- Chinese Launching Class A Motorhome Line in U.S.?
- Mounties campground search may be for missing RVers case
- Thousand Trails RV Campgrounds debut new zone program
- New, improved campsites for Florida’s Myakka River State Park
- Volunteer hosts needed for Clallam County, Washington campgrounds
- Fleetwood RV Launched 2011 Storm Class A Crossover Motorhome
- All Yosemite NP campgrounds now open
- A “person of interest” sought in the case of missing RVers
- $1 Million RV Park Can Be Yours For $100
- Flying J & Pilot Travel Centers Merge
- Starbucks to Offer Free WiFi & Content
- Learn to Play Music the Cajun Way
- Yosemite NP needs Habitat Protectors Volunteers
- West Virginia County Adds WiFi to 100 RV Camp Sites
- Verizon forgives balance of $18,000 tethered cellphone data bill
- Cisco offer 20 Myths of Wi-Fi Interference
- Mobile Hotspot Buyer’s Guide
- Full Time RVer Reviews Palm Pre Plus Mobile HotSpot Service
- Verizon Slashed Palm Phone Prices Offers Free Mobile WiFi Service
- Get a CradlePoint mobile Wi-Fi hot spot for $99.99
- Australian Goes Off Roading With a Travel Trailer
- Motorhome Burns at Flying J Fuel Pump
- How one RVer made his own tiny travel trailer
- Watch Drew Barrymore talk about her RV vacation experience
- Livin at Walmart in my little RV
- Basic Steps in Building a Teardrop Travel Trailer
- Propane Tank Extended Stay Kit
- Xantrex Power Pack 400
- Variable Thermostat for Atwood RV Water Heater
- Extending King Pin Box Doesn’t Help Short-bed Pickup Towing
Archive for the ‘Fifth Wheel/Travel Trailers’ Category
Imported and some domestic tow vehicles use international lighting in which the turn signal lights are wired separate from the brake lights. Generally an amber lens is used for turn signal lights while standard red lens are used for stop lights.
The lighting system for most American made vehicles combines the turn signals and brake lights into one wire instead of two, and has no amber lenses.
If the tow vehicle has an international system, the two separate wires for turn signals and brake lights on the tow vehicle must be combined into one for the travel trailer’s lighting system to work properly. To do this, a converter is necessary.
The converter is a circuit board built into a separate weather proof box or built into a tow vehicle plug connector.
Three or four wires coming from the tow vehicle… left and right turn, and brake wires… go into the converter and two come out. The two wires coming out are connected to the left and right turn connectors in the trailer-plug receptacle.
Did you know that tires have a maximum speed rating? They do. This isn’t a big deal for passenger, light truck and motorhome tires because they usually have a MPH rating well above typical highway speed limits.
But nearly all Special Trailer (ST) tires used on all but the larget RV travel trailers and fifth wheels have a maximum speed rating of just 65 MPH.
You can drive faster than 65 MPH but in order to do that, however, you need to increase your cold inflation by about 10 psi (without exceeding the maximum PSI stamped on the tire) for every 10 mph over 65 that you are going, as well as decrease your load carrying capacity by 10%.
So, for example, a Carlisle ST225/75RR15 Load range E (10 ply) tire, has a load carrying capacity of 2830 lbs at 80 psi. But you will have a load carrying capacity of 2,547 lbs at 75 mph.
If you’re maxing out the load rating of your trailer’s tires it’s imperative that you keep your speed at or below 65 MPH. Driving faster will, at the least, shorten the life of the tires and may result in tire failure in the road.
What I’d like to have, and would be willing to pay for, is the full 2830 lbs load carrying capacity of the LRE tires and be able to drive at a more reasonable speed. Tire manufacturers should realize that RVers aren’t pulling 1960′s travel trailers anymore.