stupid mistake

[IBcarguy]

Well,today I made a careless mistake and messed up my truck dropping my new 5th wheel. Everything was unhooked, landing gear down, so I attempted to pull my truck out from under the trailer. The only problem was that I forgot to lower the tailgate and the pinbox smashed it up pretty bad when I pulled forward. @#&$(&^!#$ !!! Obviously, I'm a little PO'd at myself for being so careless. I bet I won't do it again though.

[memtb]

IBcarguy, If that was your first and only mess up, you sir, are fortunate!! 🙂 I could write a novel.... And may, now that I'm thinking about it!! 😉

[LIKE2BUILD]

md_procouple wrote:
Now with the 5'er, I've done the dowel rod. (On my 2nd one, having the grandson placing the 1st one in the campfire).

Ha, that is really funny. I'm sure that little boy had a blast burning that play stick/sword/light saber/gun.....what he was pretending it to be. I'm sure when I get around to making my dowel rod it will suffer a similar fate. :R

KJ

[md_procouple]

We have done the same thing with our old camper, but instead of a dowel, just put a piece of tape on the Awning hook, that way its always there. Now with the 5'er, I've done the dowel rod. (On my 2nd one, having the grandson placing the 1st one in the campfire). Good Luck and Happy Camping !!!

[LIKE2BUILD]

SpeakEasy wrote:
Which leads me to pose a question. How many of us have and use a physical checklist when hooking up and unhooking? I do not, but I often wonder how long it will be before I regret that. You gotta figure, if airline pilots are required to actually, physically complete a checklist, who are we to think that we can remember everything every time?

My dad and I used a fishing guide in FL in the mid 90's. The guide was an older guy and he had a 12 step system for launching/recovering the boat. Every time you would hear him counting as he completed each step. I kind of chuckled about it, but after talking with him realized it was a fantastic idea.

I have thought of doing this for my trailer. I was once unhooking the 5er at home and got ready to disconnect. Just as I got in the truck to pull forward my 12 year old says "hey dad, shouldn't the legs on the trailer be down first?" Uh.....yeah son......they should. I would have dropped the 5er right onto the bed of the truck and caused $$THOUSANDS$$ of damage to both.

On our trip out west at one camp site we eyeballed that we'd have enough room between slide and electrical box. We leveled up, chocked the wheels, got situated, disconnected the truck, and..........2" short on the rear slide :M Reconnect, do everything in reverse, make more room, and finally be set up 30 minutes later. Now, if I had acted on my own idea and cut a dowel rod the length of the slide and used that as a gauge none of that mess would have happened.

So, to SpeakEasy's point, yes a check list and/or small aides to ensure proper steps is a GREAT idea, it's just a matter of taking the time to create them and follow them.

K

[cummins2014]

IBcarguy wrote:
Well,today I made a careless mistake and messed up my truck dropping my new 5th wheel. Everything was unhooked, landing gear down, so I attempted to pull my truck out from under the trailer. The only problem was that I forgot to lower the tailgate and the pinbox smashed it up pretty bad when I pulled forward. @#&$(&^!#$ !!! Obviously, I'm a little PO'd at myself for being so careless. I bet I won't do it again though.

Sorry to hear that.

If not for my wife standing towards the back, and side of the truck hollering at me I would have done the same thing .The pin box made just enough contact in the tailgate before I stopped to put two small groves in the plastic tailgate cap. They were small ,and no big deal, but it sure could have been a disaster. I was lucky she was there.

Now pulling forward far enough one day for my awning to clear the house so I could put it out to clean it, I was not so lucky. I raised the landing gear just enough ,couple inches to pull forward . Well when the truck went off the approach of the driveway it folded up those landing gear very nicely 😞 It made enough noise scrapping the cement to bring my wife out of the house. Wasn't loud enough to get me stopped in time. 🙂

[SpeakEasy]

Well, now that we're into telling horror stories....

Several years ago we were camped in our popup. My wife and I, along with our daughters, had been invited to a wedding downstate. Mrs. S. and I went to the wedding, and daughter #2 was going to follow in a bit in her own car after she finished getting spruced up.

We're in the church, waiting for her to arrive. When she gets there her face is drained of all color, and she has a very worried look on her face.

