Safe Holiday Travel Tips

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our E-mail Digest or RSS Feed. We will then send you the stories that are posted each day in an e-mail digest. We use a service called Feedburner for delivery of these emails. You will receive an e-mail from Feedburner after you subscribe and you must click on that email to activate your subscription. Thanks for visiting and enjoy all the information! RV.Net Blog AdminForty thousand people in the United States die each year on the road! With the peak RV travel season here I thought this would be a good time to discuss getting to your RV travel destination safely. Getting there can be half the fun, as the saying goes, if you take a few precautions to make your trip safe. Read more Tell a Friend Read More →

Fifth Wheel Trailer Checklist. RV-1 Author Lester Evans offers:

Storage site Departure & Hitching Trailer to Truck: 1.            Position truck a few feet in front of trailer. 2.            Move truck mirrors to the OUT position for trailer towing. 3.            Lower truck tailgate. 4.            Remove & stow trailer wheel covers. 5.            Verify all trailer interior lights are OFF. Read more Tell a Friend Read More →

Hensley TrailerSaver 5th Wheel Hitch Line-up

When TrailerSaver introduced the TS3 nine years ago, a new standard for 5th Wheel hitches was set. When Hensley Mfg. bought TrailerSaver three years ago, they raised the bar even higher, and the improvements just keep coming. Today, Hensley Mfg. offers a 5th Wheel hitch for any sized truck/trailer combination, with or without air-ride. For the medium duty trucks, Hensley offers the 2H Air-Ride hitch, a 32k adjustable hitch, and a 32k low profile hitch. All are bolt down models. For the light duty pick-ups with standard rails, Hensley offers the TS3 Air-Ride hitch, a 26k adjustable hitch, and a 19k adjustable hitch. Read more Tell a Friend Read More →

Trailer Braking, Trailer Sway & Windy Conditions

I received an email from a reader the other day who was involved in a bad accident while towing a trailer 5 years ago. The accident was a result of a sudden wind shear, causing the trailer to start swaying out of control. The truck and trailer rolled over. Fortunately everybody was okay! After detailing the accident, Mary who was driving at the time, asked me if I had any hints or tips to offer on trailer brakes, controlling sway, and what to do when you experience something like wind shear, cross winds, or towing in windy conditions. After reading Mary’s email I thought it would be an appropriate topic for an article. Let me begin by saying that the safest measure for traveling by RV in windy conditions is not to travel at all. RV’s have a great deal of mass (length, width & height) and when that mass is confronted with strong wind gusts, crosswinds and/or wind shear the results can be devastating. Read more Tell a Friend Read More →

Are Towing Laws Outdated?

I have always been an advocate for towing safety, whether it’s towing a trailer or towing a vehicle behind a motorhome. One of the most controversial topics I have run into is whether vehicles being towed behind motorhomes need to have a supplemental braking system. My argument is if the state that you reside in has laws requiring a trailer over a certain weight to have brakes; this would also apply to a vehicle being towed behind a motorhome. Another argument is that many state towing laws are antiquated and need to be updated. When some of these laws were written people weren’t towing vehicles behind motorhomes. Read more Tell a Friend Read More →

RV Doctor - Roof Materials Safe for Towing

Dear RV Doc, I am going to go look at a used 24-foot travel trailer that had the roof replaced back in 1998. It has sat in an RV park its entire life. My concern is about roofing standards. Hopefully, it wasn’t re-roofed with tar and gravel, which might be fine if parked permanently, but wouldn’t be appreciated by those behind you if you’re towing it. Is there a roofing standard for travel trailers? What should I look for/ask to ensure that the roof is okay for towing it? Thanks, –Larry Niemoeller (somewhere in the US) Read more Tell a Friend Read More →

