38 day - 8500 mile - 18 states in our 2906WS - F150 – ProPride hitch – Reporting back!

[strider_gts]

[QUOTE=craigster_mi;1381749]

Originally Posted by strider_gts

Trip in a nutshell:

I bought one of these fish cleaning tables and hooked it to the outside shower hose to use as an outdoor sink. Just put a 5 gal bucket under table for drain. works pretty well. the faucet originally went thru the table but I mounted to my little cabinet for quicker setup/breakdown.

craig

I like this idea!! I can see myself using something like this a lot. I had never thought about hooking up that shower hose to something a little more useful.

[Seachaser186]

Originally Posted by strider_gts

Trip in a nutshell:
I am an RV virgin so the only experience I've had with RV's was riding along in my parent's motor-home as a kid. I hauled my wife and 3 toddlers from Oregon to Wana RV in Indiana to get our 2906WS, then looped down through Kentucky, Louisiana, coming back through Texas, Nevada and back to Oregon. We drove 8508 miles through 18 states. Our 2906WS had a dry weight of about 6500lbs. It was about 500lbs higher than I expected but I'm guessing that was because we added nearly every available option. Based on my estimates we were roughly 7500 loaded but I haven't put it on our scales yet so I can't be sure of the exact loaded weight.

Tow Vehicle:
2016, Ford F-150 Super Crew 3.5L Ecoboost. On our way to Indiana we got about 19mpg. When we got the trailer I reset our mileage calculator and we averaged about 12 on the way home, with about 8.5mpg while towing. We never once had any problems towing the weight/length of this trailer. I just set the pickup's cruise control at 65mph and drove. It had plenty of power when going uphill and honestly, my only minor complaint was that tow mode going downhill was almost too aggressive with how much the truck tried to slow you down. It kept dropping me down into lower gears than I would have normally used. I barely ever had to use the brakes going downhill though unless it was an extreme grade. We went from Arizona to Flagstaff on those crazy hills in 90 degree heat without any problems. I know it sounds cliche' but I honestly forgot it was back there on occasion... but I also credit that to the.....:

ProPride Hitch!:
I LOVE this thing. ZERO sway. None. Ever. When semi trucks passed me I would sometimes feel them pull me in a little but it was barely noticeable and you could drive one-handed through any kind of traffic. I'll admit that I have nothing to compare it to but the ProPride gave me complete confidence while driving. Sean at ProPride was as easy to talk to as rumored. I emailed him asking if he had any discounts and he sent me a code for $200 off the hitch, told me which model I wanted, and shipped it to me well before I left on our trip to Indiana. I carried that heavy beast all the way there in the back of my pickup and paid a couple guys at the dealership to install it. They had never seen one before but by the end of installing it they both said that they wanted one and were really impressed with it. Hitching and unhitching takes a few minutes and if anyone is ever interested in some tips on how to do that just ask me. I had some trial and error unhitching it.

2906WS thoughts:
Why would anyone get this floor-plan with 3 children you ask? Probably because we are crazy. Most parents of 3 kids would probably get something with bunks, but we really wanted a nice living area where we expected to spend most of our waking hours inside the trailer (also I REALLY wanted recliners). We put our 5 year old and 3 year old on the tri-fold bed and put our 1 year old in a pack-n-play right beside that bed. Everyone slept just fine. It probably took 5 minutes to set up our sleep area. (Fold out the bed, throw on a waterproof queen bed pad, then lay out some blankets and pillows. Easy peasy.) If we were in an area for multiple nights we just left the bed unfolded and the kids or myself lounged on the couch-bed or recliners if we wanted to watch a movie or something.

We had a fully loaded model other than opting out of the tv in the master bedroom. I had expected to just buy a better/cheaper tv online after our trip but after spending a month it in I don't think we ever missed not having a tv in the bedroom so we'll probably just go without. We got the Sterling decor and love it. I probably spent 200 hours going over floor-plans and color schemes and we actually drove to Indiana as opposed to Iowa just to get Sterling in a Rockwood instead of the Flagstaff because I wanted the Sterling color of the Rockwood. I didn't like any of the Flagstaff colors. I HATE THE BROWN that you see in every trailer out there. This has more of a grey tone to it which we all like a lot more. Everyone who's seen this trailer has been impressed with the colors. The large couch looks especially nice.

We got the slide toppers on all available slides which was really nice in the heavy downpour rains we had on occasion. I expected water and debris to get underneath the toppers but I don't think we ever had a single pine needle or drop of water get underneath them. That made pulling in the slides worry-free. We had one night during a downpour that acorns were pelting the roof of our trailer and other than it being incredibly noisy and scary for the kids, we never had any damage from it (I hope).

There is a ton of interior storage and we never did utilize all of it. We wife and kids occupied all of the bedroom slide-out space and I took the other side of the bed. I do kind of wish that the exterior storage compartment was larger (or I just need to get more organized).

