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Old 05-30-2014, 09:34 AM   #1
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27RR Grey Wolf

I would like to start a Grey Wolf 27RR thread and hope others will join in with their comments, experiences and mods. My wife and I purchased a 21rr new back in the spring of 2012. We were satisfied with everything except the placement of the entrance door. The door was located towards the back of the trailer so that when we were traveling and wanted to stop and access the refrigerator or bathroom or bed we had to squeeze between our Polaris rzr and the kitchen counter. When I saw the floor plan of the new 27rr and the price I thought this might work better for us and so we purchased one back in April. I pulled it home (about 70 miles) from the dealer with my 2005 GMC 2500 4x4 6.0 using an Andersen hitch. On the way home I had a small tailwind and it pulled just fine, perhaps even better than the 21rr which I pulled with a f150 5.4l also using an Andersen hitch. At 33’-6” long, I did have to make even wider turns at intersections and turning into my driveway. Also pulling into my drive I did hear it scrape slightly. I have since dropped the tongue an inch to an inch and a half and have not had any more problems with scraping.


For those who are not familiar with this floor plan there is a separate garage, which has two, opposing sofas with a dining table between them. This can also be configured to a large bed to accommodate additional people. One problem when loading the rzr in the garage is where to store the sofa cushions and the table. An easy solution is to place them in the front living quarters and on the queen bed. The problem here is that they are in your way when over nighting on a long trip. To solve this problem and keep everything in the garage where it belongs I put a cleat on the floor and a couple of barrel locks on the wall in the garage and stand the table on end and lock it in place for travel. It just happens that both of the large seat cushions fit perfectly behind the table legs and don’t require any additional straps to hold them in place. One of the back cushions now fits on the other side of the table and is secured by the table legs. The one remaining back cushion fits in the corner where the garage television bracket is located. For this cushion I use a bungee cord from the tv bracket to the garage vent.

Next was how to fasten the rzr to the floor using the provided D-rings. In my 21rr I tried using six ratchet straps and while it kept my rzr from moving it was time consuming and involved spending a lot of time crawling around under the rzr. Next I devised a method using my front and rear winches, which was a big improvement over the six ratchet straps. Now in my 27rr I have come up with a system of chains and only one ratchet strap. So far it has worked very well. I drive in connect one of the chains to the front of the rzr, the ratchet strap to the rear of the rzr and tighten the ratchet. With the chains fastened the only way the rzr can move forward and hit the wall is if the D-rings should come loose from the floor. In 3,000 miles this system has worked great for me. On my first trip I fastened the rzr towards the back of the garage so I could open the door from the bathroom to the garage and check on it. On my next trip I moved the rzr as far forward in the garage as possible and I believe the handling improved. Now onto the problems I have encountered.

My keypad did not work during the PDI and they are going to replace it. Problem one solved. On the 27rr the doorstops have to hold the doors at 90 degrees to the side of the trailer because of the awning arms. The small plastic brackets that are supposed to hold the doors are next to worthless. One was broken at the time of PDI and was replaced. The first trip out the wind broke it again. I am still looking for a solution. I bought some metal brackets to replace them but they are too small. I plan to do some cutting and welding on them and I think they may work. The next problem occurred with the refrigerator when running on propane. I have a couple of things to say about the refrigerator. The first time we reached an elevation of 5,000 ft. the refrigerator quit while on propane. In doing a little research I found that the Norcold refrigerator was not designed to operate above 5,500 ft. of elevation. In looking through various forums I found that some people had Norcolds that quit at 5,000 ft. while one man reported no problems at 13,000 ft. The refrigerator is mounted far enough to the right of the access door that it is impossible to look into the inspection hole or to stick a lighter into the burner area. There is a small metal box that surrounds the burner and is held in place by one screw. I was able to remove this screw and gain access to the burner. I used butane lighter and was able to get the propane burner of the refrigerator to burn continuously. Next I blew the little bit of dust out of the burner area and increased the igniter gap to about 3/16-inch. The refrigerator ignited on it’s own and we drove over a 12,000 ft. pass and it was still going when we got back down to about 7,000 ft., so I am hoping we will be luck and our refrigerator will be one that continues working above the 5,500 ft. range.

There is another problem that appears more serious but one that can wait until the camping season ends. The problem is with the top strip of metal siding above the slide. It is showing a number of distortions instead of laying flat. I’m not sure what the problem is. On my 21rr, I had to return it for a similar siding problem. During manufacture it seems they left out some of the staples that held the siding in place.

