Cummins12V98 wrote:
Here we go. Five 5th wheels over a 25 year period. All longbed trucks, last three have the same HighWay Products bed height tool box that's 30" front to back. Been full timing since 11/11 and YES it's nice to have what you need with you to take care of anything that may go wrong along your travels. Paying someone to do what you can sucks as most are incompetent.
I have owned one RBW hitch I thought was AWESOME cuz I didn't know any better. It would make you cringe at every stop and take off with the horrible clunking. A friend suggest a B&W hitch as I was still working and hated the rails being in my way for work. Holy Cow, what an incredible difference. Simple to hitch and unhitch on uneven ground (RBW was not nor are many slider hitches) ZERO noise as the jaws wrap tightly around the kingpin unlike the slide bar of the RBW.
ANDERSEN owners with short beds have to place the pivot point behind the rear axles center unloading weight from the front axle.
Funny awareness and paying attention are good things to do but WHY add more things to think about when you are tired from a long days ride and simply want to setup camp.
Most people that want a short bed because it will "fit in the garage". Just another compromise. FACT a longer wheelbase will be more stable.
Like I said you are spending a LOT of $$$ so do it right.
To add further to the post above. Now that you have brought up the subject " Paying someone to do what you can sucks as most are incompetent ". Maybe you can enlighten the ones that don't know, what is it in the equipment, tools etc ,maybe give them an idea what it takes to have haul around a huge tool box to do repairs. I know what I have ,and what I have fixed on my travels, and sort of explained in the post above.
Granted I have had the luxury on a couple repairs that waited until I was home ,but it would not of been a problem in an RV park. One was replacing all the cheap hydraulic hoses for the four slide outs on my previous fifth wheel that had some leaks , pretty major undertaking considering almost all of the underbelly had to come off, that was fun in itself. The tools to do that were in the fifth wheel if I had to do it away from home .
There is other things . I'm prepared on the road to do wheel bearing repair or replace if needed. The list can go on ,but I'm pretty well prepared for most things thats within my power to repair ,and the tools to do so, without a huge in the bed toolbox.
