Kitcat

1. If you have Carlisle Tires, replace them right away! We had a blowout our second trip out with our Rage'n and it did some damage! On the plus side, Carlisle paid for all the damages and replaced all our tires. We sold the new tires and bought Goodyear Marathons and have been happy ever since.

2. Definately get a built in generator if you can, and get a 4K or larger if you want to run your a/c.

3. You can never have enough battery power. Conserve power as much as possible or you will have dead batteries and no furnace in the morning.

4. Driving fast over railroad tracks will break leaf springs.

5. Lock up all your toys. Theives are everywhere.

6. Bring extra drinking water and food just in case you break down and are stuck out in the middle of nowhere!

7. Make sure you are within the weight carrying capacity of your trailer. Weigh your rig at a truck stop to be sure.

Good ideas. We have a lock for our toys (and insurance, too). It's a nice big lock we got at Cycle Gear.

We just got a 08 CR3905 (billet edition) and no problems so far, we did buy from wheelers but only because they are the only ones that sell WW in Las Vegas. I love the layout is perfect and it tows like a dream. I did not like the sales team, but the guy in service (Robert) was great to deal with on my hitch. I have heard other good things about their service guys. They took 13K off our trailer and were pretty nice.

That's funny, I heard opposite. We were told that Wheeler's sales was ok, but their service sucked. The guy that walked us through the TH's was nice, but really didn't point out the features & benefits of each trailer.

:finger_smiley:

Yeah, he's absolutely right!! When calling to reserve sites, make sure they know what you're camping with. Some spots may be too short to keep the hauler hooked up, then you need room to park the truck, too! Some campgrounds will have pull-thru spots which makes it much easier to park.

Last time we went to Utah, our friends reserved 2 spots at the camp ground. One for their 37 ft FW and the other we used to park the trucks. I don't want to go any bigger than 30 ft.

I noticed that you also mentioned taking it to the mountains.....you might want to be careful on length.

We'd be taking it to Utah, but there's no windy roads where we'd go. Why did you say to worry about length? I think we'd be going with a 26-28 ft hauler.

Dont need to worry about weight w/ your truck.

I have learned several lessons about what to look for in a toyhauler.

1- Buy a reputable brand that others have had success with and dont buy a cheaper hauler just to get a longer one, Buy the best one you can afford.

2- Make sure it has 2 15 gallon propane tanks because having the 5 gallon tanks ia pain because Your continually swithching over tanks.

3- You need 2 deep cycle batteries. Some come with 1 and that doesnt work out well when you have to hook up your truck @ 2:30 am because your furnace wont blow because of a dead battery.

4- MOST IMPORTANT!!! Make sure you get a set of quality tires on your trailer no CARLIlLES(sp?) Prefer Greenballs or at least Maxxis.On my other camper i was spending around $800. a season on tires.

I had a thor tahoe 2005 33.5ft that barely made 2 years before i had to replace it and there is basicaly no resale value on used camper trailers so its imprortant to buy one you feel will last as long as possible with the proper care.

Wow - great advice!!! THANKS!!! My husband said they sell the deep cycle batteries at Costco. I'll have him check that out!!

can you tow a toyhauler with a half ton? Yes

are half tons built as well for the job as 3/4 tons and 1 tons and higher? no

are gas motors as good as diesels for towing? no

can a gas motor tow well? yes

I towed for over a year an Attitude fk19 with a 10,000 lb gvwr with a chevy tahoe 4x4 with the 5.3 z-71 off-road suspension, better than the plush suspension suv ride for towing, imo

it can be done, BUT you must stay within your capacities.

fi youve never towed a toy hauler with a half ton, one that was within your specs at the time, then you have no business answering, right??

Why is everyone suddenly talking about things like 1/2 ton trucks and gas motors in this thread??? Is there something I'm missing somewhere???

We went for the day on Saturday. Wanted to try out the new truck in the sand. Beautiful day. It's really nice to ride, when it's not crowded!!! Although when it's crowded it's fun to people watch!!! Funny thing is that we didn't use our checklist I created on the computer and forgot our flags!!! YIKES!!! Luckily, there was a vendor there and now we have 2 extra flags!!! I need a checklist to remember my checklist!!

:jester:

The only advice I can offer to you is when you are not using the TH, plug it in to keep the batteries fresh and fully charged. But be sure to check the water level in the batteries often. If you can park it at your house, then this will work, but if you have to store it, then I guess it wouldn't work. That's all I can offer, hope it helps............

