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RE: Can I put a reveiver on the campers bumper
The camper in your sig is a slide-in...do you mean to say that there's a hitch on THAT?
If so- under no circumstances should it be used for towing, unless you'd like the whole shootin' match to wind up sitting in the middle of the highway.
Don't laugh, but at one time Lance had a hitch contraption that used the camper bumper for support. It did connect to the truck as well, but it used the camper bumper for vertical support. I never cared for that idea to be honest, but they sold more than a few of them.
You might be able to Goober something together along those same lines for this camper, since it sounds like the rear bumper is more substantial than anything made today. But, why not start over with something better designed? If you've got deep pockets, check out the Torklift superhitch. For what you're talking about towing, you could fabricate a hitch extension that would work just fine though. We're only talking about a couple hundred pounds of tongue weight, right? And this is an eight foot camper on a long-bed or a short-bed?
Twenty-five years ago when I got my first 10' camper and needed to tow a flatbed car-hauler behind it, I made my own hitch extension out of 2" receiver hitch stock. I used both the internal and external tubes welded into a tube-within-a-tube unit, and bolted it into the trucks receiver. My thoughts at the time were: if it's bolted vs. pinned to the truck, I could hook the safety chains from the trailer to the extension. If I needed to do the same thing today, I'd probably add some chain-boomers to give the extension a little more stability side-to-side.
If you like to fabricate stuff like this, that's what I'd do.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/23/12 06:32pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: On the hunt for a free standing battery equalizing charger
I've got an older version of a VEC1093. One that actually has the "Vector" brand on it rather than B&D.
It's a great charger that can handle lead-acid, AGM, and Gel batteries. It has four charge rates, plus a 110 amp engine start assist. It also has an equalization mode and a desulfation mode as well. When they were available, they could be found for about $100. Not sure if they're the same since B&D bought Vector.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/22/12 01:46pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Whiskeytown Lake 5/18-5/20
Here is my new boat menu item of upside down peach cinnamon rolls.
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/883/wt3x.jpg
Dang, that looks good! Just the picture made me drool on my keyboard.
How do you make it?
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/21/12 02:28pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: refrigerator doesn't work need help
Since that's not the original fridge, a model number would be helpful, and year of mfg if you can find it.
When set to AC mode, there's a 120v heating element in the back above the area where the LP flame would be that should get hot. The element itself is usually not visible, as it's under the insulation pack around the chimney. But, you should be able to find the power leads to the element, and trace them back to their connector. Using a volt-meter you can determine if correct AC power is getting to the heating element.
If it is (+ or - 10%), then turn the power off, unplug the leads going to the element and measure the resistance of the heating element. If the element is "open" or infinite resistance, the element is bad. The resistance should also NOT be zero, this would indicate an internal short. The resistance will probably be somewhere around 40-50 ohms.
To determine what the correct resistance should be, the formula is: Voltage squared divided by wattage, for example (120 x 120) / 350 = 41 (again, + or - 10%).
If you're getting correct voltage to the heating element, and the resistance of the element is correct, you SHOULD be putting the correct amount of heat into the cooling unit to see some cooling out of it. If it doesn't get cool, I'd suspect the cooling unit is bad.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/20/12 07:43am |
Truck Campers
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RE: yellow plastic vent -- paint it?
I'd paint it with regular Krylon or Rustoleum oil based paint, but I would not remove it. Just mask it off and use newspaper to keep the over-spray off the camper. The sun is what turned the plastic yellow, and it also makes it brittle. There's a very good chance that if you try to remove it, it will break.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/19/12 05:56pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: front trailer hitch
Curt, Drawtite, Hidden Hitch, Reese.
Those are the most common brand names for hitch receivers.
You'll need to check them all, they don't all make a front receiver for every model of truck, and they aren't all rated the same.
If you find one with a 500# rating, I would have no problem hauling a 400# anything with it.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/18/12 01:32pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: power question
Leave the battery switch "ON" even when you're on shore power. It's working correctly.
Since you just replaced your batteries though, now would be the time to look at your power center (converter/battery charger) and make sure that the battery charger is a smart, three-stage charger that won't boil all the water out of your brand new batteries and kill them.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/15/12 08:04am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Wanna know how bored I am right now?
Oh c'mon. Don't be a wimp.
Helium is for sissies.
Fill it with hydrogen!!! :E
Tires too!
You might try Netflix for boredom relief. :B
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/14/12 08:36pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Best Host Site for posting pictures
Photobucket is probably the most widely used, and is very simple to operate. I don't bother to sort my photos into sub-folders or even name them most of the time. I just dump them all in one big "album".
One of the things I like best about Photobucket is that after you've uploaded your photos, if you hover your pointer over the picture you want to post here, several boxes appear below the image, and one of them is "IMG code" which is what this forum uses. You just click on the box, the code is copied auto-magically, and you can just paste it into the "Quick Reply" at the bottom of topic page without having to use the "Advanced Post Form" at all. It makes replying with a photo quicker and easier.
