Plan on mostly doing full hook ups, wife is not into loosing any amenities at this time. lol Good point on tank sizes. So sounds like brand really is irrelevant, would rather find a newer used model then new.


Sounds like I need to choose between Hensley Arrow or ProPride hitch. Just as well start with the caddie of hitches. =0)

 

Good luck, let the fun begin.

Something to add, some of the best spots I found (state parks, lakes, etc.) won't have sewer hookups so you will be limited by gray/black tank size or carrying a "tote" to dump.
If you have 9 female co-pilots you'll be doing allot of dumping LOL.

Pay attention to dry weight vs. max gross weight. Allot of these trailers will have very little actual carrying capacity. Meaning when you are actually loaded for camping you will exceed tire, axle and suspension ratings.
I originally ordered a Kodiak toy hauler that had less than 1000 lb actual capacity. That trailer was the same size as this Torque but had a 3,000 lb less gross weight, on 5 hole 15" tires, it was a light weight to be fair but that also means it's not built to carry enough weight to be useful to me.

Also check out the RV brand owners forums for the brand you are interested in. Heartland has a great forum with allot of knowledgeable members.
heartlandowners.org

 

I guess I had never looked close enough at a PP or one side by side with my HA to see the difference in the wedge. I had assumed from what I had seen of the PPs that they were the same-ish.


I think (especially with your front LP cover) that the PP style jacks wouldn't work for you with how they mount on top of the frame rails. Wouldn't work with my TT either, as my front cap has a big outward curve to it with an integrated LP cover.
The HA bracket style jack mounts would work though, I think as they only need about a quarter of an inch on top of the frame rail and the screw jack sits outboard on the pivot stud. I like the screw jacks because of the infinite adjustability of them, don't really know how important that is though.....
Snap up chain brackets will work fine, I know HA offers them as an optional setup for installations with obstructions for the screw jacks, like some of the V front trailers.
If you aren't going to use the HA struts and brackets how are you going to stabilize the upper hitch head?

 

You really can't go wrong with a PP or HA hitch, I love mine and it does make pulling our giant TT with the EX much more comfortable. Start searching Craigslist and any other local auction/sale/trade places for a used unit, they are out there. I bought my HA off CL for $650, it did need a few parts and some paint but still way less than new.
If for whatever reason you can't or don't end up with a PP/HA be sure to at least get a high quality WD setup with built-in sway control like the Reese Dual Cam or comparable. The TTs you are looking at are too big/long to seriously rely on those add-on friction sway bar(s), too much leverage involved for them to be effective and the built-in units offer better control.
For sizing of the WD setup I always take the TT's GVWR and plan for 15% of that for tongue weight. Use that as the minimum for the hitch's weight rating and the spring bars. Like most things, better to have more than you need than coming up a bit short.
I agree with what has been said about quality of the various makes of trailers out there and maybe getting started with a good condition used trailer. Especially if this type of vacationing is new to guys, find one that seems to fit your needs/wants/requirements and then use it as much as you can for a season or two. Make notes (keep a notebook in the TT) of what works well for your use and doesn't, use that to rethink your list of wants/needs/requirements for the next (maybe new) rig. That's sort of what we did, we started out with a used 31' TH which served us very well for how were using it, our son's Quarter Midget racing and family camping trips. Once he outgrew the little racecars and retired from racing we used what we had learned from the TH experience to develop our list for a new TT (it HAD TO HAVE SLIDES!!! ). Worked out well for us, 3 years with the new TT and still very happy with it (and very, very few issues at, and nothing major ).


Your combo of the 7.3, 4.10 gears and 35" tires sounds like a winner for some towing action.

 

Thanks WE3ZS...Was talking with my brother today and he brought up a good point, with the trailer sizes I am looking at does it cut the access to RV parks I will have down a lot or are most RV parks set up to accommodate trailers of that size? (34-37ft)

 