I LOVE the interior fireplace. I completely thought those were a joke before having one. Other than aesthetics, it's actually a great little space heater. If it was cold at night we would just set the space heater to turn on at about 65 degrees and it did really well keeping up. It was never so hot that we worried about our baby touching it and burning themselves on it either. If it was hot during the day or night we left the dual air conditioners running and they kept up pretty well other than a hot day in Arizona when the highs hit 100. We typically like running fans at night for white noise in our house and we quickly found that having 2 AC fans running all night was awesome for background noise. It really helps our kids sleep by drowning out the little grunts, whines, whimpers and other strange noises that kids make at night.

The shower is great. I brought along one of the oxygenics shower-heads that everyone raves about and installed it after a single shower with the stock shower-head... big upgrade. I guess I never really considered how little an RV water heater tank is but I could get through a full shower in the available 5-10 minutes (depending on how hot the incoming water was), but my wife wishes it had a little more buffer room. After my first shower I was considering upgrading to a tank-less but by the end of the trip I didn't really care anymore. With both gas and electric hot water heat working we didn't have to wait very long between showers.

Random thoughts:
I went the entire trip and only used about 1.5 gallons of propane, so that was never an issue.

I brought along all manner of electrical adapters and extension cords and never once had to use anything but the standard 50 amp cord that came with the trailer.

I couldn't fit a RhinoFlex sewer hose in the bumper which bummed me out at first. It folded up nicely in a 5 gallon bucket w/ lid which worked fine.

I wondered if we would miss not having an outdoor kitchen. We didn't even think about it until we were home, but your feelings probably vary on this based on how you travel. I do kind of wish that I had an outdoor sink occasionally for hand washing. We kind of forgot about the outdoor shower and never used it though I think it might come in handy sometimes.

I took along x-chocks but never used them. The optional stabilizers were good enough for us.

We never cooked in the RV other than with the microwave and a toaster so I guess I don't have much to report on that. The very first day I pulled off the stove knobs and stored them in an overhead cupboard because... toddlers and explosions.

The only repair we've required so far was that our water pump check valve had a leak so when we filled up with fresh water the water flowed through the water pump and into the fresh water tank. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the fresh water tank was always full (I'm new to this so I just thought it must be how it worked), but later on discovered what was wrong, called the dealer, and they shipped me out a new water pump which it took me 20 minutes to install.

We didn't have any problem with the tires in the thousands of miles that we drove and it was nice that they were rated for 75mph instead of the more common 65mph. But regardless, after seeing roughly 5 RV blowouts on our trip, when we got home I swapped out the stock tires for the beefiest 15 inch Maxxis trailer tires you can get (10 ply). The increased head-room helps me sleep at night.

We've traveled a lot in the past but about a week into our first ever RV trip we wondered how we've ever traveled without a RV and would never want to go back to hotel hopping! It's so nice to sleep in your own bed and shower in your own shower and not have to pack suitcases through hotel elevators.

Well if you have any questions or concerns or want to call me crazy let me know! I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot =)

Great write-up, I also have a '16 F-150 3.5 EB towing a 286RKS Hemisphere. I will be investing in a Propride this spring and switching out my P tires for LT's. Glad to hear your wonderful experience with the Propride. The physics behind these compared to conventional WDH's is definitely worth the extra cost when it comes to safety.

[wool33]

What gears do you have in your 2016 f150 with ecoboost

[SailorSam20500]

Originally Posted by Seachaser186

I will be investing in a Propride this spring and switching out my P tires for LT's.

Hope you end up being happy with the ProPride, I'm very happy with mine!

I've been reading a lot of posts about tires on multiple forums. Lots of folks swear by the LT tires. What I'm coming to believe is that when they switch to LT's they are significantly increasing the load capacity of their tires (and often replacing the rims). So in effect, that is what strider_gts is doing by switching to Maxxis 10 plies. I suspect he originally had Castle Rock ST225/75R15 tires on his rig. They have a max load rating of 2540 lbs per tire, which is sufficient for that trailer. The same size Maxxis 10 ply has a max load of 2830, an increase of 290 lbs per tire. He is significantly increasing the cushion.
Given that 2906WS has a GVW of 8600lbs, he went from being 1,560 under the capacity of the tires to 2,720 lbs under. To me, that is a big improvement and I suspect it will significantly reduce the likelihood of a blowout.
The other thing I'm getting, P tires give a softer ride than ST's. So by staying with ST P tires, you aren't beating your trailer up as much. In an ultra lite, that is probably a good thing.
As always, YMMV. Safe travels and .