I don't think that's unique to Photobucket, though. Many others do the same thing, but I still like it and use it a lot.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/14/12 01:06pm |
Forum Technical Support
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RE: This Will Be My New Camper-Hauler
Yes - I am carrying two boxes off the front of my receiver hitch:
Cargo on Front Receiver
Thanks Mike, that's good to know. Nice looking setup, too.
Are you using any type of gauge display on your truck like Scangauge or Edge Insight? Just wondering if you see any temperature difference with the box on. I have a Scanguage on mine right now, but was just loaned an Insight to try out a few days ago that I haven't had time to play with yet.
And, thanks for bringing it to my attention that the manual I'm needing is available online. I just found it on the Ford Owner site. I'll PM you if I need some help from an experienced user, but I should be able to figure most of it out now. :B
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/14/12 08:10am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Thank you all. I have my first PU Camper
The dry wt for the 1150 is 3458#. Am I missing something cuz that's alot of wt ( 5130#) over these dry wt ...
Not surprising at all. My camper has a similar dry weight, but weighs around 5500-5600 lbs. when we're loaded up for a two-week trip. Honestly, dry weight is only useful to the transporter who hauls it to the dealer. Everyone else hauls the camper with a bunch of extra stuff thrown in.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/14/12 03:32am |
Truck Campers
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RE: This Will Be My New Camper-Hauler
It's taken a full month, but I've finally got he truck rigged to carry the camper. I don't have the electrical plug in the bed yet, but the tiedowns are installed so I can tie the camper down.
Over the past month I've also been working on getting the truck's maintenance caught up. Oil and filter change, fuel filters, air filter, tranny flush, rear-end oil change, and coolant flush. I did all of it myself except the tranny flush, that takes a machine that can pre-heat the fluid so the thermostat stays open. I also had the bed Rhino-lined to cover up all the scratches from the truck's previous life.
I actually tried to load the camper a couple weeks ago, and found that the 2x4's I put on the sides of the camper "tub" to tighten it up in the bed of my old truck made it too wide for the new truck. So I had to pull them off and cut them in half.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g217/nralifr/CamperBottom.jpg
I finished it up today, and backed all the way under it for the first time. The new truck is a little wider than the old one, I only have about an inch of clearance between the jacks and the dually fenders. I only ran it around the neighborhood since the lights aren't working on the camper yet.
Here I go on my first drive with the camper! Whoohoooo!
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g217/nralifr/DSCN8650a.jpg
OK big guy, show me what you've got.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g217/nralifr/DSCN8651a.jpg
I encounter a steep grade before I'm even out of the yard.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g217/nralifr/DSCN8652a.jpg
The truck doesn't seem to be squatting too much, but I'll wait and see how it looks when the camper is loaded up with two weeks of gear before calling it good.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/13/12 09:08pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: best batteries for us
It depends on the size of your battery box, and the dimensions of the door opening. I have an older 1121 that only had room for one battery, and the biggest I can get in there is a group 31. So, I have a Trojan group 31 deep cycle lead-acid battery. The height of my box is too short for 6V batteries, even if it was wide enough to hold two, so they aren't even an option for me.
If your box is "height challenged" as well, and I suspect it is considering where it's located, you may have to stick with 12V batteries too. But, if you can fit two group 31 Trojan SCS225's in your box, the total amp-hours you'll have available from them will exceed a lot of the paired 6V deep-cycle batteries commonly used by RV'ers anyway. Two SCS225's will give you 260 AH total vs. 225 AH for a couple of T105's or equivalent.
And, if one of the batteries fails you still have 12V from the good one.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/13/12 09:22am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Yay! Ordered the new Boondocker and Trimetric!
Took some pictures of my Trimetric installation.
Starting in the battery box, you can see the Trimetric shunt installed in the lower LH corner. The two big, black cables going between the battery NEG terminals and the shunt are some cables that I had salvaged from a piece of equipment many years ago, and were in my junk pile. I had two cables, same gauge/same length, so I doubled them up. Probably overkill, but I had 'em just laying around. The small wires connected to the shunt are the "sense" leads going to the Trimetric panel. The shunt is bolted through the plastic battery box, and I used a scrap of 1/4" thick oak as a backer on the outside of the box to help support it.
One consideration I had about mounting the shunt in the battery box was that it might help warm the battery when it's cold outside. The shunt gives off a little heat when current is flowing through it. It might be negligible though.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g217/nralifr/DSCN8638.jpg
Another view showing the two disconnect switches. The bottom switch used to be the main disconnect switch for the camper battery. I always felt it was just barely adequate for the amps going through it, so I replaced it with the disconnect switch on top that's rated for more amps. The old switch is now a dedicated disconnect switch for my inverter. When we're on the road, I run the fridge off the inverter because I got tired of the LP flame getting blown out all the time. I have a heavy-duty charge circuit from the truck alternator so it will keep up with the drain as long as the truck is running. If we stop for more than just a few minutes, I'll turn the inverter off so the fridge will switch to LP. With the inverter disconnect switch in the battery box, I can turn it off without going inside the camper.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g217/nralifr/DSCN8636.jpg
This is what it looks like on the other side of the battery box. It's kinda cramped in there under the kitchen sink. Many bad words were said while I was working in that area. See how much bigger the top switch is compared to the bottom one?
