I thought it would be fun to start a thread dedicated to OutdoorsRV TT. A great place to show off our rigs as well as share modification ideas, tech tips etc.August pick-up in Boise, Idaho of our new 2014 Timber Ridge 27DBHSHappy family with new rig at home in drivewayNext day, first shake-down camping trip to Ocean Shores, WashingtonInterior of the 2014 TR 27DBHSVery please with space & versatility, supporting a family of four!

Very nice trailer. I have been looking at Outdoors RVs and I really like them. They are on our short list of new trailers. I really like the 31kqbs.

Isn't that what the "DIY Mods and Upgrades" forum is for? It is already there so use it. Nice looking rig and family.

We like our Timber Ridge too. Here's a couple of our mods:1) The slideout side wall has a "drip rail" at the bottom. But on one side it didn't cover the edge of the slide's plywood floor leaving that exposed to the elements. I cleaned it and smeared 3M4200 adhesive caulk on the plywood edge to protect it. 2) On the other side of the slide, the "drip rail" managed to conduct water to the trailer interior (if the trailer was slightly tilted in that direction). Weird, took me a year to figure out where the water was coming from. Removed the drip rail, cleaned out its moldy inside (the putty tape hadn't filled it completely and water was somehow getting inside the drip rail and draining toward the trailer), re-caulked and re-installed.3) Those Lippert electric stab jacks are pretty weak. Especially when there's not much distance to the ground, you can't put much weight on them before they kink (as I found out). So I bolted on lengths of 2x2x1/8" steel box to reinforce them. 4) Also the motors on those jacks can get water inside them, especially when driving all day in the rain. They then corrode and can freeze up (as I found out). At Lippert's suggestion I pulled out the rubber cap by about an inch and smeared dielectric grease all over the exposed motor and where the wires go in, then slid the cap back on.5) Added solar panels and an MPPT charger ...6) Other stuff I can't remember right now. Have fun. They're great trailers and fun to work on.EDIT: Like your truck too.

OutdoorsRV Thread | Good Sam Community

brulaz
Explorer
Oct 29, 2014
Sifter wrote:
You wouldnt happen to have a pic handy would ya?
Sifter
Explorer
Oct 29, 2014
You wouldnt happen to have a pic handy would ya?
brulaz
Explorer
Oct 29, 2014
Sifter wrote:
Hey brulaz, is there room between the front axle and the dump tube to add a 5x5 fence post for hose storage to the underside frame? Any metal frame exposed or totally enclosed?

The coroplast sits on the bottom of the I-Beam. Then on the curb side there's a steel pipe for the propane running below that. But I'm sure your 5x5 could be hung below all that. The outside flange of the I-Beam is exposed so something could be clipped or drilled into it.

The hollow bumper can be used as well, but that may only be 4x4, not sure ...
Sifter
Explorer
Oct 29, 2014
Hey brulaz, is there room between the front axle and the dump tube to add a 5x5 fence post for hose storage to the underside frame? Any metal frame exposed or totally enclosed?
brulaz
Explorer
Sep 25, 2014
myredracer wrote:
Thank you for posting the pics and info. - much appreciated. Nice work!

brulaz wrote:
This is about strengthening the arms of the Lippert electric stab jacks.

Thanks for the kind remarks folks.

Just remembered something else about these jacks.
The motors are exposed and have a tight-fitting rubber sleeve to protect them from water. If you search the net, there's a lot of issues with water getting in and corroding the motor.

This happened to my rear motor (but never to the front for some reason). I discovered it one morning after a night of 6 below temperatures: the jack wouldn't retract, manually or electrically. If I had known that the motor was frozen solid, I could have warmed it up, but I didn't realize that until later. (That's when I totally mangled the jacks trying to get them out from under the trailer while they were extended.)

So now I'm using dielectric grease (a Lippert Tech Support suggestion) to seal the rubber cap all around the base of the motor and where the wires enter. I pull the cap off by about one inch, grease everything and slide it back on. Add more grease all around.

