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Old 07-28-2019, 12:06 AM   #1
happycamper2720
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Default New Owner Looking For Fixing Up Help

Hi all, new to the trailmanors and such. We have a small old jayco popup that we just hate the canvas on. Starting looking at TTs but they are so big and heavy and I stumbled across one of these crazy guys. That one was far but we started looking nearby for trailmanors and found a few. The best looking deal was 2 hours away, a 2720 that was just remodeled (a little bit). My wife has a lot more plans with it. I plan to document it all as it goes on here so

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...1900047872889/

Take a look at it, it looks very nice in the pictures and isn't bad, new appliances, but while we are taking it apart to paint it we are finding many problems and many things we don't know about.

I will also have many questions along the way, and I have like a hundred now so lets get started.

Coming back with this trailer was an adventure itself. We dont currently have a TV that will handle this (Rav4 and Outback) so we'll be asking about that. Wife is looking into vehicles that can handle it but in the meantime we borrowed a friends truck. Driving a strange truck towing a strange trailer 2 hours away on winding hilly narrow backroads when a rainstorm hits so hard you cant see in front of you and we get a flat tire (2 brand new tires BTW, walmart specials though 205/75/D14's, just ordered 215/75/R14's Loadstars on Galvanized Rims from Out Of The Box Parts).

Spare secured with long bolts so 4 way wouldnt get on the bolts, luckily a wonderful person helped us out with some tools and a jack because we were not prepared. After the spare was on it was getting late so we decided to just stop at a local campsite and use it. We set it up quickly in the flooded site, great nights sleep and made it home the next day. Break down was much faster then the first time when we did it the day before.

Now we are taking it next week for a 3 day camping trip, but we have alot of work to do this week. If anyone has any suggestions, please tell me. Total newbie here, but good at wood working and clever with ideas, so maybe I'll show everyone something too. I hope.

More coming soon with pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Once I find a place to upload them so I can link them
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Old 07-28-2019, 12:28 AM   #2
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Welcome! You will find this site very friendly and helpful. Just be aware that, as a trial member, you have access to the entire site. When your trial ends, your access will be limitted. This is the only forum I actually pay for.

You seem to have an initial question about a tow vehicle. Do lots of searching here about tow vehicles. In general, TV with unibody construction, while are able to pull a TM, can be overloaded very quickly and easily. I have a Tahoe, which is probably overkill for a TM, but I have it for other reasons as well. I got my wife a 2008 Explorer which has done a great job towing, but the newer unibody ones have a lower towing capacity. Many unibody SUV say you cannot use a WDH. I like to use the WDH because it is the only way to balance the weight between the front and rear axles of the TV. (levelling suspensions do not equalize the weight, they just make the SUV look level).

There are some owners who tow with unibody based SUV just fine. You just need to know the specific limitations of whatever vehicle you choose. On our first trip, we overloaded our rear axle very slightly on the Tahoe. That's when I got the WDH.

Enjoy and peruse the forum!
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Old 07-28-2019, 05:16 AM   #3
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To continue Larry's comment, be aware that the published weight for a TM (on the order of 2800 pounds) is the "dry weight". "Dry" means that no factory options have been added (air conditioner, awning,etc), there are no fluids (water, propane, battery), and you haven't put any of your own stuff in it (food, clothes, bedding, small appliances, tools, camping gear, etc). In ready-to-camp configuration (which is what you will be towing, of course), a TM will weigh 3800-4000 pounds. Some of our members use tow vehicles rated for 3500 pounds and find it to be OK. The general consensus of the Forum is that a 5000-poiund rating is the minimum you should consider. And many of us, like Larry and myself, go with 6000 pounds or more. Part of it depends on where you will be towing. A 5000-pound rating may be OK if you stay in the flat parts of the country - along the east coast, gulf coast, or in the midwest. But if you want to get into the Rockies or the Sierras, you will find that you want more.

Assuming you get a capable vehicle, you will not need sway control - Trail Manors are designed not to sway - but unless you get a long pickup truck, you will want a WDH.

Let me suggest that you spend some time reading through the Trailmanor Technical Reference Library on this Forum (a.k.a. TM Information You Won't Find Anywhere Else). It is full of good solid information and how-to-do-it articles written by our Forum members over the years. There are a number of articles on tow-vehicles and towing, so you might start there before spending a lot of money on a vehicle.

And finally, Larry is right. After 30 days of Trial Membership, most of the forum will become inaccessible to you. If you anticipate a lot of questions, discussion, and answers, it is worth $12 a year to join us.

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Old 07-28-2019, 09:12 AM   #4
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Thanks for the info, towed it with a tundra the first time, went fine I guess. I think radial tires will help. It was a long trip with winding roads (new hampshire) and many obsticles.

Trying to figure out the pictures, I guess they all go at the bottom of the post? Well here are some of the pics. Here it is side by side with our jayco (anyone want to buy it? Lol)

You can see bars going under, and framing bars with a bit of rust,how bad is this?something that needs to be dealt with? I guess these are the torsion bars and the 4 big bolts going upward are the adjustments? Takes 2 of us to lift each shell into place. Also when lifting we lost one curtain holder, they put in the cheap little 2 prong hangers with the flimsy rods that just pop on. See
https://www.target.com/p/single-curt...3/-/A-11163986

My wife Hates these and since one ripped off the wall and she's going to paint it all they all came down. She's looking into magnetic curtain rods now. Any other ideas? Saw a great 2 sided reusable tape too were considering. Paint and curtains need to be done by next Wednesday.

