Looking to purchase my first TT

Look for:

Water stains on floors walls, and ceiling (look in all cabinets and closets)

Discolored vinyl flooring

Soft spots in the floor

If it has laminated sides, look for waves in the surface.

On the outside look for cracked or missing trim pieces with rusted screw heads underneath.

All of the above, are indicators of poosible leaks.

Do an operational check of all systems.

Ask the age of tires and date of last packing or replacement of the wheel
bearings.

Ask if they have loaded weights on the trailer (gross and tongue weight), and make sure your tow vehicle is rated to pull it.

At the age of that unit, it really doesn't matter who the manufacturer was. The key to it's condition is how previous owners took care of it.

+1 on what Handey said.

If you're purchasing from an individual, you may take it to a local dealer to let them do an inspection before you purchase it. They're typically not busy this time of year, and it would be a few bucks well spent. If it's good to go, you paid for peace of mind. If it's bad, it will save you from buying a piece of junk.

Its the second owner and he hasnt used it much at all. Its been parked for four years. So tires are probably cracked or original. im going to go see it sometime soon. Only if the snow lets up here in Massachusetts.

Pulling it with my 08 tundra crewmax. Wife and kids (3and 1). Wont be pulling it a whole lot. Mainly using it at my camp so i can fix the house.

Awning condition? Crawl underneath the trailer and give it a look. Stowage compartments....look inside to see if any leaks.

We had a smaller wilderness with bunk beds and was not pleased with it. If we had bought a bigger one like you are looking at we would probably still have it as the we had was too small. Otherwise we really liked the Wilderness.

You will get lots of advise here so I will give you just a few pointers. Go to every window and push on the walls around them if the wood gives there has been leakage and the walls are rotted. Also do the same around the door and the vents and AC units. Get on the roof and check for the condition up there. If you see the AC units sagging the roof, that is a sign that there could be leakage around them and water will accumulate there when it rains. If you are unsure about the roof, take it to an independent RV repair shop (avoid dealers as they will want to sell you a trailer and may not give you a true evaluation).

Outside the trailer examine the window, door, and around the water heater and fridge for signs of leakage. If there are gaps between the sealant and these places, this is another sign that there may be leakage.

The biggest thing it to look at the trailer like it is one its last leg and you are trying to find anything good about it. DO NOT glaze over problems as if they are not really that bad. Assume the worst possible scenario for each thing. We never had any problems with our wilderness except it was too small for the 5 of us. It pulled great and handled very well in crosswinds.

If we had a vehicle big enough to pull a TT, Wilderness would have been on my list. But we didn't and found the MH we bought, a rough gem for a great price. I have a bucket list of things we want to do to her but that is just to make her ours, and not just like every other one that is still in use.

Good luck and happy traveling.

That's going to be quite a bit of TT for a Tundra. I wouldn't want to pull it very far with that truck.

Mark and Linda wrote:
Awning condition? Crawl underneath the trailer and give it a look. Stowage compartments....look inside to see if any leaks.

No awning on this unit. Wierd i know. But i don't really need it either.

All the above recommendations +

HOW TO DETERMINE TIRE AGE

My guess is you'll have to replace the tires, even if they look OK. Appearance of a tire IS NOT an indicator.

If I'm correct, the GVW for the Wilderness is 7,900 lbs. If you keep the weight of the trailer down to about 7500 lbs., the Tundra should pull it without a problem if you have a properly set-up weight distributing hitch.

As whether to buy the trailer, I'd follow the advice given about thoroughly checking it for any damage, especially water leaks and know beforehand how extensive hidden water damage can be.

Do you really need a unit that big? I'd consider buying something a bit newer, around 4-5 years old that hasn't been sitting unused (unless kept inside a covered storage area). And, have you considered that if you buy something that's easy to tow with the Tundra, you may decide to use it for more than while you're working on your house?

AirForceAngler wrote:
That's going to be quite a bit of TT for a Tundra. I wouldn't want to pull it very far with that truck.

I'm no RV old-timer, but from what I've read I think he'll be fine. He said it's a CrewMax. Wheelbase is 145.7 inches. There is a rule I've seen passed around: You should have a vehicle with a 110" wheelbase for a 23' trailer plus 4" per additional foot. So that's 146", right on the money. Towing capacity is around 10,000lbs. He's close on that; He'd have to keep an eye on trailer gross weights, passenger weights, vehicle GVWR/GAWR, etc., but I think he can do it.