Securing small camper with short bed ‘09 Tacoma
Hey everyone. Tom in Portland, Oregon here. New small truck camper and novice with most things involved but figuring it out as we work on our recently purchased 1983 Perris Valley truck camper. Getting new shocks and airbags installed in my truck this week but I’m wondering if anyone has a 2009 Tacoma four door short bed recommendations for securing the camper properly in the back. We drive it home with heavy duty tie downs but it did shift a little bit in transport, and looking for other options, as it will stay in my truck all summer for some family adventures. Thanks so much!
Leveling
I was just wondering if anybody has any better Solutions for leveling a class c? I am on a very unlevel area where I am parked and I live full-time in my R. V. Im using those plastic levelers and it is really difficult to use because 3 of 4 sides are different heights. I don't know if anybody has any other suggestions that might help. I want to find a way to make it easier to do and a little more secure than what I have now.
RV Depreciation
Does anyone know of an online calculator or tool that provides accurate RV pricing and depreciation that is NOT aimed to support dealers? Is there anything with Artificial Intelligence analysis? For people that have recently bought a rig, please let me know how you went about pricing, comparing, and purchasing. I am not interested in “We are okay with it being a sunk cost”. Thank you -Lenny 2024 Airstream Flying Cloud 23FBQ 2020 Ford F-350 Lariat
Sales Tax
Hello, having a weird edge case situation on paying sales tax on new to me TT. TL;DR Sales tax was charged on a casual sale of used TT from non business living trust to me. Tag office cites non existent laws that all trusts are entities thus all are business/dealers. I plan to appeal to GA DOR and or Tribunal as its ridiculous. I am in GA. Trailer was sold to me by a living trust that for legal sake did not engage in any business nor held the TT for commercial reasons and it was stipulated on the BOS. The tag office has slapped me with a big sales tax(few thousand as its a quality TT) as trust = entity = dealer. Note this isnt TAVT but specifically a sales tax on a trailer. What im struggling with is that you cant just blanket call all trusts a "dealer" and skirt the whole casual sale exemption as for all intents and purposes thats what it was. Georgia law is very clear on its definition of a "dealer/business" and this is not it. I cant find any Georgia law that also blanket cover all "entities or trusts" as dealers. Only thing I see that sales tax only applies if the sale of tangible property was done by an entity engaged in business which this living trust isnt. I wanted to post here to see if people ever tried to appeal similar or exact situation because this situation simply ludicrous. If folks are experienced with GA law ill take specific statutes that either support or take apart my case.
Help! 2004 Bigfoot 2500 TC Advice
Hi everyone! My husband and I just purchased a 2004 Bigfoot2500 10.5E truck camper and we’ve spent hours upon hours trying to source parts for it. It’s certainly harder then anticipated but we really want to make sure we’re doing right by our old school Bigfooot. Theres a few things we’ve haven’t been able to find and we’d would love any information/insight. 1. Kitchen sink plastic drain stoppers. We have a split acrylic (I think?) sink. Theres a beige plastic stopper in each drain that seem screw down into the drain in order to plug it. Ours our deteriorating and for now we’re trying to find replacements if anyone knows where to get them. We’re debating replacing the entire sink as well at some point so if anyone has some insight with links to replacement sinks or how big of a job that would be. The more info the better 2. Exterior range hooded vent cover. Ours is cracking and discolored on the outside and we can’t find a similar one that fits. Apparently the only one we can order from Bigfoot is too large and we’d have to cut the hole in the fiberglass bigger (certainly trying to avoid that lol). 3. Replacing the mattress. We ordered a new foam mattress from Amazon (6 inches like the original). Although, I really like the quality of the mattress cover on the original and was wondering if anyone ever replaced the original insert with a foam mattress to keep the cover? Also, are the cushion upholstery and mattress cover that come in these older Bigfoots machine washable? 4. Monitor panel on power range hood. All of the connections, lights for tank levels and switches function properly but the rubber boarder on panel itself seems to be pulling away from the metal hood. Is there a way to replace the entire strip/mount around the switches? I know that panel itself is delicate so before we go taking it apart is this a “dont fix what’s not broken” situation? 5. Exterior door metal lock. It’s always sticking and hard to close without using force. Any links to a good replacement would be helpful. 6. Wet bath shower curtain track. Looking the replace the entire track since the little clasps attached to it are rusty and one on the end is stuck in place. I can’t seem to find the replacement anywhere. Or is there a product to apply to get the rust off without compromising the fiberglass? 7. Replacement exterior little door locks. A lot of them are a pain to unlock with the key and they stick. Has anyone ever bought them in bulk and replaced them all? Or is there a way to clean them out or a specific lubricant to get them to function better? I know the list is long but if anyone has any tips, links to replacement products, ideas just any insight at all it would be so so so helpful. My Bigfoot did come with an owners manual but it’s a bit vague and a lot of the individual manuals they reference for more information we don’t have. I added a picture of the information inside of the closet incase anyone happens to be familiar with our model or own the same one. Thanks everyone!
State farm denying my claim
I had to leave my travel trailer for 5 weeks due to helping my mom who had open heart surgery. I have a 2019 kz sportsman. When I return I open the door to find my seams are coming apart and water damage to walls. Especially in the bunk room. Allstate sends an adjuster and now claim is denied. They tell me this has been going on for a long time. There was no sign of water damage anywhere. No mold anywhere. Now what do I do? ThanksFifth Wheel Hitch Types (air/flexible/...)
Looking to tow a very heavy 5th wheel trailer (with an F-550 or such). I've seen 5th wheel hitches that mount flat, hitches that articulate, hitches that have air bags, etc..) I can imagine that a flat hitch on the truck can flex the heck out of the trailer - so it seems like I want one with air or at least some articulation points in it, but it's difficult to find in 25k lbs or more. How important are these features, particularly considering that I need to drive over some dirt roads (that's the reason the trailer is so heavy - I got a custom trailer with a massive frame so I don't have to worry about things like frame flex).Proper truck for a very heavy trailer
I am moving out of my tour bus that I converted and into a Space Craft trailer. Those of you familiar with Space Craft will understand that it's very heavy. It's a 43' fifth wheel trailer with about 7-8k of pin weight and about 24k of total trailer weight. We're looking at trucks, and across the board it looks like the one-ton trucks can't cut it. So we've been looking at the Ram 5500 and the Ford F550 (and even the F650), so we've been learning way more about towing than we realized existed. We are in California, which limits our options. We've considered some of the semi tractors, but would prefer something that looks more like a pickup. We also are a family of three, so we need a crew cab. One of the things we were not thrilled about with the tour bus was its inability to drive up a mountain over 30 mph. The bus had a 6V92T with 300 HP and ~900 lb-ft of torque and was similar weight, close to 26k lbs. Looking at the 550 and 5500 options seems to put us in about the same boat, though sometimes with more torque. I'm hoping that it will be able to safely pull the trailer up a 5-6% grade at better than 30 mph, but is that just because of the better transmission with more gears, considering the power is about the same? The F650 seems like a beefier solution but I've read in some places that they are just heavier and often slower. So.. general thoughts on the right kind of truck to get and things I need to know about (like trailer brake controllers, possibly getting air suspension or maybe air brakes, power needs, axle ratios...)? I feel like there's so much to learn I'll never know when I'm done, but we need the truck soon. Generally looking at used vehicles with 30-90k miles.
