Introducing Dolly Roger - Page 3 - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

Garry · 06-14-2017, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nmalozzi

I made it happen! Sorry for the big gap in progress here, but I really couldn't stop and post. I've sort of lost track of all the work I've done, but the important news is I got her road/camping worthy in time for our first trip. She's a bit rough around the edges, but usable. Mostly just some paint and finishing work to do. So let me try to recap what I did since we last spoke:

- Finished attaching the new countertops.
- Installed/plumbed the new sink.
- Removed the useless water heater (It wasn't functioning properly, and we really don't care about hot water. We did care about the storage space it was taking up).
- Removed the remaining wiring associated with the water heater, as well as some other wiring that the previous owner just disconnected and left in the walls/cabinets.
- Ran all new wiring to the Fantastic Fan.
- Ran all new wiring to 4 new LED lights in the ceiling. I have them split onto 2 different switches for the front and back of the camper. MAN they are bright!
- Installed a new USB/cigarette lighter outlet so we could charge our iPhones (we're nerds).
- Relocated the pump switch to under the new outlet (it was previously under one of the seats. Which I always found to be a pain to get to).
- My pregnant wife cut and installed the ceiling insulation because she's amazing.
- Installed new ceiling.
- Cut/sanded/stained new cabinet doors and installed them (the original ones fell victim to the water leak and expanded/split).
- Stained the new shelf.
- Built a new futon/bed setup (wow is it an improvement in comfort over what was there!)
- Seal taped all four edges of the new roof (because I'm obsessive compulsive).
- Installed new opener/pistons on the front awning.
- Loaded all of our gear and went camping!

We spent 5 nights camping and everything worked wonderfully, and I feel pretty good. Sure there are a few small things to tidy up (mostly a nice coat of paint on the interior), but all and all it was a fantastic trip. This is all gut feel here, but the top seems lighter due to the new roof construction as the lift motor seems to pop it up with a bit more ease than last season. That said, I think the new bed and thicker countertops have added to overall weight as felt through my butt dyno in our tow vehicle (v8 4runner). We were already considering trading my car in on a truck for towing, and I think this trip sold us on that. We certainly didn't have any issues with the 4runner, but we'd like to keep that rig around for awhile. So it's probably not a good thing to keep stressing it that much. All systems worked perfectly and we weren't hooked up to anything. Battery lasted the entire time, we literally ran out of water on the last morning, and we never even tapped the second propane tank despite running the fridge on propane the entire time. I think with a solar panel and some supplemental water we could make 7days easily. Which has kinda always been my completely random goal. Nights got down to the low 40s and we didn't even fire up the heater. Last season we would have, but I think the insulated ceiling (the old ceiling had none) REALLY helps. It stays warmer at night and cooler during the day.

Anyway, I'm going to pick away at these last few items slowly. So these updates will likely slow down. In the mean time here is the album again. I've added some more progress photos, and even some photos from camp at Steamboat Lake:

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/1whiuhppz...35arxyJ0ce-1fa

Sounds great Nick. We installed the cigarette lighter/USB ports several weeks ago and it does not draw very much voltage when charging our phones. It also indicates the charge of our batteries, which is nice. We have an adaptor for the cigarette lighter so we can use that also for charging purposes as it would never be used for a smoke.

hilltool · 06-14-2017, 11:50 AM

Really really impressive. Word of advice on getting a truck------ research a whole bunch particularly GVWR and curb weight of truck. I had a 97 f150 with 4x4 when I bought mine and just assumed it would be fine. As it turned out- I was always right at or a bit over the total weight rating for the truck when I had the trailer hooked up and the truck bed filled with camping stuff and the cab filled with me and my wife and our dog. KNOW YOUR LOADED TRAILER WEIGHT! And get the bigger engine

Helps on hills.

