Joe&Nance 2720sl

A few pics, one of me in TX bringing it home in front of "Big Texan" and others from Half Moon Bay trip this week--dogs in new "snuggies" keeping warm at night and one of Joe with dogs and me with dogs...

[B_and_D]

Thanks for posting the pics! Are you guys happy with your purchase? It looks like a very well-kept unit, and it looks like your dogs like it .

I'm not ready to quit camping yet for the winter; hoping for two more trips (one short, the other longer & further away) before February. However, if someone sent me a couple of tickets to Hawaii and we had a place to stay, I'd just as soon go there .

Thanks 4 looking at them! Yes, we are happy with it! The dogs ran up to it as if they knew it was their new home away from home--they used to love the Coleman also, so this was better. Tara especially loved when she found the heater and blocked the flow of air to the rest of the trailer! We had a few little glitches, battery died on second night, went and bought another, the fantastic fan seems to work sporatically, haven't figured out why, and the radio wires are dead... Hopefully I can trace it before summer, but all the major stuff worked fine. Fortunately, thanks to the forum, I was able to fix the frige to work on propane--that sure helped.

We were supposed to go out again this weekend, but after trip home and this one I am too tired to pack again, plus, the wifi out at Half Moon Bay was too sporatic to use the slingbox to get the football games without hanging up--hopefully I can figure out a way to rig up my spare dish and get a small hdtv to take with (I used my pc with usb tuner to get over-the-air television there without problems--but my HD DVR doesn't use regular tv cable (rg-59)--so I can't connect it to the tuner to work out there even if I get DirecTv working). Last Sunday was a Bye week for Rams, so no issues there, but after I accidentally missed the last game (where they actually won) I don't want to put DH through missing another game.

I am certainly hoping that we will be able to keep camping--It was just wonderful to be able to go in November--having a heater made it so I could move, even with my arthrits. I was happy to see how little propane we used, even with the heater going so much.

On your dead radio wires, if you haven't already, check the fuse (and that there is one there). Some recommend pulling that fuse to keep the battery from draining via the radio antenna amplifier (the little red led you see from out side on the rear edge of the upper shell.

Originally Posted by Jim&Joan

On your dead radio wires, if you haven't already, check the fuse (and that there is one there). Some recommend pulling that fuse to keep the battery from draining via the radio antenna amplifier (the little red led you see from out side on the rear edge of the upper shell.

Jim & Joan,
Thanks -- are you talking about the fuse in the converter box, or is there an inline one that I don't know about in one of the access panels? As for the led on the rear edge of shell--I didn't notice that. I will again look to see if I see one--I am trying to figure out if there is any way to open it in our driveway, since I have to take it off the street this morning so hopefully that way I can take my time and fix a few things.

Thanks for letting me know these things.
Nance

[MudDog]

Congratulations! I'm sure you'll get many years of enjoyment out of it!

One thing I couldn't help but notice is the position of the WDH spring bars in the second picture. I'm by no means an expert and my experience is limited to my WDH setup, but from the picture it appears you have the bars pretty tight. On my hitch, the bars are supposed to be close to parallel to the bottom of the tongue frame and I normally am able to hook to the 3rd or fourth link from the loose end (leaving the majority of the links between the hook and the spring bar, rather than hanging loose).

In the picture, it looks like the back end of the bars are nearly touching the bottom of the frame - which could cause problems and may not be distributing the weight correctly.

Again, your WDH system may be different than mine, or it may be the angle of the picture, but thought I would mention just in case. Hopefully others with more experience will chime in.

[Bill]

Wow, good catch, Mud Dog. I was so busy looking at the Big Texan - haven't been there in a couple years - that I missed it entirely. Yes, if the angle in the photo isn't fooling us, the tips of the spring bars are much too high. As you said, the spring bars should be more or less parallel to the frame, or slightly down at the tips. The majority of the chain should be between the spring bar tips and the hooks, with only a few links hanging free. As an example, my bars have 11 links not counting the U-bolt at the springbar tip, and four of those links hang free. That seems to be pretty good.

Why does it matter? Look closely at the second picture. Now imagine in your mind that the tow vehicle pivots, as if it were turning to the right. As the tow vehicle pivots, so does the hitch on the back of the tow vehicle. The right-hand edge of the hitch moves backward, and the left-hand edge moves forward. As the right-hand edge moves backward, it pushes the right-hand springbar backward. But if the springbar tip is tightly chained to the TM frame, it can't move. One symptom is a lot of groaning noises as you turn, but the forces can bend or break things.

So how do you adjust it? Fortunately, it is easy. Unhook the springbars, and measure how far the tips are from the ground. Now disconnect the trailer and move the TV forward a few feet. At this point, you are going to tilt the hitch head backward. All hitch heads have an adjustment for doing this. Sometimes you loosen a big bolt which releases some interlocking serrations and allows you to tilt the head. Sometimes it involves adding or removing some washers, or rotating a big washer that has flat spots ground into the edge. Check the instructions for your particular hitch. It will be quite plain.

At any rate, once the head is loose, tilt it back until the tips of the springbars have dropped toward the ground by the needed number of inches. Retighten the head, and you are good to go.

Hope this helps - thanks to MudDog for spotting it.

Bill

Thanks, I was just talking about making changes with dh other day, seller helped 2 setup but since I didn't have big enough wrench 2 change after leaving his property I determined 2 change once got home.

Originally Posted by joe&Nance

Jim & Joan,
Thanks -- are you talking about the fuse in the converter box, or is there an inline one that I don't know about in one of the access panels? As for the led on the rear edge of shell--I didn't notice that. I will again look to see if I see one--I am trying to figure out if there is any way to open it in our driveway, since I have to take it off the street this morning so hopefully that way I can take my time and fix a few things.

Thanks for letting me know these things.
Nance

The fuse is in the converter box panel. It is for the radio circuit. The stock hookup seems to include a FM antenna with a (pre)amplifier that uses power. The FM antenna is mounted to the rear edge of the upper shell on the street side. There is a power indicator red LED that is visible in the middle of the FM antenna. Folks suggest pulling this to prevent this from draining the battery over long storage periods.

If you don't have a radio, it shouldn't matter (I pulled mine). Once you have a radio, many models have memories for station presets, etc. that might require power. I have read a few posts that address this by powering the antenna (pre)amp with a power antenna output from the radio. This would be the connection that would drive up (extend) a power antenna in a car. I am not a car audio expert, but it sounds like this is a common enough situation that many auto radios have this output.

As to the original mention of dead radio wires, I was just thinking maybe to prevent the battery drain, the previous owners might have pulled the fuse which would explain dead wires. Reinstalling (or replacing a blown fuse) would be a simple remedy, eh? And we can all use some of them ;-) (I think it is ACC 1 or third fuse position from the right on my panel.)

Thanks, all fuses are present and seated, I didn't pull it yet as TM is closed till I can find place to setup other than street. Hopefully it will open in the setback by garage. Will see soon... I would love to set up and resolve issues with radio and fantastic fan.