New Owner/Change all fluid in Rear end, trans and engine on TV?

I was told as a safety factor and for longevity before I tow my 2720SL to flush/drain my transmission, rear-end and engine and replace the old regular fluids with the new synthetic fluids for longevity and reduced wear. Is this an accurate suggestion? It was stated since I was close to maxing out my vehicle's towing capability it was even more important.

Ron Smith

149,000 (highway miles)

Many times I have found that you buy yourself problems when you put new synthetic lubricants in an older vehicle. The older vehicle will have older seals that may have been holding the regular oil, but when you change to synthetic you develop a lot of leaks. I have never done this in my own vehicle, but having worked in the automotive field for about 40 years, I have seen this happen repeatedly. If you're willing to have all the seals replaced along with the synthetic oil, you'll do OK, but the expense is great. Good CLEAN "regular" lubricants should do the job for you. This is my opinion and a lot of my mechanic friends agree with this opinion. YMMV - let's hear from others!

Thanks for the input Jim, these forums are great to assist "newbies" such as myself. I have not towed anything larger than a 21' boat and that was decades ago.

That 21' boat may have weighed as much as a TM! Another thing to take into consideration, when you put on over-sized tires, not only does it mess up the speedometer, but it also makes your towing capacity drop. I think the amount would be proportional to the difference in the circumferences of the original tires to the over-sized tires. In other words - if the big tires are 10% larger than the original tires, your towing capacity would be reduced by that amount. I don't think it would matter much, but something to think about. I think your TV is rated around 6700 lbs, so the tire size is probably not anything to worry about.

I plan on taking it real easy and then as soon as I can upgrading to a newer and more appropriate TV. The Jeep is my "homeowners truck and camping vehicle" not originally intended as a TV. The overall stability is definitely not as good as a standard non-lifted vehicle. I'll keep it low and slow on the road. I'll take good notes and report it on the forum so others can use the information if it would perhaps pertain to them regarding such a vehicle's towing stability. (The original tires were 29" BTW)

Rockerga,

Re stability: You need to know what the pitfalls of driving with an instability are; what it feels like if that isn't something you have experienced. I have a little of it with my Envoy and 3326.
a) The worst and only thing I have encountered is that braking in a curve gives oversteer which I was a new one on me. It feels like you are on glare ice, the wheel goes limp and you might even have to force opposite of normal to go around the corner. This is caused by the TM "pushing" the TV's rear end towards the outside of the curve. Solution: slow down before entering the curve, be aware of what it will feel like, apply trailer brakes (not TV brakes, and by using the brake controller lever) to straighten it all out if necessary. The more TV braking you do, the more oversteer you will get. Use the TM brakes and the oversteer will be reduced.
b) sway. Sway happens very fast and it is too fast to steer out of. If it happens, hold straight ahead and again hit the trailer brakes (not TV brakes) immediately if not sooner. Sway is possible with your high TV CG and possible sideways give in the larger tire sidewalls.
c) Flat as in blow out. We had an excellent thread on that recently and a Michelan link explained to actually accelerate (apply power) when the tire (any tire) blows. Purpose is to counter the offset thrust of the now dragging tire. I have just gotten off the power and let it roll out safely. Immediately get your hand on the trailer brake lever and apply trailer brakes if it becomes squirley. Worst thing is to brake the TV as that will throw you in the ditch. Braking the truck can be a suicide move.

This is no doubt not all the pitfalls of an unstable combination. Practice getting your hand on the brake controller without taking the eyes off the road. Mine is located right off my right knee-cap. All of the instabililty issues are agrivated by more speed, so as you said keep the speed down.

I hope you find an appropriate TV ASAP. Welcome to the TM family and may our relationship be a long and happy one!

I agree, it is probably that 5% of the times towing in areas where I don't have any experience that I will be the most cautious and err on the side of safety. I plan on getting installed immediately at the dealer when I pick my unit up this week: a prodigy brake controller and an Equal-i-zer hitch. Then a 45 minute to 1 hour drive home on back roads to test it all out. With other committments I cannot even take a maiden voyage until second week in January...so plenty of time to get accustomed to everthing and understand the workings of all components in the wilderness of my backyard.

Have a great time with your TM. It's fun just to poke around and see how things are built and work. The guy that engineered this trailer really was thinking "out of the box". I kind of miss the TM because it is all bundled up in the back yard and covered with snow!

Just realized where you are....sorry to hear about the snow. We are spoiled here I guess as we have camped year round even before we had a TM so now we'll just do it in more comfort. That was the reason mostly; even here it rains or you have weather you would not go tent camping in, so we bought the TM so whenever we wanted to go, we would go and not worry about the weather. But also in addition it will usher in another realm into our camping portfolio as well. Lookout North America - HERE WE COME!

Thanks for all your assistance and maybe one day we'll meet on the road camping somewhere together!