Unhitching Overnight or Not??

[fayliss]

I have a Rockwood 8286ws Ultralight which is my first fifth wheel. I travel alone and want to know if I need to unhitch if I am only staying overnight at a campground?? I am towing with a Silverado 2500HD and wonder if I could take the weight off the truck but leave it hitched and save the work of connecting it in the morning?? Not sure what to do here and could use your thoughts on this. Fayliss

[B and B]

Hello. If level no problem at all, big thing is the Fridge. I would pull the 7 pin cable and drop the landing gear to tighten things up to avoid too much bounce. We have done it many times.

[Kenny kustom]

You don't have to unhook.

Depends how level you want to be.


2016 Sabre 36QBOK
2015 Ram 3500 CUMMINS

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[elind]

Last winter we went 4 days before unhooking it while we over nighted in motels. Left the fridge on and heat on low. Just parked on level parking lots.

[Windjammin]

If on overnight travel I always leave it hitched if I can. Level side to side with level blocks and front to back with tongue jack. Put out the slides and I'm done. Usually do not even put down the stabilizers.

[Homebrew]

Dropping the front landing gear and unplugging from the truck works well in level parking lots.
Special if your opening a slider.



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[Pipeman]

Leave it hitched and unplug from the TV. You're by yourself, so you won't really notice movement that much. We have never put the jacks down when just over nighting.

[oldsmasma]

When we had our fifth wheel we often left it hooked to TV if we didn't need the truck for anything. Our Ontario Provincial campgrounds often offer lovely secluded level sites which made life easy.

[camper1999]

We leave it hitched for overnight stays. Even if slightly unlevel.

[Bama Rambler]

If it's comfortable to walk around in you don't need to do anything about leveling or extending the landing gear. At that point it becomes a personal choice.

[Mr. Dan]

We stayed 5 nights on the road coming home from the Goshen rally - never unhooked once. I did get the trailer somewhat level, dropped the front jacks and bumped them down a bit, dropped rear stabilizers (there were two of us so I reduced the trailer bounce),

[Big bird]

We try to stay hooked up on over night stays. Be sure you are balanced front to back as that is what the frig. requires. I like to drop my front jacks to take the stress off the truck suspension. Side to side balancing is less important unless it is drastically off, in which case, it could affect the slides moving in and out. You can leave the power to the truck connected unless you are going to use just battery power and run a lot appliances.

[gastan]

Frig. requires level if you are running it on propane. If hooked up to power it doesn't matter. I never unhook for just a one night stop -- even at a campground. In those cases I am usually coming in late and leaving early. Just drop front jack to take a little weight off the tv, drop stabilizers to reduce bounce (don't always even do that) and hook up power, if available. Typically don't mess with water hookup even if available. Carry a few gallon jugs of water just for those occasions.

[Tdbrn]

I can only echo many, when we had a 5th wheel and were traveling through we'd often just part on a level spot, I'd let down the front landing gear, and stay hooked up to the truck, then a Dodge 2500 diesel. A few places we wouldn't open the slide, like highway rest areas, but usually if we could park safely enough to not worry about someone hitting the slide out, we would.

[doc73]

I leave it hooked up. I'll drop the front landing gear to take the weight of us in the bed off the rear of the truck, and unplug the 7 pin to keep from getting a dead battery in the TV. As long as the trailer is level enough to be comfortable to move around in the fridge is fine. The trailer does not need to be perfect or your fridge will explode...

[frozen]

Originally Posted by B and B

Hello. If level no problem at all, big thing is the Fridge. I would pull the 7 pin cable and drop the landing gear to tighten things up to avoid too much bounce. We have done it many times.

I've noticed several folks suggesting that the power cable to the truck be unplugged. I don't understand that logic unless one used so much electricity that all batteries would be drained. After a lot of nights without unhitching I've never thought there was a need to unplug. And after nearly 1000 nights in campers, I've never had refrig. issues due to out-of-level. Maybe I'm just lucky!

[dicky1243]

Originally Posted by fayliss

I have a Rockwood 8286ws Ultralight which is my first fifth wheel. I travel alone and want to know if I need to unhitch if I am only staying overnight at a campground?? I am towing with a Silverado 2500HD and wonder if I could take the weight off the truck but leave it hitched and save the work of connecting it in the morning?? Not sure what to do here and could use your thoughts on this. Fayliss

It is not necessary to un-hook but for stability i drop the frt. landing gear.

[TGR]

Some trucks keep the TV battery connected to the 7-pin connector and some don't. If you have a truck that keeps the power connected, you could run the battery down if running the furnace a lot, especially if the trailer's battery is weak.


My Ford disconnects the battery from the 7-pin connector when not running so I don't have any problem leaving everything hooked up.


You'll have to check your 7-pin connector and see if your truck keeps power to the 7-pin connector when powered down or not.

[satdog01]

I leave the tt hitched as mentioned, do run down the tongue jack to release strain off tv. For safety sake do stay in campground and to get away from highway noise. When doing so to disconnect 7 pin tv cable before connecting shore power. This procedure is stated in the owners manual for the tt. No reason given, just states to not have tv power and shore power connected at same time.

[bob caldwell]

Originally Posted by frozen

I've noticed several folks suggesting that the power cable to the truck be unplugged. I don't understand that logic unless one used so much electricity that all batteries would be drained. After a lot of nights without unhitching I've never thought there was a need to unplug. And after nearly 1000 nights in campers, I've never had refrig. issues due to out-of-level. Maybe I'm just lucky!

X2