Recent content by bigTdrop

Thanks, Bill. Great read. My mom lived in Rohnert Park for many years, so I've had a longstanding love / hate relationship with the good ol' I-5. This will by my first time traversing it while towing, however.

You know, she has no problem sleeping on trips. She wakes up and asks "how long have I been asleep?" and I always respond, Dunno...I've been sleeping too!"

Thanks for your insight, Bill. We're going to stick with the 1-5. The truck is an 08 Silverado (5.3). We weigh about 4500lbs, which is well under the 7500lb tow rating. It'll be slow going up the Grapevine but the rig has done well in several short trips in our local mountains. I'm more...

We'll be heading up to the northern Calif coast first week of May, a distance of 475 miles. This will be our first long trip. Is it a reasonable expectation to think I can do this drive in one day? We're towing our 181 with an 08' Silverado 1500. I'm thinking about 10 hours.

Has anyone done a repack on they're wheel bearings? We've had our 181 since Oct 2010 and I'm thinking it's time to check them. I'm not the handiest character when it comes to this sort of thing, but from my snooping around the internet, it looks do-able. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Christine, I got our's online. Just google Camp Chef Oven. I believe we got it through Amazon.

David, your fix is exactly what I did shortly after buying our 181 in 2010. The L bracket works great and no more annoying gap between the table and wall. Shoot...I've since even removed the other leg...

I ended up taking our 181 to a local canvass / boat cover shop. They made a very high quality, heavy duty cover with a perfect fit, using Sunbrella material. It was pricey but I'm glad I did it. Our trailer looks as good as the day we bought it almost two years ago and it stays nice and clean...

Interesting coincidence...we recently bought a Camp Chef, too. Good quality and very robust.

Nicely done! I've been considering a solar panel for our 181. Thanks for the inspiration!

Good for you. I must have missed them when I did my looking 16 months ago. I ended up with a custom job from a local canvas shop. It's very high quality but it was expensive. No regrets, however. Our 181 stays nice and clean between trips. It looks as good as the day we bought it!

We have no igniter on our 2010 180 and therefore no clicking sound... we just use a lighter stick.

Definitely a good idea to add the trani cooler. They're not expensive and really do help the engine run cooler. I would think a Highlander would be very capable of towing an MPG, even without a tow package. You can usually get the tow rating by putting your VIN into a decoder, or checking...

We do not have one on our 181, but seriously considered it at one point, until we found out how much it cost, that is. I forget the figure now, but it was shockingly expensive. To me, it also looks like a hassle to put up. We're still considering an awning but really, our nice large umbrella is...

Yeah, the kitchen drawers keep slipping of the alum. angles. Such a simple thing but seemingly not important enough for the factory to do right. I have a buddy in the RV biz...he says it's a totally unregulated industry. Going to use your fix on our 181.