Will This TT Be Okay to Tow Through the Mountains??

[Only Toyota for me]

Originally Posted by droolingmess

Travel Trailer 101.
Some things you might get when you buy the trailer,
Roof vent covers. They allow you to tow with the roof vents open and most important of all (since you are going to Seattle) you can leave your roof vents open in the rain. If the dealer won't cut a deal on them Camping World had them on sale and they take all of 10 minutes each to install.
Replace 2 12v batteries with 2 6v deep cycle in series. If dealer can't help Costco had 6v golf cart batteries last I looked. They have much more amp hour and longer lifespan. 100% agree on this one. Trojan is a good brand.

Trailer will probably come with a start up kit (water pressure reg, cheap 10' sewer hose, 15amp cord adapter and some toilet chem) and since you used to have a tent trailer probably already have some of the stuff you need but there are some must haves you can pick up cheaper at Walmart or Camping World for example than you will get at the dealer, You forgot one more thing: 220v to 115v converter AC plug adapter. Small black rubber type.
Toilet chem and paper. We like the orange type cleaner (walmart)
Cable lock for spare tire. Important
Locking pin for ball mount. Important.
20' sewer hose, 10' just is not enough. Important. Agreed 100%.
Airtight sewer hose adapter and slinky to keep the hose off the ground is required by law in some states. Important. Don't have this.
Inline water filter. Important Don't have one of these either.
Non slip matting for cabinets and drawers.One roll will do a whole trailer. Yes.
Stove and oven lighter. Yes; bic has been a better one for us.
25' water hose. Yes, and it's usually white in color.
25'coax with F type connectors and slip on adapters on both ends.Radio Shack.
Spare fuses. Important.
1/4" mesh Builders cloth to make bug screens for water heater, furnace and fridge. Important. Lowes or Home Depot. What? Never heard of this.
Torque wrench, extention and 13/16" socket, if you don't already have one. Important.
Flares if you don't already carry them.
3/8" socket adapter for cordless drill and 3/4" socket. Much nicer way to lower and raise stabilizer jacks. Most definately much nicer.
13/16" lug wrench. Important.
A/C polarity checker. Important.
Leveling blocks. Wood 2x4's or 2x6's work okay here, cut into 18" length.
Tire chalks, you can make. Walmart has these for cheap.

I bought a little Craftsman portable air compressor that weighs next to nothing takes up hardly any room but will air up my E load rated tires with no trouble. Checking truck and trailer tire pressure are big time important and feeding a bunch of quarters into gas station air compressor just does not cut it. Some truck stops offer free air but you may have to hunt to find it. Yes, agreed. Much more handy to have your own pump. Costco has a really nice one for like $40 or so.

Something to keep in mind, if you get a flat tire how will you jack up the trailer? Use jack from tow vehicle and some 2x6 studs. ???


When you do the walk thru on your trailer pick it apart. I worked on RVs 4 years and hate to say it but quality in general is a joke. Not trying to scare you here cuz this is a great time to buy but in this economy the sad fact is the company that built your trailer or the people that sold it to you could be out of buisness a week after you pick it up. That is a reality everyone has to deal with now days and some of the RV web sites are warning people to get any warrenty work done as soon as posible. Having prepped many, many new trailers here are some of the more common defects I would see.

Damaged, missing or improperly installed external and internal trim.
Marred finish outside.
Marred paneling inside.
Door hinge screws stripped.
Windows that don't operate properly or are missing hardware.
Drawer stops installed improperly.
Window screens damaged or fit poorly.
Window blinds damaged or do not operate properly.
TV antenna wearing into roof.
12v recepticle will not accept common 12v plug.
Loose or crooked light fixture.

Getting stuff like that fixed before you haul it off the lot is a huge help because many RV dealers will charge a fee come to your home to fix that kind of stuff even though it is warrenty work and you might not want to have to unload everything from your trailer to drop it off.

Nice writeup!!!!!!!!! Thanks.

A lot easier than having to drag the trailer back up there for some work later.

Care to comment on above responses in red?

[Buck62]

My goodness!

I'm going to cut, paste and print all these great suggestions.

The RV dealer is probably gonna hate me when I nitpick this trailer to death.

[droolingmess]

Travel Trailer 101.
Some things you might get when you buy the trailer,
Roof vent covers. They allow you to tow with the roof vents open and most important of all (since you are going to Seattle) you can leave your roof vents open in the rain. If the dealer won't cut a deal on them Camping World had them on sale and they take all of 10 minutes each to install.
Replace 2 12v batteries with 2 6v deep cycle in series. If dealer can't help Costco had 6v golf cart batteries last I looked. They have much more amp hour and longer lifespan. 100% agree on this one. Trojan is a good brand.

