Forum Discussion

Len_in_PHoenix's avatar
May 29, 2016

Introduction and Hello

Hello all -

My wife and I bought our first travel trailer today. We live in PHoenix and have been tent camping out of the back of a Jeep for decades and finally decided to come in out of the rain.

Thank you to all who have posted tips and tricks here...I've already spent quite a bit of time on the forums and have learned quite a bit.

Stupid newbie questions will be inbound shortly. Right now we're peering into empty cabinets and making lists.

Cheers!

17 Replies

  • Good morning everyone, and thank you for the welcome.

    icanon - Yes, it looks that way to me also. I asked about the nose high appearance after the dealer set up the hitch and was told that a) it's an optical illusion and the trailer/truck are level, and b) everyone else is doing it wrong. :h

    I can tell you that it follows wonderfully at 65mph with no sway or bouncing. The truck rides quite a bit better with the trailer on than it does empty. It may be that the hitch and sway bar are covering up a set up that would wag all over the place with a standard hitch.

    My plan is to spend some time experimenting with the hitch height after loading the truck and trailer to see what actually works best. I'll try it this way for a bit to establish a baseline and then drop the hitch down a notch and reset the tension with a tape measure.




    My first real question is about the brake controller. My dad taught me to pull a trailer by setting a full coffee cup on the dashboard and throwing a fit if any of it spilled. This was in a '71 Mercury station wagon towing a trailer with surge brakes. The result is that I use the gears to slow down as much as possible and the throttle/brake transitions are very smooth. I have to have the Prodigy P2 dialed up to 6.5 and set to B3 in order to get the brake feel I like. Is it possible that the smoothness of the transitions are "fooling" the inertia mechanism in the Prodigy and requiring what appears to me to be a setting higher than normal on the controller?

    By the way, the trailer brakes will stop the entire rig without using the service brakes on the truck if I hit the panic bar on the controller, so they seem to be fine.
  • Welcome and congrats on new purchase.....have fun making memories with it!!!
  • Welcome to the forum. Congrats on your rig, you will love it.
    Don't hesitate to ask questions. At one time none of us knew anything about RV's.
    Enjoy your travels.
  • Welcome, Len! (I'm taking the liberty to welcome you, even though Mrs. S. and I are only about a month ahead of you.) I could have written almost the same thing a month ago except we moved up to our new TT from a popup.

    Like you, I've been enjoying the forums here.

    -Speak
  • Welcome & congrats on your rig!

    The only dumb question is the one that goes unasked... :)
  • Welcome.
    There is no such thing as Stupid newbie questions, just ask away :)

    Just a side note the TT seems to be a little high on the front end?
    Also, is that a new model TV with double windshield, cool or is it what they call 'cab forward'? Just joking, lol