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Michelin XPS Rib

Meh- run the scissor jacks and use jackstands. If the scissor jack isn’t strong enough to lift the trailer, then replace them at that point.

I have had the T handle jack stands for years. They work but it is annoying cranking them around for ever, both up and down. A buddy bought the electric tongue jack- uses it to unhitch, then drops front of his camper low as possible. Sets T handle jack stands in rear then electric raises the front and sets those in place.
His won’t raise the tires off the ground- just makes it easier to get trailer stable & level.

I do same thing with my hand crank one on my little 14’ camper. But already decided if we get rid of this one for another (in other words start camping again because already decided this one doesn’t cut it for us) I am gonna get some heavy duty scissors at the corners and just use a cordless drill on them.
 
That makes sense, mine is a 30' 35' with the tongue and has the electric tongue jack. the scissor jacks on mine are is sad shape, rusty and crusty lol. center bolts are slightly bent too so I need to replace them all. maybe I should just replace them all and add 4 more mid way closer to the axles for weight distribution.

I also found these online for lifting the axles too but they are pricey. almost $400 for two sets but can handle 16k lbs

rvlife.com

How To Avoid Flat Spots On Your Trailer Tires

Allowing your trailer to sit directly on the ground for extended periods of time can cause a problem with your tires known as “flat spotting.”
rvlife.com rvlife.com
 
LOL I told my wife that for our end game I wanted to have this trailer fixed up and we'd live in it traveling once the kids move out. She said I was crazy LOL
 
dbrannon79 said:
I have seen these before but am scared of them. thinking of "if I pull too far forward". where I keep it stored is on uneven ground in the yard so I would need a base or one of those that is wide enough not to sink.

I found out that the scissor jacks at the 4 corners aren't designed to lift the trailer but only to stabilize it. I happen to be in walmart and spotted a set of jack stands that had the tee handle and a worm gear made for RV's I was thinking of getting some of those and remove the scissor jacks off the frame since I bent one in the back as it drug the ground. I figure those can lift the trailer.
Click to expand...
We used leveling blocks under the tires and then the stabilizer jacks after that
 
I would think it's easier doing this with a motorhome. not as much work as hauling with a truck. just have to get a "get away" car to pull behind it.
 
dbrannon79 said:
I would think it's easier doing this with a motorhome. not as much work as hauling with a truck. just have to get a "get away" car to pull behind it.
Click to expand...

My 5th wheel has had 3 TV's. The Original Owner's Chevy with a 8.1L that wouldn't pass a gas station, My 2003 Cummins, and now my 2018 Cummins RAM. I can hook or unhook in about 15 min depending on if the slides are out, clean up to bring the slides in, and hook ups. Otherwise it's put tailgate down, set the 5er hitch, back it up, drop hitch lock pin, retract jacks, plug in RV to pickup, put up tailgate, pull wheel chalks, and we are gone. (Inflate rear pickup tires if I have aired em down.)

Having a trailer vs. motorhome is one less engine/powertrain to maintain.

I get to cruise around in my DD 3500 vs. a small enough to tow coffin on wheels. Where I go they have things known as Elk that will put a hurt on a 3500, but, make the EMT's sort through your and the elk's remains to figure out what's human in things as large as a minivan... It's the same amount of work to hook a 5er as it is to hook a toad behind a motorhome.

Couple of advantages to a motorhome is keeping it cool going down the road and not having to be getting wet in any rain when you stop for the day. Although my 5er is known to have it's generator powering the A/C going down the road.
 
We were still waffling.

We may need to do something yet.

Our house needs rebuilt.

Should have bought the neighbors house 1/2 mile south. The appreciation and low interest might have paid for our improvements.

Not sure, don't have a clue what we're doing now.

Everything is $100,000 + what it was then.
 
jrsavoie said:
That was our plan until my health went to shit.
Click to expand...

jrsavoie said:
We were still waffling.
Click to expand...

The nice part about travel with an RV is you set the pace of how far you go in a day, if you even go at all. Take a couple days in one place before going on to the next. You can't get around the work of setting up and filling/dumping water tanks. Bigger tanks mean you do it less often like every 3 days.

