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RE: Adding weight to front of truck to offset big campers
Just to add some balance here the tolerance of the scale would make these numbers a complete draw as there is only about 60lbs difference on the rear axle and this is too small to be real. These scales may read to the pound but are in no way accurate in these increments. I do not doubt that it handles better but your fix is the absolute worse way to go. Adding weight to an already overloaded truck is silly IMO. It is like throwing gas on a fire hoping to put the fire out sooner. It will in fact do that because what is burning will be all burned up sooner.
Get the RIGHT truck to haul your load or scale back on your load. Other than these is a fools errand.
His numbers were to the nearest 10kg and using the same scale twice is certainly accurate enough. The ~60lbs removed from the rear wasn't what helped as much as the ~260 added to the front. That's significant enough to lower the front down.
Are you saying that a heavier but better balanced truck is more dangerous than a lighter one with poor balance? That's nonsense. You could load a truck to within its GVWR with all of the weight way up high on one corner of the truck. It will handle horribly.
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wnjj
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09/08/10 10:03am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Amount of fuel used
The challenge is that if you don't replace the charge wire with a much heavier wire you won't see much more than 20A.
For that reason it seems easiest to use the 110V Honda to power the on-board battery charger. It has direct access to the battery via short, heavy guage wiring.
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wnjj
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09/07/10 09:49am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Electrical setup in new shelter
If you run conduit it is very easy to pull in 5 wires (the two circuits can share ground). You can even get panels that have the 30 and 20 outlets in one box.
Two hots, neutral and ground.... what is the fifth wire?
I misread his first post. He said they can share a ground. That means 2 hots, 2 neutrals and a common ground.
You can share a neutral between circuits but it probably wouldn't be a good idea between a 20A and 30A.
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wnjj
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09/04/10 11:02pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Electrical setup in new shelter
I agree with you about the conduit and wire. My problem was palmetto roots that I had to wind aroud. once dug, I had to walk the wire into the ditch shoveling dirt as I went backfilling until the wire was weighted with the dirt. Then I was able to use a box blade to finish backfilling. On other projects I have used conduit. When you pull the wire through conduit there are a couple of tricks. If you are using wire pulling twine, first tie a hankie to the end then suck it through the conduit with a shop vac. Second use Ideal Clear Glide or equivelant on the wire. 10-3 was OK for my length of run but be sure to size your conduit and wire for your length as if you are making a long run you might have to drop to #8. good luck
Bummer about the roots. I used the shop vac trick (with a plastic grocery bag) to pull a string over 100' in my 1" low voltage conduit to my shop. It worked great! Just vaccuum for a while stopping to check periodically. Once you see a string, open the shop vac and pull out the bag. For the 100A 220V service (4 total wires in 2") I just built the wire into the conduit as I glued it.
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wnjj
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09/04/10 09:24am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Electrical setup in new shelter
If you run conduit it is very easy to pull in 5 wires (the two circuits can share ground).
True, as long as the hots are on opposite phases in the main panel.
EDIT: I misread shared ground as shared neutral. With a shared ground there are no special considerations at the main panel.
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wnjj
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09/03/10 01:29am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Electrical setup in new shelter
I ran 30A on my camper and used 10-3 underground cable. The most expensive part was the wire run from the service and the Ditch Witch which I rented for 4 hours. I only had to run conduit from the Service breaker down 2 ft into the ground then at the carport up to the box. I installed at the carport a 6" plastic junction box that allowed me to have other boxes (30A RV socket, 2 15A sockets, light switch). The 2 15A sockets were really handy for my rebuild, waxing buffers etc. Even though the camper has 15A external outlets I am glad I did the extra. Suggest you take the advice from the other contributors and spend a few more $. You will be glad you did.
I would run conduit the whole way. Compared to everythig else it's dirt cheap (pun intended) and you can always replace the wire after the fact if you ever need to. You can also use much less expensive wire. It has to be 'W' rated for a wet environment but doesn't need to be that expensive 10-3 molded direct burial that way.
