What did you do to your camper today?

[USAF Retired]

I’d bought the flagpole to go with the under tire/hitch mount when we had our bumper pull. Finally was able to use it with the 5’er without it hitting the camper in the wind. Ladder mount wouldn’t work due to the trees.

I ended up using the weight bags from our EZ Up canopy and I picked up a suction cup at Harbor Freight for $7. Worked out pretty good.

How do I get pics to post without them turning sideways?

[Backcountryboondocker]

Finally finished with lithium battery upgrade.

2 HQST 100ah batteries, NOCO 10amp extra battery charger wired in (to be able to charge batteries without converter), battery monitor, and new aluminum box with new heavier duty lock clasps.

[Nick Danger]

Originally Posted by USAF Retired

How do I get pics to post without them turning sideways?

Take the pix in landscape mode

[USAF Retired]

Originally Posted by Nick Danger

Take the pix in landscape mode

I’ve tried that before also

[USAF Retired]

Tetat

[emm-dee]

Originally Posted by USAF Retired

I’ve tried that before also

Sign up for Imgur. Fast, free and it shows the pix exactly the way you took it. Plus, you can easily share your pix with anyone.

[Ballistic]

Relocated the battery tray from the bottom of the frame to the top of the frame. This allows us to use group 27 batteries and boxes and they actually fit/nest correctly. I have a feeling next spring is when we will convert over to lithium.

[EdJunior]

Originally Posted by USAF Retired

How do I get pics to post without them turning sideways?

I use Picasa 3 to fix my iPhone pictures that are sideways. I just open the picture in Picasa, then save it right back out. You have to save it though, not just close the picture. It works for me.

[Hclarkx]

Tested my new disk brakes today. HUGE improvement over the e drums. Nobody made disk rotors to fit my 4000# axles so I had to install new 5200# torsion bar axles and new six-lug wheels. In doing that I found cracks in the factory undercarriage and in the frame. So I repaired those by building a new heavy duty undercarriage. In this process I raised the fiver five inches. Now I have good bed clearance and I have real brakes.

[corn18]

Originally Posted by Hclarkx

Tested my new disk brakes today. HUGE improvement over the e drums. Nobody made disk rotors to fit my 4000# axles so I had to install new 5200# torsion bar axles and new six-lug wheels. In doing that I found cracks in the factory undercarriage and in the frame. So I repaired those by building a new heavy duty undercarriage. In this process I raised the fiver five inches. Now I have good bed clearance and I have real brakes.

Attachment 275372
Attachment 275373

Looking good. Still debating the disc brake conversion myself.

Make sure you get a new weight on the modified trailer. I had a subframe added to lift my 5er up to get it level and now I am 200 lbs below the GVWR with a fully loaded trailer. I travel with full water, so that doesn't help.

[itat]

Originally Posted by Hclarkx

Tested my new disk brakes today. HUGE improvement over the e drums. Nobody made disk rotors to fit my 4000# axles so I had to install new 5200# torsion bar axles and new six-lug wheels. In doing that I found cracks in the factory undercarriage and in the frame. So I repaired those by building a new heavy duty undercarriage. In this process I raised the fiver five inches. Now I have good bed clearance and I have real brakes.

Attachment 275372
Attachment 275373

Wow! Your skills are way beyond mine. That’s awesome. I hadn’t seen anyone put disc brakes on a Rockwood or Flagstaff before. Since you lifted it 5” did you get new entry steps?

[GPs37FLH]

Originally Posted by USAF Retired

How do I get pics to post without them turning sideways?

I believe this issue is with this website. To fix this problem, open the pictures in Microsoft Paint. In Paint, they'll look correct, but you need to either rotate the pictures 90 degrees to the right or to the left, then back again. Save the pictures, then upload them into your picture album on this website. They'll now display in your posts in the correct orientation once you've done this.

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by USAF Retired

I’ve tried that before also

I use the free orange Tapatalk app to post pics from my iPhone. It has never mis-oriented any of my pics.

[doc73]

Originally Posted by Mr. Dan

I use the free orange Tapatalk app to post pics from my iPhone. It has never mis-oriented any of my pics.

Mine turns sideways all the time from the app but I'm on Android it that matters.

