Our First Trip with Fifth Wheel

[fivecodys]

As promised I am reporting back with the details of our first trip with the new trailer. We are pulling a Flagstaff 8528 RKSS. She's about 30'6" long and weighs in at 7,100 lbs. We pull with our 07 Tundra DC equiped with a Superglide 14K hitch and a Prodigy brake controller. I have 5-3/4" clearance between the bed rails and the trailer

Our first tow was about 160 miles long and took us to Morro Bay. My average MPG (per the computer) was 10.1 going and about 8.7 MPG coming home. Average speed 60 MPH. We had a head wind coming home so I am guessing that was the reason for the reduced MPG. The truck had plenty of power. There are several 6% grades along the way and we had no problem whatsoever.

The tranny temp guage never moved. I stayed in "D" and the transmission did it's job well. There was only one grade that I felt I could have shifted into 4th to prevent "hunting".

I was expecting that I would feel the need for Air Bags after this trip but so far I do not believe I see the need. Our trailer has a very light pin weight so I might be able to do without the bags.

We have another trip planned the end of May so we will see how we do.

The only bad part about the trip is the $4.01 per gallon I had to pay for regular unleaded.

Here are a couple pics of the rig.

Bill

[d-lo]

nice set-up! and thanks for taking the time to post up the info. my guess is that you didn't drive at night, or you would have reported being flashed w/brights by every oncoming car you passed.
i installed my air lift bags last week and i am SUPER glad i did. the truck feels much more solid now than it did (i thought it felt solid before). i no longer get flashed while driving at night and the unloaded ride seems to have less sway.
i looked at install instructions for your hitch again after having installed my bags, and a picture of the bolt you're talking about that you think would conflict would be worth 1000 words in this case. i'll see if i can get a pic of the elbow from inside the frame when i get a chance and post it to this thread.

[Only Toyota for me]

Originally Posted by fivecodys

As promised I am reporting back with the details of our first trip with the new trailer. We are pulling a Flagstaff 8528 RKSS. She's about 30'6" long and weighs in at 7,100 lbs. We pull with our 07 Tundra DC equiped with a Superglide 14K hitch and a Prodigy brake controller. I have 5-3/4" clearance between the bed rails and the trailer

Our first tow was about 160 miles long and took us to Morro Bay. My average MPG (per the computer) was 10.1 going and about 8.7 MPG coming home. Average speed 60 MPH. We had a head wind coming home so I am guessing that was the reason for the reduced MPG. The truck had plenty of power. There are several 6% grades along the way and we had no problem whatsoever.

The tranny temp guage never moved. I stayed in "D" and the transmission did it's job well. There was only one grade that I felt I could have shifted into 4th to prevent "hunting".

I was expecting that I would feel the need for Air Bags after this trip but so far I do not believe I see the need. Our trailer has a very light pin weight so I might be able to do without the bags.

We have another trip planned the end of May so we will see how we do.

The only bad part about the trip is the $4.01 per gallon I had to pay for regular unleaded.

Here are a couple pics of the rig.

Bill

Good writeup.

MPG seems to be in line with what we get, so that's good.

By going to S-4, it seems like you have 3 extra gears in that mode for some reason. But that's if the TC isn't locked up, which is what it does. To prove my point, try it sometime & you'll know. With it in S-4 for a while, give the truck a little gas and then shift to S-5 & you'll see the tach go up about 300 rpm's. That means the TC is unlocked. This helps when towing, but i usually leave it in S-5.

[fivecodys]

Originally Posted by d-lo

nice set-up! and thanks for taking the time to post up the info. my guess is that you didn't drive at night, or you would have reported being flashed w/brights by every oncoming car you passed.
i installed my air lift bags last week and i am SUPER glad i did. the truck feels much more solid now than it did (i thought it felt solid before). i no longer get flashed while driving at night and the unloaded ride seems to have less sway.
i looked at install instructions for your hitch again after having installed my bags, and a picture of the bolt you're talking about that you think would conflict would be worth 1000 words in this case. i'll see if i can get a pic of the elbow from inside the frame when i get a chance and post it to this thread.

The rig actually sits pretty level. The photo does make it look a little more saggy in the rear but it might just be the angle in which I took the photo.
You're right though, we did all of out driving in the afternoon.

I will see if I can't get a good shot of the bolt I mentioned earlier. I may have to remove the spare tire to get a good shot. Bummer.

Bill

[fivecodys]

Here is the best I could get. As you can almost see the bolt from the hitch rail is blocking the existing hole in the frame that the "elbow" from the air bag is supposed to go through.



Bill

[fivecodys]

Originally Posted by Only Toyota for me

Good writeup.

MPG seems to be in line with what we get, so that's good.

By going to S-4, it seems like you have 3 extra gears in that mode for some reason. But that's if the TC isn't locked up, which is what it does. To prove my point, try it sometime & you'll know. With it in S-4 for a while, give the truck a little gas and then shift to S-5 & you'll see the tach go up about 300 rpm's. That means the TC is unlocked. This helps when towing, but i usually leave it in S-5.

I'll have to try that.
We are going up to Shaver Lake the end of the month and there is a really steep section of highway there. Should be a good testing ground.

Thanks for the idea.

Bill