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Dirty Dan Dawkins

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How do the Jayco, Forest River and Dutchmen/Coleman campers stack up?Just looking for a good used lightweight 5/6 passenger bunkhouse like the Jayflite 17bh or whatever 

What are good things to inspect on a used unit? Maintenance?

Tire suggestions?

Anything else?

 

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I've got a Forest River Alpha Wolf.  It's a good couple trailer.  I've not had any trouble out of it, but others seem to have.  As to tires, conventional wisdom is to get the "China Bombs" off of the trailer as soon as possible.  I check air pressure and air to max pressure before any tow.  

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I have a Forest River Cherokee. Brand new it had 23 defective items. Going into year 4 without a properly working fridge. More parts coming next month. Keeping fingers crossed. They've replaced the fridge, awning, water tank, mattress, lights, gaskets around slide and a few other things I've forgotten once so far. Had no brakes when delivered and now the front axle appears to be bent. :angry:

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2 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

I have a Forest River Cherokee. Brand new it had 23 defective items. Going into year 4 without a properly working fridge. More parts coming next month. Keeping fingers crossed. They've replaced the fridge, awning, water tank, mattress, lights, gaskets around slide and a few other things I've forgotten once so far. Had no brakes when delivered and now the front axle appears to be bent. :angry:

Sounds like you’d be better off in a tent

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I’ve thought of just getting a good light weight utility trailer and building my own bunkhouse.

mini fridge 

rooftop ac 

buddy heater 

Attach an awning 

install a few horse trailer windows.

and it could still be used as a utility trailer

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4 minutes ago, Dirty Dan Dawkins said:

I’ve thought of just getting a good light weight utility trailer and building my own bunkhouse.

mini fridge 

rooftop ac 

buddy heater 

Attach an awning 

install a few horse trailer windows.

and it could still be used as a utility trailer

 

I thought about the same thing...then I added up the weight of all the stuff that I wanted to do. It grossly overweighted the trailer.

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I have not heard many good things on Forest River. As far as my experience...stay away from anything that has a Norcold refridgerator. Coleman is as far as I know...now just a house brend name for Camping World. The ones I looked at were not well put together. Since all the covid crap and supply chain shortages...ALL brands have had problems. Make sure it has heavier than needed axles. Most are using Lippert component axles...which leave something to be desired

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I've been really pleased by my pre-covid Forest River. The tires it came with were garbage but that was an easy fix. I could drop a rifle round in the Forest River plant from where I'm sitting right now. 

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19 minutes ago, Old Man Graybeard said:

I have not heard many good things on Forest River. As far as my experience...stay away from anything that has a Norcold refridgerator. Coleman is as far as I know...now just a house brend name for Camping World. The ones I looked at were not well put together. Since all the covid crap and supply chain shortages...ALL brands have had problems. Make sure it has heavier than needed axles. Most are using Lippert component axles...which leave something to be desired

They all seem to come with 12volt only fridges now. So add some solar and more batteries.

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Get a 10 year old unit. Probably used 20 times all the kinks are worked out and yer gonna have to buy tires anyway.

 

If it was broke the owners fixed it and it's half the price of new

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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You can spend as much as you want to on a camper.  I have a Winnebago travel trailer which never needed any warranty work during the 1st year of ownership.  I've had the trailer over 7 years and towed it over 30K miles.   Things break and you learn to either pay out the nose or learn to fix it yourself.  I just finished repacking my wheel bearings this morning.  My advise is to stay far away from buying a camper at Camping World.  I've heard too many horror stories.  Buying a well maintained camper from an individual is the cheapest route. 

 

Most travel trailers are put together with the same components, Lippert axles, Suburban, Atwood, Dometic components.  Making sure your carrying capacity is sufficient, is good advise.  You want at least 1,200 +/- pounds of carrying capacity.  I've seen them with only 700 lbs.  

 

The best tires I've found are the Goodyear Endurance tires.  They are American made and very good trailer tires.  I've been running them on my camper for the past 5 years.     

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Dirty Dan my wife and I are looking at 5th wheel (OUR PREFERENCE) TO buy and live in to travel the country. Some of the stuff we have discover is every manufacturer has their own problems. We are looking for something we like and in our budget. I am.going to do some mods to it so some of the we are not worried about. Used trailers are the same as used cars, they all have somekind of problems

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Just remember that campers depreciate at a horrible rate.  Anything  new you buy today, will only be worth about 1/2 what you paid for it in 5 years.  Class A bus right down to a popup camper, they all depreciate.  I consider it an entertainment expense.  Buying used allows the original owner to pay for the initial depreciation.  

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2 hours ago, Badlands Bob #61228 said:

Just remember that campers depreciate at a horrible rate.  Anything  new you buy today, will only be worth about 1/2 what you paid for it in 5 years.  Class A bus right down to a popup camper, they all depreciate.  I consider it an entertainment expense.  Buying used allows the original owner to pay for the initial depreciation.  