[Hclarkx]

Originally Posted by corn18

Looking good. Still debating the disc brake conversion myself.

Make sure you get a new weight on the modified trailer. I had a subframe added to lift my 5er up to get it level and now I am 200 lbs below the GVWR with a fully loaded trailer. I travel with full water, so that doesn't help.

I surely did add weight that will reduce my usable GVWR. I probably added 300 to 400 lbs. New axles are much heavier and I added a lot of steel. And those disk rotors are heavy!! But, the factory GVWR is 9000# and II long ago removed about 500# of factory installed bits that we didn't need. As a result I've been only up around 8500# when packed for a long trip. With the heavier undercarriage I will be close to 9000# with the same cargo, but likely not over. Interestingly, the new under carriage and axles and larger wheels/tires would probably earn me a much higher GVWR if the factory were applying that rating.

[doc73]

How tall are you now with 5 extra inches?

[chriscowles]

Detached the folding extension countertop after the hinges broke AGAIN, but this time both broke.

The hinge joint projects 1" away from where the arm is mounted on the cabinet wall. I suspect that vibration from vertical movement of the folded countertop causes fatigue, and failure.

I replaced the hinges earlier with an exact replacement from Amazon. I'll be visiting a friend soon that has metal-working skills. We may be able to fashion some kind of buttress to reinforce the weak design.

I'm also corresponding with Lachlan at Rockwood to see if they've improved the design. I can't see how our driving or our trailer would differ from thousands of others with the same exact shelf. Assuming no difference, why are there not more complaints here?

[Hclarkx]

Originally Posted by itat

Wow! Your skills are way beyond mine. That’s awesome. I hadn’t seen anyone put disc brakes on a Rockwood or Flagstaff before. Since you lifted it 5” did you get new entry steps?

I would have needed new steps but months before the lift I had upgraded to three-step Morryde fold out steps and selected a unit that would handle the lift. Before the lift the Morryde bottom step was just inches from the ground. After the lift the bottom step is a bit over six inches from the ground. The new door sill height is within the spec for three-step unit that I got. See a photo of the steps in post 18940 below.

[aeblank]

Originally Posted by chriscowles

Detached the folding extension countertop after the hinges broke AGAIN, but this time both broke.

The hinge joint projects 1" away from where the arm is mounted on the cabinet wall. I suspect that vibration from vertical movement of the folded countertop causes fatigue, and failure.

I replaced the hinges earlier with an exact replacement from Amazon. I'll be visiting a friend soon that has metal-working skills. We may be able to fashion some kind of buttress to reinforce the weak design.

I'm also corresponding with Lachlan at Rockwood to see if they've improved the design. I can't see how our driving or our trailer would differ from thousands of others with the same exact shelf. Assuming no difference, why are there not more complaints here? Attachment 275412Attachment 275413Attachment 275414

Is that corian? I have a particle board shelf. Weight is probably 1/10 of yours...

[Hclarkx]

Originally Posted by doc73

How tall are you now with 5 extra inches?

The roof surface is 12-0. Add the tank vents and shower skylight and MaxxFans (when closed) and I'm up around 12-5. About 12-9 with the fan hoods raised. NOTE: I do not have a roof-mount A/C; I'd be up around 13 feet if I still had the A/C.

It's noteworthy that this particular fiver has a 6-4 ceiling in the bedroom (I'm 6-3) so is naturally tall. Also, it sat way to low from the factory. The tires cleared the floor above them by 1-3/4 inches while Dexter specs call for 3 inches for the torsion bar axles that came on the rig. It was almost unusable with a 3/4 ton truck! So I did an immediate 3 inch lift but that only gave me 5 inch bed rail clearance and that was with a significant nose high stance. I did damage a bed rail once! I now have 7" clearance and could have more since the fiver tail is nearly an inch higher than the front (I got about a half inch more lift than I was planning on).

Notice that the wheels don't match the wheel arches. I could have used 15" wheels when I switched from 5 bolt to 6 bolt to accommodate the new axles, but etrailer sent me 16" wheels by mistake. Rather than return them I bought new 16" tires. The larger wheels/tires required the axles to be spread apart an extra couple of inches hence the mismatch.