New TM, Top 10 things to do

03-26-2005, 07:15 AM

All,

After spending countless hours on this forum and reading about soooooo many great idea's and tips, I have a challenging question to ask.

What are the 10 must haves/must do's for the first time TM owner? Our new TM is a '05 3023. I am looking for those "I wish I would have done that or thought of that" type of things. We'll be picking up our TM in the middle of April and we want to use it fairly quickly.

Looking forward to all of your idea's.

Thanks!

Steve, Kelley, 2 kids and 2 greyhounds

**Bill** · 03-26-2005, 07:43 AM

The best answer is probably just "Use it - go camping - have fun. You'll figure out very quickly what are the top ten most important things FOR YOU."

That being said, you should come out of the gate being prepared for minor emergencies. Be sure you have a bottle jack that will lift the TM in the event of a flat tire, and a lug wrench to fit the lug nuts on the wheels. When you are checking the size of the lug nuts, you will quickly discover that you need a square-head screwdriver to get the wheel cover off, to get access to the wheels.

Read (or re-read) some of the tips and lists in TM Info You Won't Find Anywhere Else for more of this mundane, but important Preparation stuff.

Bill

**fcatwo** · 03-26-2005, 02:04 PM

I would emphasize the "check list". There are more things to remember in closing down a TM than some other RVs and making and following a "pre-flight" list is important. Our not being able to close down and drive off with the water and elec still hooked up may even things out a little. On the other hand, noticing the fridge fan is not on or the tv antenna is still up just before hopping in to hit the hwy is a little more of a problem with a TM.

We've put our's up and down a few times in our approx one year and 27K miles of use since we picked it up in early 02 and I still need to check the list. I would have driven off once with the nose wheel still down if my wife hadn't noticed it. Yep, I added that to the list.

03-26-2005, 06:11 PM

Ok, both Bill & Leon listed bottle jack. The way I understand it, the TM scissor jacks will lift the TM for tire replacement and I have not gotten a jack. The late models are supposed to have stronger jacks. Is this the case, or is it an emergency type of thing?

I do a thing not mentioned: I walk around looking for anything hanging down. That can include jacks, hoses, steps, chains, power cords, chairs, leveling blocks, etc., etc. Look under the trailer for those silhouettes. It will save you a lot of headaches some times!

**fcatwo** · 03-26-2005, 07:04 PM

And eye-check your neighbors as they prepare to leave the campground. A nice neighbor came running up to us as we were leaving a campground a few years back to tell us our tv antenna was still up and I spotted someone about to leave with their water/elec still hooked up on our last trip. Some guys don't deal well with their embarresment when you point such things out and may not be too friendly so don't be surprised if that happens. Their wives will always thank you but it's still best to make your point and disappear.

**Bill** · 03-26-2005, 07:06 PM

Bob -

Yes, the screw jacks will lift the trailer. But it is a lot of work, and I am lazy. In addition, with a flat tire, the trailer frame will be down almost to the ground, and you have to crank the jacks nearly to full extension. I'm tired just thinking about it!

A bottle jack is much easier to pump. On the other side of the coin, though, a bottle jack that is small and light and easy to carry has a limited range of lift (stroke). If the post doesn't have a screw adjustment (or the adjustment range is too small), you will need an assortment of boards to build up a base, so that all of the lift range of the jack goes into lifting the trailer. Since I already carry a bunch of boards for levelling, I was able to get my TM up to the right height in one lift when I had a flat last fall. But if it takes two lifts, I would have gone as high as possible with the bottle jack, then lowered the screw jacks to hold the TM at that height, then collapsed the bottle jack, added some boards under the base, and made the second lift with the bottle jack.

Just my thoughts. As you may recall from the "levelling" discussions, I'm not much of fan of lifting the entire weight of the trailer with the screw jacks.

Bill

**B_and_D** · 03-26-2005, 09:14 PM

I have an excel checklist I could email you. It has way too many things on it, but you could decide what you would want to bring along. It has many essential and non-essential items listed. We are actually stocked with way more than what is listed on the excel spreadsheet, and it's about 5 cols wide by 60 rows down!

But then, we sometimes take off for up to two weeks and don't want to be running to town every time we need/want something.

A lot of what you will need depends on your camping style.

03-26-2005, 09:47 PM

An item to include is to go camping at a nearby campground with someone that has had a TM for a while. You will learn more in two days than you will learn in a year by camping with someone that also has a TM.

Hal

03-27-2005, 11:17 AM

Thanks for the offer of the Excel checklist. My email is [email protected]. I was toying with building something similar with all of the information that is here.

Thanks again,

Steve

Quote:

Originally Posted by B_and_D

I have an excel checklist I could email you. It has way too many things on it, but you could decide what you would want to bring along. It has many essential and non-essential items listed. We are actually stocked with way more than what is listed on the excel spreadsheet, and it's about 5 cols wide by 60 rows down!

But then, we sometimes take off for up to two weeks and don't want to be running to town every time we need/want something.

A lot of what you will need depends on your camping style.

**Bill** · 03-27-2005, 02:13 PM

This thread has morphed into a discussion of checklists, and that's OK. Like B_and_D, many of us develop our own lists, and use them at least for a while.

Be aware that there are two well-reviewed checklists in the Reference Library (TM Info You Won't Find Anywhere Else). One is Ed Felker's time-honored set of checklists, that have gotten many of us going when we were new to TM'ing. The other, a document which contains not only checklists but also a lot of hints, tips, operating info, and repair info, is found in Mike and Kelly's TM User Manual.

Bill