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Pullstart

Any Norman / OKC members have time to check out a truck for a fellow?

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Pullstart
On 9/15/2018 at 12:15 PM, pullstart said:

Might take some @stevebo special wet sanding, there’s some real fine spray paint touch ups... but it runs and drives the way it should and it’s ours now!

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I didn’t take a before/after measurement, but it should be closer to level while pulling.  You can sort of see a difference between the dealership pic and today.  Understanding that it’ll settle, for reference I just cleared the ball yesterday when we hauled the camper home.

 

 

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Pullstart

So a little update on Norman...  we took our first trip last week to Winchester, IN for the 47th annual Winchester 400.  The entire trip was uneventful, with the camper loaded for a Wednesday-Monday stay.  The races were over Sunday night, so we sat around the campfire and watched the people take off.  I didn’t feel like rushing to get out of there with the crowd, so we opted to leave Monday morning to head hom.  Not too far from Winchester in Portland, there is a campground called Fox Lake, I believe.  We call ahead and see if we can dump our tanks for the ride home, if possible.  The fee has tripled since the last time we drove through, sign of the times I suppose.  The dump station is just off the gravel drive, and we successfully sank Norman!  I guess their pond was 16”+ above average and the ground was soft.  We ended up getting tugged out by one of the two people in the campground as they were officially closed for the season.  The rest of the drive was a peach, and now it’s time to get him ready for winter storage.  We’ve finally been getting the barns cleaned out of my in-law’s stuff, so there will soon be room in the barn for the camper and Norman together.  Until then, he’s soaking up some harvest time sky.

 

 

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clueless

Kevin, with that much trailer and truck you might look into a load leveling hitch system. When my dad put one on his 32 footer years ago it made a big difference in the overall handling. 

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Pullstart
19 minutes ago, clueless said:

Kevin, with that much trailer and truck you might look into a load leveling hitch system. When my dad put one on his 32 footer years ago it made a big difference in the overall handling. 

 

I think I may have forgot to mention that...  we have an Equal-I-Zer load bar setup.  The hitch in the pictures was a better height to haul the camper home (10 miles, 3 stop signs and a traffic light through a low traffic area), then I set up the load bar hitch for Norman’s low hitch receiver height.  

 

I found it helpful reading the installation instructions on the load hitch system, as you are more focused on bringing the front end back down, not lifting the rear back up.  You load the vehicle and trailer as if you are taking your trip, measure the front fender height, put the tongue weight on the truck and measure the front again, then aim to adjust it back to the middle of those two measurements.... not the unloaded height.  In my case, I had only 1/2” difference in front end height, so first attempt got me smack center at 1/4” from either direction.  :handgestures-thumbupright:

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clueless
1 hour ago, pullstart said:

 

I think I may have forgot to mention that...  we have an Equal-I-Zer load bar setup.  The hitch in the pictures was a better height to haul the camper home (10 miles, 3 stop signs and a traffic light through a low traffic area), then I set up the load bar hitch for Norman’s low hitch receiver height.  

 

I found it helpful reading the installation instructions on the load hitch system, as you are more focused on bringing the front end back down, not lifting the rear back up.  You load the vehicle and trailer as if you are taking your trip, measure the front fender height, put the tongue weight on the truck and measure the front again, then aim to adjust it back to the middle of those two measurements.... not the unloaded height.  In my case, I had only 1/2” difference in front end height, so first attempt got me smack center at 1/4” from either direction.  :handgestures-thumbupright:

Kevin, when unhitching the load bars make sure you take the trailer weight off the hitch first. Not sure if the newer ones work the same as my dads, but if you disconnected the bar before taking the weight off you can hurt a lot of different body parts :eek: depending on if your standing or kneeling. Trust me I know.

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Pullstart

There are no chains on this setup, it’s pretty slick.  All (electric) jack operation, up and down to set the bars on friction plates, then latch in place.

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Pullstart

I just fired up Norman for the first time since before any signs of snow.  The Yellow Top batteries were low, so they are on an AGM charger topping off. Oh how I miss that rumble, that old diesel smell!

 

 

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