My dealer experience: Picking up a new TT
I am not new to campers. Have had a large StarCraft Gemini pop-up since 2001. (Sold it to my brother) The wife wanted to upgrade to a TT to eliminate the "setup/tear down". We shopped around (mostly reading threads here) and settled on ...well nothing! We wanted to stick with StarCraft, but our local RV dealer stopped carrying them. We looked at the Keystone Ultra Lites (TV limited to 5000 lb max tow weight), but kept reading about quality issues and lack of corporate support for dealers when repairs were needed. The closest Starcraft dealer was in Cincinnati, Ohio so we made a trip week before last to shop around. Looked at the StarCraft, looked at Layton, looked at Jayco but none met the wifes criteria (don't know why I was even there... Well I did have to keep the size down...)
Finally after two hours of in and out of new and used campers, we were on the very back row of TT's and she saw a small TT that we had not even heard of, the Venture Sonic 170VBH. It was a tandem axle and it looked heavy. Still I checked the weight and the GVWR was only 4000 lb! OK, tried to open it, and it was locked which meant it was already sold. Hmmm, tried to get in a bigger one next to it and it was also locked. Luckily a sales lady saw us and asked if we were we having trouble opening the door. Anyway she unlocked it and the rest is history! The wife loved it and we could pull it...
We drove up Saturday to get the demo and have the WDH I bought from etrailer.com installed.
After signing all the papers, they had me pull around to the prep bay where the camper was located. It was plugged in, AC running, water in fresh water tank and ready to demo. We had a nice young, slightly inexperienced, tech show us how everything worked, then he and I started on the hitch install while the wife planned how to spend the rest of our money!
Took about an hour to get the hitch set up correctly and get the sway bar mounted, then an older, more experienced gentleman showed me how to use and adjust the WDH and had me connect and disconnect it to make sure I knew how to do it. He explained about backing up
and disconnecting the sway bar/tension bars. How to get them out when the hitch was in a bind and other useful bits of information.
I had brought my torque wrench and air gauge and I checked torque and air pressure on all four camper tires and the air pressure in the TV tires. All OK there.
Finally the sale lady gave us a $25.00 gift card and said go spend it in our parts store. (Wife bought a set of dishes with it.)
We finally left the dealer and started on the 150 mile trip home. I had to pull over about 10 miles down the road as I forgot to put air back in the air bags after letting it out to set up the WHD. The rear end of the TV was mushy feeling. About 25 lbs in the bags and we were set. We made it home with no issues! I stopped twice to check tire and hub temps. Highest camper tire temp was 113 and highest TV tire temp was 125 on the rears. I towed at 60-62 mph (tires are only J rated). Also checked lug nuts for proper torque on the second stop and they were fine. Checked again when we got home and they were still fine.
Today I came into work and there was an email form the sales rep asking if we made it OK and to keep in touch if we needed anything.
That is my great experience with this RV dealer!
Finally after two hours of in and out of new and used campers, we were on the very back row of TT's and she saw a small TT that we had not even heard of, the Venture Sonic 170VBH. It was a tandem axle and it looked heavy. Still I checked the weight and the GVWR was only 4000 lb! OK, tried to open it, and it was locked which meant it was already sold. Hmmm, tried to get in a bigger one next to it and it was also locked. Luckily a sales lady saw us and asked if we were we having trouble opening the door. Anyway she unlocked it and the rest is history! The wife loved it and we could pull it...
We drove up Saturday to get the demo and have the WDH I bought from etrailer.com installed.
After signing all the papers, they had me pull around to the prep bay where the camper was located. It was plugged in, AC running, water in fresh water tank and ready to demo. We had a nice young, slightly inexperienced, tech show us how everything worked, then he and I started on the hitch install while the wife planned how to spend the rest of our money!
Took about an hour to get the hitch set up correctly and get the sway bar mounted, then an older, more experienced gentleman showed me how to use and adjust the WDH and had me connect and disconnect it to make sure I knew how to do it. He explained about backing up
and disconnecting the sway bar/tension bars. How to get them out when the hitch was in a bind and other useful bits of information.
I had brought my torque wrench and air gauge and I checked torque and air pressure on all four camper tires and the air pressure in the TV tires. All OK there.
Finally the sale lady gave us a $25.00 gift card and said go spend it in our parts store. (Wife bought a set of dishes with it.)
We finally left the dealer and started on the 150 mile trip home. I had to pull over about 10 miles down the road as I forgot to put air back in the air bags after letting it out to set up the WHD. The rear end of the TV was mushy feeling. About 25 lbs in the bags and we were set. We made it home with no issues! I stopped twice to check tire and hub temps. Highest camper tire temp was 113 and highest TV tire temp was 125 on the rears. I towed at 60-62 mph (tires are only J rated). Also checked lug nuts for proper torque on the second stop and they were fine. Checked again when we got home and they were still fine.
Today I came into work and there was an email form the sales rep asking if we made it OK and to keep in touch if we needed anything.
That is my great experience with this RV dealer!
