Another new guy

Dodge trucker · 05-23-2023, 08:49 PM

New to TM but not new to campers and the outdoors
I've had an apache hard side for ~10-12 years now and after our last campout (oct 22) my wife started insisting that we look for a more conventional, non pop up.
I looked at a few different ones, got stood up on a nice older holiday rambler, got sold from under me when the guy knew I took off work early and drove quite a ways specifically to meet at the day/time he wanted. "wheeled out 1/2 hour before I got there"....
Having attended several apache round ups in Ohio the past 10 Augusts (missed the last one due to $5 gas, I'm 2 states away)
A couple of our regulars had moved into hi Lo's and TM,,'s. and I was intrigued by them.
The biggest issue with the appaches were lack of ac (my wife has asthma and recently got assigned a CPAP) and the manual cranking up increasingly wears on me, since I started having issues with my shoulder.
We don't spend much time in a camper when out, we're outside doing "camping" things. We store our clothes and food within and sleep, that's about it. I was happy with my tent on wheels.

I've been looking at different campers the last few weeks (brands models) and was tired of wild goose chases and seeing pieces of crap and issues not coming in pix provided in ads, that my wife has found on marketplace/, real nice looking units that don't "show themselves" as 5th wheels until the end of the pix . I owe on my truck, so I can't simply sell it and upgrade to a 3/4 ton anytime soon /so I had to find something towable by what we have. Those being a Durango and a reg cab long bed 1/2 ton dodge that has a V8 but not a hemi...
I looked at a hi Lo that wound up had lots of water damage, and a bunch of crap in between.
I'd looked at a 2720 at a semi local rv stealership that wound up having been already sold before I saw it and selling for what I thought was an obscenely high price.

When we discovered this TM 3023 on marketplace and I talked to the people we bought it from (extensively) on the phone I decided to take a "sick" day and head up this morning for a look before something else got away. This 3023 is much larger than the 2720 at the stealership and 10 years older, at 1997 vs a 2007, but at a much more tolerable price. And though there are a couple of minor things I need to tend to, it's in better shape than that 2720 in a few ways like for one thing this 97 has a much more pronounced crown to it's roof than that one did.... It was 160-ish miles one way "just" across the line into Wisconsin but I brought it home.

**Kidkraz** · 05-23-2023, 09:27 PM

Welcome to the forum. One of the best things I did when I got mine home, was take pics of all tags on all the appliances. That way I had correct data when searching for a part or manual of said item.

Dodge trucker · 05-23-2023, 09:28 PM

Any quirks special to this year or model?

**Kidkraz** · 05-23-2023, 09:36 PM

Mine is way newer and smaller, so I can't give good info. Start browsing thru the tech library section and other areas within the forum. I copied lots of awesome data, docs and pictures folks posted. The folks here are great and I know someone will chime in to help. Does it have a slide or no?

Dodge trucker · 05-24-2023, 04:49 AM

If you count the bed ends then yeah.
It doesn't have a slide out to the side though.

Shane826 · 05-24-2023, 05:00 AM

The roof crown is key.

Dodge trucker · 05-24-2023, 07:55 PM

Funny thing here. As I just brought This TM home yesterday, this past Saturday I had looked at a 2007, 2720 at the stealership...
As of Monday it was supposedly sold.
Yesterday I brought home this 3023. Private party seller.
Today at work, that stealership called me. The deal they thought they had fell thru. Salesman claimed potential buyers vehicle they had planned to tow the 2720 with wasn't rated to tow enough. But now all of a sudden that 2720 is available again, wanted $100 (supposedly) refundable deposit to hold it while I talked to the wife so one of the other sales "vultures" that work there can't sell it until I made a decision.... 3x the price, being from a stealership means I'd have to pay 7% sales tax plus license and title ... Umm I don't think so.

sunbeam · 06-01-2023, 07:27 AM

Many models changed from wood to aluminum in construction in different years is there a list of the year of the change

**Bill** · 06-01-2023, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunbeam

Many models changed from wood to aluminum in construction in different years is there a list of the year of the change

The changes did not happen on all models at the same time, or even within a single year for a given model. For example, I had a 2002 2720SL with aluminum framing, even though many 2720SLs still had wood framing well into 2003.

If you are looking at a TM from anywhere in the model year range of 2001-2004, you should probably confirm the framing of that specific trailer.

Bill

Dodge trucker · 06-01-2023, 09:00 AM

And are the aluminum framed versions dimensionally the same as wood framed ones/ can shells and such be mixed and matched