With this current TT we have only camped at full hookup sites, a good mix of private campgrounds, all the big chain places and a few State Parks (no National Parks yet that I can think of). We always make reservations and make sure to include our length when we make them. Twice we have relocated to another available site once at the campground and the reserved site looked a little tight or hard to access (but I'm sure I could have squeezed into them). Otherwise we have not had any issues with navigating around the campgrounds or fitting into a camp site with our rig. They have been a few sites that did require more than a few back and forth moves with plenty of sawing on the steering wheel to get spotted well (and back out later ). It is very valuable to have a good spotter helping with a simple set of easy hand signals to help direct you in, and my wife is a great one. Practice makes perfect and leads to much less frustration, and it is perfectly fine to GOAL (Get Out And Look).
Most all campgrounds will have longer sites available, but some of the National Parks, especially out West are geared more towards shorter trailers, so always check ahead of arrival. Lots of the CGs will have long pull-through sites that are very easy to land in, we try to get one of them if we will be landing after dark, makes for less commotion to disturb the other campers.
Our TT is exactly 41' from the hitch to rear bumper, combined Ex and TT is about 61'.

 

My experience is, yes. I have a 36' trailer and we have issues going to a lot of the state parks up here in Washington. I haven't found any kind of real consistency when trying to look stuff up online either when it comes to camping space lengths. A 36' fiver is a lot more maneuverable than a 36' bumper pull with an Ex pulling it. If you research and plan your spots you should be okay though. It's limiting, but the extra space is worth it in my opinion.

 

Anyone have any suggestions for landing gear on a 36' TT. One of our jacks popped at the end of the season and I need to replace it. Wasn't doing anything out of normal expected service, it just let go at the teeth/cogs on the scissor portion, if that makes sense. Anyways, looking for a good quality one that I can purchase, I've come to realize with TT stuff that more money doesn't always mean better quality.

 

We have looked at several of the trailers on your list, as we are thinking about upsizing from a 24' (box length) bunkhouse to a 31 - 34' (box) bunkhouse. I'm not trying to steer you toward what I like, but out of your list, the Keystone Outback 325BH was best thought out / laid out big bunkhouse out of everything we (my wife agrees) have looked at so far. But..... as has been said, everything depends on your 'style' of camping. I could not camp without an outdoor kitchen, so that alone would exclude a couple of your contenders.

I definitely agree that you should look at floor plans and options, and not concentrate on brand names. Quality (or lack of) control is all over the place. I have looked at quality issues on higher end trailers, as well as lower end trailers. They all have good ones and bad ones.

As far as used versus new, I agree with the concept of starting out used. Reality for us, was something else though. I couldn't find anything similar to what we were looking for, that was 1, 2, 3, (4, 5, ??) years old, for any or much less than what we paid for our brand new camper with a manufacturers warranty (plus brand new tires, brakes, appliances, etc.). And we started shopping one year before we bought. Location (market) is everything though..... so your mileage may vary.

As far as price goes...... go online and look at the websites of 'wholesalers', the closer to Indiana the better (lower delivery cost). Those are the prices you should shoot to pay. Of course, buy as local as possible ..... just don't fall for the price that is '$3000 below list'. My experience says the real price is somewhere close to 30 - 33% below MSRP. You may not buy locally that low.... but get as close as you can.

Here is a (possibly incomplete) list of some things 'I' would consider a priority on a 30' + bunkhouse.... in no particular order. I might not get all of them, but I'll get what I think are most important.

50 amp electric service (carry a 30 to 50 adapter for staying in 30 amp sites)

15,000 btu A/C at a minimum. If it is hot where you camp, get dual A/Cs (you will need a 50 amp service for dual)

A door from outside directly into the bathroom. (cuts down on the kids tracking dirt through the trailer)

A large outdoor kitchen with a grill, cooktop, fridge, sink (with drain into grey tank!)and a little cabinet space. (microwave and TV are nice, but not as big a priority)

Quality power tongue jack (would never own another camper without)

Couch and / or dinette in the bunk room for the kids to have their own space on a rainy day.

Enough counter space to make a couple sammiches in the kitchen. (The cheesy plastic sink covers over most sinks DO NOT count as counter space!!. An island kitchen always has plenty of counter space.)

Awning space !!!!! Can never have too much. The Rockwoods with two (yes, 2 !!!) power awnings ROCK in this department.

Slide toppers on all slides. (keeps leaves and branches from destroying slide seals)

Frameless windows (nice!)

Ladder to the roof.

6 or even 8 lug axles.

Separate TVs in living area and master bedroom. (The spin around TV cabinets deprive someone of TV time)

Laundry chute or cabinet. (never thought I would think our laundry chute into the pass-through would be so important. Where are you gonna put those wet, smelly clothes .... in your closet???)

