What mistakes have you made that might help others...?

[d3500ram]

There is another thread going about a member who shared with us his misfortune on his camper. In it, was a very informative discussion as to how best resolve the problem. But more subtle was the message for me to take some extra time when loading/ unloading my TC. I applaud that member for sharing. There were other members who were sharing their mistakes. And it got me thinking... can we post here what things you would like to take back (regarding TC's) that will help others by learning from mistakes.

I will read posts about putting gas in their diesel trucks on other forums. Every time I read problems like this it reminds me to take the extra time in order to not be "that guy." Whenever I read of others misfortune I vicariously learn through that person's mistakes.

I learned the hard way to make sure to pull the truck WAY OUT OF THE WAY once it is free from the camper. I once pulled out "just enough" and though it was enough space for the camper to be lowered. I recall kicking myself when upon lowering the camper did I realize the front portion of the overhead part (where it just starts to turn horizontal) had caught the rear part of the truck bed above the tail light. Jeez! only another 3" and it would have cleared just fine. Uhg! It dented the metal of the camper but did not puncture the skin. But now I make sure now that I pull the truck forward MORE than enough to insure room so it does not ever happen again.

Upon inspection pre-purchase of another past camper I noticed a clear outline of the end profile of a gutter. Yea, the kind on a house. When pointing it out to the owner they said yep, the TC was too close to the house when raising it (it was a pop-up TC.) I bought the camper and treated that dent as if I did it myself... The camper was in otherwise perfect condition except for this dent and it too was not punctured.

I have been lucky in my mistakes and no one was ever injured and these are very minor. What can you share (and perhaps laugh at) about your misfortunes that may help me and other to perhaps take away a learning lesson from your mishaps.

[Tizi]

Get a bigger truck. I wanted the gas engine, but could not get it in the 3500 with SRW (which I wanted). I kind of got stuck with the 2500. I am happy with it, but would have liked the extra capacity. I would not get a camper with a slide, I prefer solid side (it's only us and 2 small Cairn Terriors).

[TxGearhead]

Not buying enough truck.
In chronological order of the last 5 years:
GMC 2500 6.0 pulling a Cougar XLite 5th no bueno.
Ford F350 SRW diesel pulling same Cougar mucho bueno.
Same Ford F350 SRW pulling new Montana HC no bueno, over payload.
Ram 3500 Cummins SRW pulling same Montana much bueno.
Same Ram 3500 hauling Bigfoot, ehhh maybe a dually would be better.

[stufarmer]

Run the Generator OFTEN !! Wether you need the power or not.

[AKsilvereagle]

By NOT trusting the advertised sticker of total weight posted on the camper....

Sticker showed my camper weight with full water and full propane : 1740 lb

I was like "great, perfect for my 70 Ford Truck - should work well weightwise"

Bought the camper shell in 2008 and loaded it on the truck and drove it to work on the company truck scale....

Math showed 1920 lbs with NO water and NO propane.

Bottom line - Fleetwood and other manufacturers lie about weight.

Already 320 lbs overweight on front axle, both fuel tanks full - cabover front empty with only a 3 lb mattress.

Rear axle fine as 200 lbs under max weight fully loaded, however gross GVWR was 600 lbs over.....still made it work though.

Thanks to RV dot Net members here doing research before joining the forum guided me to recommendations that were posted upon beefing up the suspension and installing other custom equipment and strong sidewall truck tires to make the rig real sturdy and safe for what I have....$3900 later on all upgrades with entire new front end I have made it work for 9 years now but still overweight (which does not change) although the truck handles safe like it isn't overweight at all nor looks overweight - just have to watch out for the potential portable weight police in BC with their random checks I keep hearing about that I have never come across them.

Still looking for a reliable older Ford dually rig with more weight rating capacity (one that I can fix if it ever strands) as I always have carried extra new parts for my 70 truck and tools (200 lbs total) travelling in the far north.

[trail-explorer]

When fueling up. DO NOT let someone distract you when you are inserting your card, reaching for the diesel nozzle, etc.

I've never put gas in my diesel truck, but have come close twice because someone/something distracted me.

