The dealers got another newbie.

[AlaskaErik]

Originally Posted by Chuck_S

My personal rule is the One Ton Rule which simply states the trailer's loaded weight must be 2000 pounds less than the tow vehicle's max towing capacity. 6 months later I bought a new 5500 pound rated Explorer and a 3500 pound Coleman Bayside popup the same week. Since progressed to a 9300 pound rated Expedition and a ~5500 pound Roo hybrid. If I get anything heavier than the Roo I'll upgrade the "truck." (Highly doubtful as my wife insists on sleeping under canvas -- we're camping, not RVing.)

Overkill always works.

-- Chuck

My supposed max tow rating on my 2019 Silverado 1500 is 12,000 lbs. I wouldn't dream of trying to pull 10,000 lbs with it. I probably wouldn't pull anything heavier than 7000 lbs. Anything over 7000 lbs and I'm invoking the 3/4 ton rule, which is a truck has to be at least a 3/4 ton truck. I don't have a 1 ton rule, because I don't anticipate ever getting a trailer that big.

[pawatt]

Some friends just rolled their new trailer and nearly new truck pulling too much with too little. Both totaled, trailer a basket of toothpicks. Luckily only injuries were a broken arm and painful bruises. Trailer started swaying out of control after a wind gust. True Story, just happened.

[robbiels7]

Originally Posted by pawatt

Some friends just rolled their new trailer and nearly new truck pulling too much with too little. Both totaled, trailer a basket of toothpicks. Luckily only injuries were a broken arm and painful bruises. Trailer started swaying out of control after a wind gust. True Story, just happened.

Thats what i didn't want to see happen. Glad to hear they walked away with minimal injuries.

[corn18]

Originally Posted by pawatt

Some friends just rolled their new trailer and nearly new truck pulling too much with too little. Both totaled, trailer a basket of toothpicks. Luckily only injuries were a broken arm and painful bruises. Trailer started swaying out of control after a wind gust. True Story, just happened.

What was the rig?

[CaptnJohn]

About 3 years ago I was at CW in Myrtle. Couple ready to finalize a Montana HC. Heard a ruckus and saw a very POed customer, disappointed salesman, sales mgr, and tech. The tech refused to install a slider hitch in the customer’s 1500 that would be over most if all numbers. Customers said they would find another dealer that wanted their money and would sell what they wanted.
I’m sure they did!

[BOO-BOO-IS-IN-CAMP]

Originally Posted by robbiels7

I dont think im a weight cop. Just a master automotive technician. At a private shop.

you are right about that f150 pulling that 5th wheel
it can pull it .
But most people dont have a clue what t's doing to there truck or the safety of every one ells..
put a another cote of wax on it it looks great solves all the problems ..

i am not a machanic but a automotive machines
an a horse farmer cattle farmer camper to day
people pulling campers haveNo clue what it takes to properly pull a heavy load..:tr ink39:

[Tahoe John]

Your post is very usable and necessary.
From a novice point of view, what exactly should one look for, or at, for leaf spring damage? I would sure like to know so that I can take a peek while it is in storage.
Thanks for sharing.
Similar thing occurred to a woman I know. 5th wheel dealer installed a hitch that pulled out and the neck ran into her cab. Obviously it was improperly installed and she is just happy to be alive.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Tahoe John

Your post is very usable and necessary.
From a novice point of view, what exactly should one look for, or at, for leaf spring damage? I would sure like to know so that I can take a peek while it is in storage.
Thanks for sharing.
Similar thing occurred to a woman I know. 5th wheel dealer installed a hitch that pulled out and the neck ran into her cab. Obviously it was improperly installed and she is just happy to be alive.

There are several things to look for:

• Go back and look at the photo. There's a band bracket that goes around the leaves. You can see that this one is mostly torn off due to excessive deflection.
• A broken leaf won't have the nice curve. Even if the leaf is in the middle, the spring will have a small reverse curve at the broken spot. You can see the break just by looking at the edge.
• If the springs have been really severely overloaded, they won't have the nice single curve. There will be reverse curves right at the axle brackets.
• Look at the brackets at the ends. I've never seen this on a car or truck, but on trailers the brackets have been known to tear loose from the frame.

