and sized hitch extension bar to tow the trailer from. Do not involve the structure of the camper at all in the hitch system. The trailer should connect only to the truck, directly through the truck's hitch and no other way.
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/23/12 09:02pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Need a Lance 845 Moved
I'm sure any member of the truck camper forum who lives in that area could move the camper for you for a fee, if they're interested. Otherwise, just about any towing company with a medium duty flatbed carrier could move the camper.
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SoCalDesertRider
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05/23/12 08:57pm |
Truck Campers
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