Thanks for the advice!!! :jester:

Kitcat, let me say you are doing all the right things....asking questions, doing the research, yadda yadda yadda! :jester:

When we started shopping for our t/h, we were looking for something we could tow with my Burb, didn't even look at the 5th wheels. Already had a 24' travel trailer, but needed transport for the toys we started collecting. The 28' REALLY pushed the tow capacity, so had the salesman looking into getting the queen bunks in a 24' tongue tow. THEN, I just so happened to walk into the Tahoe Transport we now own and knew then and there this was the one!! Told the salesman "I have to buy a truck!" (This was in the spring) Started shopping for the truck online, found one in Orem Utah, won the bid. Shopped online for trailers to compare price, etc., found the EXACT same model in Washington state for $8k cheaper, printed it out, took to Johnnie Walker for a price match and they did!!! All said and done, we walked out of there with the fully upgraded t/h, installed hitch, sales tax, all for $5k less than the original invoice price. Took 6 months but had it out for Halloween weekend 2004.

Moral of the story: Good things happen to those who wait and...

We didn't settle for something we would already be lookin' to replace!!

Yeah, my hubby and I are looking at all our options. We're usually impatient, but get a good deal. Since we have to wait for our financing, it's good. Forces us to really look at all our options!!!

i bought mine in cali. had a problem w/ the fridge and they fixed it no prob's.

What options did you get with the FS2300? They had a bunch of options on the FS2600. One was the kicker system, which we really didn't need. The base price was $28K and with options it was $45K (MSRP). Kind of crazy. Yeah, I've heard nightmare stories about Wheelers. Where do you get yours serviced???

It's real easy....click here for info how

Great! Thanks!!! Now all I have to do is take the pictures and load them onto the computer!!! We're going to Dumont today. Can't wait!! :-)

My friends pull a 40ft warrior 5th wheel with a maxicab. In it he hauls 5 quads,and a rhino. Your truck can do that and more. Never underestimate a Dodge, Cummins powered, especially a new one. You and your husband made a fine choice. Chip the truck, and you can get 500HP +, but you may never need it. slider fifth wheel and you can go anywhere. Don't worry about size of your toyhauler choice based on the truck you purchased. I have a longbed 06 cummins with 6 speed and have hooked a 23ft trler with a rhino and six atvs tied behind my 28ft wildcat and run 80 mph from here to sand mountain north of Delta Utah. No problem with the truck AT ALL!! If you go with a smaller toyhauler, you will always want one larger. Get a 37 ft Dune Chaser or 40 ft weekend warrior or freestyle and you will have 10 years of pure joy on every kind of trip you want to take.

I am really happy to see you guys buy that Dodge. Your gunna love going places. I sure love mine.

Thanks! We love the truck!!! Now we have to decide on a TH!!! :-)

My husband and I looked at a 2007 WW FS2600 yesterday. I liked the layout & interior and wanted to get feedback from anyone who owns this TH or a WW. We found one with the Billet edition and a bunch of options at an MSRP for $45K (yikes!) at Wheelers. The salesman said they could come down to about $36K. I'm sure there's more room for negotiating!!! We're not quite ready to buy (getting our own financing) and we're still looking at other brands. Any advice would be great!! We'll be towing it with our Dodge Ram 2500 diesel with a 6 inch lift. We'll be bringing our toys and our 2 dogs with their crates to sleep in at night and stay in if we all go for rides.

Thanks!!!

oh God, don't start that again. My hitch is just fine. My truck barely squats now with the new equalizer hitch after the trailer is loaded up.

Kitcat...

-I'd definitely go a little bigger than you need, but don't go TOO BIG.

-Try finding one used first- you will save thousands for the same thing

-Definitley get a front bedroon- they rock!

-built in gennies are very conveinant as well

-try and get a toyhauler that has darker color flooring. Light color linolium (sp?) shows tire marks like crazy

I've looked at a couple used ones, but none that really impressed me yet. Yeah, like I was saying, seems like the manufacturers either carry the 26 ft with some options or the bigger fifth wheels with lots of options. It's either spend $25K or $45K Plus!!! Not much in between!!!

AND A SAD TRUTH BE IT MOTORHOME BOXTRAILER OR TENT TRAILER THEY ARE MAKING THEM SO FAST THEY ARE FULL OF BUGS AND DEFECTS GET ONe ABOUT A YEAR OLD SAVE THOUSANDS THE REST IS GONNA COME UNGLUED ANYWASE ITS JUST A MATTER OF WHICK ONE COMES UNGLUED THE SLOWEST

YOU CAN NEVER CARRY ENOUGH WATER OR CAPS !!!

you can never carry enough fuel

you can never get a big enough fridge

you should never go 3 feet with a trailer if the tires say carslile on them

you can never get enough storage

you can never get enough buggy space

you can never get a big enough shower

pop outs are a godsend if you have children

and you should always have lots of hair (even if your old)

Thanks! Great advice! I went looking around here this past week on toy haulers just to get the feel for them and see what options they have on them. The Raptor was really nice, but a little too big for us. It seems like you either go small (well, up to 26 ft) or go big. Doesn't seem to be much in between. I'd like to get something in the 26 ft range and have nice features on it. Holiday Rambler's come out with that Black Diamond series, but no one's got them on their lot! My dad thinks that the 26 ft would be good for us, but he hasn't seen them in person either.