[BOO-BOO-IS-IN-CAMP]

you can look all day long and never see or find any thing wrong ...
if people realy did there homework there own home work
you would understand....
it's not just leaf springs
it has to do with
2 wheel drive &
4 wheel drive
frame tensile strength and DESIGN
leaf spring pack's 3 . 4. 7.
axel dana 60
dana 80
most 1/2 ton pickup's have nothing for frame strength or axel
i dont care if the truck says 14,000 lb it CAN NOT SAFLY HANDLE THE WEIGHT..

wair ever you travel YOU ARE IN UN CHARTED TERRITORY.
IF IF you need to slam on the brakes wip the wheel.
your truck is FLEXING TO UNBELIEVABLE STANDARDS

the truck 1/2 ton can pull 14,000 lb on a flat grade with no problems

are all the roads you travel on flat

i have a 2000 3500 dodge ram dully 5.9 cummins
my trailer is a 5,780 lb UL the truck can handle this through any thing i throw at it ..
iv had to jam on the brakes wip the wheel and we all are safe
S#!@ happens on the road ..

YOU CAN NOT RELY ON TRUCK DEALERS OR RV DEALERS ...
YOU HAVE TO DO YOUR OWN HOME WORK .
there is many many post about this on here and a post how to decipher
cargo weight
GVW
ULW
on an on

[BOO-BOO-IS-IN-CAMP]

THE WORK FORCE TO DAY is made up of stupid dum a#$
i walk in to CW these kid's open there mouth an nothing but S falls out
Bull Shooting crap .. they know nothing...

im sorry for ranting but the USA needs to kick some but get these kids head in gear

YOU have to do your own home work look on here

[robbiels7]

Originally Posted by BOO-BOO-IS-IN-CAMP

THE WORK FORCE TO DAY is made up of stupid dum a#$
i walk in to CW these kid's open there mouth an nothing but S falls out
Bull Shooting crap .. they know nothing...

im sorry for ranting but the USA needs to kick some but get these kids head in gear

YOU have to do your own home work look on here

I agree with a lot of stupid in the work force for sure! This is why i tell my 11 year old daughter facts about life, cars, rv, cooking, ect. And she has more know how than most adults. Hell she's caught me slipping a few times. But most people don't pass valuable knowledge on they just waste it away.

[corn18]

Originally Posted by BOO-BOO-IS-IN-CAMP

you can look all day long and never see or find any thing wrong ...
if people realy did there homework there own home work
you would understand....
it's not just leaf springs
it has to do with
2 wheel drive &
4 wheel drive
frame tensile strength and DESIGN
leaf spring pack's 3 . 4. 7.
axel dana 60
dana 80
most 1/2 ton pickup's have nothing for frame strength or axel
i dont care if the truck says 14,000 lb it CAN NOT SAFLY HANDLE THE WEIGHT..

wair ever you travel YOU ARE IN UN CHARTED TERRITORY.
IF IF you need to slam on the brakes wip the wheel.
your truck is FLEXING TO UNBELIEVABLE STANDARDS

the truck 1/2 ton can pull 14,000 lb on a flat grade with no problems

are all the roads you travel on flat

i have a 2000 3500 dodge ram dully 5.9 cummins
my trailer is a 5,780 lb UL the truck can handle this through any thing i throw at it ..
iv had to jam on the brakes wip the wheel and we all are safe
S#!@ happens on the road ..

YOU CAN NOT RELY ON TRUCK DEALERS OR RV DEALERS ...
YOU HAVE TO DO YOUR OWN HOME WORK .
there is many many post about this on here and a post how to decipher
cargo weight
GVW
ULW
on an on

Your posts are really hard to read.

[BillyBass]

Originally Posted by NJKris

Nice that she found a mech that know a thing or two about towing!

Yes she did and he being honest.Good man

[robbiels7]

Again thank you to the community For the positive comments. I pride myself on honesty and taking care of the customer 1st . I have quit good paying jobs over the customer and myself being a number and not being cared about. This industry has gone down Hill so badly there are times I have thought about just walking away. But times like this make it seem more worth it.