Hensley Manufacturing Lightens Up

Hensley Mfg. announces its first new travel trailer hitch since introducing the Hensley Arrow, the industry’s first anti-sway hitch, 15 years ago. The Hensley Cub is a scaled-down version of the Hensley Arrow, the only hitch that truly eliminates trailer sway. The Cub works on the same principle as the Arrow, using the geometry of its linkage system to prevent trailer sway while allowing the tow vehicle full control over the trailer. No friction is involved, unlike a traditional sway control hitch. The Cub is designed for light trailers. While the Arrow is a “one size fits all” design, the folks at Hensley took some weight out of the new design to fit the trend toward smaller, lighter trailers. Why hasn’t Hensley made any changes prior to this one? “We decided before we sold our first hitch,” says Colin Connell, President of Hensley Mfg., “that safety would always be our primary consideration. We’ve tried different designs…everything from adjustable hitch bars to a yoke system (a Y or T shaped bracket to hold the hitch head in place). They all seemed like good ideas and we probably could have made a few extra dollars with a ‘New & Improved’ design, but they all had inherent flaws that decreased their reliability and safety.” Of course, safety is still the primary concern of Hensley Mfg. The Cub may be a new product, but the engineering concepts are identical to the Arrow. After 15 years and thousands of Arrows on the road, Hensley has a proven... Read more

Truck and Trailer Revival

With the economy being what it is, we are seeing more and more RV owners choosing to hang on to their rigs and fix them up, rather than trading up for something new. Realistically, it just makes sense-because for the cost of a couple of payments, you can often make your rig as good as new-or even better in the case of a customer’s rig we have in our shop right now. Read more Tell a Friend Read More →

Tow Cars and Towables – Part 3 – Bernice’s Tips

As the final post in my series, Tow Cars and Towables, I wrap up my tips related to towing a car. By following these tips, along with those given in Parts 1 and 2, you’ll find that towing can be very rewarding, and even save gas! When towing a car, follow the car manufacturer’s instructions. Sometimes you must stop at a rest area every 200 or so miles, start the engine, put it in gear in order to circulate the oil, and let it run a while. Also you may have a speed limit for towing your car such as 55 miles per hour. Some newer cars do not have these same limitations-you may drive 65 miles per hour and do not have to start the engine to circulate the oil. Take a test drive of your motorhome with the tow car attached before your trip. While you’re out, use the nearest truck scale to be sure the combined weight of the tow car and the motorhome does not exceed the gross combined vehicle weight (GCVW) recommended by your coach’s manufacturer. To hook up a tow car, Choose a level spot. Unfold the tow bar from the front of the tow car. Lower the socket of the tow bar tongue onto the ball of the hitch at the rear of the motorhome. Fasten the safety chains between the two vehicles. Connect the tow car’s electrical system to the electrical outlet at the rear of the motorhome. Test the electrical connection. Use the turn signals and press down the brake pedal in the motorhome. Both sets of lights should work at the same time. Towing a car will... Read more

3,000 Mile Oil Change – is it History?

For many years consumers have used the rule of thumb that you should change your engine oil every 3,000 miles for autos, trucks, and SUVs. Over the past several years there have been tests by various consumer and environmental advocacy groups that have found this to be a waste of money as well as harmful to the environment. In fact according to a recent study by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, 73 percent of California drivers change their oil more frequently than required. The 3,000 mile oil change may have once been a good idea before the advance of technology that has greatly improved the ability of oil to stay cleaner longer as well as today’s engines that simply run cleaner. Oil doesn’t really break down but it becomes contaminated with microscopic metals from bearings, pistons and other points of friction as well as fuel and the worst enemy of all - water. There have been tests on commercial vehicles that have shown that there is no difference in engine wear when oil changes are pushed past the 3,000 mark and well into double or even triple that interval. Most auto manufacturers recommend 5,000, 7,500, or even 10,000 mile intervals under normal driving conditions. Of course “normal” is pretty subjective. If you are pulling a trailer for any appreciable amount of time, “normal” is no longer applicable and oil changes should be made at “severe” condition intervals. But in any case make absolutely sure to follow the owners manual recommendations... Read more

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