Rick

nmalozzi · 06-14-2017, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hilltool

Really really impressive. Word of advice on getting a truck------ research a whole bunch particularly GVWR and curb weight of truck. I had a 97 f150 with 4x4 when I bought mine and just assumed it would be fine. As it turned out- I was always right at or a bit over the total weight rating for the truck when I had the trailer hooked up and the truck bed filled with camping stuff and the cab filled with me and my wife and our dog. KNOW YOUR LOADED TRAILER WEIGHT! And get the bigger engine

Helps on hills.

Rick

Few questions there.

1) How do I find out my loaded weight?

The old HiLo brochure I found lists the trailer at 2425lbs which I assume is a dry weight. I've been just assuming we added 500lbs to it with the new bed/etc (which is likely an over estimate), and 1000lbs for water, propane, gear, etc (again, likely an over estimate). That put us at about 4000lbs. That's under the rating for our v8 4runner which is rated for 7,300 lbs. However, the manual claims one shouldn't tow over 5500 without a weight distribution hitch. I purchased a weight distribution hitch, but I haven't had time to set it up. The 4runner forums all seem to agree that the rear suspension is a bit soft for the generation we own. Many claim the weight distribution hitch helps that a lot, but I'm not really happy with the power it's producing, primarily when climbing hills. So hitch or not I think we need more power. Not to mention, we're about to have a third human in the mix and the gear associated with him. So I'd like to be prepared to carry more "stuff" before we actually need to do it.

2) Looks like you have a Nissan Titan. How do you like it?

I've been a Toyota guy for YEARS. Owned a Tacoma, a Tundra, and now the 4runner. I loved my Tacoma, was luke warm on the Tundra though. Another Tundra is the obvious solution if I want to stay brand loyal, but I'm not really excited about owning a Tundra again. I've been considering the Titan, but know nothing about them. I think I'm leaning towards a Sierra/Silverado... but I'm still just in research mode.

hilltool · 06-14-2017, 02:02 PM

trailer weight:

Many will jump in here but what I do is find a scale (truck stop, local land fill etc) and go weigh my truck without the trailer. That gives me my curb weight-preferably, fill it up first. Then I hitch up the trailer (without the distribution hitch hooked up) and drive back to the scales and pull on with just the truck on the scales. Record the new weight. subtract the truck without trailer(curb weight) from weight of truck with trailer attached and that is my "tongue weight". Finally, pull the whole thing on the scale ( truck and trailer) and record that weight. subtract "just the truck/curb" weight from the "everything" weight and I have the true weight of the trailer with everything I have in it at the time.

The tongue weight and truck and passengers and stuff is the GVWR ( gross vehicle weight rating). That is NOT THE SAME as the tow rating....which is basically how much the trailer weighs. You can be within specs on the "tow rating" but overweight on the GVWR. And that is where most people screw up. they focus on the tow rating. The tongue weight should determine the type of bars you have on your distribution hitch.
Rick

hilltool · 06-14-2017, 02:19 PM

Titan

Nice truck and the tranny is set up in a sweet spot for towing. I like it-and plenty of power for my 22footer. Gas mileage is bad if you are using it as an everyday driver. When the Titan first came out in like 2005 it was THE hot truck but they did not do much to change it since then and now is considered outdated. They just did a re-design and came out with a diesel meant to target a market between a half ton and a 3/4 ton and it seems like there really ISN"T a market for that. Again, the GVWR on it isn't so great. I think they are good value used, often, because nobody wants one. Thats why I bought mine- but mostly for weekend warrior stuff and towing the trailer. If I bought new, I would look at GM, or Tundra, or Ford. I just didn't have the budget to do that and got this one for about 10K less than what I would have spent on a similar year used GM or Ford with 15 K more miles and a Tundra would have been even more. If you buy used-----check out the "titan Talk" site for issues. There were some, especially on the earlier models. My preference would be what Jack has, which is a f150 with the six cylinder turbo boost engine. if you find one with a the super tow pkg- it has a generous GVWR for truck that size. The for the year (2010) Titan had the best GVWR of all the half ton trucks at that time. They have come out with a new "regular" Titan( non diesel)
but it isn't much of an improvement mileage wise and weight rating from the older years ( 2005-2016).

People will ALWAYS recommend "their" truck.