Originally Posted by BillyBass

Yes she did and he being honest.Good man

[mjones12]

Originally Posted by 14apex

It's always interesting to hear of dealers who will apparently do and claim most anything to sell an RV (...probably same ones who send new owners home without knowing where to find their battery cut-off or water pump...or, not knowing that the AC won't run on 12V!?). While we probably don't want to launch into naming names, I'm particularly aware of a "reputation" that Country Roads RV here in NC has for quizzing all prospective buyers about their tow vehicles...usually before they will even show a unit. You can read online reviews and we hear others of their customers initially feeling "insulted" by the dealer telling them that their vehicle is "insufficient" for towing. IMO, it's much better to be "insulted" than to be in a serious accident at worst, or to have a tow vehicle that's a bear to handle and quickly ruined at best. Hats off to all dealers who are in it for the long pull and who sell with both quality and integrity! ...OK, off soapbox (and, no, I'm not employed by CR nor am I a customer).

You are right about Country Roads RV. We have bought 3 campers from them, and their excellent service dept will work on any brand. They also have a warranty person who will deal with the FR factory for you.

[Orlando bull]

I also bought from Lazydays and while I don't think they really dug into it in great detail, they did do some basic tow vehicle review of payload and such. I had to send them photos of the door stickers before they would write up the sale. Who knows how they handle 1/2 ton towing and if they get into the weeds on it or just look at dry weights and assume only a driver in the TV.

[robbiels7]

Originally Posted by Orlando bull

I also bought from Lazydays and while I don't think they really dug into it in great detail, they did do some basic tow vehicle review of payload and such. I had to send them photos of the door stickers before they would write up the sale. Who knows how they handle 1/2 ton towing and if they get into the weeds on it or just look at dry weights and assume only a driver in the TV.

I agree. The first thing they did was check my pay load though because when i walked in i knew we wanted a fifthwheel. Now i was almost not going to buy from them at all but not for those reasons. I fired my first two sales men. I guess my price window wasn't high enough for the firts guy and the second one was way to pushy. The third guy named Andrew was fantastic.

[Orlando bull]

Originally Posted by robbiels7

I agree. The first thing they did was check my pay load though because when i walked in i knew we wanted a fifthwheel. Now i was almost not going to buy from them at all but not for those reasons. I fired my first two sales men. I guess my price window wasn't high enough for the firts guy and the second one was way to pushy. The third guy named Andrew was fantastic.

Yep, I was doing the deal over email initially and liked the guy I was working with. We did not love our official sales guy once we got there, but, we honestly didn't have to do too much with him. Its a weird experience there really, but, I was impressed that they do at least a cursory review of people's tow vehicle. Our first TT was at the limits of my truck at the time, but, CW helped me hook up and happily sent us on our way.

[Dwilcox]

First 2 dealers I bought trailers from I bought more trailer then the TV could handle. 1st was a pup, on the tow home I knew we needed a new TV. Bought Expedition, it was much better. Out grew the pup and moved to a trailer, it was within the specs of the truck, and was fine for the close to home trips, but the 1st long pull with a BIG pass. Well that's about the time I started to learn about the true numbers and how to compare them. Move to the F-250 super crew long box. Was like it was not even behind me. Then the kids grew up and started doing their own things and DW and I decided it was time to get rid of the bunkhouse and move to something more for us. We were at a show and I would look at something to big for the truck and see what a sales man would say, if i got a "That truck will tow it just fine" we quickly moved on. Got to one 5'r and it had a great close out price, but of course to big for the truck. As i was looking at the weight sticker a salesman walked up and asked "What kind of truck you got", told him the F-250. He said " Well you will get it moving, stopping, sway, all that other safety stuff, not so much, this is more trailer than you want to tow with that truck. If you want it you will need to get more truck." He told me that if I wanted a 5th wheel that my truck would safely tow that they did not have one at the show. They had 2 on the lot if we wanted to look at them he could show me photos. Otherwise they had a bunch of bumper pulls that the truck would do fine with. We continued to look around and came back to one this guy had at the show and bought it. Before the sale we had to sign a form describing the truck, and he said if we were not in that truck we would not be able to pick it up. 2 hour PDI and they did a good hitch set up. Also did the warranty work with out a hitch. They showed us everything they fixed on delivery, we found a couple of things they wrote up, told us to camp in it a few times over the summer and bring it in in Sept and they would fix that stuff and anything else we would find. And they were as good as their word.

[wabakami]

Originally Posted by A2pfunk

Coming from Michigan, I am just in awe at how incredibly clean the undercarriage of that 2-3 year old truck is.

Yup, x2 from Ontario!



Geoff
.