Great idea about also installing a 15A and/or lights where your camper is. This provides for easy access for things like an external battery charger or tools.
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wnjj
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09/02/10 10:35am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Carrying Cargo with Front Hitch
Dirty little secret for ya Kirsch, out west, in a lot of places, Front License Plates are optional, might not be so in special states like NY, but round these parts, a LEO isn't going to care he's got other more important things to worry about.
Ironically Joe, in Oregon they do care and you can get a ticket for it. Just because you haven't so far doesn't mean you won't. Some LEO's have their "specialties" and a front license plate is just that for some. Ever notice the cars with license plates on their dash board?
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wnjj
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09/01/10 04:14pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Carrying Cargo with Front Hitch
After seeing SoCal's box, the OP might consider reversing the boxes so the hinge is forward. That way if you ever forget or don't latch one good enough it doesn't end up smacking your grill when you hit road speeds.
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wnjj
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09/01/10 03:19pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Driver side brake light won't work
I had the same problem with my 2003 Dodge. The relays were built into the fusee box and there was no way to replace them. I had to buy a whole new fuse box. It was around $300 and took a little bit to replace. Later years, they corrected this and made it so it can be reset by the dealer. A half hour of labor is definitely cheaper.
Doug
If that's that case (which goes in the "what the **** were they thinking? Oh they weren't.") I would either:
1) Tear the fusebox apart, find and replace the relay. Unless built-in means sealed over with solid goop everything's replaceable.
2) Add an external relay using the existing truck brake light as the control wire.
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wnjj
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09/01/10 11:39am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Driver side brake light won't work
Look for relays too. When you find them you can try swapping them to see if the problem moves to a different light. If it does, replace the relay.
This forum has a 2005 diagram (about 11 posts down) showing relays. You're lucky as it seems the 2006 and newer may require a visit to the dealer.
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wnjj
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08/31/10 08:14pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: do u run the generator in the compartment?
Elsewhere in my manual it says to keep the generator 30 feet away from any doors or windows.
Honda's lawyers wrote that. How is a built-in generator any less deadly? It's pretty hard to move one of those 30 feet away. The important thing is that the exhaust does not find its way into the inside, whatever that takes.
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wnjj
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08/31/10 10:08am |
Truck Campers
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RE: do u run the generator in the compartment?
http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz254/fairhurt/IMG_3110.jpg width=640
I would bit a little hesitant but would at least make SURE there's something holding that door open. If a small breeze blew it mostly shut you'd end up with a whole lot of exhaust in the wrong places. I would see about a pipe you can slip onto the Honda exhaust when you run it that way.
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wnjj
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08/30/10 06:46pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Truck Camper Steps
Our camper came with a simple flip-down step that we use when on the road. We use the nicer portable ladder at the camp spot. Can you add a simple flip step?
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wnjj
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08/30/10 04:09pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Happijac lubrication
I think I figured out the dynamics of the thing, but am puzzled why it was designed that way.
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Lowering, however, the spring tightens, locking the 2 barrels together. Now the upper barrel is forced to spin against that squarish plate. The friction is apparently meant to work like a drag brake.
You answered your own question there. It's meant to act as a one-way drag brake to keep the camper from falling. There no reason for your camper to suddenly lift and very little force making the jack fall down when on the truck.
Curiously, the 4100 jacks do not have this drag brake mechanism.
This is probably because the camper weight cannot backspin an acme thread but can backspin the recirclating ball setup. Notice how much steeper the threads are? Steeper = easier to backspin. The drag brake adds enough extra resistance that the camper will not fall while the motors can still power it down.
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wnjj
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08/30/10 03:53pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: do u run the generator in the compartment?
I wouldn't run it in the compartment. The exhaust does not have a decent way to get out. Some on here have made pull out drawers so they can slide it out and run it.
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wnjj
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08/28/10 10:33pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: 2011 F-350 Diesel Manual Transmission?
(hey, a manual trans-can anybody here with a slushbox actually drive one?)