You can also see cracked pieces of wood by the bathroom,gotta figure out how to get those off. Also a cracked and missing piece of trim. The trim fell down and cracked the first time we put it down too. I guess I need smaller trim? This will be fixed after the next trip.

How do those wheels sound? In one picture you can see a wheel covered in greese, coming from the center of the wheel, is this normal or did something go wrong? New wheels will be here by Wednesday.

In other pictures you can see the gas leak detector I was removing for paint, only had the black wire connected, is this correct? This seems important.

General questions, how do I switch battery power off? Not plugged in but lights were working so must be on battery?

How do I get the fridge on? Propane and electric.

How does the heater go on? I see a thermastat but can it run off either?

The guy we bought it off of said the water heater works only on propane right now, electric element may have burnt out because switch was left on. How do I check this out?

Can I just hook up the water hose and have ruining water or is there a switch to press? We probably won't store water since we usually have electric and water hook up. Does the water heater heat water on demand so hot water comes right out when hooked up?

We probably won't use the bathroom much or at all either.

More soon but thanks for the help already. And I get the subscription thing, I'm sure we will
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Old 07-28-2019, 09:31 AM   #5
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Some more pictures of it all tore apart getting taped up.

The wires hanging down inside appear to be speaker wires?but one hanging on the outside I have no Idea. Can't find where it goes either and there's a mess of wires and old electric tape that's falling apart. Any suggestions on this?

And what are these panels held in by black clips for and how do I get them off?

You can also see the front and back window awning shell things are cracked and taped up and one knob to get it to hold up just spins and doesn't tighten (also pictured) and the bottom screw where it attachs just comes right out after you screw it in.

Which brings me to, how do you screw things into this? I'm used to big long screws and solid wood, this wood is so thin (wood on the back half)and so is the aluminum/Styrofoam front shell,that one's probably worse then the wood at holding screws.

How does evenings attach things to the walls?

What are the things under the front seats? White square jug for fresh water? Silver rectangle thing the heater?
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Old 07-28-2019, 09:36 AM   #6
happycamper2720
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Time to go tape off and paint. Spray painting all the cabinets white, handles and Hardware will be hammered black. Then rolling a greyish over the walls.

Lightly sanding the cabinets wasnt bad but the walls of the trailer are a pain. Do they have to be sanded? Cleaned?

Also I think my wife is not using a primer, but using an exterior grade paint. She's all about the redecorating. Is no primer going to be ok?
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Old 07-28-2019, 09:49 AM   #7
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Quick reply to just one of your many questions:

Your greasy wheel is because the dust cap flew off. There are 2 styles, one has a rubber cap in the middle that you can remove to get to the zerk fitting and add grease. The other is just a smooth dome. You probably want to get the first kind. Search for "Dexter dust cap" on amazon to see what they look like.

Oddly, every time I have my trailer serviced by pros, the dust caps are likely fly off on the next trip. I carry spares, and need to remember to hammer them in better when I get it back from service.
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Old 07-28-2019, 10:33 AM   #8
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You probably want a new gas leak detector. The wire was probably cut because the detector was giving EOL beeps.

In the " Everything you want to know" section that Bill referred to, you will find the TM manual. That should answer some of your questions really well.

As long as the shells lift easily, you don't need to worry about the rust. If they need adjustment, you may need to spray some penetrant on the large 1-1/8" adjustment bolts, raise the shells, exercise them out (count the turns) apply some antiseize, then turn them back.

In one of my threads I have a description of how to adjust torsion bars.
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Old 07-29-2019, 02:46 AM   #9
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Here she is all taped and ready to go. We went with a primer after all, bulls eye. Apparently sanding isn't needed with it which is good. Alot of the cabinets and walls were sanded anyway but not the doors or drawer faces yet.

Used my wife's spray gun tonight to spray everything from head to toe, except floors, appliances, switches, ect. Four hours of spraying and a gallon of primer just about gone and I'm tired. I'll get pictures of it primed tomorrow
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Old 07-29-2019, 04:38 PM   #10
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Thank you Larry and Bill for those answers,new toys should be going on Wednesday for our trip Thursday.

Currently feeling the pressure since this is our camper right now. Alot of work to do! Primers done,could've been thicker but it'll do. White is on all the cabinets, used an outdoor paint. Doors are trickier they soak up the paint in some areas and bead up in others. The bugs keep landing on them too. They need another coat but that will be done tomorrow.

Gray will be rolled on alot of the walls, kitchen areas that had the wood with the weird sticker like coating will get tile stick on backsplash over it.

Wife is reapolstering the cushions for her first time. Thinking a thin piece of wood on the bottom and folding over and stapling out to the wood. The bed edges are difficult to remove, not sure if they'll get done this time.

Going to be towing it with a Toyota Hilander this trip, and not as far. More updates to come
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