Joining the TM family, the snowball effect

Just wanted to share the humorous side to the snowball effect our new TM has had on our lives  ;D.  After getting a TM we have HAD to get a few things to acomodate it and the new life style...
1.First we realized it wouldn't fit through our fence gate, so we had to build a new fence with a new gate since we can't keep it in plain view..  
2. Knowing all the cool places we will travel to we had to get a digital camera to send pics to all our friends
3. Since we would be on the road we had to get a device so our laptop could be wireless so we could send the pics to the friends
4. Since the dogs are coming along we decided we needed some kind of portable fence to acompany the TM
5. Since I love to decorate I decided to turn the inside of the TM to a "cabin" look. Result: wallpaper border, bed covers, new chair covers and rugs
6. And, finally the best of all. Though we had a mini van with a 3,500 lb capacity we decided we didn't want to worry about watching our weight so closely soooo... we got a new truck! (5,000 lb capacity). The excuse? between the trade inn and the 0.9 financing, how could we go wrong??
Yes, the TM has a snowball effect but it is all worth it!!!!!

[Denny_A]

Just wanted to share the humorous side to the snowball effect our new TM has had on our lives  ;D.  
--------------snip-------------
Yes, the TM has a snowball effect but it is all worth it!!!!!

I immediately envisioned a tale of driving in a soggy wet snow storm. The kind where the snow accumulates on the front shell, increasing the tongue weight, and takes on wondrous aerodynamic shapes, growing to 8-12" thick.... That  kind of "snowball effect"! :

I think your kind of "effect" is similar to that of many TM owners Sunshine.

I went thru the other "snowball effect" twice this past winter... on the same trip and was forced to stop at the same town each time.

Happy TMing...........

Denny_A

The list goes on and on, doesn't it?  After changing a 2720sl for a 3326 I too got caught in the snowball.  On the Vegas trip last week I bought an inverter, added a charge line to the Pathfinder, lots of smaller light bulbs, a new stereo (gotta have music), a new mattress pad, I could go on but you get the idea.

How about some pics of the cabin?  We are always looking for new ideas. The 3326 is a 1999 and the front interior shell took a bit of a beating by the previous owner. I am debating about having it professional painted by a body shop, but the idea of wall paper could fit the bill.  Does it work and will it come off again?  Please advise.

Chris

HI! I'll try to get some pics out soon but sadly my TM had to go back to the dealer because the brakes smelled burnt.   It ends up being they didn't "pack the wheels" (whatever that means) and the brake cables were frayed! (we bought it used and haven't taken it out yet!). The dealer appologized profusely saying whomever worked on it is no longer with them  :-/, I hope they do a better job this time!
I did not use full wall paper, just a border I picked at Wallmart that had bears, canoes and cabins in it (perfect!). I was surprised to see how well it stuck to the plastic walls! Acording to the directions all I would have to do should I want to remove it is wet it well. Not that I plan on removing any of it, I love the look and just the little border made a great difference!
Next is the stereo! haven't bought one yet but will be doing so next week, like you said, you got to have music  ;D

Boy am I glad we arn't the only ones that have fould the price of the trailer to be less than half of the cost of getting on the road. We thought we had really over done it but it sounds like lots of us get caught up in the whole process.

[BobWilson]

Sunshine,

"Pack the wheels"  that means to fill the hub of the wheel axles with grease.  This lubricates the bearings which keeps the friction to a minimum, and keeps the wheel bearings from wearing out.  No grease, it gets hot, bearings seize and smoke and smells bad.  Your damage may vary.

The grease nipple in the center of the axle is so you can grease the bearings with a grease gun without having to dissasemble anything.  They may need cleaning and repacking periodically though depending on use.  I don't know what the recommended schedule is.

This is probably more than you wanted to know.

Good luck

For all you mention even thought i just bought my trailer i have everything except the fence  hehehe,btw looking for the new vinyl fence outhere, nice and white

[Civil_War_Buff]

[quote author=BobWilson link=board=1;threadid=154;start=0#msg1351 date=1051472819]
Sunshine,

"Pack the wheels" that means to fill the hub of the wheel axles with grease. This lubricates the bearings which keeps the friction to a minimum, and keeps the wheel bearings from wearing out. No grease, it gets hot, bearings seize and smoke and smells bad. Your damage may vary.

The grease nipple in the center of the axle is so you can grease the bearings with a grease gun without having to dissasemble anything. They may need cleaning and repacking periodically though depending on use. I don't know what the recommended schedule is.

This is probably more than you wanted to know.

Good luck
[/quote]

Hey Bob got me thinking here about bearings,

I have not and I am coming up on the one year mark for our TM and I think I may want to tackle this. I have never worked with an axel that has the bearing buddy before, and was wondering if this is really an easy task? From what I read elsewhere, I have seen that it is possible to "blow" the seals out and contaminate the brakes..has anyone had this happen?
The instructions seem straight forward..fill with grease until clean grease comes out, is that truly all there is?
For some reason, I get nervous when I start messing with the trailer wheels/axels. :P :P

Larry

[Denny_A]

Larry,

I purged my wheel bearings a couple of months ago. It is a simple, straight-forward job. Just plug the grease gun onto the dzerk fitting and pump. The old grease flows out at you (around bearing on fitting side of wheel). Just keep pumping until it flows clear n' clean. It's certainly easier than removing the wheel(s) and lubricating bearings the old-fashioned way; that is, a gob of grease on the palm of yer hand and tediously tamping the bearing to force grease thru!

Can't respond to blowing out the seals - but, the method has been around for some time. All large aircraft I've worked with use some form of purging.

The grease needed for two wheels will probaly empty a standard size grease gun. That's a lot of grease. You'll be impressed at how black and sludgy(?) the old grease is. My trailer was just over a yr old, and "greasing wheel bearings" is now on my annual TODO list.

Denny_A

[Bill]

[quote author=Civil_War_Buff link=board=1;threadid=154;start=0#msg7614 date=1059927147]
Hey Bob got me thinking here about bearings. I have not and I am coming up on the one year mark for our TM and I think I may want to tackle this. I have never worked with an axle that has the bearing buddy before, and was wondering if this is really an easy task?
Larry
[/quote]
Larry -

I think a Bearing Buddy is a different device. Seems to me I have one on my boat trailer, which is 300 miles away at the moment so I can't check. But if I recall correctly, a Bearing Buddy is a sealed grease chamber with a spring-loaded cap. As you pump grease into the bearing, you also pump some into the chamber, forcing the spring back. Then the spring pressure keeps the grease pressurized and keeps water out of the bearing - important for a boat trailer.

However, I can imagine that the spring will retract just so far. If you load the chamber up with grease, and then keep pumping in even more, I can imagine that you would blow something.

The TM bearings are not pressurized - they simply have flow-through grease channels so that when you pump in new grease, it pushes the old grease out. Dexter axle calls this EZ-Lube. There is a good diagram at http://www.dexteraxle.com/pdf_files/...ube%209-02.pdf

When you buy grease, be sure you get the correct grade. It is a lithium grease, and should say NLGI-2 on the package.

OilSpot, kick in here ...

Bill