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As a group, RV owners seem to be concerned about the quality of campground power. I am surprised because as a boater I have never heard of that kind of problem. Low voltage yes, but not surges. If any place is going to have power problems, marinas with wet conditions will.

But in any case the old forum had quite a discussion of surge protection. Go to aluminiumcamperforum.com and search in the archive section for it.

David

I don't usually suggest this, but your situation may benefit from talking to an attorney. There is a case to be made that the dealer defrauded you by recommending a camper that didn't fit your truck and was dangerous as well.

I wouldn't suggest legal action, the cost outweighs the potential benefits. But if you consult with an attorney and they write a threatening letter to the dealer, that might soften up the dealer so that they would work with you to take back the camper and sell you one more appropriate for your use.

But have you asked the dealer to do this yourself. It makes sense and it wouldn't cost the dealer too much. It would only cost him the used value vs new and that might not be much unless what he sold to you is also unusable for others.

So give it a try and if he says no, then talk to an attorney.

David

If you do significant leveling side to side with just the jacks you will twist the frame. I doubt if you can hurt anything, but with aluminum who knows.

I use leveling ramps on the low side to get it approximately level side to side and use the tongue jack to get it level fore and aft. Then I use the scissor jacks on the low side to lift it up level, but no more than an inch or so. Then I snug the high side scissor jacks a bit for stability.

And I use an iPhone app Bubble Level held on one of the seams to indicate levelness.

David

I don't know of any reference that gives various trucks and SUVs over multiple years. I use the Trailer Life tow guides which individually covers 18 years. See http://www.trailerlife.com/trailer-towing-guides/

For pickups it is important to know the configuration (regular, crew cab, 6', 8' bed, etc.) rear axle ratio, tow package or not, etc to get an accurate tow rating.

And as we see from another thread, if you are considering a truck camper then you have to go to the manufacturer's specs.

David

The propane system inside and underneath your trailer is downstream of the regulator and is very low pressure. It would take an entirely separate feed from the tank before the regulator and high pressure hoses to get the full approximate 200 lbs propane pressure and I don't recommend doing that.

David

It is not a good idea to use a large 20 lb propane tank inside a house (or RV) and it is against the fire code. For your RV you could permanently plumb the heater it to the RV's propane system which I think would be legal as the tank is outside.

David

Is the burner lit. Open up the cover and you can see, hear and feel the burner temp. Start with that and report results for more troubleshooting.

David

You probably need a weight distributing hitch (WDH) to transfer several hundred lbs forward to the front wheels. Just beefing up the rear springs will probably leave the front end too light.

Consider a Reese or Equalizer with clamp on frame mounts- drilling is discouraged in the aluminum frame. Get a light one to match your tongue weight which is about 600 lbs.

Don't consider an Anderson- not enough weight transfer capability.

Or, get a bigger tv.

David

Remember, only the tongue weight gets added as cargo when determining if you've exceeded your GVWR. Figure 600 pounds tongue weight. You are fine with an F250.

The OP has a truck camper.

David

I understand your frustration. It is a fact of RV sales that virtually no RV salesperson is straightup about towing or in your case payload capacity. Caveat emptor. The only way to protect yourself is to read, read and read some more about towing and payload issues with an RV.

So, what to do? First accurately weigh your camper with all normal gear and minimal fluids. It won't be easy to do. You will have to take your rig to a scale, come home and remove the rig and go back and weigh again. As you note, you will probably be close to 3,500 lbs.

Then figure what payload you will have excluding the camper: fuel, driver, passenger and any gear stored in the pickup. Probably in the neighborhood of 500 lbs.

So, you are going to need a pickup with a GVWR equal to the unloaded curb weight plus 4,000 lbs. That is a big pickup, maybe even an F350 or similar. Then you need to look at axle loadings and you may also need a dually because most of the 3,500 lb camper weight will be on the rear wheels.

And even though as you note, a diesel uses up more of the pickup's GVWR, I wouldn't rule out a diesel unless you don't put on many miles traveling with your camper.

It won't be an easy problem to solve, without $$$$.

David

What alternating current appliances do you want to run while dry camping. Tell us what and that will indicate how to power it.

RVs are designed to be self sufficient running on battery supplied DC only: lights, fan, fridge, furnace, etc. The only routine AC load is the air conditioner.

But as others have noted, without a generator, inverter or similar you won't have AC power at the outlets.

David

The situation is a little complicated, but this is how I understand it:

Livin Lite provided funding and the domain name for the old forum. But it was administered independently and that administration owned the rights to all of the posts that were made there.

As the old forum was about to expire, a new forum was established- aluminiumcamperforum.com. It was funded and administered independently of the LL organization. When the old forum ceased to exists (for reasons I won't begin to explain) the administrators of the old forum allowed aluminiumcamperforum.com to post an archive of all postings and pictures that were made to the old forum.

So, all of those postings are available for searching on the aluminiumcamperforum site. They are unlikely to be made available here.

Did I get it right?

David

I think you mean converter. But in any case it is a bad idea to hook up to 120V AC without a battery in the 12V system. Voltages can jump around without the battery to stabilize them, but most 12V appliances are designed to run on anything from 11 to 14 V.

If you have electric brakes, you will have no breakaway braking.

Just go down to your friendly Costco, Sams, WalMart and buy one. If you never use it alone without 120V power, then the model doesn't matter. Look for the cheapest that will fit.

David

Well, it depends on whether you have Bearing Buddies on the hubs or not. BBs have a zerk grease fitting that lets you pump grease in while a spring loaded metal diaphragm pushes back as it fills. Squirt until it pushes back all of the way and you are done.

If no BBs then jack up the wheel and remove the tire. Then pop off the cap on the end of the hub. You will see a big nut and a cotter key holding it in place. Remove the cotter key and unscrew the nut and the hub will come off. You can leave the wheel on if you want and the whole thing will come off, but some wheels have hub covers that require removing the wheel to get to the cap.

Then you can pack new grease in from the front and back reaching inside the bearings on each end. You fill the cavity (except for the center where the axle shaft goes through) with new grease, making sure that new grease is pushed into the bearing, then reassemble the whole mess.

You can also buy Bearing Buddies and add them to axles that don't have them. They replace the cap and just push into the outer part of the bearing housing. I am not sure if they will clear the hub covers that some LLs have on their wheels. You can always just not use those covers if you install BBs.

David

AFAIK, the Zamp connector is a generic two conductor connector. You get a pair of these connectors with a Battery Tender for example. You can buy a pigtail set for a few bucks and splice any brand of solar panel to it and plug it into the Zamp port. Here is a set from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/CES-Gauge-Quick-Disconnect-Harness/dp/B0057ZQJ12/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1492292108&sr=8-20&keywords=dc+connector

But I wouldn't stop there. I would trace the wiring inside the trailer from the Zamp port and put my solar controller inside, somewhere accessible and out of the weather. I am sure that the existing Zamp port wires directly to the 12V converter and from there to the battery. And check the wire size of the Zamp port wiring. You may want to upgrade a size if you have more than 100 watts of solar panels.

David