New Trailer & Towing Question

[Larrygdbhs]

Save your money. These things they have no value once you own them. Mine was $54,000 2017 now worth $35,000 if I can bribe somebody to buy it. I wish I had my trailer back. I bought a GD bhs311 Had a few problems at first had a wheel falloff axles needed to be rebuilt Brakes were bad. I traded in a nice cougar tt it never gave me any problem. I would stay away from it knowing what i know now.
I replaced my TV dvd player twice I’ve had LP gas leak they can’t find. Air conditioner has an issue with it they can’t figure out. The motor on one of the awnings went bad the first weekend we took it out. Every time something goes bad you have to take it to the dealer and let it sit there for weeks. The other thing I miss is room in the back of my pick up truck are used to carry my bicycles in the back of a pick up truck now I have to have a rack on the back of the trailer I lost all that space. Knowing what I know now I would not do it again just FYI

[Dan the man]

I would hope no one expects an RV to be an investment if you do you are going to be very upset. Sounds like from your various posts that you should have stayed with Keystone RV as your choice of manufacturer. I am curious as to why you switched to a Grand Design product if you had absolutely no issues with your Keystone Cougar?

[billskinnerjr]

I have a 29RS: about 3 feet shorter and 1000# heavier. I am pulling with 2019 F250 6.2 Gas but 4.1 on rear end. short wheel base. Truck does great. Had a 2001 Silvarado for 40,000 trailer miles and it was OK but a little under powered. Ford is very smooth in the piedmont hills and is much better on long grades but of course not a diesel. I used manual slider hitch mainly when hitching up as the tail gate/trailer clearance is only 3-4 inches so just in case I'm not going straight in to the trailer. However, haven't had to slide it back for turning. Still only about 4,000 trailer miles on Ford so maybe I just haven't run into the situation yet. I never had the hitch back on Chevy but it was a shorter truck overall. Still the design of the nose cap allows for quite sharp turns with hitch over axle. This was tested on Alaska ferries.

Bill Skinner

[ckostner]

I am wondering why noone has mentioned the Anderson Ultimate or gooseball hitches. Granted I am fairly new, only a few years towing a 5th wheel, and all them have been with the Anderson, but it seems archaic to go back to a standard kingpin type hitch. Put the ball in the bed of the truck and hook it up and done.
The gooseball, if i would have known, I would have definitely went with over the Anderson, but the Anderson has its benefits. I can turn back and see the ball and cup to hook up.. but I have to loosen 3 bolts to lift the 35lb contraption out of the truck. usually not a problem. The gooseball, it connects directly to the ball in the bed of the truck... but ya have to have someone helping since you cant see the connection happening like you can on the Anderson... but when you unhook, your bed is empty, so thats the trade off in my mind.

[Laurie20544]

Hi Hamilton,
I had the same situation but I went from a white water retro 19' to the 150 series 5th wheel. 2018 Reflection 150 series 220RK to be exact
I had a 2004 F250 Supercrew 4x4. I can tell you the 5th wheel, I barely know the trailer is back there. I did however opt for a good hitch that I didn't have to move around. I wanted to backup, hookup and go.
I have the Pullrite ISR Super 5th 20k.
I recently moved from California to Northeast Texas and pulled my 5th wheel here. it was a little shocking to go from 55 mph max to 85 mph on a 2 lane Texas road one night on the trip...... the 5th wheel handled amazing.
I have recently gone with the Dodge Ram 2500 Limited 4x4 and took my 5th wheel South to Gonzales Texas..... roughly 5 hour drive. Never a problem, even in some good wind, rain, etc. Trailer handled amazing.

Best of luck to you and if I can answer any other questions, please let me know

Laurie

[steve gravelle]

Very glad you didn't have a tire blow at 85 mph, the trailer handling would have been "less" than amazing!

[Laurie20544]

100% agree....... State Trooper let me know that on that particular road....which we were already on and no turning back..... you are expected to run the speed limit or the semi-trucks will run you off the road. Not fun and I don't ever run at that speed, but the rig did fine.

[truetexan]

Hi Hamiltonian,
We just bought a 2020 Reflection 290BH a month ago. Have taken it down to the Texas gulf coast for a 5 day trip so far. We had a travel trailer before this 5th wheel so I'm new to 5th wheel as well. We really like the 290. The one slide works great for us due to where we park it when not traveling. It is just the wife and I so the bunkhouse is storage (fishing gear, etc).
I have the same truck as you but diesel so I can't answer your specific questions on that. I will say that it tows great for me. I like the 5th wheel towing experience much more than travel trailer. Backing is a bit different because the trailer doesn't react as quick.
I"m on this forum like crazy right now trying to figure out what to do about the truck hitch. Our trailer has the pin point so you can have a short bed truck. But when i was going to install it I saw that it requires that your truck and trailer have to be lined up or it won't connect correctly. THat won't work in my driveway so for our first trip i just left it in the lock position. I was careful to not make sharp turns but not sure i can always do that long term. I'm still learning all the options (Andersen, vs. auto slider vs. manual slider, etc etc).
Happy to answer any questions.
Mark

[backtrack2015]

Hi Hamiltonian,
We just bought a 2020 Reflection 290BH a month ago. Have taken it down to the Texas gulf coast for a 5 day trip so far. We had a travel trailer before this 5th wheel so I'm new to 5th wheel as well. We really like the 290. The one slide works great for us due to where we park it when not traveling. It is just the wife and I so the bunkhouse is storage (fishing gear, etc).
I have the same truck as you but diesel so I can't answer your specific questions on that. I will say that it tows great for me. I like the 5th wheel towing experience much more than travel trailer. Backing is a bit different because the trailer doesn't react as quick.
I"m on this forum like crazy right now trying to figure out what to do about the truck hitch. Our trailer has the pin point so you can have a short bed truck. But when i was going to install it I saw that it requires that your truck and trailer have to be lined up or it won't connect correctly. THat won't work in my driveway so for our first trip i just left it in the lock position. I was careful to not make sharp turns but not sure i can always do that long term. I'm still learning all the options (Andersen, vs. auto slider vs. manual slider, etc etc).
Happy to answer any questions.
Mark

With the pin-box unlocked, can you not just manually rotate it as needed to match the angle from which you are approaching with the truck?

[phonemannn]

Blow a tire at 85 on the RV? Would never know it till you stop and see the carnage, or someone tells you you have a blow out. Blown out several tires over the years and no way to tell from the tow rig.