The only reason people buy automatics is because they don't know how to shift a manual, right? :R
Automatics are nice for: Boat ramps, eating, drinking, 3 people in the front seat, creeping in stop-and-go traffic, broken/injured legs or arms, etc. If after 100k+ miles I have to repair a transmission, oh well. Compared to the price of buying and operating the truck all those miles it really isn't a deal breaker. I do understand why some people want a manual and less purchase options is never a good thing.
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wnjj
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08/28/10 12:44am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Adding weight to front of truck to offset big campers
markowwes
a fulcrum/leaver is one pivot point.
front and rear tires do not make a fulcrum/leaver.
This is elementary school geometry
you are using the wrong Physics/Geometry!
Kinda nice to have a few Albertans in the conversation.
Have fun
Dave
For the purposes of calculating loads with multiple support points, you can pick any ONE of them to become a fulcrum and apply loads or supports at other points. The math works out the same. In the case of a truck, if the front axle is the fulcrum the support provided by the rear axle simply becomes a force pushing up on the frame trying to rotate the rear of the truck up (around the front axle).
Here's a way to illustrate it:
Assume the COG of the whole rig is 1/3 of the way ahead of the rear axle and 2/3 of the way behind the front axle. The rear axle will be supporting 2x what the front one is. Adding some weight to the front bumper will not only add to the total it will move the COG forward. If you were able to add enough it would move the COG all the way to the front axle, resulting in a rear axle with 0 lbs (kg) on it. At that point you've "balanced" the truck on the front axle. At that point you are using your elementary school playground physics and probably breaking your front axle. :)
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wnjj
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08/26/10 07:28pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Adding weight to front of truck to offset big campers
Suspension mods to the rear axle have their purpose, but transferring weight to the front axle isn't one of them.
I agree with this.
It's ironic that people on this forum justfiying their suspension mods have argued that a loaded truck that rides low in the rear "takes weight off the front axle and makes it understeer" (which is bunk). Now when someone needs to add weight, suddenly airbags or helper springs aren't the answer.
I'm still don't believe you can even notice the difference in handling between a 4000# front axle and a 4200# one with a 13k total load. Sure, if the truck is overloaded it may not handle the way you like but balance is only one small part of the problem.
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wnjj
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08/26/10 10:49am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Happijac lubrication
My 4600's have a small plastic handle just under the gear box that moves a nylon gizmo (technical term) and disengages the gear box drive from the ball screw. I don't know if that is a "quick" release, but it does disengage the gear drive from the jack leg. Are you talking about a second release lever that is called a "quick release"?
I haven't tried pushing the leg down with the lever in the released position. If the leg does go down easily, I'll be fairly concerned about an inadvertent release. I'll give that a try tomorrow and see what happens.
If you have 4600's then yes, you can push down on them and they will go down. There is no second lever. The one-way brake and ball-screw design allows for free wheeling down but not the other way. The brake plus re-engaging the lever once you are nearly down makes sure the camper cannot fall. Always run the jacks down a bit more so the square drive re-engages after you drop them. I find this feature VERY nice for putting the jacks down quickly and fairly quietly.
Depending on the lube condition you either can just barely push down or you may have to stand/jump on them. They aren't going to fall down if you leave the lever up, especially if the last thing you did is power them up with the motors. It no more likely than leaving your truck in neutral and having it roll away.
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wnjj
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08/25/10 10:36pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: 2011 F-350 Diesel Manual Transmission?
A manual transmission, properly operated, can haul the loads just as well as the automatic can, and in most cases will last MUCH longer. Those are the facts of the matter, and my opinion is formed by those facts. Yes I'm in the minority, but there are a few of us out there, such as the OP and myself who think a manual gearbox is a great choice to have.
Nobody's arguing with you about longevity. You missed my previous point: People consider the tradeoff worth it. Long lasting is only one criteria for a purchase. If everything needed to be long lasting and durable, why would people buy Fords? :) :) <---- JOKING HERE.
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wnjj
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08/25/10 10:31pm |
Truck Campers
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