Hi from Phoenix AZ with our new-to-us '17 CL 14DBS

Started by tilliejacques, November 15, 2020, 04:40:59 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

tilliejacques

Hi everybody!  AZCamper1 and I are the new proud owners of a 2017 LL Camplite 14DBS.  Oh, and we're owned by Zelda (Australian Cattle Dog).

We have camped and RV'ed for years.  I was going to say "for decades" but that made me feel really old  ;D .  We did the usual progression from tent /car camping up through Class A motorhome, detouring into horse and toy haulers along the way.  Now that we don't have horses or toys, we decided to go small so everything is easier: towing, parking, getting gas, fitting into sites, etc.  I had looked at LL toy haulers years ago, like, when they were still in business  :( but the stars never aligned.

We saw this 14DBS come up for sale and it was just one state away :) so AZcamper1 talked to the seller and they turned out to be great and the trailer was great too so voila!  We had prepped a new ball mount and some basic overnight camping supplies so when the deal was done, we were ready to head home and jumped on the interstate.  Two hours later, we had gone 60 miles  d'oh .  Did I mention that we were trying to leave Los Angeles during rush hour?  :/  Anyway, we Escaped From LA and ended up spending the night at a rest area (8 hr overnight parking yay!).  No hookups and no slide extended, but it worked just as we thought so another yay.  Having to carefully step around the dog bed with the slide in made me glad that AZcamper1 convinced me that the slide was a "must".

Our tow vehicle is a '17 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk V6 with factory tow package.  This gives us a 4500 tow capacity with 450 max tongue weight.  We got the Jeep when we still had the Class A MH and dirt bikes, so it could tow the bikes and be towed by the MH.  Not many choices of vehicles for those capabilities but the Jeep has worked out well.  In fact, the Jeep and this trailer worked GREAT together even on our get-it-home trip.  I'm not sure if it was in this forum or a Jeep forum, but using the Sport transmission mode made a HUGE difference in towing.  Using the normal Auto transmission with its eco-shift patterns and multiple overdrive gears was a big headache to manage even with our smaller 6x8 cargo trailer with the dirt bikes in it.

So, with the Sport mode and no WDH (only required above 350 tongue weight), the 14DBS towed like a dream.  This was while following the 55 towing speed limit in CA with occasional forays into 65 to pass trucks.  It never got sucked over by trucks passing us and we could hardly tell it was there.    Ok, it was extremely minimally loaded but still, towing was great.  We weighed it empty at 244 tongue weight (disconnected) and 3000 trailer weight (not disconnected).  There was already a truck waiting behind us to weigh, and I didn't feel comfortable taking the time to disconnect to get proper weights.

AZCamper1 got a longer hitch ball mount with a better rise so now the tailgate can open past the electric jack and when we get the trailer loaded, it should be nice and level.

Now we're onto the loading stage of what goes where, and the wow-look-at-this-mod-here on this forum   ;D.  So very glad we found this forum and everyone who is so kind to share their knowledge!

cheers

JerryRider