2nd Shake Down Run

41ford · 05-05-2016, 08:23 AM

Two weeks ago, we took our new 2016 Forest River Heritage Glen 276RLIS on a 200 mile round trip. Everything went fine, except when setting up, noticed a fist-sized chunk of the right rear tire missing.

Called AAA RV, they came out and changed the tire. Dealer had replaced defective Castle Rock tire, I ordered a set of Maxxis tires and a Dill Tire Pressure Monitoring System, which will be installed next week.

This last weekend, drove 60 miles to Crowe's Butte, on the Washington side of the Columbia River, nice campground, perfect full service site with a view of the river, lost of fishing, and other great things, but no television, no ATT phone service, no internet, nice and quiet.

Within the first 5 minutes, I needed to move back 4 feet to connect to the sewer, wife locked all trailer keys in the trailer. I have a combination key box I use for reasons like this, but never got the chance to put it out. Unhitched 5th wheel, wife drives to park host, uses their cell phone, calls AAA RV, 90 minutes later, we are back in the 5th wheel. One of the hanging lights above the kitchen island came down about 10 inches, when the nut came loose.

When leveling the 5th wheel, the landing jacks stopped working, couldn't find fuse, had to crank by hand. Decided to try the Straight Talk Hot Spot device, since it uses the Verizon, ATT, Sprint, and T-Mobil towers, but needs the internet or telephone to activate.

We drove 30 miles to Hermiston, OR, stopped in Dollar Tree and Walmart, then had lunch, drove back and had a great time with the peace and quiet, watched some movies from Red Box.

A few days later, stopped at the RV dealer on way home, they found the fuse to the landing gear and replaced it with a self resetting breaker. I said I would repair the light fixture.

I put the 5th wheel in our storage facility, but only after acquiring a different space, because there was no way I could get it in the same space we put our Jayco motor home in.

We're sure glad we bought AAA RV, been a real lifesaver. The lock box will be immediately placed in its location outside when we park. Another 2 trips are scheduled for the next month, after the tires are replaced and the TPMS is installed.

Brewhedd · 05-05-2016, 09:16 AM

"wife locked all trailer keys in the trailer".

LOL, reminds me of when the wife was getting out of the truck and accidently locked it with the keys in and running. OnStar came in mighty handy.

jgourlie · 05-05-2016, 10:08 AM

I am just trying to think how you could lock your keys in the trailer?

Please let me know so I don't fall victim to doing that myself

timfromma · 05-05-2016, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgourlie

I am just trying to think how you could lock your keys in the trailer?

Please let me know so I don't fall victim to doing that myself

I imagine you can lock the door latch while it's open then close it afterwards with the keys inside.

RVBikers · 05-05-2016, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by timfromma

I imagine you can lock the door latch while it's open then close it afterwards with the keys inside.

BINGO!

ilovecamping · 05-05-2016, 11:52 AM

Do you have to have AAA insurance to get the roadside assistance service? I tried to locate it online but it keeps sending me to another page. Thanks!

CaptnJohn · 05-05-2016, 10:23 PM

When the 5er leaves a spare set of truck keys and 5er keys are put in the glove box. FORD has the door combo to open incase original keys are unavailable.

judivan · 05-05-2016, 10:39 PM

I am so glad that I had those extra keys made today, After reading the OP, I can definitely see that happening to us.... I have AAA insurance but not for RV. I will get it when my Coachnet is no longer in effect... I really like AAA!!!

PS. Nice looking Rig....

41ford · 05-06-2016, 12:51 AM

ilovecamping,

I added the the RV assistance to my AAA account last year when I bought the motor home, it was only a few dollars more. We've used AAA twice in the past two weeks on our 5th wheel and the service has been excellent.

I bought the AAA about six years ago, mainly for my classic cars and hot rods, when I would take them out of town to events.

It's very easy to trip the lock lever when pulling the door or screen shut. I bought a combination lock like the one realtors at a yard sale for a dollar, where you can put a couple of keys in it. It comes in real handy, but need to put it in place before someone does what my wife did. It's all good.

timfromma · 05-06-2016, 05:11 AM

AAA for RV's isn't offered here in the Northeast.

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41ford · 05-06-2016, 07:56 AM

[QUOTE=timfromma;1186710]AAA for RV's isn't offered here in the Northeast.

There's a good thread on this forum about choosing a road side assistance company that I read last night, appears a lot of RV'ers like Good Sam and Coach Net.

When my renewal comes up later on this year, I will look at all of the companies. I have to do a good comparison, as my original reason for getting AAA was for the classic cars and hot rods.

I believe I pay approximately $147 per year for myself, my wife, and the RV coverage. If I have vehicle problems locally, I have a long time friend that owns two towing businesses and a automotive shop that specializes in alignments, brakes, and AC, my towing is free. I have done his business computers for a number of years, we do a little exchanging of work. Out of town and after-hours, I have to pay or use the local authorized AAA towing business. My neighbor's towing business is the authorized AAA company.

I am just not knowledgable with all of the road-side assistance companies. Do you know the reason why AAA doesn't offer services in your area?

Knightrider · 05-06-2016, 11:16 AM

My daughter locked the keys in the truck last year at a cg 2 hours from home. Called my dad to give him the bad news that I needed him to bring me another set and thank goodness he had a hide a key on it. (Borrowed his dmax for the weekend).

Now I keep a spare for the truck in the trailer and spares for the trailer in the truck.

Sent from my iPhone using Forest River Forums

2015 ram 2500
2016 Cherokee 274dbh

Dinostop · 05-06-2016, 07:12 PM

I keep a spare truck key in the truck as well as a spare set of camper keys in the truck. Ford truck has punch keys combination entry. When I changed out my cam locks from 751 to match my door locks they sent me a key for each of the 6 cam locks I bought so now I have 6 more spare camper door keys.

Eastlake, Ohio
2013 F-350 Turbo Diesel
2016 Heritage Glen 368rlbh

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