We'll see how this works.
myredracer
Explorer II
Sep 24, 2014
Thank you for posting the pics and info. - much appreciated. Nice work!

brulaz wrote:
This is about strengthening the arms of the Lippert electric stab jacks.
1Longbow
Explorer
Sep 21, 2014
We own a Wind River and have been very happy with it.
214skier
Explorer
Sep 19, 2014
brulaz wrote:
This is about strengthening the arms of the Lippert electric stab jacks. It's also possible to warp/kink the main U-channels that cross the width of the trailer (as I also found out!) but that takes much more load. I lifted the front of the trailer with the tongue jack and crumpled both the arms and U-channels of the rear stab jacks. It would be possible but more difficult to reinforce the U-channels, but it would add a lot of weight, and as long as I remember not to do anything stupid with the tongue jack, I think the arm reinforcements will be sufficient.

The arm reinforcements help with vertical stability as I can really crank the stab jacks tight now. I use the electric motors to set them initially, but a day or so later may go around and manually tighten them as necessary. But the U-channels can still slide within each other, so side-to-side stability is still an issue; with supporting jacks under the steps, we're just living with it now.

So here's some pictures and info about strengthening the arms of the Lippert electric stab jacks.

The components for each arm:

1 - 26+1/8" of 2"x2"x1/8" sq. steel tube with 2 - 7/16" holes drilled on one side, each ~24mm from the end. If your arms are a different length than mine, the length will have to be adjusted. I just made sure the feet can fold down.

2 - 2"x4"x1/8" steel plate each with a 7/16" hole drilled.
One plate with the hole in the middle, the other the the hole ~24mm from one end along the length.

2 - 7/16"x1" Grade#5 fine thread bolts, nuts and lock washers.

Rough steel is Filed, Wire brushed, Cleaned and painted.

Only one hole has to be drilled in each Lippert arm.

Using one of the nuts+bolts, loosely mount the plate with the asymetric hole on one end of the sq. tube so the plate doesn't hang over the end of the tube.

Slide the plate+tube into the notch on the inside of the arm to be reinforced until snug. This notch is why it is only necessary to drill one bolt hole in the arm.

Mark the position of empty bolt hole on the arm. Move plate+tube and drill this 7/16" hole.

Insert the other bolt and tighten up both bolts. Done.

And what they look like installed. They do stick down an extra 2 inches when lifted up but that may just help protect my plumbing from scrapes.

Think each Arm reinforcment adds 6-7#

Thank you for sharing all the mods!
brulaz
Explorer
Sep 19, 2014
Highway 4x4 wrote:
What I would really like is 4 jacks that could somewhat level the TT. I might do your reinforcement mod but will use aluminum in place of steel. Almost looks like you could make new stronger arms and I have thought of that also. Seems Lippert makes the poorest components for these TT's. At this level I would pay a few hundred more for better quality. After the reinforcement mod it would be interesting to see just how strong they are and what would be their next weak area.

I looked for Al, but it was hard to find, more expensive and have to be quite a bit thicker/bigger to provide the same strength.

Pretty sure the next weakest point is the centre of the 2 nested U-channels crossing the trailer. Here's what my rear one looked like after I lifted the front with the tongue jack. But the arms looked worse.

Oh, and that picture shows the notch in the arms I referred to in the previous post.
Highway_4x4
Explorer
Sep 19, 2014
What I would really like is 4 jacks that could somewhat level the TT. I might do your reinforcement mod but will use aluminum in place of steel. Almost looks like you could make new stronger arms and I have thought of that also. Seems Lippert makes the poorest components for these TT's. At this level I would pay a few hundred more for better quality. After the reinforcement mod it would be interesting to see just how strong they are and what would be their next weak area.

Forum Discussion

OutdoorsRV Thread

About Travel Trailer Group

Related Content

Re-threading Accordion Blinds

The Bacon Thread

Closure Threads

Deleting and Closing A Thread

Water hose threads...