Setting up for the 1st time at campground

[CarpFishermanAn]

Please verify these steps are correct (this is Wife asking making sure hubby does it right - LOL):
1. Unhook the sway arms before backing into site. (Is this completely necessary if you are just backing straight in to a paved, level spot?)
2. When trailer is where you want it, leave connected to truck and put chocks around wheels. (Do you also use the chocks you drive on to level it?)
3. At this point, do you unhook the truck or put down the jacks?
4. We also have X-chocks that go between the front and back wheels. Do these go on after the truck is disconnected?
5. Anything else we need to know about setting up and disconnecting?
Thanks!

[Tom_Diane]

1971duster340 wrote:

ah64id wrote:
Others have chimed in with great responses, but I will throw my routine in for campground parking.

7) Use tongue jack to take tension off of of equalizer bars, and remove bars.

This wasn't mentioned in some posts, but Yes this is important and will make the tension chains much easier and safer to remove and install. There are hundreds of lbs. on the cheater pipe that releases the chains if you don't use the tongue jack. Even more weight if you aren't straight.

Beside giving more traction, I remove the sway bars AND the WD before backing into a site for the reason given above if the site is uneven.

[forthefunofit94]

When using the X-Chocks, I wait until everything else is done and I am ready to relax. When you first arrive, the tires are warm. If you put the x=chocks on then, you will have to tighten them again. If the tires are cool, you only have to do this once.

[AH64ID]

Terryallan wrote:
5) If site isn't level set park brake on brake controller

Ok, I need to know. What kind of brake controller has a parking brake? My Prodigy doesn't have one, Nor did my first controller.

I currently use a MaxBrake and it has one.

The Prodigy P2 has one, called the "Boost and Hold" feature. Honestly I ran a P2 for 7 or 8 years and never tried it as I didn't know about it until I had removed it.

The Prodidy P3 has the same feature.

I am not sure what other models do.

[campigloo]

Most of the posts are pretty normal for any trailer. One point that was very good was checking the utilities and slide clearance first. Utilities include water. I have been to a few that had a water supply line but no actual water in them. Very frustrating. One park even had the utilities just a couple of feet off the road on the curb side of the spot. What genius designed this? I rarely disconnect the sway bars, but I do loosen the tension when I get off the big road, just for the sake of not adding wear to them.

[1971duster340]

Terryallan wrote:
5) If site isn't level set park brake on brake controller

Ok, I need to know. What kind of brake controller has a parking brake? My Prodigy doesn't have one, Nor did my first controller.

I think mine was a Prodigy P2, but if you held the brake override control fully for a few seconds while stopped, it would apply full voltage to the TT brakes and lock em until you removed the 7 pin, moved the controller, applied the tow brakes, etc. The override would work as expected if the controller felt you moving. This wasn't in my owners manual and my later Prodigy didn't have the feature.

[1971duster340]

ah64id wrote:
Others have chimed in with great responses, but I will throw my routine in for campground parking.

7) Use tongue jack to take tension off of of equalizer bars, and remove bars.

This wasn't mentioned in some posts, but Yes this is important and will make the tension chains much easier and safer to remove and install. There are hundreds of lbs. on the cheater pipe that releases the chains if you don't use the tongue jack. Even more weight if you aren't straight.

[bakerkids]

I have gotten to where I test the power at the post as soon as I back into my site. Very frustrating to go through all the steps only to find out you don't have power, or there's a power issue of some kind.

[Allworth]

My Electro/Hydraulic Disk brakes do not have a parking brake setting. This should not be a problem on the trailer the OP is talking about, but blanket statements can jump up and bite you.

(My P-3 doesn't have a parking function anyway.)

[opnspaces]

As you can see it's fairly easy and everyone has the same basic steps so I won't reiterate the same stuff here.


Ultimately the steps are fairly simple and you will figure it out pretty quickly so I'm only going to suggest what i think is a safety issue in all these steps.

Like ah64id states in rule #9, the safety chains stay attached until the trailer is disconnected, the wheels are chocked, and you have verified it's not going to roll away. I go one step further and when it comes time to break camp I try to always hook up a chain right after I back under the coupler.

If you want to know why, just stay on these forums for a while and someone will post about disconnecting the hitch and then trying to stop their trailer as it is rolling down the hill toward the lake. :E

[2112]

It was mentioned but I will reiterate, if you have a slide make sure you have slide clearance before anything else. Nothing more frustrating than executing steps 1-5 and then find out the power pedestal or that nice tree is too close to the slide out.

[Terryallan]

5) If site isn't level set park brake on brake controller

Ok, I need to know. What kind of brake controller has a parking brake? My Prodigy doesn't have one, Nor did my first controller.

[tomkaren13]

Suggestion we found that helps us. Make a check list to use. List steps you need to follow for hitching up. Another list for unhitching. We have on the starting out list includes checking inside for things to put away. Also a reminder to walk around checking that stairs up, antenna down,electric ect unhooked.

We have been camping over 5 yrs and even now the list is still stopping problems.

Good wishes and have fun.

[robsouth]

TEE HEE!

[LynnandCarol]

We remove the sway bars as soon as we enter the campground. They are no longer needed and could be damaged with heavy turn-backing. These are the sway bars and not the WD-Bars.