Paid 22k for ours and tried to trade in 3 months with all the issues. The best I could get across 3 states, was 12k.:ph34r: Several places said my best on the fridge would be to spend 3 to 4k and install a propane unit. Once you buy it, you be stuck with it! I will try to go used if I ever do it again and hopefully one I know the owner of.

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18 hours ago, Badlands Bob #61228 said:

Just remember that campers depreciate at a horrible rate.  Anything  new you buy today, will only be worth about 1/2 what you paid for it in 5 years.  Class A bus right down to a popup camper, they all depreciate.  I consider it an entertainment expense.  Buying used allows the original owner to pay for the initial depreciation.  

 

16 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Paid 22k for ours and tried to trade in 3 months with all the issues. The best I could get across 3 states, was 12k.:ph34r: Several places said my best on the fridge would be to spend 3 to 4k and install a propane unit. Once you buy it, you be stuck with it! I will try to go used if I ever do it again and hopefully one I know the owner of.

That is one of the reasons I never buy brand new car/trucks RVs of any kind boats motor cycles or whatever.

I have come across good and some even awesome deals that only took a little tweaking to fix it.

I will let someelse take the hit on depreciation 

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On 2/23/2023 at 12:06 PM, Cypress Sun said:

 

I thought about the same thing...then I added up the weight of all the stuff that I wanted to do. It grossly overweighted the trailer.

Would be easy to do.

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16 minutes ago, The Shoer 27979 said:

 

That is one of the reasons I never buy brand new car/trucks RVs of any kind boats motor cycles or whatever.

I have come across good and some even awesome deals that only took a little tweaking to fix it.

I will let someelse take the hit on depreciation 

It's totally amazing! Forgot to mention, I have to replace the entry door as well. The original won't open mid day when it gets warm, even in the shade and had a 3/8 gap at the bottom. The dealer did drop ship me a new door and the sealing stuff, but would not install as they already done it once! They claim you only get one warranty replacement.:blink:

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So, I am coming to the conclusion an enclosed utility trailer, if I had one built with a 5000 lb axle, real tires and wheels and did the rest myself, it may look Beverly HillbiIlies, but would be more durable? I am not looking for holding tanks or showers, just beds and a kitchenette.

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2 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

It's totally amazing! Forgot to mention, I have to replace the entry door as well. The original won't open mid day when it gets warm, even in the shade and had a 3/8 gap at the bottom. The dealer did drop ship me a new door and the sealing stuff, but would not install as they already done it once! They claim you only get one warranty replacement.:blink:

They would not like me, I would sit smack dab in front of there sales office with the trailer of course and have a lawyer on speed dial or just plain file a law suit

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Buy nothing built after 2019.  Replace tires every 5 years regardless of the mileage. 4 tires are 10 times cheaper than the repair bill if one separates.

 

All RVs have issues. Most used ones have the major kinks worked out. You need to do a through inspection. Any sign of a water leak run away. Test out every light, awning, slide, faucet, water pump, AC outlet and DC outlet. Accessing them to make repairs is a major PITA. Don't assume that a given RV will have 12 VDC outlets. Mine had ZERO 12 VDC outlets and only 3 AC outlets.

 

Be wary of the ultra-light weight campers. 5th wheel as well as bumper pull. Much of that weight savings came from skimping on the thickness of the metal in the frame. Lippert makes almost all RV frames so the RV brand doesn't matter. Bumper pulls are breaking in the area where the frame begins to bend in to form the tongue. 5th wheels are breaking in the vertical part of the frame in the vicinity of the landing jacks. Seen more than one owner post about how their frame broke and neither the dealer nor the manufacturer will cover the repairs under warranty. One person was denied because he was routed off the main road due to a construction detour. Mfg said he voided the warranty because he took the RV "off-road" Last update I had he was awaiting a court date.

 

DO NOT overload your RV. Check the sticker and determine the carrying capacity of the RV. Some can carry a lot more than others. Keep in mind that the carrying capacity doesn't include the weight of the water in the holding tanks or full propane tanks. Do not exceed the rated tongue weight. No matter the size of the RV use a weight distribution hitch. Make sure it is the proper size for your trailer weight including tongue load. (Yes they come in different weight ratings.)

 

If the spare is mounted to the bumper make sure that the bumper will support that weight. Some bumpers are not strong enough to support the weight of the spare tire and will break. 

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1 hour ago, The Shoer 27979 said:

They would not like me, I would sit smack dab in front of there sales office with the trailer of course and have a lawyer on speed dial or just plain file a law suit

It was damn sure considered.:ph34r:

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You can buy enclosed cargo trailers that double as a camper. Look around they are out there.

 

Personally anything I pull must have tandem axels. They are much more stable and less likely to fish tail than single axel trailers. Just know that all trailers will fish tail if the load is not properly distributed. They are also prone to fish tailing if the tow vehicle and the trailer are not level. This is where an adjustable height load leveling hitch comes into play. 

