SailorGuy
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Trailer brake advice
Hi Just purchased a 2015 Outdoor RV 20FQ (4400 dry/6200 GVW). I need to tow it home (35 miles). I currently have a 2008 F150 V8 pickup which I will replace next month with a newer truck. Current F150 has factory tow package (hitch, 7pin, transmission cooler and 36 gallon gas tank) but no trailer brake controller. I don’t want to tow the trailer home without trailer brakes but I don’t want to spend a lot of money on the truck since I will be selling it next month. One option I found was the Curtis 7pin plug in trailer brake controller which uses an iPhone app to configure the controller. Anyone have any experience with this product? Alternatively I could have the local hitch shop install an after market controller at a cost of $300 to $400. I’m pretty handy. Could I buy a controller at Amazon and install it myself? How hard is it to install? The trailer seller is including the WDH he used to pull the trailer so he and I will set this up when I pick up the trailer. I rented a similar trailer last month for a week and used the rental companies WDH and wireless brake controller since my truck doesn’t have a trailer brake controller. The rental trailer towed fine. Advice/recommendations? TIA SailorGuy7.7KViews0likes33CommentsLife of a trailer slide out?
Hi all, My wife and I just retired and are planning to travel full-time across the USA for the next couple of years. We plan to stay at each location roughly 3-4 days which means we will visit approximately 200 camp sites (365 days x 2 years /3-4 nights per stay). We are considering the Lance 1985 or 1995 but concerned about the reliability and longevity (life) of the slide out mechanism. Based upon the above numbers we will extend and retract the slide at least 200 times during this trip. What is the projected life (number of extend/retract cycles) for this slide mechanism? Does 200 cycles exceed the life (or come close)? Or should we just get a trailer without a slide so as to not have to worry about a slide failure? Sailor Guy4.3KViews0likes13CommentsEnough truck?
New TT user. I'm considering purchasing a Lance 2185 TT (https://www.lancecamper.com/travel-trailers/2185/specs/) or similar size and weight TT. Before I buy (used) I plan to rent one next month using my current truck to pull the trailer to try this trailer out. I have a 2008 Ford F150 2x4 Supercab with 4.6L V8, 145" WB, tow package and canopy. According to the door jam sticker this truck has a GVWR of 6700# and a payload capacity of 1568#. The Lance has a weight of 4565#, payload of 1435 for GVWR of 6000#. The hitch weight is 755#. It will be just my wife and I in the truck for this trip. If I add up our weight (200# each) + 200# topper + 745# hitch weight I'm at 1345# which is within the 1568# max payload. Is this too close? If I use the 15% of the 6000 TT GVWR as the hitch weight I get 900# plus the weight of us and the topper (600#) which is 1400# just barely below the 1568# payload. Too close? The truck rear GAWR is 3800#. If I decide to buy the TT after the week trial, I plan to replace my current F150 truck with a newer (2015-2017) F150 SuperCrew 4x4 145" WB truck with greater max towing rating. I was thinking of the 3.5L Turbo V6 engine (10,700# towing) or should I find a truck with the 5.0L V8? Am I ok to tow the Lance with my current truck for the week trip? Advice on a used F150 truck? Thanks4.9KViews0likes19Comments
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Prefer to camp in a travel trailer? You're not alone.Jan 13, 202544,029 Posts