I have a TPMS and in the beginning I had a number of tire problems but none of them that I would blame Forest River or my dealer for. I asked my dealer to put aluminum wheels on for me and the 27rr came with 14” steel wheels. They installed 15” aluminum wheels. My first issue was one or two of the tires rubbing the wheel well on tight turns on pavement. I solved this by adding 5/16” spacers. I have not had any problems with these in 2,000 miles and I carry a torque wrench and check the torque every few gas stops. Two or three of the nuts have needed a slight amount of additional tightening but I think this will come to an end as everything becomes “seated”. Valve stems caused my other tire problem. When I asked the dealer to switch wheels I asked them to have the tire shop install metal valve stems. All of the metal valve stems I was familiar with had locking nuts to secure them to the wheel. Well, the stems the tire shop put on had brass stems but they had the traditional rubber base. When I installed the sending units on the ends of the valve stem the centrifugal force caused two of the stems to leak air which set off my TPMS. I took the tires off and took them to another tire shop and had the stems replaced with the type that has nut that are tightened. So we are all set for our trip to Moab, UT and as a last minute check I check the tire pressures. One has dropped from 65psi to 40psi. So I jack up the trailer, take the tire back to the tire shop and they find they forgot to tighten the nuts on the stem. After all this we traveled over 2,000 miles without a tire problem.

In conclusion my wife and I have used the camper a couple of times now and towed it about 3,000 miles. Towing on the open roads is no problem but the length of it (33’-6”) makes it difficult in certain situations such as campsites, gas stations, intersections and residential neighborhoods. The length and the slide do give us lots of space inside and we really like the way the garage is finished off inside. While in Moab we were sitting outside with four of our friends when a sudden rain and windstorm came up. We all moved into the garage and the table and sofas accommodated all of us with room to spare. Our friends were impressed with the space and the way the garage is decorated. I think the only give away that you are in the garage is the rear cargo door and the D-rings in the floor. We like to refer to it as our “Party Room”, and are planning on stringing some lights around the room where the walls meet the ceiling. All in all and barring any catastrophic problems in the future we are happy with this camper and it seems to serve our purposes well.

I hope this thread may be of some help to anyone interested in a Grey Wolf 27rr. When we were looking to purchase I couldn’t find any comments by anyone that owned one.
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Old 07-09-2014, 01:50 PM   #2
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Hey it sounds like I am in the same boat as you except with a 19 to 25 rr. I would be interested in seeing photos in respect to how you store your cushions when travelling. I also toss them on the bed for now. I agree with the door in the back too. I really disliked getting up front with the cargo loaded.
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Old 07-15-2014, 08:28 PM   #3
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I also have a 2013 25rr with the door in front. We love it as a starter camper. We are looking at upgrading to a 2015 vengeance 316. We just need more room for people.
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Old 07-18-2014, 11:04 AM   #4
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My vengeance has a hydrolic shock mounted to bottom of door to keep it off of awning arm. It let's door open parallel to camper. As far as fringe mine is residential which I run off inverter and solar panels when dry camping. Sounds like u probably have it fixed.
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Old 08-08-2014, 02:15 PM   #5
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Thank you for posting on Grey Wolf 27RR...picking ours up from dealar on monday...and another adventure starts. Spey rods, Flyrods two Harley Deluxes and Off to the Rivers of Idaho.
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Old 09-22-2014, 09:01 AM   #6
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How to handle separate black and gray water connections

HI - I am a new 2015 27RR owner and was wondering how people handle having separate connections for black and gray water. I have always only had a shared connection, which seemed logical in dumping black then gray - thus flushing out the nasty bits that accompany black water with the gray. Now with separate outlets, do you:
1) use 2 complete separate hoses and switch them at the connection to the campsite sewer;
2) use one hose and move it between black and gray; or
3) somehow hook up a "T" where the black and gray meet up before the campsite sewer connection.

I'd appreciate any "real life experience".

Thanks, Ken
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Old 09-25-2014, 07:58 AM   #7
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I use one hose and move it. I would be interested in your impressions of your new trailer and what you haul in the garage. We took another trip this time to Colorado. No problems with the refridgerator at altitude this time. Planning another trip to the Little Sahara in about a week. Probably the last big trip for the year.
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Old 09-25-2014, 08:30 AM   #8
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HI - I am a new 2015 27RR owner and was wondering how people handle having separate connections for black and gray water...
Without pictures, I will ask the question, "Can you not hard plumb them together to a single outlet?
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Old 09-30-2014, 06:18 PM   #9
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My 27RR has a single connection for grey and black.
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Old 01-04-2015, 08:52 PM   #10
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Need advice on towing the 27RR

