Was up yesterday near clear lake and saw a white class 8 pulling a DRV mobile suite trailer and was thinking he must have been on here asking what truck to get. lol seriously though if your here you have a pretty cool setup and pulling through those curvy mountains makes for some good driving.

Lots of folks pulling residential units with HDTs and MDTs over on the Escapees' forum. In fact, they have dedicated HDT and MDT sub-forums that are very active. The Volvos have become popular for the HDT crowd and the Freightliner Sport Chassis for the MDT fans.Rob

Unless you just want a REALLY HUGE truck the new 350/3500 will safely and within ratings pull any DRV.

very few trucks come to our winter's resort towing with the med duty truck or bigger. maybe I saw 4 in the 6 months we stay. Not a good grocery shopping vehicle . We feel the same for our 3500 chev dually but it was bought for great towing. Same for the real large trucks is my guess.chevman

Every time I see one of those tiny Isuzu cabovers I wanna build me a camper on the back of it. Those things are cute as a button!I haven't, because I worry about getting parts in the boonies.

It might have been my buddy. He had a red Volvo class 8 and sold it and now has a Kenworth. I think the Ken is white in color too? At the time he paid 28K for the Volvo. That's a whole helofalot less than a class 3 pickup. He told me the class 8 is a bunch cheaper to own too. If I was full timing that's what I would do.

White class 8 pulling a DRV 5th close to clear lake CA

BarneyS
Explorer III
May 15, 2017
In looking at that picture, it looks to me like the stabilizer jacks in front and behind the wheels on the passenger side have not retracted all the way. They look awfully low to me. Might want to check them out. Great looking rig! :)
Barney
azjeffh
Explorer
May 15, 2017
Thanks for stopping by to talk with us Chad. Really enjoyed meeting you and Jen. Well done on the additional equipment added to your trailer as well.

It's pretty infrequent on this forum to hear you have too much truck. Glad to see you smile about some of the posts :)

Safe travels and hope we run into you two again someday. Shot a pic of you leaving today.
Chad_Heiser
Explorer
May 13, 2017
BarneyS wrote:
Chad Heiser wrote:

Snip...I have a full write up on it on the Escapees forum.

I enjoy doing solar/inverter/RV electrical work and have done several installs for friends as well.

How about doing a copy/paste from that forum over to our ***Link Removed***. Solar is a very popular topic among our members. I am sure they would love to see what you did and be able to pick your brain. :)
Barney

I'm in the trailer again this weekend in Willits. When I am able to get in front of a computer again (instead of just my phone) I will post the information.
mike_kellie
Explorer II
May 13, 2017
sorry about that. Trying to post from my phone. That's quite the test...dishwasher included! Looking forward to hearing more of the solar side. We have a single panel on our camper. I'll be looking out for you combination truck and 5th. I travel river road twice daily and always see many rigs heading towards the coast.
mike_kellie
Explorer II
May 13, 2017

I was just out at Casini a couple of weeks ago testing out my new solar installation. I put 1410 watts on the roof going to a Magnum PT-100 charge controller. It is charging 1040 AH of AGM batteries. We were there for the weekend and I never plugged in. We ran LOTS of power through the trailer (intentionally) and my batteries were back to full charge every afternoon. We ran TV's, watched movies, ran the microwave, hair drier, dishwasher, etc all off the Magnum 3012 Hybrid inverter. It was a cool weekend so the heater ran at night as well. I was very happy with the performance of the system.
Turtle_n_Peeps
Explorer
May 12, 2017
Chad Heiser wrote:
DynoDragn wrote:
Was up yesterday near clear lake and saw a white class 8 pulling a DRV mobile suite trailer and was thinking he must have been on here asking what truck to get. lol seriously though if your here you have a pretty cool setup and pulling through those curvy mountains makes for some good driving.

I give. That was me. This is my first post on this forum. Someone on another forum I participate in told me about this thread, so I decided to take a look. The HDT thing is not for everyone, but I love mine and wouldn't go back to a dually. I have a 2000 Kenworth T2000 towing a 2017 DRV MS 40KSSB4. The T2 is singled short and is only about 18 inches or so longer than my Duramax CC DRW was. It turns sharper and allows me to maneuver into tight spots way easier than I could with the dually. It is also more comfortable to drive on long trips than the dually ever was (and I loved my dually). I regularly use it as a grocery getter and driver while on trips. I also sometimes double tow my Jeep Wrangler Rubicon when I want another vehicle for specific purposes on a trip. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has. I help coordinate the West Coast HDT rally held in Caldwell, Idaho. It is in June if anyone is interested. No HDT required, but you can get a lot of good info on HDTs and other general RV topics. I will be giving seminars on Solar installations and also on inverter installations. There will be other seminars by others as well. It is a free rally and is intended to be as much social gathering as anything else. I'm not trying to hawk the rally, just giving information out and trying to give a little background on myself and my RV knowledge as a way to introduce myself to this forum.

Chad, every one of your points you brought up was the same ones my buddy brought up.

I'm glad you like your rig. Sounds like a nice one. Enjoy and be safe!
DynoDragn
Explorer
May 12, 2017
BarneyS wrote:
Chad Heiser wrote:

Snip...I have a full write up on it on the Escapees forum.

I enjoy doing solar/inverter/RV electrical work and have done several installs for friends as well.

How about doing a copy/paste from that forum over to our DIY forum. Solar is a very popular topic among our members. I am sure they would love to see what you did and be able to pick your brain. :)
Barney

I'm very interested in your setup as well. Definitely copy paste the write up or a link as I couldn't find the forum.
BarneyS
Explorer III
May 12, 2017
Chad Heiser wrote:

Snip...I have a full write up on it on the Escapees forum.

I enjoy doing solar/inverter/RV electrical work and have done several installs for friends as well.

How about doing a copy/paste from that forum over to our DIY forum. Solar is a very popular topic among our members. I am sure they would love to see what you did and be able to pick your brain. :)
Barney
Chad_Heiser
Explorer
May 12, 2017
mike/kellie wrote:
Hey Chad, welcome to the forum. You're not far from me (Forestville). It would be great to have a solar and invertor expert around. Casini Ranch, Doran, Dillon Beach and Ocean Cove are our local get aways

I was just out at Casini a couple of weeks ago testing out my new solar installation. I put 1410 watts on the roof going to a Magnum PT-100 charge controller. It is charging 1040 AH of AGM batteries. We were there for the weekend and I never plugged in. We ran LOTS of power through the trailer (intentionally) and my batteries were back to full charge every afternoon. We ran TV's, watched movies, ran the microwave, hair drier, dishwasher, etc all off the Magnum 3012 Hybrid inverter. It was a cool weekend so the heater ran at night as well. I was very happy with the performance of the system. I have a full write up on it on the Escapees forum.

I enjoy doing solar/inverter/RV electrical work and have done several installs for friends as well.
mike_kellie
Explorer II
May 12, 2017
Hey Chad, welcome to the forum. You're not far from me (Forestville). It would be great to have a solar and invertor expert around. Casini Ranch, Doran, Dillon Beach and Ocean Cove are our local get aways