[ppine]

There is no perfect RV. Try to figure out what is important and select for that. Sometimes less is more. Be ready to make a change and go larger or smaller. If the girl is not happy you will be making trips solo and with your friends. Buy used. Don't go more than around 300 miles per day if you can avoid it. If it is not fun, stop and do something else.

[mkasner]

Buying a shortbed gas SRW truck...

[Scalcote]

D3500ram looks like an easy way to go but since I already had a disconnect and some 8 gauge wire laying around, I'm just gonna fly with that. Although not enough to make a full run from front to back. I have a 2014 cclb. I don't have the optional air ride but if anyone is looking to use d3500ram's way to do it. The air ride fuse slot is open and it's keyed power.

[d3500ram]

Scalcote- do yourself a favor and install a continuous duty solenoid with a 10 or 8 gage direct charge line... then you will not need to worry. Not sure what year your Dodge is, but i documented my setup here:
http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25716950/gotomsg/25717016.cfm#25717016

...you can still install the disconnect switch as you propose for convenience, but the key-off new charge line is the way to go in my opinion.

[Scalcote]

I had ran out of propane for fridge and fridge automatically switched over to 12v that night so when go to start truck....dead, not even a click. So now I make sure to set fridge to gas only and remove plug from truck. I was going to check gas left in tank on wkend but ran out Thursday night/Fri morning. Had to buy 2 truck batteries for truck(RAM 3500) but was able to get camper batteries to hold a charge. I'm in process of making a battery disconnect So i dont have to keep climbing under to remove cable. I have solar but doesn't work at night. Also don't want to just disconnect power from truck as it may become an emergency power source.

[towpro]

RamblinAnne wrote:


Those darn New York Parkways!! Yeah.. be careful in the North East guys. Drove my Bigfoot from Cali to NY without a hitch.. even made it through NYC.. and then when I was about 40 miles from my destination on Long Island, I ripped the AC off under one of those absurdly low bridges that are seemingly everywhere. I got lucky though. Could have done some serious damage to the fiberglass shell. But the experience still haunts me.

on east coast we have the old Pennsylvania Railroad. they built bridges high enough to get horse drawn carts under them. There are also some beautiful Stone arch type bridge, accept when you need to use center of road to clear side clearance, and some ID10T in a car don't realize (or even think) what your doing, so they force them self into tunnel oncoming than sit in front of you and blow horn.

[Rubiranch]

got married

[d3500ram]

Last year upon returning from my hunting trip I was driving in a lot of slushy snow. I usually take the camper off the truck to store for the winter and this particular time I stopped by the self serve, wand-operated car wash... I did not want to have it all dirty while sitting all winter.

Even though I did not spray water directly at/on the door and access hatch locks, they nonetheless got water in them and froze to the point where I could not get a key in to continue my unloading when at home. Not a big deal as I got the heat gun out and defrosted them.

In the future, I might just keep a rag and roll of duct tape in the cab to wipe and then put a small piece over each door cylinder (all 4 of them) when washing the camper in cold temperatures to make this little chore easier when in similar conditions.

[RamblinAnne]

Kidoo wrote:
Almost got the camper hook on an overpass in New York, scared the hell out of me. Overpass says 9.1 feet each side, don't know how I got trough. Be very carefull if driving in New York area, many oberpass with low clearance.

Also got the truck camper tie down hook on the camper jack while pulling off.

Those darn New York Parkways!! Yeah.. be careful in the North East guys. Drove my Bigfoot from Cali to NY without a hitch.. even made it through NYC.. and then when I was about 40 miles from my destination on Long Island, I ripped the AC off under one of those absurdly low bridges that are seemingly everywhere. I got lucky though. Could have done some serious damage to the fiberglass shell. But the experience still haunts me.

[bcbouy]

last spring i was messing around in the truck camper,jumped in the truck and drove 30 miles down the freeway doing 60 with the pop up latches undone.props to northstar on a really solid build.if it was my old sun lite i'd have lost the top for sure.i broke a latch on the front and bent the bars on that one while barrelling down the highway.luckily no damage to my brand new camper. if you have a pop up,double check your roof latches!!