Look for an older well kept RV from in the day when they cared slightly more. I couldn't stand the thought of damage to a "tin can" but some like them. The fiberglass RV's (Bigfoot, Scamp, Oliver, Northern Lite, etc. ) are a good choice as the modern laminate almost everyone else uses is one leak from an expensive delamanation repair or total loss. Northwood Arctic Fox and Nash are a grade above the rest. Holiday Rambler in older units are as well.

New doesn't get you anything over used as there isn't any build care for some brands.

That said my Arctic Fox is now 21 years old, has one expensive slide repair and an expensive crack and delamanation spot repaired. Some RV places require photos for permission to stay for rigs over 10 years old. "Please don't dump the junker here!"

I have to be extremely careful in replacing worn out stuff in my RV as NEW is sometimes worse that what I am changing out. Short life on some things.

Worse the service center I use for heavy repairs, like the slide out, burned to the ground last month, except for the brick walls... They are rebuilding though.

www.azfamily.com

Crews extinguish massive fire at RV repair shop in east Mesa

Crews extinguished a large fire at an RV repair shop in Mesa near Main Street and Crismon Road, just east of Loop 202.
www.azfamily.com www.azfamily.com
 
WarWagon said:
The nice part about travel with an RV is you set the pace of how far you go in a day, if you even go at all. Take a couple days in one place before going on to the next. You can't get around the work of setting up and filling/dumping water tanks. Bigger tanks mean you do it less often like every 3 days.

Look for an older well kept RV from in the day when they cared slightly more. I couldn't stand the thought of damage to a "tin can" but some like them. The fiberglass RV's (Bigfoot, Scamp, Oliver, Northern Lite, etc. ) are a good choice as the modern laminate almost everyone else uses is one leak from an expensive delamanation repair or total loss. Northwood Arctic Fox and Nash are a grade above the rest. Holiday Rambler in older units are as well.

New doesn't get you anything over used as there isn't any build care for some brands.

That said my Arctic Fox is now 21 years old, has one expensive slide repair and an expensive crack and delamanation spot repaired. Some RV places require photos for permission to stay for rigs over 10 years old. "Please don't dump the junker here!"

I have to be extremely careful in replacing worn out stuff in my RV as NEW is sometimes worse that what I am changing out. Short life on some things.

Worse the service center I use for heavy repairs, like the slide out, burned to the ground last month, except for the brick walls... They are rebuilding though.

www.azfamily.com

Crews extinguish massive fire at RV repair shop in east Mesa

Crews extinguished a large fire at an RV repair shop in Mesa near Main Street and Crismon Road, just east of Loop 202.
www.azfamily.com www.azfamily.com
Click to expand...
The old 34' 1978 Dodge Concord we had was better than most
It was encapsulated in high density spray foam. Pulled a wall p
Angel off and the wall cavity was filled. Very solid

If it wasn't for the windows. It would have been pretty easy to heat
 
WarWagon said:
Look for an older well kept RV from in the day when they cared slightly more. ...

New doesn't get you anything over used as there isn't any build care for some brands.
Click to expand...

The cut-off is 2006 - 2008 (the .com bust). After this, corporate raiders bought-up a bunch of the surviving manufacturers and let the bean counters take over.

I happened to meet somebody who wrote and consulted on new electrical code / standards, showed a picture of a 2017 Class A motorcoach's electrical panel (not naming names, but it is one of the well known brands), and the response was "I guess that complies with code somehow."
 
Mine is a 2007 Forest River Cherokee lite 30' one thing I have found to be inadequate for our hot climate and probably the same issue for the cold climate is the insulation. only the exterior walls and roof are insulated along with the floor but it's not enough. one thing I plan on doing is when I get the time and funds to redo the roof is to pull all of the OSB off and pack as much insulation in as possible. I have been in a debate about laying some heavy plastic in over the ceiling panels and then packing in the blow in type loose stuff. the plastic would be for so in the even I need to ever pull a ceiling panel down from the inside, the loose insulation will stay up there and not just dump out into the interior.

although mine is only a 110v 30a setup it needs a second ac. I have also debated on converting it to a 50a setup or just adding an additional breaker panel in a compartment near the service connection. using a 50a connection but running one leg to the extra panel and keep the rest as it is along with adding a generator that can power it all full time.

but right now all that is just dreams LOL
 
dbrannon79 said:
30a setup it needs a second ac.
Click to expand...