[strider_gts]

Originally Posted by wool33

What gears do you have in your 2016 f150 with ecoboost

I believe they are 3.55 but I'm on mobile and away from a computer so I can't check to be sure. I'm almost positive though. Whatever comes with the max tow package for that pickup.

I still love this truck. It hauls the trailer around with ease and rides like a car when it's unhitched.

[strider_gts]

Originally Posted by SailorSam20500

Hope you end up being happy with the ProPride, I'm very happy with mine!

We just got back from another 3,000 mile trip to California and everything went great again! We still love the hitch, the trailer and the pickup. I did hit a low hanging branch with the trailer and got my first scratch but that's another story.

Those maxxis tires did either double or triple my headroom. I can't remember which but I think your math was pretty close. The only problem now is that it's making me lazy about checking my air pressure before we leave camp and hit the highways. I think I only checked my air once the entire trip.

[SailorSam20500]

Originally Posted by strider_gts

The only problem now is that it's making me lazy about checking my air pressure before we leave camp and hit the highways. I think I only checked my air once the entire trip.

You need to look into a TPMS. Put the sensors on the tires and check the monitor in the TV!!!
It will give you an alert if you pickup a nail or something in a tire and get a slow leak!

[Big1]

This is great to hear strider_gts, do you by any chance have any pics of your setup?

[strider_gts]

We'll see if these work =)







Sorry that they don't show much. I only had a few saved on this device!

[Big1]

Sweet! Man that is one bad setup and I really love the look of your setup, the wife and I are planning a week trip the first of April and I just can't wait, looking at your setup make me want to get out there. Thank you for those awesome pics, I appreciated, and I know that you can't wait for the weather get better.

[wool33]

Very nice setup strider_gts. I'm a newbie to camping myself. I bought a 2017 Gulfstream Conquest 274qb 33ft TT I'm October, brought it home and stored it away till this year, my truck is a 2016 Ford f150 xlt with the 3.5 ecoboost . 3.55 gears. They say it can tow 11,400. Ive sold my Silverado 1500 for this truck. hopefully it does. I'll probably get negative remarks back about my TT. Cause it's not made by Salem.

[wool33]

Nice setup strider_gts. I have a 2016 Ford f150 xlt with the 3.5 ecoboost with 3.55 gears, my trailer is a 2017 Gulfstream Conquest 274qb 33ft. Weighs 7720lbs. Never used it yet. Bought it in October and stored it right away. This is my first TT,. Me and my wife are newbies to camping. They say my truck can pull 11,400lbs. Hope they are right.

[wool33]

Oops it's posted twice. sorry guys

[Zak1]

Originally Posted by wool33

Nice setup strider_gts. I have a 2016 Ford f150 xlt with the 3.5 ecoboost with 3.55 gears, my trailer is a 2017 Gulfstream Conquest 274qb 33ft. Weighs 7720lbs. Never used it yet. Bought it in October and stored it right away. This is my first TT,. Me and my wife are newbies to camping. They say my truck can pull 11,400lbs. Hope they are right.

Hi Wool33,
I also have a new Vlite 30WIKSS/7700 lbs dry TT (bought in Nov. stored but have towed about 150 miles) and I have the same truck (2016 F150 SC, 4X4 only with 2.7 ecoboost, 3:55 rear end witch has plenty of power) I had the Equalizer hitch. Not comfortable

Returned the hitch and got the Propride 3P. Please look at this hitch before you start the camping and towing season. Do your own research. Not a better hitch for your set up...

[007matman]

Is the ProPride hitch really $2500? Seems crazy to spend that much on a hitch. Why is it better than any other Trunnion-Style hitch?

[Seachaser186]

Originally Posted by 007matman

Is the ProPride hitch really $2500? Seems crazy to spend that much on a hitch. Why is it better than any other Trunnion-Style hitch?

Yep they are really that much. They are based on a different rule of physics making it superior to conventional WDH's. It is called Pivot Point Protection technology tranfering​ the forces over the axel thus eliminating sway.

[wool33]

So this is a better hitch

[007matman]

I watched the video on their website. They'd need to create a much more compelling demonstration of their product to convince me. Weight distribution hitches already transfer most of the load to all four corners. How is this any different? I could buy 5 really good hitches for what one of these costs.

[lbrjet]

I have over 25,000 miles on my Equal-i-zer 4 point and would never use anything else.

Every day RV transporters are hauling trailers all over the country with no WDH and I have never heard of even one getting in an accident.

The PP is a great hitch. Do you need one to be safe? No.

[Zak1]

Originally Posted by lbrjet

I have over 25,000 miles on my Equal-i-zer 4 point and would never use anything else.

Every day RV transporters are hauling trailers all over the country with no WDH and I have never heard of even one getting in an accident.

The PP is a great hitch. Do you need one to be safe? No.

You are towinf with a 3/4 ton, not a 1/2 ton.
Yes, the Propride is worth every penny...