What to do before first long trip with travel trailer?

[jvbronco]

got my F150 less than 2 weeks ago. Will be taking a 3000-mile road trip towing my 16ft bunkhouse camping trailer. The trailer weighs less than 4000lbs fully loaded.

I'll be putting about 1000 miles on the truck per the break-in procedure in the user manual and doing my normal pre-trip look-over (tires, oil levels, etc.). Aside from this, any recommendations on things I should do/ service/ check before I leave for my trip?

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[Jus Cruisin]

Take it out for a 25-50 mile "trip".

 

[jvbronco]

Take it out for a 25-50 mile "trip".

Good tip - Will bake this in during my hitch setup this weekend.

 

[Waxer]

I have a couple warm-up trips planned before our big 3,000 mile trip in June. I think the 25-mile test trip is a good idea that I will also do before my first trip. This weekend I am planning to hook up for the first time to test things out - I changed from 2018 2WD to 2021 4WD and my truck is definitely set higher so I need to review my weight distributing hitch set-up. I also want to set up the trailer tech and yaw sensor so that is dialed in. Fun stuff.

 

[sglide05]

I have an off question. I live in my travel trailer and it appears the tires are going flat. What would you recommend I do to get the tires checked out? Take them off one at a time and get them checked out at a tire shop? This is the first travel trailer for me. Thank you.

 

[daemonic3]

I know this is going to sound like overkill - but if you don't have TPMS for your trailer tires, then at least get an infrared gun. There is a lot of information you can get based on temperature that can prevent disaster!

Start with tires properly inflated to the PSI on the sidewall. Use the IR gun on the rubber and the rim of all 4 (or 2?) tires. They should all be the cold temp and same (unless one side is in the sun). Now do your 25 miles test run, with some freeway. IR gun the temps again. If a tire is abnormally high temp (rubber) it likely has low pressure and loses air slowly. If a rim is hot in conjunction with the rubber, you likely have bad bearings or they weren't greased well when installed.

I have had the bad bearing issue but my TPMS was not good enough to transmit all the way from the tires to my truck cab (I have since gotten a new one with a repeater!). If I would have seen the temp rising I could have prevented my rim overheating and axle replacement! It threw off our entire trip by a day as we were stranded at a truck stop overnight. Luckily we were not in the boonies!

With a trailer that light, the weight distribution hitch is optional, but I would check wheel well level height to make sure the back is not lower than the front, and make sure your shank height is set to where the trailer is level when loaded (slightly high in front unloaded).

Make sure your trailer spare is at the proper PSI too (especially if you don't have a portable air compressor). Make sure you know your jack strategy if you have a blowout (if you have equalizers it can be HARD to get the blown out tire off the ground! And you don't want "performance anxiety" trying to figure it out with an angry spouse staring at you). Travel with just enough fresh water for some toilet flushes. Make sure your gray and black valves are closed before leaving every time (some jerk pranked us and opened the black valve while we were parked in a lot, needless to say it was not pretty when I had to remove the cap). If you have a 2-way fridge, make sure to set it to propane before driving, and to open the propane tanks. If you have a fridge with a latch make sure it is latched (kids are notorious for not properly latching it closed). All stuff off the counters before driving (no brainer, but it happens).

I think the rest of the connection and test stuff is in the Fordpass or truck's "Trailer checklist", and it's pretty good! Wish I would have had that on my first few trips.

 

[daemonic3]

I have an off question. I live in my travel trailer and it appears the tires are going flat. What would you recommend I do to get the tires checked out? Take them off one at a time and get them checked out at a tire shop? This is the first travel trailer for me. Thank you.

Get a gauge first and check them yourself to see if they are safe to drive. If one or more are low, use a portable compressor to inflate, see if they hold pressure overnight. Then drive to a tire shop if you are worried they may be bad. If driving is not an option (because of your living situation) then yes take them to a shop or have a mobile tire service come help you out. The rubber can certainly be bad if you've been parked and they have been bearing the weight for a few years.

 

[sglide05]

They have been bearing the weight for a few years. I'll have to get them checked out. Thank you for the advice.

 

[desertlivin]

I just came back from a 700 mile trip with my 20ft bunkhouse trailer. It worked great, everything was pretty smooth. The one thing I would mention is the brake controller gain, I wasn't really sure what to set this at. I just went with what "felt right" when towing the vehicle which ended up being 4.0. I am sure there is a better process to determine the gain, I am going to look into it. The other thing I would do is set up the Pro Trailer Backup Assist if you have it.

 

[daemonic3]

I just came back from a 700 mile trip with my 20ft bunkhouse trailer. It worked great, everything was pretty smooth. The one thing I would mention is the brake controller gain, I wasn't really sure what to set this at. I just went with what "felt right" when towing the vehicle which ended up being 4.0. I am sure there is a better process to determine the gain, I am going to look into it. The other thing I would do is set up the Pro Trailer Backup Assist if you have it.

