Mud and Slides - First Trip of the Year

[sreigle]

Ohhh, my belly hurts from all the laughing in this thread!

Paul and Kathi, I don't know which hitch you have. My Reese will sometimes stick, just like apparently yours did. I finally figured out it happens when the site allows the Montana to roll just a little backwards when I stop and put the truck in Park. If I block the wheels on the trailer, then start the truck and back it into the trailer just a smidgen, set the emergency brake, then the handle pulls out nice as pie. Maybe this is your situation?

Gordon, if you keep having problems with those cabinet doors opening, make sure the male part of the latch is perfectly centered with the female part. If it isn't, it still will latch but will not have the benefit of spring pressure from both sides of the female part of the latch. Once I centered ours we've had no more problems with doors opening on the road. That was about two years ago. We do have one that has some cases of dvd movies (350+) in it (the cabinet under the tv) and the weight of those things will push the doors open so we strap that one closed when hit the road.

[fulltimedreamer]

Well since everybody else is sharing their little mishaps I might as well share mine. Early in February Debbie and I went up to Unicoi State PArk for a few days. It rained some while we were there but not a tremendous amount. Anyway, we had a great week and started for home.

Once we arrived I pulled into one driveway and started across the front yard to the other driveway. I do this so I don't have to back in off a very busy road. Apparently we had a lot more rain at home, (6 inches I found out later) than we did in the mountains. You guessed it, as I started across the yard the rear of the truck and the coach started sliding down the gentle slope of my yard and stopped going forward. I don't have 4 wheel drive so when it started to spin I stopped so as not to bury the thing.

I called Good Sam ERS and they verified my address and then asked what the problem was and where the vehicle was located. Of course, I then had to admit that I was stuck in my own front yard. (I'm not sure, but I think I heard a chuckle.) This was just a little embarassing. They sent out a huge Chevy flatbed and it pulled truck and coach out (I did have to put the F250 in gear and help him a bit). Hey, you can hardly see the ruts in my front yard now!!

[sreigle]

LOL, fulltimedreamer. Those ruts might make a good planter for some pretty flowers. Then nobody would question what happened!

[Parrothead]

We had the same problem as Paul and Kathy when we had our first 5er. Spent hours trying to unhook. Ed and my brother were up in the truck on hands and knees looking up under the hitch to no avail. Finally I went in and called the dealer. You can imagine how we all felt when he said back up just a hair. That did it! They hadn't told us this on the walk thru.

[GordonR]

Steve - I saw that tip regarding aligning the latches in a thread last fall. I'm pretty sure it was from you. This time though it means a bit more. Hopefully we'll get out this weekend and it'll make a good puttering project.
Fulltimedreamer - I have Good Sam ERS as well. I just never thought to call them! More lessons learned... Don't forget what you've paid for! (Although he'd have probably come in a little Ford as well. My cheeks are still red about that one - mostly because of the ribbing I've given my buddy, the Ford dealer, over the years.)
Gordon

[Montana_2428]

Great stories! OK, I purchased a new Dodge, as in my signature, and decided to take the 27ft Nomad 5th wheel camping. This was to be the last time for the Nomad as we wanted the Montana.

Everything went well and the truck performed great. Came home to pouring rain and decided to pull into the driveway truck-first.
The street in front of our house goes down-hill at about 20 degrees.
The driveway is level. Well, next day, tried backing the 5th into the driveway. 5th went level, truck stayed at 20 degrees......SMASHED the left rear bed rail at the steak hole a good 5 inches. OH, I can still recall the heartache. The older 5th wheels didn't have the height at the king-pin that the new 5ers now have.

$1800 and a new Montana solved all clearance issues. No major issues yet but do expect that there is something waiting to "get" us.

Don and Michele

[Kimmrg]

Thanks for all the great stories, I know my turn is coming, although sitting along side the road during a snow storm while Steve drove 200 miles to find a truck fix it shop, might have been it...but the truck was actually broken so not sure.

[sreigle]

We recently came very close to getting stuck on a road shoulder in South Carolina. I don't recall why I pulled off the road onto the grass-covered shoulder but I should have known better even though the ground looked solid from the road. It had rained several times over the prior week. When we went to pull back on the road the rear wheels just spun, digging through the grass into the mud. Thank goodness flipping the four wheel drive on got us out of there or I'd have had to call ERS. The only casualty was having to clean all the mud off the front of the Montana when we arrived at our destination.