Turns out she was backing her car up to leave the campsite and she hit the gas instead of the brake. She T-boned our popup at who knows what speed. Well, if you've ever had a popup, you know they are built with the equivalent of matchsticks as a frame. When we got back to the campsite I couldn't believe the amount of damage. I'm honestly surprised that the insurance company didn't total it. I managed to get the top collapsed in order to get it home. We were dealing with consequences for years afterward, because of some frame issues as well as incompetent repairs from the dealer.

Great way to bond with your daughter.

-Speak

[Cummins12V98]

At Thousand Trails in Palm Springs, CA a few years ago. An older guy was unhooked hopped in truck idled forward and felt the tailgate bump the pinbox, it startled him so much he hit the gas instead of the brake and ripped the tailgate off and he shot across the main drag and nearly hit a lady and the RV across the road before stopping. I could not believe how mangled the tailgate was. It was just before or just after that he also dropped the RV on the truck.

[Cummins12V98]

JTrac wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
I need to drop my tailgate to unplug the RV and also disconnect the breakaway cable. I also carry these blocks in the bed so VERY unlikely the tailgate will get damaged.

I won't be without my backup camera!

The BS-ing part got me big time. Was finishing up getting ready to leave saying our good byes. Started to pull away and there was a lot of noise. Cord was still attached to pedestal. Pulled over pedestal sparks were flying and water bubbling out of the ground. Also pulled the power cable that was hard wired to the RV right out. NOT a pretty picture, I thought the noise was dragging the trees above. I have a policy, I tell people to please leave until I am setup or torn down before we can talk.

Me neither, my backup camera that is. How is that box made? Must be something inside to carry all that weight. Looks like a good idea so tell me how it is constructed, if you don't mind, and please and thank you.

I used one sheet of 3/4" solid core AC plywood to build all 6 boxes. Glued with PL Premium Construction Adhesive and screwed together with 2" coarse thread coated deck screws.

Front are 10x16x10 high, the 4 rears are 10x10x8" high the rears are hollow.

I bought the 1/4" diamond plate rubber matt from Amazon and used 3/4x #8 flat head Phillips to hold them in place.

[tinner12002]

I carry the front landing gear pads in the back of my truck so I have to have tailgate down to access them...I can't forget that way!

[fj12ryder]

It's pretty much Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will."

[Charley67]

I've done that, but the last thing I did on that order was back into the pin box with the tailgate up. It's part of it!

[Duke-44]

IBcarguy wrote:
Well,today I made a careless mistake and messed up my truck dropping my new 5th wheel. Everything was unhooked, landing gear down, so I attempted to pull my truck out from under the trailer. The only problem was that I forgot to lower the tailgate and the pinbox smashed it up pretty bad when I pulled forward. @#&$(&^!#$ !!! Obviously, I'm a little PO'd at myself for being so careless. I bet I won't do it again though.

Well that's what I said the first time. "I won't do that again."
You noticed I said the first time.

When I took it to my favorite body shop to fix, he said he would fix it a certain way. But he said the next time he would do it a different way. Meaning he expected to see me a 3rd time.

Good luck on the not doing that again.

[Bayley]

I feel your pain "almost". The first time I unhooked my 5th wheel from my truck, I too forgot to lower the tailgate. Thank God for small miracles the pin box was raised enough that I only pealed the trim piece off the top of the tailgate. It cost me $87.00 which I was happy to pay considering what could have happened.
Believe me, I now always double check everything before I move anything.
Sorry the "big bang" happened to you!

[JTrac]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
I need to drop my tailgate to unplug the RV and also disconnect the breakaway cable. I also carry these blocks in the bed so VERY unlikely the tailgate will get damaged.

I won't be without my backup camera!

The BS-ing part got me big time. Was finishing up getting ready to leave saying our good byes. Started to pull away and there was a lot of noise. Cord was still attached to pedestal. Pulled over pedestal sparks were flying and water bubbling out of the ground. Also pulled the power cable that was hard wired to the RV right out. NOT a pretty picture, I thought the noise was dragging the trees above. I have a policy, I tell people to please leave until I am setup or torn down before we can talk.

Me neither, my backup camera that is. How is that box made? Must be something inside to carry all that weight. Looks like a good idea so tell me how it is constructed, if you don't mind, and please and thank you.

[Martyn]

Ouch! 😞

That's why I bought one of these: