What kind of camper do you have???

A 2022 Surveyor Legend SVT.

 

I've posted my own camper more than once on here. Actually on the last night of a 4 day camp with it now. Love going to bed with the rain on the roof.

We thought we would go see how some dispersed camping sites we like are looking and found this out on public land. Best I can assume is it was left over the winter for some reason. There was no trash around it and it had a hitch lock like someone cared about it.



Found at 40.346565,-111.216550

For those that live in warm climates. This is an extreme case of snow damage. Crushed by the weight. There are lots of trees downed by the snow up here too.

 

Off Grid Trailer

 

Arctic fox trailer

 

Alaska, here we come.

 

Good luck, be safe, have fun and POST PICTURES!

 

Hey all, I'm curious how 'tight' you set you your weight distributing hitches? Mine currently allows for about 1/2" rise on the FRONT fender. I could easily adjust it to give me 0 +/- 1/8". Relative to unloaded. It's kind of a pain to get the bars on at that tension, but it can be done with some help from the tongue jack.

The owners manual says to set the front axle weight to the same weight as unloaded.

My fear is primarily overstressing the hitch. I've seen someone on here with a hitch bent up after running a wdh. Maybe that was a fluke.

 

Wow!
Have you been to AK, or is this your first trip?
On my last trip to anchorage and back, about 100 miles of the ALCAN (CND side) was still unpaved, with lots of gravel and dirt/mud, and boulders. Looks like a pretty long rig, and heavy too.
Best of luck. Enjoy!

 

I haven’t used a tape measure to check because it’s not accurate compared to weighing the truck’s front and rear axles unloaded, then reweighed after being hooked to a trailer. My unloaded weight is 1620 kg and with the trailer on without WDH is 1430 - quite significant. I have my bars set up so the front weighs at 1560, which is 96% of normal. I like this number. It’s comfy to haul our trailer. I don’t think I’d want to load any more onto the front axle…

 

I may have to hit a cat scale. I assumed that ride height would be a good indicator of weight.

 

It’s not a bad indicator of weight, but the best indicator is finding the actual weight. I go loaded with fuel, family, and dogs so that it’s as accurate and truthful as possible. Once you get it set up, you don’t need to waste further time!

 

I'm not sure how keen my wife will be on the idea of making a stop on one of our trips that requires dropping the trailer.

Looks like there are some car scales by my work. Awesome.

 

That looks more like the work of a backhoe or excavator than snow load.

 

It was clean though. Very little was on the ground. Not sure where you are located...we broke some snow records in Utah this year.

 

Definitely a bucket list journey! I’ve practiced for 7 years in my 2008 Tundra. The I-Force Max tows effortlessly. Although no complaints with the 2008.
I’ve updated tires to “D” rated Falkens & put some custom Duraflap mudguards on. Didn’t have time to do the 3” lift to the camper. PPF costs as much as a repaint in my area, so that was a no go also. I will say that one if the biggest improvements on the new Tundra is the brakes compared to the last generation. Hopefully all goes well & we catch a few salmon!

 

Looking for some purchase advice. We are trying to decide between a 2019 NoBo 19.7 and a 2020 Jayco Baja 174BH. They are both bunkhouse configurations with a front queen bed. Anybody have any experiences with either of these trailers?

We like the jayco better because it has a deeper tub, better ground clearance and the one we are looking at seems to be in better shape than the NoBo. Granted, the NoBo isn't in bad shape just a little more used.

 

I just sold my pop up Saturday. I was sick of all the damn people in CO camping and felt like we just kept going back to the same ole spots.

We are setting the money aside and our plan is to use it to road trip. While the kids are young we figured we see Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore and whatever else we think of. Maybe a Clark Griswold to Disney land. Things I doubt we would do with a Camper.

I sold to Camping World. While waiting for the paperwork I walked around and in numerous campers. My popup was cheaply made and I noticed all the ones I looked at were the same. These manufacturers should be ashamed.

 

Too many RV dealers sell oversized WDHs. I know a lady towing a 4,000# trailer with a half ton Chevy tell me she was about to head to camping world to get a 10,000 WDH installed. I talked her out of it.

To answer your question, yes. Bring that front back down. You should hear my tongue jack groan when I'm putting the bars on and worse when taking them off. I'm using an 8K setup for a 6K trailer.

 

We have a 2023 Jayco Baja 195rb and love it! The ground clearance and being 3100lbs dry sold us. The 30lb tank, ac, solar and the deep tub for future kids was icing on the cake. We got a great deal and received a 5 year warranty which is nice since we only camp off grid and will put the build quality to the test. Just tried out the offroad capabilities this weekend and I felt very comfortable in some tight “technical” trails. Didn’t feel too heavy or tipsy at all, handled it flawlessly. Has all the amenities but still small enough to get to some secluded spots.

 

I thought I read somewhere that Jayco quality went to crap in about 2018. Don't know anything about NoBo, though. Aren't they a fairly new brand?

 

Here are some pics of the Duraflaps. So, here is what sold me on them. During an Airstream caravan to Alaska, the rigs with the Duraflaps faired better than the rigs with rock tamers. That was all I needed to hear.
They are very sturdy & come custom fit & pre drilled. Not cheap though! I went with the extra long.
Good choice with the Bigfoot.

 

All the reasons you mention really have me leaning towards the jayco also. The tub is a huge selling point for us because we have a 2 year old.

I think most RV companies quality has suffered over the last ten years. When we looked at it though it seemed like it has held up pretty well for the usage it has had.
I do believe that Nobo is fairly new, but I'm not positive of how long they have been in the game.

 

We bought one that was 4 years old at the time that had been well maintained and had a few upgrades such as Goodyear tires.

 

Don't have pics with the Tundra yet as I've only had it for about 1 week, but here's my TT with my Silverado.

Went from camping in the bed with a Softopper to a Winnebago Hike TT. The Hike is only 4k lbs dry but I still use a BlueOx WD hitch, not so much for the weight distribution but for the sway, given that it's a single axle, and I sometimes load the dirt bike in the back of the truck.

 

NoBos are pretty new, but they're just a new line of Forest River, which is not a new company.

 

Made it to a cat scale.
Front axle:
No trailer: 3500 lbs
Trailer+WDH before adjustment: 3300 lbs
Trailer+WDH after adjustment: 3400 lbs

This puts me at 97% of normal on the front.

I don't know what the front weight is with the trailer and no WDH.

I was pretty happy with the tow performance at 3300, but 3400 makes it feel like there trailer isn't even back there.

I also don't want to risk over distribution, so I'll keep it as is.

Thanks for the help. It was worth $20 for piece of mind.

 

Rg26 toy hauler .. I don’t haul my toys but it kinda makes the camper wheelchair accessible for my son

 

That's brilliant. I never considered this application for the ramp. Makes perfect sense.

 

2018 Riverside Mt Mckinley 178 that we bought new in 2020 and have pulled it 10000 miles with various trucks. Just traded it yesterday on a new 2022 Keystone Bullet 221rbs, much larger and fancier. Not sure when we'll pick it up, and I know for sure we'll miss the little Mt Mckinley, but the RV dealer made us a deal we couldn't refuse.

The last truck I pulled with was a 2021 Frontier, and while it did a fine job, the Tundra literally pulls that little camper like its not even there.