Tracking miles of trailer?

[RonRN18]

I take possession of my first travel trailer on Thursday and getting quite anxious about playing with everything. One thing that I've been thinking about for a while is whether there is any easy way to track miles of a trailer from an iPhone. I'm a real gadget person and have already purchased several devices to help in managing the trailer, including the BlueLogic LevelMatePro, Victron BMV-712 Smart Battery Monitoring system, and HaulGauge which communicate with my iPhone via Bluetooth. Unlike a motorhome, where the odometer of the motorhome will tell you miles traveled, the odometer of my truck tells me how far the truck has traveled, not how many miles the trailer has been towed. I've seen some "asset tracking" devices that send data via a cellular telephone network, but unfortunately, they all require a monthly service fee, which I am not interested in. I've seen some trailer hub odometers, but I only seem to see ones for semi-trailers, not travel trailers. Does anyone know of anything else for tracking miles on the trailer?

[rrupert]

RonRN18 wrote:

philh wrote:

RonRN18 wrote:
Does anyone know of anything else for tracking miles on the trailer?

My 2018 F150 tracks trailer miles 🙂

I have just purchased my 2016 F150 and have not yet hooked a trailer up to it... I think I can use my truck too. If so, an easy solution. Since you posted this, I looked it up and see that I have to manually tell the truck when I disconnect the trailer, but otherwise, it will track the miles. Cool.

The truck will sense when the trailer is disconnected.

[Tvov]

I thought you people were kidding about your trucks "tracking" trailer miles... I figured you were just using the trucks odometer. I had no idea that new trucks have that feature.

[fitznj]

Get a Garmin Edge 520 bicycle computer;
Runs of a battery/usb and tracks
Total miles, trip miles, time, total ascent etc etc etc;

Then log into Garmin and download all the data; Keep track of
a boatload of metrics; I've been doing this for 5? years on
my bicycle and all the data is still there.

[2112]

My 2011 logs trailer mileage on 5 different trailers. If the trailer has electric brakes, which yours will, it will automatically pop up when you start the truck. If the trailer doesn't have brakes, you will have to manually engage the trailer odometer function.

Be ready the first time you connect the trailer, read the manual beforehand. If a trailer with brakes has never been connected, it will come up as Default. At this point you will have an opportunity to change the name. I recommend giving it a unique name.

My truck knows my current camper as 'Durango'. At a later date I connected a car hauler and 'Durango' popped up. It provided an opportunity to select a different trailer or create a new one. I created 'Hauler'. Now the Hauler miles do not log as Durango.

If I connect a utility trailer that does not have brakes I have to manually go into the system and tell it I'm towing 'Flat', the name I gave it. Once I unhitch Flat, I have to remember to manually tell it I'm no longer towing Flat or it will continue logging miles for Flat.

I have not deleted the logs of two other trailers I no longer own. This preserves a record of how many total miles this truck has towed any trailer

No App Required

[MitchF150]

Even my 13 F150 tracks trailer mileage. You have to program the truck computer for that trailer, but it's all in the manual.

Mitch

[RonRN18]

Walaby wrote:
Haven't done it, not sure Im worried about it.

Don't see it impacting anything like resale value or anything, and not a question I would think to ask if I was buying a used one.

What is the driving need?

Mike

My initial reason for thinking of it was when I was calling insurance to add the trailer to our policy. They wanted to know how many miles I'd be towing it a year. This is my first trailer and I work full-time, so it won't be a ton of miles but I was completely baffled as to how many miles I'll be putting on it. I asked the insurance guy what difference it made and he didn't know, especially when for much of the use, it is mostly under the tow vehicle's coverage when in motion. He didn't know why the question was on the list for a trailer. It did get me thinking though of usage and wear & tear on things like the tires.

Thinking of insurance, how much does insurance generally cost most folks out there for their tow-behind travel trailer per year? I was quoted around $250/year with a $1000 deductible. Just curious if that is about par or if I'm being ripped off.

[Walaby]

Haven't done it, not sure Im worried about it.

Don't see it impacting anything like resale value or anything, and not a question I would think to ask if I was buying a used one.

What is the driving need?

Mike

[JIMNLIN]

I keep a written mileage log/dates for each road trip with the trucks odo on all my trailers.
Write the mileage down when leaving the gate and same coming home.

I also subtract side trips without the trailers doing the same.

Still a habit when I had mileage log books to keep up with on all my leased non rv trailers.

[RonRN18]

philh wrote:

RonRN18 wrote:
Does anyone know of anything else for tracking miles on the trailer?

My 2018 F150 tracks trailer miles 🙂

I have just purchased my 2016 F150 and have not yet hooked a trailer up to it... I think I can use my truck too. If so, an easy solution. Since you posted this, I looked it up and see that I have to manually tell the truck when I disconnect the trailer, but otherwise, it will track the miles. Cool.

[jfkmk]

I just did a quick search, and there seems to be a bunch of free apps for tracking mileage. I don’t know how well they work, I’ve never thought about tracking mileage, and like philh, my 18 F- 150 does it too.

[STBRetired]

Get a hub odometer like the trucking companies used to use (I suppose some still use them) before they GPS tracked trailers.

Here is one on Amazon. You will need to figure out how many revolutions your tire makes in one mile. You will also need to find one that will attach to your hubs.

[philh]

RonRN18 wrote:
Does anyone know of anything else for tracking miles on the trailer?

My 2018 F150 tracks trailer miles 🙂

[Lwiddis]

Gee, I estimate miles on my TT and believe it sufficient.

Enjoy your new 2019 Forest River Flagstaff 21FBRS.