New owner

[djsuson]

Hello!

My spouse and I have been camping for over 20 years. We have followed a typical path, starting with tents while our kids were young, then moving to a pop-up trailer when we got tired of getting rained out in the tent. After moving to Indiana 16 years ago, we moved up again, first buying a Dutchman hybrid travel trailer and then a Winebago One. Less than a month ago we took the final plunge, trading our travel trailer for a Momentum fifth wheel. There are so many differences between a travel trailer and a fifth wheel that I'm sure I'll be scouring the forum a lot! I look forward to making new friends and getting help learning my new rig.

[TucsonJim]

Hi Dan and Carla. Welcome to the technical forum. I think many of us share the same evolution of camping stories.

Jim

[Jlawles2]

Hi Dan. Yes there are lots of differences between Bumper Pull (BP) and 5th Wheel (5ers) when it comes to towing. Love the extra room without the extra length when hooked up. We have the raised front bedroom in which I can stand so that is nice.

For towing, Pulls much better than you actually realize. Maneuvers forward a lot better than you anticipate at first. Backing up.... Now that takes a bit of getting used to, especially with an auto slider (that's going away now that I have a new Tow Vehicle (TV)).

[djsuson]

I've now towed the 5er three times: once off of the LazyDays lot when we purchased it, and to and from a local campground so that we could open everything up. My tow vehicle is rated for 26000 lbs and the 5er (I like this better than FW!) is 20000 lbs empty. I can feel the strain and plan to go to a weight station the first time we have the 5er fully loaded. SHOULD be okay, but I'll be nervous until I have the actual data!

[Jlawles2]

Yeah towing a 5er the 1st few times is a bit nerve wrecking. Hopefully your experience was during the day unlike me basically getting kicked out of the dealer with a camper that they do not even tell you how to unhook (NOT A GD OR A GD DEALER).

All I can say is to read the manual for your hitch even though it may work properly, then read it again and follow the lubricating instructions. Finally go through it again and check all of the bolt torques looking for the lubrication points.