Leaving 5th Wheel Hooked to Truck

Dave H M wrote:

greende wrote:
You can go ahead & hook up now. I will often take some weight off with the landing gear but I am not sure you have to.

Edit: We'll be at Myrtle Beach State Park in two & a half weeks, enjoy!

I prefer to head down the highway a little bit and always stay at Huntington Beach. I prefer the large sites and getting away from the Myrtle hustle and bustle. Enjoy

Dave,
We like the south end as well. We're going to look at sites at Huntington this time and see which ones we like.

My old 89 Suburban would drain the battery if it was left plugged into the trailer. I have never taken a chance with the dually. I just unplug it when not traveling.

Consider that those with pickup campers have the weight on them fr long periods.

MainerBob wrote:
I have been told that with a Chevy truck, I should always unplug the truck from the trailer when stopping overnight dry, such as at a Walmart, that the trailer could drain the truck batteries. This was only true for GM products. Any truth to this, anyone?

If the 12volt feed in the 7 pin plug from truck to trailer stays hot after key is turned off in the truck, then Yes, it could potentially kill the truck batteries. If there were a problem or major drain on the rig batteries... it would take the truck batteries with them. I know with Fords the power turns off with the key.

I have been told that with a Chevy truck, I should always unplug the truck from the trailer when stopping overnight dry, such as at a Walmart, that the trailer could drain the truck batteries. This was only true for GM products. Any truth to this, anyone?

Thanks all. Will do a run down prior to leaving.

zackyboy3rs wrote:
I am leaving Friday for Ocean Lakes. Due to rain coming in and lack of time due to work I was wondering if I could hook up today? I so, I would need to use landing gear to take the weight off the truck? How about unhooking? Rain/moisture cause problems?

Thanks

If your truck's suspension will handle the stresses of =towing= the FW down the road, why would sitting still in your driveway be an issue; jacks down or not? :) Just make sure you do a full checklist before you drive off. Have seen a couple trailers with bent landing legs from people driving off too quickly and not checking everything. Hell, =I've= done it a time or two when still on the farm and much, much younger. :)

Lyle

The only time I unhook is at the campground. My tow vehicle is just that so I dont need it. My parking space at home is level anf large enough to leave it hoked up. I usualy back in, unplug the lights from the truck, plug in the trailer to the shed, lower the landing gear to take the weight off the truck , and go in the house. We are always ready at a moments notice

rhagfo wrote:

MFL wrote:

rhagfo wrote:

zackyboy3rs wrote:
I am leaving Friday for Ocean Lakes. Due to rain coming in and lack of time due to work I was wondering if I could hook up today? I so, I would need to use landing gear to take the weight off the truck? How about unhooking? Rain/moisture cause problems?

Thanks

Ok, I will play the devils advocate on this one! :B
I can partly understand the rain, but time?

I have left work, needed to install hitch and air up tires, pick up DW and dog, along with the refer food, covered a distance of eight miles from work, to house, to storage yard, hooked up the 5er, Start the refer and load (required putting out both slides), and been on the road one hour and fifteen minutes from the time I left work. I don't think we were in the storage yard more than 10 minutes.
No not the norm, we decided that morning to spend the weekend on the coast. :)

Devils advocate is right on! You are making many of us, especially me, feel pretty old.:o

I used to do things like that 25 years ago, but now, not so much.

You must be much younger than I, or maybe you did this example 25 years ago. :B

Jerry

FYI, I am north of 64!

I will say I don't see an issue leaving the 5er connected, I guess, I have adapted to having a TV as my daily driver, and a house where I can't bring the 5er home.

I think we were just basically talking about loading up one's 5er at home and letting it sit over night and jumping in it at whatever time they were going to leave and already have everything done....I've done the same....If I'm leaving a campground early in the morning, I'll hook up and if weather is going to be bad the next day, we'll even bring all the slides in and spend the night in the 5er like that...back jacks up, front jacks up and next morning, batten down a few things and pull out....At that point, I didn't need my TV for anything else while at the campground....While at home and TV is loaded, we have another vehicle if we need to run out and get something before the next morning.

MFL wrote:

rhagfo wrote:

zackyboy3rs wrote:
I am leaving Friday for Ocean Lakes. Due to rain coming in and lack of time due to work I was wondering if I could hook up today? I so, I would need to use landing gear to take the weight off the truck? How about unhooking? Rain/moisture cause problems?

Thanks

Ok, I will play the devils advocate on this one! :B
I can partly understand the rain, but time?

I have left work, needed to install hitch and air up tires, pick up DW and dog, along with the refer food, covered a distance of eight miles from work, to house, to storage yard, hooked up the 5er, Start the refer and load (required putting out both slides), and been on the road one hour and fifteen minutes from the time I left work. I don't think we were in the storage yard more than 10 minutes.
No not the norm, we decided that morning to spend the weekend on the coast. :)

Devils advocate is right on! You are making many of us, especially me, feel pretty old.:o

I used to do things like that 25 years ago, but now, not so much.

You must be much younger than I, or maybe you did this example 25 years ago. :B

Jerry

FYI, I am north of 64!

I will say I don't see an issue leaving the 5er connected, I guess, I have adapted to having a TV as my daily driver, and a house where I can't bring the 5er home.