Large pass through compartment. (You will travel with waaay more crap than you ever imagined)

Electric fireplace. (use the electricity you paid for to stay warm in cool weather instead of using your propane / furnace)


Whatever you buy, get out and use it !!

 

I am going to build a yoke just like the ProPride has. Obviously that will require cutting up the hitch head. I am not concerned too much with that part but I don't want to do that until I have the hitch bar done and tested.

You'll have to pardon my distain for the HA, it's not the product i don't like so much as the company. The unwillingness to adapt their product and charge a premium for the unimproved version doesn't sit well with me. I have heard some complaints about owner of ProPride but regardless i think his Hensley engineered version is superior.

Back to the subject...
I have the chain brackets to use from the MV donor hitch but if I use the chains I loose the ability to adjust the stinger socket angle to unhitch or rehitch. That seems to be a large problem and the tubes that Hensley uses aren't very attractive to me vs. the infinite adjustability of the jacks. I have been trying to find a suitable side wind jack to build my rendition of the HA/3P jack. So far all the ones I found are a frame style so I'll have to heavily modify them to work. I'll find the right one, just have to keep looking.
​​​​

 

 

I started to make some progress on my ST tire eradication project over the weekend, for more on what I'm trying to do this thread has more info. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ts-please.html


I ordered 4 new 8 lug hubs that will fit on my current axle spindles. (Thanks Eric!) https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hub...866UC3-EZ.html


Those new 8 lug hubs will let me mount rims that will handle up to 110 PSI for heavier duty tires. I ordered 5 of these wheels. 16x6 in T02 Aluminum Trailer Wheel 8 Lug, 3750 lb Max Load, Free Shipping.


Since I'm going to be making these upgrades to the hubs/wheels/tires I figured I might as well keep going and upgrade to heavier shackles and wet bolts with bronze bushings with this MorRyde kit. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=AHSEAWK2CKAVE


I'm contemplating building a shock kit for the TT also, still looking around at existing setups to copy.

 

Tom we just made two big hauls one down to Key West and the other to Orlando. On the trip to the Keys we blew 3 stock tires on the TT and screwed up the steel wheel and marred up one Aluminium wheel. the Curb side of the trailer took some pretty good damage one time. On a previous trip I had a blow out and replaced it with a Dynatrail Tire E rated with a 75 mph speed rating. The Dynatrails are made by Doublecoin. I now have 5 tires all in load range E that are made by 5 different Manufactures Including a Maxxis. When on the road there is very few tire shops that carry more than one ST tire. At least that was my experience. FWIW i am **** about checking tire pressures in the morning before we leave and checking temps at every stop. Which is usually 250 miles
On the trip to Orlando there was no problems with the tires at all and we drove straight home from there.(12 hrs)
If you head over to the Jayco Owner Forums there is a modification section look for Big John Ds Thread he did the MoRyde Upgrade on a Axle set up Identical to ours. LOTS of good info there.

Also on a side note the jacks on the PP would fit your TT with Room to spare for the crank handles.. Pictures to come if our wifi ever gets to working where I can get them from the cloud

Kelly

 

Kelly, I'll be most likely going with the Sailun S637 in 235/80R16, they are listed as STs but are built more like a typical truck tire and are rated at 4,080lbs and 75 MPH. They are from China but out of an ISO rated factory and have very good reports from RV users running heavier rigs than ours.
We lost 1 of our TT's factory Power King ST tires back in July, luckily it didn't come apart and I found the broken belts and sidewall separation at home in the driveway. On Friday when getting some measurements for the items I ordered I found another tire with a bubble at the sidewall/tread shoulder, again on the inside sidewall but the same side as the other failed tire. These tires won't travel another inch under our TT.
My Hensley Arrow's jacks have plenty of room for movement and cranking on our TT.

 

I still find it hard to believe that Jayco or any manufacture would put this on their product. During the Key west trip I kept trying to purchase more tires at each blow out stop but it never worked out for me. I am also going to purchase a second spare. If I start having trouble with these tires I will follow your lead . Tire Blowouts Suck!!!







Worth every tire blow we had






Private Tiki Hut on site Pretty Awesome

Key Largo John Pallencamp State park