You could always use the corner of the house as a reference point when backing in normally. As long as you stay as close to the house as you're comfortable in doing, then you should clear any obstructions on the passenger side?

I have a similar parking arrangement at my house and as long as i hug the downspout on the corner of the house, im golden.

Disclaimer: This coming from a licensed CDL driver.

 

Did my lst trip with 16' enclosed trailer full of motorcycles and racing equipment..., probably 5000 lbs or so, 700 miles.

The '02 Ltd 4x4 has stock suspension except for the Bilstein steering damper i put on, stock rim/tire size. Also has the Tekonsha P3 brake controller.

Mostly flat highway and state routes. Seemed happiest at around 70-72 mph while NOT in OD and around 2900-3000 rpms's, 3.73 gears. When/if it would shift into OD, mph would drop a few, and i felt it struggled to maintain 67-70mph.

The ride was extremely smooth, and solid feeling. No wandering, no swaying, tight steering, soaked up bumps and ripples unbelievably well. Very, very impressed with the way it towed. So much so that i don't feel the need to do anything with the suspension, swaybars, hitches, etc....of course i understand that i'm not pulling a gawd awful amount of weight so i probably don't need any add-ons. "wants" is another story.

A few mechanical issues though...

- Sudden speedo needle movement and ABS light flash, but only briefly and no noticeable difference in driving. I have read that this is a common 'bug'.

- While sitting in a drive thru, in drive, truck died and OD light started flashing just like it did in my 'heavy rain created a misfire' thread. I drove several hours in the rain the day before, no issues. No rain for over 18 hrs and truck was fine, then all of a sudden, the misfire. It went away a moment later when i started driving and didn't happen again for the trip back in more heavy rain.

- Between 72-77 mph, im getting a vibration, under my seat/center of vehicle.

- While making a sharp L/R turn from a stop, i feel the limited slip being 'knotchy'. Feels like when a 4x4 is locked in or an AWD vehicle and you'ure making sharp turns, the front tires slip, shutter or whatever.

trans, engine temp didn't budge. Nice and cool.

So i have a few bugs to work out.

 

Check your front hubs, I'm willing to bet one or both are locked.

 

I feel it in the rear....Sorry for using the front /awd reference as an example.

Would the front being locked cause the rear to do that?

I read that a friction enhancer can be added to the rear differential?

Thanks

 

Mine is doing that pretty bad too. It started after changing diff oil to a oil with friction modifier (oreilly masterpro I think) and even after adding more it has came back.

I will probably change it again to a better quality oil.

 

We are on our vacation and towing up through Ontario Canada where we had the chance to meet up with forum member (and very nice guy) JSpence in Hamilton ON. Everyone had a great time and we look forward to meeting up with him and his family at some time in the future.
We have now met several other forum members and everyone of them has been an awesome experience. I hope that everyone here gets (or makes ) the opportunity to meet up with other members of this great forum, its the folks here that make this place the BEST!

 

It was great to finally be in the same place at the same time. Next time we need to plan so nobody is driving so we can do a proper introduction.

 

Spent last weekend at a local state park with a lot of friends. Parked the TT Thursday and came home Monday. Had a ball watching 20+ kids playing outside on their bikes, scooters, hiking, etc...

 

Wait there is 2 of us in the Hammer!

 

We are out a day early for the long weekend. It's nice having the place to ourselves, even if it's only for 24 hrs.

 

Apparently so

There are a couple of Excursions in the area. Are you the one with 08 mirrors that I see at home depot on stonechurch.

 

Does or has anyone here used their front hitch to tow bikes while pulling a travel trailer? If so, what effect, if any, does it have on engine and transmission cooling/temps? Thought I might use my newly installed front hitch for just that to avoid having bikes on top, but didn't want to cause adverse effects of increased engine and trans temps due to restriction of the radiator/coolers.

-Kevin

 

I currently have a platform bike rack for the front hitch and carry 2 bikes. It can go up to 4. It doesn't really affect the cooling much. If you are towing in 100 degree outside temp with a lot of switchback going up a mountain, then your transmission will heat up quickly. It happened to me out here in S. California summer heat where I just pulled over to let it cool down and then continue.

You could upgrade ro the 6.0 trans cooler and you won't have to worry about it.

Edit: You can see my bike rack on the front in my avatar up top.

 

The camper was bought new almost 3 years ago. I am the original owner.

The black tank gate valve has always opened itself while towing. It started out as just a small amount. Then it turned into 3/4 open.

Two weekends ago, I decided I had had enough after I forgot to check it before leaving and once getting to the campground.

So over memorial day weekend, I dropped the belly pan and had a look at things. Amazingly the bolts were only a 1/4 turn past finger tight. So I dropped both gate valves and drain pipe out. It appeared that the gate valve on the black tank was bad. It was loose compared to the gray tank gate valve.

Off to the local RV store. I picked up two new gate valves, installed them and tested them out in the driveway before buttoning the underside back up. No leaks and both valves had the same resistance.

Left out today on a 100 mile trip, get to the campground and check the valves, the black tank valve was wide open again! !!!!!!

Pushed it back in and went to hook up to the full hook up at our site, can you guess what happened? A few quarts of water came out. Thankfully it was just water as we washed out the tanks when we did the valves.

So does anyone have any suggestions? I replaced the valves with a new identical valve from Valterra(spelling might be off).

Does anyone know if there is a gate valve that is detented?

So tired of literally getting crapped on!

 

Wow, strange. Is there anything near the valve that can pull it open? Any hoses near it?
A bungy cord should be able to keep em shut but that should not happen.