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g217/nralifr/DSCN8642.jpg
This is where I installed the inverter. It's an inexpensive modified sine wave model with a very noisy fan. It's only used when we AREN'T in the camper to listen to it, but when I installed it I was thinking it might be handy to have it on the inside where we could use it for other things. I'd have to buy a quieter one before I could could do that, though.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g217/nralifr/DSCN8644.jpg
And finally, this is where I mounted the Trimetric panel. The wires for it are run up through the wall it's mounted on.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g217/nralifr/DSCN8645.jpg
Hope that gives you some ideas on how to handle your Trimetric install.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/12/12 05:17pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Cheap way to meter electrical usage? Or just guess?
Make sure 'cousin' knows that your 50 amp is not 220 volts. It is two legs of 120 volts, but not wired like a dryer outlet.
Uh... 50 amps -IS- 220/240... It is wired EXACLY like a dryer outlet.
Where did you get the idea that it was not?
Don't argue about electric service without stating the plug or receptacle type you're talking about. Too much chance for confusion with the "old" and "new" styles of RV and appliance service.
This is a good reference I keep bookmarked:
RV Electric Home Page
This is a page from that site showing what can and cannot be used for RV electric service:
RV and Appliance Service
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/11/12 05:24am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: TC kind of guy
Hank had a little Ranger. Then upgraded to a F250 when his Ranger pooped out on him.
Don't ask me why I know this....
Oh no he di-dunt! :W
According to the King of the Hill Wiki, Hank replaced the Ranger with a two-door F150. Stick shift, like any good conservative male Texan would drive.
"Hank drove a red Ford Ranger pickup truck drawn to two different body styles (First generation (1983-1988) and Third generation (1993-1997)). In a later episode, the Ranger breaks down and is subsequently destroyed by a train. At the end of the episode, he buys a red Ford F-150 two-door. Both of Hank's trucks had/have a stick shift (and even share the same shift knob.)"
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/09/12 05:21am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Yay! Ordered the new Boondocker and Trimetric!
I installed a Trimetric 2025 in my camper about a year ago, and didn't find it to be too difficult.
I have a single group 31 Trojan battery in my camper, and there was just enough room in the battery box to install the shunt on one side. All of the negative connections to your battery will be moved to one side of the shunt, so you'll need to build a short, heavy gauge cable to go from the other side of the shunt to the negative post on the battery. I had some cables in my "stuff I'll use someday" pile that worked perfectly for me.
At the same time, I also replaced my main battery disconnect switch with a heavier one, and re-purposed the old switch to be a disconnect for my inverter. I only use the inverter to run the fridge while we're driving, and I wanted a way to turn the inverter off without having to climb inside the camper.
The hardest part of installing the Trimetric for me was getting the little cable run up through the wall that I wanted to mount the panel on. I was eventually able to fish it up through with a coat-hanger. I can post some pictures later if you want. I think every installation is going to be a little different, but it might give you some ideas.
Programming all the parameters into the Trimetric takes a little time, but the instructions are pretty good, and there are many people on this forum who can help you if you need it. Once you get all the settings programmed the way you want, it's very easy to use and understand. And, one nice thing I've discovered: the settings won't "disappear" if you have to remove all power to the Trimetric panel.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/09/12 04:38am |
Truck Campers
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RE: TC kind of guy
Hank drove a Ford F150.
Being from Texas, I think he would have had a Capri Camper because they're built in Bluff Dale, TX. I'm pretty sure Bluff Dale is just down the road from Arlen.
While Capri's are known as pretty basic, no-frills units, Hank would have had his outfitted with more "propane and propane accessories" than you could shake a stick at.
And he wouldn't have thought twice about leaving the fridge running on propane while rolling down the road, either. Hank wasn't a whiner.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/09/12 02:49am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Engine Brake
........ and I didn't want the clank-clank from the US gear.....
That's funny. It does make some noise, but I don't really mind it. I get some funny looks from other drivers though if they hear it. :h
It's more of a "FFFWOOONK!!! than a clank though. :W
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/08/12 05:21pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Upgrading DRW wheels/tires
One thing to keep in mind if you do go to 19.5's is that not every tire dealer can handle servicing that size. In some areas you might be limited to shops that handle commercial truck tires. I have that very issue in my local area with a truck I just bought that has 19.5's on it. None of the tire shops I do business with regularly will touch commercial truck tires.
I'd search high and low for higher rated tires and wheels in your stock size before jumping into 19.5's. I was able to find what I needed in OEM size even for my 17 year old F350. Plenty of capacity on the rear axle, and my camper weighs as much as your 1140.
:):)
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NRALIFR
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05/08/12 05:11pm |
Truck Campers
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