Picked this up yesterday. :mischevious:

2005

2500 4x4 SLT

6 speed

Its a little slower than I am used too but the gas mileage will make it worth it.

Nice! We just got a Ram 2500, too. Where did you buy your truck? We got ours at Towbin Dodge.

:argue:

OK we need to reg our toy hauler for the first time and we want custom plates. We have been trying to think of some creative plates but not sure if we have anything that we want. Does anyone have any idea's?

We have a cool one for our flat bed Big Tex trailer.... ATVN

:mischevious:

Start an excell spread sheet with all the standard features and options. Put in a colunm for price. It will help sort things out between different brands.

Great idea!!! I use Excel all the time for bills, budgets and stuff for work! Thanks!!!

:mischevious:

TONGUE WEIGHT!!!! Find out how much tongue weight the trailer really has and make sure you have a hitch rated for it. My trailer full of water had a 1810 lb tongue weight. My hitch which is a class 4 is rated at 1400lbs. So the owner of the dealership put a new class5 TITAN hitch on my truck to make me safe.

Good to know!! I'm learning as we go!!!

:mischevious:

Always buy bigger than you need because you will always end up getting more toys . Seperate fuel station from gen is a must.Know what you can tow with your vehicle or you will be buying a new truck. Inverters are very cool so you dont have to fire up the gen to watch t.v .never enough storage

Yeah, that's one thing I've stressed to my hubby. He thinks we can just get a smaller TH. We did that with our first house. Who knew 2 people could outgrow a 1700 sq ft house!!! We sold that one and now have a house a little too big!

:mischevious:

6 volt batteries....Way better than 12volt for the money

Built in Generator...Do not let onan generator sit more than a couple of weeks or they stop working

Do not believe RV salesman...(some are good)

Electric tongue jack would be nice

CHECK ALL BOLTS AND SEALS and Plumbing BEFORE PICKING UP RV or going on a trip>>>>

Make sure they put high pressure valve stems on your rv tires.

If you don't custom order, look at the trailer and give the salesman your ph number, tell them the price is a little high and leave. Let them call you and make a deal. They called me and the price dropped a couple of 1000 dollars.

The big picture window is must.

Wow! Lots of great advice! I'm going to print these posts! If I get a toy hauler, it will most likely be from my dad. Thank goodness! We just got through the whole negotiating thing at the Dodge Dealership. I learned to buy the last day of the month!!!

:mischevious:

I decided to start a new thread and get some helpful advice from people who've owned TH's and what you've learned. This whole process reminds me of buying our first house. There were so many things we learned and did different on our 2nd house. I'd like to hear what kind of options and things are important, especially in taking TH's out to the sand, the mountains, etc? What can't you live without? Or, on the other hand, what would you not get the next time???

Thanks!!!!

mine is the 04 ho i put some mods to it motor is stock but i geared it whata bull i love it

I like your truck!!! If I ever figure our how to attach photos on here, I'll post pics of our new truck. We have to take the pics, too!!! :-)

....am in the market for a hauler and just finished a walk-thru on a 07 Raptor 30ft tow-back.....does ne1 have any pertinent info ref the Raptor line either pro or con? thx>>>

I saw those online. The 30 ft looks like a nice floorplan with a 18 ft garage!! I'm a newbie to this whole toy hauler thing, but it looks really nice!!! How much do they cost???

ya as long as you have the right set up your dodge will pull it cause they rock i pull a 34' end to end tounge trailer with mine box type and with all the crap i carry in it i way out about 12,000 lbs dodge handles it..

mine has 6" lift and 37s i put 4:11s and airbags on mine with a cummins diesel and the truck is just phenominal best truck i ever owned so far ................................... :icon_twisted:

Sounds like our truck. The truck is really nice. We had a 1500 Ram in the same color with 35 inch tires, 6 inch lift and nice rims. We parked them side by side before leaving the dealership and the 2500 dwarfs the 1500!!! My husband already got the 8 inch drop for our flatbed trailer, with the option to use either the small ball or larger one to tow a toy hauler.

We're excited! Now we just have to figure out what hauler we're going to get!!!