I am lookin seriously at a 27rr but only have a 1/2 ton silverado Z71 with town package. I am wanting to put my 800lb goldwing in it and travel. I saw a rzr was loaded but my concern is that the weight will drag me down so much that I will be climbing hills at 45mph.
Can someone with a 1/2 ton give me some insight as to what I can expect?
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Old 01-04-2015, 09:55 PM   #11
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Both my father and I pull 25RR's with a half ton. I have a Ford EB with the 3.73 gears and my dad has a truck similar to yours. We have both added leaf springs to stiffen up the rear end and both pull the trailers fine (although I would argue mine pulls better than his does). We both load ours up with GL1800's as you would. At this exact minute, I'm not certain how much heavier the 27RR is over the 25RR but it can't be too much more. Personally, I wouldn't go much heavier than what I have now. I like having a ton of extra capacity left over with my trailer. I often load up the bed with firewood or other cargo. You'll also need a ramp modification on your trailer so your wing clears (but I guess that's another topic). I hope that helps some. You will get varying opinions on weight on this and any other forum.
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Old 01-04-2015, 10:03 PM   #12
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Thanks for the info....what kind of modification will I need and what kind of cost am I looking at?
We were curious as to whether or not the goldwing would fit in the 25RR or 26RR. So obviously from looking at your post it will
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Old 01-05-2015, 07:33 AM   #13
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Do you have a GL1500 or GL1800? Depending on what you have an how old your fork springs are etc. (it's that close) will determine what you need to do. Some, I have seen, will jack up the tongue to angle the trailer backwards and that helps but I wanted to avoid that.

What I did was add a four foot metal extension to the back of mine and replaced the bumper guards on the top of the door with ones made for a loading dock (to raise the ramp up). It's attached with a piano type hinge along the top so that it swings out when the door goes down. It works well. You have to be level when you park or you'll still find yourself raising the tongue slightly. I can load my bike with the trailer detached but I prefer to have it attached.

Also, be sure to select a wheel chock that doesn't require you attaching anything to the floor. Your tanks are right below the floor and the floor in these things aren't good enough (that's just MHO). Several others on this forum have found wheel chock solutions without drilling.

BTW your bike will fit inside a 19RR too. The only thing about the 19RR that I didn't like was the entry door was clear in the back. You'll have to walk around your bike to access the BR or bath room or grab a soda (while travelling). My 19RR had way more storage than my 25RR does. Go figure! The 19RR is a great rally trailer for a half-ton providing you have no pets and no children. It just gets crowded fast in there.
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Old 01-08-2015, 02:57 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by bandf1 View Post
I am lookin seriously at a 27rr but only have a 1/2 ton silverado Z71 with town package. I am wanting to put my 800lb goldwing in it and travel. I saw a rzr was loaded but my concern is that the weight will drag me down so much that I will be climbing hills at 45mph.
Can someone with a 1/2 ton give me some insight as to what I can expect?
We have a 14 25rr and put a kawi vaquero and a roadstar 1700 in it and pull it with our 2000 Yukon, 3.73 carrier. in drive the truck don't know it's back there. We are able to hit o.d. and keep it on flat ground no headwind, there air shocks seem to help with the load, so adding helpers like mentioned above shouldn't hurt. The biggest thing is the fuel 8mpgs...
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Old 03-05-2015, 08:17 PM   #15
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I have ordered my new 27rr. Can anyone tell me what the typical height of the tongue coupler is on this model. I know it varies depending on the weight. BUT, I want to order my wd hitch and need to know what shank to order. If I have the height, I can check it with my truck and get close.
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Old 03-06-2015, 08:45 PM   #16
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I pull a 28WP with a Ford EB 1/2 ton so you should have no problem pulling that with it.
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Old 03-09-2015, 07:00 AM   #17
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My 27rr is in the shop for some warranty work right now but I could put the hitch on my truck and give you the height to the ball if that would help.
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Old 03-09-2015, 04:59 PM   #18
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That would be great!thanks for the offer.
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Old 03-11-2015, 11:17 AM   #19
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It is 23" to the top of the hitch ball. I don't know if it matters but I use an Andersen Hitch on a gmc 2500 HD 4x4. Here is the best picture I have that shows the truck hitched to the trailer.
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Old 03-11-2015, 08:00 PM   #20
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Thanks. That measurement really helps and matches close to what my dealer was saying.

What are your thought about the Anderson Hitch. My dealer is trying to sell me the Equalizer Hitch. It is quite a bit more expensive. But, I have heard the Andersen might not transfer enough of the weight to the front axle. Have you had any issues?
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