My RV dealer said it will vary from trailer to trailer, truck to truck, so he tells people to start with 1 per 1000 pounds of trailer GVWR, then adjust from there. So I started with 8.0. I have played with it in an empty lot and didn't notice much difference going up or down 1.0 so I kept it at 8.0. Seems ok on unexpected red lights, and going down inclines, which are my 2 biggest worries.

 

[jvbronco]

There is a setup procedure in the manual for adjusting the gain. I forget the exact guidance, but it's very similar to what my 2017 Silverado manual recommended - something along the lines of driving a certain speed (say ~20mph) and adjusting the gain until the trailer tires lock up or until the trailer brakes alone can stop the rig. It's in the manual - worth taking a look.

 

[jvbronco]

I know this is going to sound like overkill - but if you don't have TPMS for your trailer tires, then at least get an infrared gun. There is a lot of information you can get based on temperature that can prevent disaster!

Start with tires properly inflated to the PSI on the sidewall. Use the IR gun on the rubber and the rim of all 4 (or 2?) tires. They should all be the cold temp and same (unless one side is in the sun). Now do your 25 miles test run, with some freeway. IR gun the temps again. If a tire is abnormally high temp (rubber) it likely has low pressure and loses air slowly. If a rim is hot in conjunction with the rubber, you likely have bad bearings or they weren't greased well when installed.

I have had the bad bearing issue but my TPMS was not good enough to transmit all the way from the tires to my truck cab (I have since gotten a new one with a repeater!). If I would have seen the temp rising I could have prevented my rim overheating and axle replacement! It threw off our entire trip by a day as we were stranded at a truck stop overnight. Luckily we were not in the boonies!

With a trailer that light, the weight distribution hitch is optional, but I would check wheel well level height to make sure the back is not lower than the front, and make sure your shank height is set to where the trailer is level when loaded (slightly high in front unloaded).

Make sure your trailer spare is at the proper PSI too (especially if you don't have a portable air compressor). Make sure you know your jack strategy if you have a blowout (if you have equalizers it can be HARD to get the blown out tire off the ground! And you don't want "performance anxiety" trying to figure it out with an angry spouse staring at you). Travel with just enough fresh water for some toilet flushes. Make sure your gray and black valves are closed before leaving every time (some jerk pranked us and opened the black valve while we were parked in a lot, needless to say it was not pretty when I had to remove the cap). If you have a 2-way fridge, make sure to set it to propane before driving, and to open the propane tanks. If you have a fridge with a latch make sure it is latched (kids are notorious for not properly latching it closed). All stuff off the counters before driving (no brainer, but it happens).

I think the rest of the connection and test stuff is in the Fordpass or truck's "Trailer checklist", and it's pretty good! Wish I would have had that on my first few trips.

All good tips! Most of this is part of my normal checklist. I'm mostly curious about things specific to the truck itself I want to look out for.

 

[daemonic3]

All good tips! Most of this is part of my normal checklist. I'm mostly curious about things specific to the truck itself I want to look out for.

Aha! I couldn't tell from original post if you were new to towing in general! Sorry I didn't realize you meant specific to the truck...

I did a bunch of testing and experiments documented here: https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/thr...l-trailer-first-hookup-and-test-results.2698/

Here's all the crap I did:

• Adjusting hitch height
• Knowing limitations on power tailgate/trailer tongue jack interference
• Testing propower and circuit loads (if you have powerboost)
• Knowing about how much to adjust my mirrors for towing when telescoped (I have the factory ones)
• Setting the initial gain on brake controller, naming trailer, putting length, etc
• Installing the trailer (yaw) sensor
• Ran the trailer light test through Fordpass app
• Doing some MPG testing
• Flipping through the information screens in Tow/Haul mode to get familiar with where to find various info (very happy they added gradient info in the tow screens! I used to have to back out and enter "offroad" menu to see it in my 2017)

And basically just driving it to/from storage to my house (13 miles) to see if the truck had issues that needed dealer attention, but I could not find any!

 

[precab]

I have an off question. I live in my travel trailer and it appears the tires are going flat. What would you recommend I do to get the tires checked out? Take them off one at a time and get them checked out at a tire shop? This is the first travel trailer for me. Thank you.

Be sure to check the load rating of the tires if they look flat often. If you bought used in particular. Carlisle Radial Trail HD tires are the best in performance and price blended on TT's. Good Years were not worth the premium price in comparison, but are the #1. Carlisle was the #2

 

[notabot]

Write a checklist. Follow it just like a pilot would before takeoff. The stairs on my camper would still be straight and not pretzeled if a list was used before that departure.

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