naturist
Nomad II
Joined 18 years ago
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Re: are you running Battleborn batteries?
Big fan of Will Prowse here. I do not own any Battleborn batteries, but if I did, I would definitely watch out for the issue he raised. I would recommend anyone with large batteries of any chemistry to have an IR thermometer. Same goes for anyone with wheel bearings on a trailer. Periodic checking of component temperatures is a valuable way to get ahead of problems before they turn into catastrophes. Actually, good idea to go run that IR thermometer over your electrics no matter what battery you have. You know, just in case . . . . (When you have one wheel bearing running hotter than the others by a significant amount, it means you have one about to fail, and nobody wants to go there.) (When you have an electrical component running hot, you have a potential fire, and SOMETHING needs to be done.)8Views0likes0CommentsRe: Is this safe?
Like Grit_dog, I do not claim to be among the weight cops. But I quite agree with him on this one. That is a capable truck, but the trailer is too much for it, especially as equipped, but I suspect regardless of mods you might make. You are not merely 700 lbs over payload, you are 700 lbs PLUS THE WEIGHT OF PASSENGERS and any other "stuff" you might have on board. Assuming just mom & pop, no kiddos, you are looking at 1100 lbs over, probably more. The towing experience will suck bigly, especially for an inexperienced driver, and yes, it will eventually damage the truck, and yes, probably unsafe, and might indeed cause issues with insurance, should (heaven forbid) there be an accident. I highly recommend going with a trailer within the capacity of the truck. Remember, trailer sales people routinely lie that a customer's truck can handle a given trailer. They care only about making the sale, not about the customer's experience later. So much so, that there is a dark joke about it: Do you know how to tell if a sales person it lying? Their lips are moving.8Views0likes0CommentsRe: Rv rental won't let us tow our vehicle...how do we rent a car at every stop?
That question seems to have brought out quite a bit of snark. On behalf of the wiser heads here, my apologies. There are a lot of complicated ways RVers address the problem of wandering around the vicinity of their campsites. In your case, renting a car in the nearest town that has a rental place would seem to be your best bet, with getting an Uber or Lyft ride a second option. Which being better is situational. If and when you do purchase an RV, either getting a towable one and a suitable tow vehicle OR getting a motorhome with a high enough tow rating and the necessary towing equipment is another question entirely, none of which is useful for your current situation.74Views0likes2CommentsRe: Route suggestions Charleston, WV to Lancaster, OH
while I have taken both the I-77 to I-70 and the I-77 to US 33 routes often, I've never attempted to do so towing a rig that big. The only issue with US 33 that sticks out in my mind is at the Ohio River crossing, where the route takes a couple tight turns. Almost all of that route is 4-lane divided, but there are a couple stretches of 2-lane, which by themselves shouldn't be problems. If there's anyone with a better feel for that Ohio crossing, please speak up. The US 33 route is my preferred one, I just have never dragged that big of a rig.120Views1like1CommentRe: Maintenance for Silicone Roof Coating on EDPM
I put on Tropicool a year ago, including over some Eternabond on an EDPM membrane and got good results, There was one leak still, however, which I traced to the edge of one of the Eternabond strips, where evidently two coats of Tropicool did not manage to seal. It seems the Tropicool coating was repelled by something about the Eternabond edge, and left an uncoated seam. I used a silicone caulk I bought at Lowes to caulk over that edge, and it seems to have bonded well and stopped the leak. I have no clue why that one spot failed to coat, and no others have proven a problem, but you might want to watch out for a similar issue. The trailer lives most of the time in storage under some black walnut trees, and thus it is impossible to keep black stains completely at bay. But a soft brush and Simple Green does seem to work cleaning the Tropicool layer.52Views0likes0CommentsRe: Easiest path through the mountains?
Live in Virginia, family in Ohio, make the trip often. I have taken several of the available routes, and can second the I-64 recommendation. Any way you do it, there are grades reaching 6-7% or more. Remember to gear down on those to save your brakes for when you will need them. While US 33 and US 250 are both more scenic, they are not easier, especially with a camper in tow.53Views0likes0CommentsRe: 2005 Chevy Silverado 1500, 4.8 liter V8
Absolutely Not!!! valhalla360 is right, but not vigorous enough in saying "make a trailer unstable" IMHO. Understatement of the year there. Putting extra weight in the rear of the trailer all but guarantees out of control sway with a high likelihood of catastrophic sideways overturn wreckage. Don't do it. Ever. At the same time, it is important to understand what the extra 45 lbs means. It is not like there is a switch here and 45 lbs over destroys everything. When the manufacturer sets a spec like that, they are saying they guarantee it'll handle that amount, and that is their legal limit of liability. The law simply requires a line in the sand. It does not allow for the gray-scale that is reality. So the deal is this: the extra 45 pounds is meaningless other than that Chevy is off the hook and you are on your own should it come to a lawsuit. Your truck is marginally less safe, marginally overloaded, and marginally more likely to break. The difference is a fractional percentage. Whereas at 600 lbs, you are 99.999 percent safe (NOTHING being 100% safe), at 645 lbs, you are now 99.998 percent safe. You are more at risk of breakage from the age of the vehicle than from the 45 extra pounds. It is an older truck. It should be treated gently for that reason alone. So if the truck successfully drags that trailer to your first camp site, it'll be fine. Would I go out and buy such a truck for such a task? No. But in your situation, I wouldn't worry about it, either. I also wouldn't take on a 900 lb load. That's called daring fate to strike you down. With stuck out tongue and raspberries.35Views1like4CommentsRe: Streaming YouTube TV from iPhone using a lightening digital adapter
While I don't have YouTube TV, I have the same issue with both Netflix and Amazon Prime TV. The bottom tier subscription to both no longer works when I hook up to the TV, and conversation with tech support revealed that the "solution" was to subscribe to a premium service with one (don't remember which now) and cannot be done with the other. And yes, it definitely does suck, but there it is. We have been able to watch on the slightly bigger screen of an iPad, but neither the iPhone nor the iPad can display on the TV. And I refuse to encourage this crap by subscribing to the premium service for the sole support of a TV.224Views0likes0CommentsRe: 2025 GMC sierra 1500 4x4 towed behind motorhome
(1) There is no reason you can't use that switch on the ground side. Buy it, install it on ground at battery, and enjoy. You're welcome. (2) Vehicle MUST be in park and transfer case in neutral at all times while moving. I know a guy who failed to do that, left transmission in neutral as well, and his reward was needing a new transmission after the first such tow. The reason being that with the fluid couplings in torque converter (and elsewhere) there was just enough rotational force transferred to cause the transmission internals to rotate, albeit slowly, but without proper lube since the transmission fluid pump wasn't being rotated, that it burned up all the bearings in the transmission. Granted it wasn't a 2025 or a GMC, but the design of things and instructions were the same. (3) And yes, the truck stays in ACC mode the whole trip to keep the steering from locking up.189Views0likes1Comment
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