Make sure the truck and trailer are empty. Park them on level ground. Disconnect them. Now level the trailer using a carpenters level on the frame. On the trailer, measure the height from the ground to the top of the socket that drops over the hitch ball. Now on the truck, measure the height from the top of the trailer ball to the ground. The truck measurement should be equal to or less than 1 inch higher than the trailer measurement. If not adjust the height of the trailer ball until it is even with or 1 in above the height of the trail measurement.

 

Now measure and record the distance between the ground the front bumper.  

 

Now load the truck and trailer and connect them. If the front and rear measurements are not measurement is not within 1/2 inch of the measurement made above, use the weight distribution hitch load bars to bring the trailer back to level. The easy way to tension the bars is to use the trailer jack to lift the truck and trailer together a few inches. Then connect the bars and retract the jack. Only use enough tension to make everything level. Be sure everything on the load leveling hitch including the trailer ball is greased well. There is a lot of friction on the metal to metal surfaces. Failure to lube them EVERY time you connect the truck and trailer will shorten their life drastically.

 

Here is a video of the above.

 

 

Another video

 

Follow the manufacturers instructions.

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1 hour ago, Eyesa Horg said:

It was damn sure considered.:ph34r:

I am starting to be a massively  big a$$hole about that kind of stuff anymore you know. 

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2 minutes ago, The Shoer 27979 said:

I am starting to be a massively  big a$$hole about that kind of stuff anymore you know. 

Yep, my service advisor finally gave up with listening to my questioning his heritage and turned me over the Service manager! Which at least got my water tank off the axle!!

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9 minutes ago, The Shoer 27979 said:

I am starting to be a massively  big a$$hole about that kind of stuff anymore you know. 

I usually am with these sort of things! This time, I really struggled to be nice. The results were the same. Once it's yours, they really don't give a damn.

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16 hours ago, Dirty Dan Dawkins said:
So, I am coming to the conclusion an enclosed utility trailer, if I had one built with a 5000 lb axle, real tires and wheels and did the rest myself, it may look Beverly HillbiIlies, but would be more durable? I am not looking for holding tanks or showers, just beds and a kitchenette.
 
Hit you tube and look at squaredrop or overland trailer construction. You can build them for as little as $2k if you watch material cost and are handy.
 
 
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Not sure what's up but the was a quote block til my phone argued with me and took all the blue background off and my last post with all the extra space wasn't intended

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I'm planning on building a 6x12 tandem axle cargo trailer. I'll use a portable AC unit that vents and intakes through the floor and a tower electric heater with a thermostat. A cassette toilet will be fine and two 6 gallon water cans for fresh and grey water. I have a marine 12 gallon shower system I can use that runs on 12 volt. I've got an 8 ft couch that is very cushy and sleep tested extensively. I like the barn doors in the back so I can put a bar in between them and hang a shower curtain across the opening. Pretty simple mainly for cowboy shoots

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I have a 6x12 single axle cargo trailer , was all I could afford at the time 

 

 IF , I get another it will be a tandem 6x16 , and it has to be where I can stand up in it 

 

  mine has a drop door and a side door , the little lark is big enough for most trips , and can unloaded and used as a utility trailer 

 

  CB 

 

  

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I would use a folding fish cleaning table for a sink. A screen curtain at the back opening would be nice too. I will insulate the roof but not the sidewalls and the trailer will be white. I would put in at least 2 windows. 

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On 2/23/2023 at 9:59 AM, Dirty Dan Dawkins said:

I’ve thought of just getting a good light weight utility trailer and building my own bunkhouse.

mini fridge 

rooftop ac 

buddy heater 

Attach an awning 

install a few horse trailer windows.

and it could still be used as a utility trailer

 

12 hours ago, Texas Joker said:
 
16 hours ago, Dirty Dan Dawkins said:
So, I am coming to the conclusion an enclosed utility trailer, if I had one built with a 5000 lb axle, real tires and wheels and did the rest myself, it may look Beverly HillbiIlies, but would be more durable? I am not looking for holding tanks or showers, just beds and a kitchenette.
 
Hit you tube and look at squaredrop or overland trailer construction. You can build them for as little as $2k if you watch material cost and are handy.
 
 

There is an outfit in Denver that builds a modular trailer. Everything comes out and bingo you have a utility trailer. I’lll see if I kept the website. Saw it on the local Denver news when they had the big outdoor show a couple of weeks ago.

 

Found it!  I don’t know anything about the. Just saw the report on TV. They looked retry cool.

https://happiercamper.com

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1 hour ago, Mister Badly said:

I would use a folding fish cleaning table for a sink. A screen curtain at the back opening would be nice too. I will insulate the roof but not the sidewalls and the trailer will be white. I would put in at least 2 windows. 

 

Insulate those walls. The heat load from morning or afternoon sun is just as great as the heat load from the roof. 

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