Newbie Needs Advice on pulling BIG 33 foot North Trail Travel Trailer w/ Excursion Diesel

[peacepedalers]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the Heartland family and appreciate any advice here. My family is doing a 12,000 mile family book tour to promote my book and Heartland had graciously loaned us a 33 foot North Trail 33BKSS for the 5-month journey. I have a 2 & 4 year old as my very precious cargo so want to make sure I make the right decisions on the gear to do this right. I was told I need:

1) A anti-sway kind of system: Anyone have any advice on this with this kind/size of travel trailer behind a Diesel Excursion?
2) Brake controller: Any advice on this?
3) Gauges: Do I need/should I consider some gauges to monitor the transmission temp, etc?

Any other feedback would be appreciated. More info on my project and our book tour at www.aBicycleBuiltForTwoBillion.com. We'll be at the Heartland Rally in June and hope to see many of you there!

Best!

Jamie

 

[hoefler]

Best thing you can do, is go to good dealer to have your rig setup with the proper hitch and brake controller. Where are you picking up the trailer?? I would start there.

 

[JohnD]

Yes . . . you will definately need a weight distribution and anti-sway setup.

I have a Reese sway bar and a DrawTite WD setup myself, but there are many options out there.



I won't leave home without it!

 

[peacepedalers]

Best thing you can do, is go to good dealer to have your rig setup with the proper hitch and brake controller. Where are you picking up the trailer?? I would start there.

I would do that but we are actually sponsored by Heartland for this project and we are picking up directly from Heartland in Elkhart, IN. So wanted to get this sorted before we arrived. Thanks much!

Jamie & Family

 

[cookie]

Since the anti-sway bar and weight distribution system are attached to the trailer I would suggest finding either a hitch shop or RV dealer in Elkhart.
Since you won't have to be at highway speeds to get there, make an appointment for installation and instructions on how to use it.
That should be your very first stop.

Peace
Dave

 

[DocFather]

There are a half-dozen RV dealers and 3 hitch shops in Elkhart. Great Lakes RV Center is a Heartland Dealer/shop.

 

[jbeletti]

Jamie,

I'm not up to speed on your arrangement with Heartland, but regardless, I suggest you stop at Dan's Service in Elkhart. They are 3 miles from Heartland and they're located off State Route 19 at I-80, right at the Elkhart exit you'll get off from when you arrive from the west. Good people, good service at Dan's. You might even want to call (574.262.4638) ahead and start working with them now to get what you need all ready for your arrival. You could likely pull the NT to Dan's and have the WDH installed in their parking lot.

You may also want to consider using Straptek by Lippert with whatever WDH you choose. Seems like an easier and safer way to place/remove the load bars of the WDH.

 

[MikeR]

There are a half-dozen RV dealers and 3 hitch shops in Elkhart. Great Lakes RV Center is a Heartland Dealer/shop.

Great Lakes RVCenter is no longer in business.

 

[DocFather]

Yep - I just saw they closed in October. My bad. Thanks

 

[cookie]

Here is a link to a little story about the Heartland sponsorship. (LINK)

Peace
Dave

 

[rodebiker]

Hi Jamie,
Sounds like a great adventure. I'm envious. We recently purchased the same model camper, 2015 33BKSS, and have about 5 trips so far under our belts. Be glad to provide insight and experiences that we've had that might help you on your journey. For anti-sway, ew invested in a Propride 3P and have been very happy. Never a scary moment so far (knock on wood). No serious issues, so far, except for water in the forward storage area during rain storms. The unit was actually the subject of a recall to address a faulty roof installation, which I believe caused our storage area leak. Other than that its been a real dream. Look forward to hearing of your adventures from the road. Feel free to call on me if you need a second opinion on items specific to the 33BKSS. Doesn't seem like there's many of us out here in this rig.

 

[peacepedalers]

Thanks for that feedback! One issue we are having is that every movement we make in our parked North Trail the entire trailer shakes. we put the auto stabilizers up at various levels of tightness and still lots of shaking. our 2 year old moves around and we feel it. I am a light sleeper so even wake up sometimes when my 4 year takes a pee in the AM. what are we doing wrong? any ideas??? besides this things are good with the trailer.

thanks much and hope to see many of you at the Rally this June!

Jamie

 

[cookie]

There are a couple of steps you can take to minimize that movement.
Some people have had success by adding wheel chocks that lock the tires together. Such as the X-Chock or Roto-Chock.
Another thing that some have done is add a scissor jack under the frame near the axles.

Peace
Dave

 

[JohnD]

Thanks for that feedback! One issue we are having is that every movement we make in our parked North Trail the entire trailer shakes. we put the auto stabilizers up at various levels of tightness and still lots of shaking. our 2 year old moves around and we feel it. I am a light sleeper so even wake up sometimes when my 4 year takes a pee in the AM. what are we doing wrong? any ideas??? besides this things are good with the trailer.

Jamie

I kept my old screw jacks from our old trailer and use those instead of the scissor jacks.

They are way more sturdy than the scissor jacks.

Matter of fact, I removed the front scissor jacks as they dragged on the ground when moving the trailer in or out of the yard.

Plus, I bought a pair of slide stabilizer jacks and that really made a big difference.

I also use X-chocks.

We get a little bounce . . . but not very much.

 

[camr]

We had excellent results with a Reese anti sway WD hitch system. For your brake controller, be sure to spec a proportional system, like a Tekonsha. The cheaper units use a system based on timing, rather than how much braking that you are applying. We had good results with a Tekonsha Prodigy, but there may be similar or better ones on the market.
Have lots of fun, and never be in a rush.

 

[Pizzadigger]

I always used blocking under the scissor jacks on my old travel trailer. the shorter the jacks when extended the less movement in the trailer. I used 8" x 16" cinder blocks and pieces of 2 x 8 x16 on top of blocks. This worked great for me.

 

[Silverado23]

I always used blocking under the scissor jacks on my old travel trailer. the shorter the jacks when extended the less movement in the trailer. I used 8" x 16" cinder blocks and pieces of 2 x 8 x16 on top of blocks. This worked great for me.

I use 4x6 wood blocks. Otherwise I agree, keep the scissor jack height to the shorter side and blocking up the wheels keeps movement to a minimum. Check the wheel chocks after setting the jacks, they sometimes work themselves loose.