I use the 30A in National Parks that don't have 50A so the 30A setup is an advantage.

Regardless it's easy button to add a 15A (normal outlet) or 20A 120V plug dedicated just for the second A/C unit. I finally added a second A/C unit to my RV. So I use the 30A and the 20A plugs at campsites that have 20/30/50A outlet choices. It's an adapter to plug 30A and 20A into a 50A outlet. Yeah been to one place that only had a 50A outlet.

No breaker needed as the pole plug generally has one unless you are using a goofy adapter.

Look at a mini split if you have a place to mount the outdoor condenser.

Otherwise Recpro makes a very quiet rooftop RV A/C unit. Some models have a heat pump to save propane in cooler weather. If quiet is not a concern Get Something Else as it's a parts only warranty and mine already ate a board under the warranty. (Compressor wouldn't shut off unless I tripped the breaker. Of course the compressor relay is on that board.) It's quiet enough to still recommend Vs. the obnoxious loud Coleman Mach my RV came with.
 
dbrannon79 said:
one thing I have found to be inadequate for our hot climate and probably the same issue for the cold climate is the insulation. only the exterior walls and roof are insulated along with the floor but it's not enough.
Click to expand...

This is another area where 5'ers and TTs differ. 5'ers usually allow for more insulation space in the overhead which makes them better candidates for 4 season camping. Walls on both the TT and 5'er are usually about the same when it comes to insulation space.

In the TT, there are only a few inches (maybe 3" ?) worth of space in the overhead which limits the R value possibilities.

To help with summertime heat, might consider applying a thick layer of liquid EDPM. I did this on an aluminum roof TT and the heat reduction was noticeable. Not huge, but noticeable. Downside is that going this route is a firm commitment. Bonus is that it will seal any leaks :) Big reduction in rain noise as well.

FWIW, simply stuffing more insulation in the space might actually make the R value go down when using material that requires air space (example: fiberglass batt). IIRC, it is almost a direct 1:1 reduction (inches to R value) when squishing the insulation. For example, buying R30 fiberglass batt which needs 8" of space, but compressing it down to 3" will reduce the R value to around 10 - 12. Point is, buy the stuff which has a rating for the actual space, otherwise it is wasting money and unnecessarily adding weight.

Based on the limited space for insulation in TTs, most manufacturers go the spray-in route as it offers the best R value for the application. Spray-in is also the favorite for Skoolie and motor-coach conversions.
 
High density Spray foam also adds strength.

I think SPF R value improves with higher density, up 2.4 Lb density or something like that.
After it gets too dense it goes the other way.

I used 2 lb density for most projects
 
For roof top insulation and weather sealing-I know what my next move is:
Same I did on my flat roof house. Spray foam that gets the paint.

My house is 1950’s flat roof. 7.5” between the 1/2” drywall inside and the 3/4” ply outside- not much insulation in there. When we had to redo the roof (the asphalt rolls) - I did a ton of research and found for flat roofs nothing is better.
We were doing it for the normal thing of waterproofing. The roofing guy said pay attention to the power & gas bill for heating & cooling - I thought “gimmicky”.
NOPE! Cut costs by 15%.

After him coming back for the 1 year check up included in the original price- I said “man, I ought to do my camp trailer” and laughed. He looked confused and had me drive a few blocks away to his house. Toy hauler and a diy uhaul truck turned camper. Both done and painted with normal colors to blend in.

Something to consider
 
I know this thread has gone sideways from it's topic, but while were on the tracks for rv's and roofs, would anyone have any ideas for roofing on an RV that's something once and done (unconventional) most RV's use a rubber roof which isn't great if you want to have a ladder and plan to go places were you can use a beach or lawn chair up there. roof material tears too easy.

Winnebago are the only ones to my knowledge to use aluminum sheet metal roofs. I was thinking about if one could use the widest available aluminum flashing that comes in the rolls. I think they can be had in 24" widths, maybe wider, but rolling that stuff out cross ways overlapping and seaming over the roof was one thought I had along with coating after installed. I only came up with that since it's hard to find flat sheeting for roofing. wanting something that would out last the camper and durable. Not sure if that's a good option but was thinking of how older mobile homes were.
 
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