Rick

ps- I wouldn't tow any of this stuff without a weight distribution hitch set up regardless of how "beefy" the truck is.

maestro123 · 06-14-2017, 07:45 PM

hi Nick, doin a good job!

mike,
take a nap! LOL

nmalozzi · 08-22-2017, 04:13 PM

Haven't been working on it all that much, but making slow progress on the last few items that need doing. Been preoccupied with actually using it (and prepping the nursery). We've been out on three different trips since my last post here. Most recently 5nights at Turquoise Lake, which was wonderful. Even got to stop on our way home yesterday to take in the eclipse. Which is when I snapped this photo:

JackandJanet · 08-22-2017, 06:25 PM

Pretty picture, Nick. From the looks of things, it appears your WDH is set up pretty well. The trailer looks nice and level and the TV doesn't appear to be either "squatting" or "nose down".

One thing I noticed on my truck and trailer is that when I finally got the WDH setup just right, there was absolutely NO change in the steering alignment of my truck. Before that, even though things looked right, I would notice a constant pull to the right whenever I was towing and that pull was not there when I was not towing (or even hauling a heavy load in the truck bed).

I also found it was easier to connect the spring bars on my WDH when everything was set up right. I suspect my earlier setups had too much weight being transferred forward to the front axle of the truck and, as I recall, the ball of my trailer hitch was a bit lower than it is now.

I wish I could tell you the exact way to set up a WDH, but considering all the mechanical force components, I don't think there IS a way. I'm pretty sure now you can have one setting in error (like the ball height) and compensate for it by the tilt of the ball or the lift on the spring bars. Sort of a "two wrongs making a right" kind of thing. This kind of gets things set up right but it is not perfect.

- Jack

nmalozzi · 08-23-2017, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackandJanet

Pretty picture, Nick. From the looks of things, it appears your WDH is set up pretty well. The trailer looks nice and level and the TV doesn't appear to be either "squatting" or "nose down".

One thing I noticed on my truck and trailer is that when I finally got the WDH setup just right, there was absolutely NO change in the steering alignment of my truck. Before that, even though things looked right, I would notice a constant pull to the right whenever I was towing and that pull was not there when I was not towing (or even hauling a heavy load in the truck bed).

I also found it was easier to connect the spring bars on my WDH when everything was set up right. I suspect my earlier setups had too much weight being transferred forward to the front axle of the truck and, as I recall, the ball of my trailer hitch was a bit lower than it is now.

I wish I could tell you the exact way to set up a WDH, but considering all the mechanical force components, I don't think there IS a way. I'm pretty sure now you can have one setting in error (like the ball height) and compensate for it by the tilt of the ball or the lift on the spring bars. Sort of a "two wrongs making a right" kind of thing. This kind of gets things set up right but it is not perfect.

- Jack

The WDH has been phenomenal. I couldn't believe the difference after installing it. I took my time and really tried hard to get it setup properly the first time. It took well over an hour to get it on and correct, but it was worth it.

At camp this past week, I moved the torsion bars up one position on the trailer frame as I felt the 4Runner was still a tad low in rear. That solved that problem, but I think I'm getting a slight bit of that right hand pull you mentioned. I'm not sure though since the roads we were on were fairly crowned and there was a good bit of wind. I need to rig up and drive down a fairly flat road to be certain. I'm thinking I might have just been over sensitive to things due to knowing that I just made a change.

If it is in fact pulling I'll just try to adjust it some more to get it dialed back in. Either way it's WORLDS better now. The 4runner has the power, but the WDH really solves the sway and sag issues. Wish I hadn't drug my feet getting it installed.

sam · 08-23-2017, 07:51 PM

Our HiLo dealer set us up for towing. About a year later we were at the dealer and one of the techs said he had to adjust our towing set up. Sometimes the techs don't quite get it right the first time.

nmalozzi · 08-23-2017, 07:55 PM

Most of the "techs" I've talked to at the local dealers/shops look at me like I have leprosy when I tell them I'm working on a 1972 HiLo, haha.