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Re: 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.8Views1like4CommentsRe: 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.22Views0likes0CommentsRe: 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.31Views0likes1CommentRe: Lithium - Charging
While I am not an expert at the care and feeding of batteries, Will Prowse is, and he points out that LiFePO4 batteries have a BMS that requires them to charge to 100% in order to balance the cells. This is essential at least with some frequency lest the cells become unbalanced. One can argue that cycling them between 20% and 80% will give you the longest life, the fact that even the roughest use is likely to have them last 10 or more years, you are going to get your money's worth out of them. Will Prowse says cycle them between 5% and 100% all you want. The battery chemistry in you phone definitely does not like being charged to 100%, but the chemistry of those batteries in your camper is totally different.51Views0likes3CommentsRe: Just looking for info.
A little known fact is that circuit breakers weaken just a tiny bit every time they pop. If the previous owner popped the breaker often, perhaps that breaker is now so weak it pops well before it should. And it sounds like that may be the case here. I, too, have a trailer with a 30 amp hookup, and have never had an issue running the AC while using the microwave along with lights and other stuff. Perhaps a first step would be to replace that breaker. Because of your need for lots of power, you will have to stay in campgrounds with at least electric hookups. As others have pointed out, neither solar nor gas generator is going to save you money. Your best bet is to find a campground that offers seasonal or annual rates. These rates are usually not advertised, you'll have to ask for them. Good luck, happy hunting, and let us know what you find.36Views0likes2CommentsRe: add 2nd battery
I would add that when you do buy 2 new batteries, that you make sure that you wire them correctly by putting the positive lead to the coach on one battery and the negative lead on the other battery. If you put both leads on the same battery, the pair will not share the load equally, leading to premature aging of both batteries. This is because even though the jumpers between them are short and very low resistance, they will still add a little to the circuit, and this is enough to be a problem.35Views0likes0CommentsRe: Magic Chef stove
Your description of the pilot light situation sounds perfectly normal to me. The pilot flame would be a nearly invisible blue flame, the red bit is the tip of the thermocouple heated to normal glowing red hot temperature by the pilot flame. If the oven is only hot when you attempt to bake something, I see two possibilities: (1) you have accidentally set the oven to "broil" or (2) the thermostat has failed in the burner-on position. The cure for the first is obvious; the cure for the second is thermostat replacement. Either way, there is nothing wrong with either the pilot light or the thermocouple. (BTW, the latter is a fail-safe, and if it needed replacement, you would get no heat at all.)61Views0likes1CommentRe: Dry tongue weight versus fully loaded
You can guess, or you can actually measure. There seem to be two ways to do so, both of which will cost you a few bucks. You can hit the nearest CAT scales and do a little math or you can go to etrailer.com and buy a scale intended for the purpose. The latter are actually not very expensive.98Views0likes3Comments
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