Trailer will probably come with a start up kit (water pressure reg, cheap 10' sewer hose, 15amp cord adapter and some toilet chem) and since you used to have a tent trailer probably already have some of the stuff you need but there are some must haves you can pick up cheaper at Walmart or Camping World for example than you will get at the dealer, You forgot one more thing: 220v to 115v converter AC plug adapter. Small black rubber type.
Toilet chem and paper. We like the orange type cleaner (walmart) I use enviroclean from walmart
Cable lock for spare tire. Important
Locking pin for ball mount. Important.
20' sewer hose, 10' just is not enough. Important. Agreed 100%.
Airtight sewer hose adapter and slinky to keep the hose off the ground is required by law in some states. Important. Don't have this. Walmart has a kit that has everything but the slinky including heavy ply hose.
Inline water filter. Important Don't have one of these either. Some places have pretty funky water, so having the filter is kinda like safety blanket.
Non slip matting for cabinets and drawers.One roll will do a whole trailer. Yes.
Stove and oven lighter. Yes; bic has been a better one for us. I have a 30 year old Broilmaster refillable. When it dies I'll lower the flag and play taps.
25' water hose. Yes, and it's usually white in color.
25'coax with F type connectors and slip on adapters on both ends.Radio Shack.
Spare fuses. Important.
1/4" mesh Builders cloth to make bug screens for water heater, furnace and fridge. Important. Lowes or Home Depot. What? Never heard of this. Wasps, Mud Daubers like to set up house keeping in really bad places. If they get in the fridge you can probably get them out yourself but if they get in the water heater, bad. In the furnace, very bad. There are premade screens but they are like 30 to 60 bucks for a little metal screen. A little mech skills and some snips and you can make the screens.The RV dealer should warn about this during the walk through.
Torque wrench, extention and 13/16" socket, if you don't already have one. Important.
Flares if you don't already carry them.
3/8" socket adapter for cordless drill and 3/4" socket. Much nicer way to lower and raise stabilizer jacks. Most definately much nicer.
13/16" lug wrench. Important.
A/C polarity checker. Important.
Leveling blocks. Wood 2x4's or 2x6's work okay here, cut into 18" length.
Tire chalks, you can make. Walmart has these for cheap.

I bought a little Craftsman portable air compressor that weighs next to nothing takes up hardly any room but will air up my E load rated tires with no trouble. Checking truck and trailer tire pressure are big time important and feeding a bunch of quarters into gas station air compressor just does not cut it. Some truck stops offer free air but you may have to hunt to find it. Yes, agreed. Much more handy to have your own pump. Costco has a really nice one for like $40 or so.

Something to keep in mind, if you get a flat tire how will you jack up the trailer? Use jack from tow vehicle and some 2x6 studs. ??? Yea probably the best but very important to try at least once. I have mini floor jack that only weighs 10 lbs and stores in the corner of a compartment.


When you do the walk thru on your trailer pick it apart. I worked on RVs 4 years and hate to say it but quality in general is a joke. Not trying to scare you here cuz this is a great time to buy but in this economy the sad fact is the company that built your trailer or the people that sold it to you could be out of buisness a week after you pick it up. That is a reality everyone has to deal with now days and some of the RV web sites are warning people to get any warrenty work done as soon as posible. Having prepped many, many new trailers here are some of the more common defects I would see.

Damaged, missing or improperly installed external and internal trim.
Marred finish outside.
Marred paneling inside.
Door hinge screws stripped.
Windows that don't operate properly or are missing hardware.
Drawer stops installed improperly.
Window screens damaged or fit poorly.
Window blinds damaged or do not operate properly.
TV antenna wearing into roof.
12v recepticle will not accept common 12v plug.
Loose or crooked light fixture.

Getting stuff like that fixed before you haul it off the lot is a huge help because many RV dealers will charge a fee come to your home to fix that kind of stuff even though it is warrenty work and you might not want to have to unload everything from your trailer to drop it off.

Only Toyota,

Was thinking of wandering up towards Delta this spring and saw you are from UT. Know any good RV spots around Delta?

[Only Toyota for me]

Only Toyota,

Was thinking of wandering up towards Delta this spring and saw you are from UT. Know any good RV spots around Delta?
[/quote]

Probably the only spot i know of is the Little Sahara Sand dunes, just east of Delta a little ways. Maybe an hour or two. They don't have hookups for a trailer or electricity, but they do have some sites right at the dunes you can camp. They charge a fee of like $8 or $10 per night. Or you can go north of there to cherry creek and camp in the cedar trees if you want for free. Couple of miles north is all.
It's best to have some motorcycles or atv's if you go either place.
It's been a couple of years since i've been there, but it's great fun for the kids.
You can actually camp right at sand mountain if you want. It's a long hill climb with a lot of guys racing up it. If you go there on a holiday weekend, it's so crowded you don't even want to ride for fear of a collision. Easter weekend is a huge party there, but i steer clear of that place then. A lot of people have been killed on this weekend as well.

Can't think of anywhere else you could go around delta.

What are you doing in Delta?

[droolingmess]

want to go to udigit and hunt for trilobites. Streets and Trips shows it about 30 miles west of Delta.

[Geodude]

Re your original question, power won't be a problem and I doubt handling will be either with the Tundra's wheelbase.

We tow a much heavier, longer trailer with our Sequoia and we've done that run out to Colorado, with power to spare (and most of the rest of the US and Canada, including the Canadian Maritimes with all the crazy and fun grades).

If you're looking for ideas on equipment, a packing list and modifications you might find some nuggets on my web site at paushe dot com.

For a good PDI list, do a google search for PDI_V113_2.pdf and you'll see a very comprehensive list. Even my dealer wanted a copy when he saw it!