Enjoyed this video quite a bit. We have 2018 F150 Lariett with Flagstaff 26rkbs rig in tow. Max tow package on the F150. We experienced quite a bit of bounce/ jounce rebound etc too. On many concrete highways. Apparently when concrete is laid with the big machine it can put swells in the road that you never feel with just a car of truck ( 2 axles). Add another pair of axles a distance behind the tow vehicle and you will find the back end of your truck bouncing up and down to the swells. Think of a boat on a lake encountering waves towing another boat at a random length behind...first boat breaks the wave at a different time and rate of the one being towed, and is pulled back by the towed boat. Your truck and trailer do the same thing on properly poured concrete ( and there is a lot of it out there including I65 in Indiana!). We fought this fir two seasons with 2 different trailers. The first trailer we got rid of most all of the issues with the addition of shock absorbers and rubber suspensions replacing equalizers between the leaf springs. $1000 in parts and about 30 man hours fir me and my two 20 year o l d nephews and we were done It tamed the truck and trailer plus reduced stress on the Puma coach for longer life. Very happy with result beyond belief. What a difference in towing! Move ahead 6 months and hail in Ohio totaled that rig! Now Flagstaff / Rockwood with Torflex torsion tandem axles no leaf springs of course. Pulls better than the Puma but my bounce was back! Air bags would not have helped with this nor would ew bump stops that were recommended. After running using a of this by an expert with Helweg Suspension system suggested installing Bilstein 5100 series shocks in the rear of the F150. ( btw they don't sell or represent shock companies). $94 a piece and 45 minutes laying on pavement to change these out without raising truck or removing wheels. Wow! I mean WoW what difference In control of the back of the F150. A week later took our 7800 lb Flagstaff on the road. 90% or more of the bounce or rebound was gone !! Only a few very poorly laid concrete roads gave us any problems. Very very happy with the results. I wanted to put shocks on the Flagstaff too but nobody I could fine ( and I made a LOT of calls) made kit for torsion axles. If you consider a shock kit for trailer don't waste your time with the Lipert kit. In my opinion it it is not designed correctly and would provide minimal if any benefit. Master Ride is the only way to go even though it is 2 times the cost of Lippert. Bottom line: The least expensive and simplest way to dramatically improve your ride with trailer is with the Bilstein 5100 series shocks on the back of the truck. You will be amazed! Sorry for the length of th I x comment but my wife and I put up with so much bounce on poor concrete I just had to share the great results we have had with the new shocks on the F150. An F250 or F350 would have probably helped a bit but I am not about to lay out another $40k or more to get one. Happy camping and travels! Ron MT PLEASANT WI
2022 F150 Tremor owner here. Yes, the Bilstein 5100 shocks help immensely with towing but I also installed the Road Active Suspension kit and set it at 40%. What a huge difference in towing with all upgrades combined and worth every penny.@@LandlockedLovebirds
I have a 22mle, 1/2 ton truck, and Centerline with 400-600 lb bars. I have about 620 lbs of tongue weight and the bars I have work fine. You could raise the L brackets on the trailer tongue up a notch if you need more distribution but I would not use heavier bars. The bars can put excess force on the trailer tongue and buckle the trailer frame if you go through a deep dip like when you transition to a parking lot from a deep storm gutter. If bounce is your complaint then I would try air bags on the rear suspension of the truck. This helped my rig a lot. I used manually inflated ride rite air bags which stiffened my rear suspension up and I can adjust the levelness of the truck and trailer. They were not too terribly expensive if you can install them yourself. I did not find the install to be difficult. I also installed Road Armor Shock Absorbing Equalizers, wet bolts, and heavy duty shackles to upgrade the trailer suspension. Can't say that I can tell the difference on the trailer suspension but maybe the trailer and cargo can. Do not try to put the Moryde CRE3000 equalizers on the 22mle because the reinforced hangers on the trailer would have to be cut and that would be a downgrade. Not criticizing the cre3000 but they just don't fit on this trailer.
As a tractor trailer driver I complement you on wanting to be safe and have a safe combination vehicle as well as an understanding about weight distribution, tongue weight, gvwr (you know all the “boring” items of camping😄). Your research and experiences will lead to experimenting where physical cargo is placed, how much water to carry (if any at all) in the quest to create a level, less taxing ride on your body and equipment. A good inspection routine of brake pad and electrical brake systems is always a confidence builder as well. Safe travels. You have another subscriber.
Thanks for the tips and kind words. Lugging a trailer down the interstate has given me a whole new level of respect you tractor trailer drivers. Thanks for what you do, and safe travels to you as well.
Just a tip, instead of having a destination in mind to spend a week, set up your vacation into more easily managed 200-300 mile days and look for interesting things/places to do along the way, view your “destination” more as a turnaround point.
Interstate hwys are nice because of more availability, but poor maintenance. We have found that alternate routs are much better with very little traffic, better maintained. Our common problem is tire loss, damage to rig.
We have a similar size/weight Rockwood that we pulled with a V8 5L Ford F150 with 2K payload rating. It was fine for power and we fell well within our limits but it had a tendency to be a little bouncy and would definitely get moved around by passing semis. We just upgraded to a 6.2 L gas Ford F-250 and the difference is night and day. It also increased our payload to 3300# which gives us plenty of room to pack the truck with anything we want to bring. Thanks for a great video and remember the journey is part of the adventure. Cheers!
Thanks you two for sharing your lives with us all. Just a suggestion for whenever you are "upgrading" in the future. You may want to look at a gooseneck (or fifth wheel) setup... That should help with the stability issues you seem to be concerned with. I hauled a 45ft. trailer for years racing cars and it is a much better feeling experience than the tag along or bumper pull style you guys have been using. Just my 2 cents... take it for what it is worth and stay safe out there.
Absolutely. Your 2 cents is worth a million bucks. Bumper pulls are cheap and great to run out to the lake say 30 to 100 miles or out in the woods camping. Traveling (long distance) on the highway cross state lines, etc I would go 5th wheel all the way, but the operator still needs to load the trailer correctly and have a rig that can handle it WITH ease.
This was a good video about your experience. I am glad you had a good trip. We live in Kansas and Estes Park is our favorite destination. It sounds like you will cover the RMNP’s reservation system in your next video? Thanks for sharing your thoughts, doubts, and concerns! I loved your shots through KC and of the Kansas wind turbines! It looks like you went through Loveland, and up Big Thompson Canyon. I would love to hear your impressions of that!
Yes, we will be talking about the reservation system. It didn’t give us too many issues and we had an amazing time, but we watched a lot of people get turned back. Thanks for watching! Our route through to Estes Park was pretty easy, and we enjoyed the wide open of Kansas (other than bumping down the interstate 😆). We’d love to explore more of Colorado, but Estes Park is such a great spot to quickly get up into some incredible mountains.
Shocks are the only thing designed in your suspension to prevent bounce. upgrade your shocks to eliminate the bounce. you can get some that are adjustable for towing vs everyday driving.
Nice to hear you are liking your Imagine! We have found what works for us on two or three week trips, is to drive quickly to our end destination, then hop back as time & weather permits. Most of those trips have been from Southern California to Oregon. Thanks for the video - hoping to buy the smaller version on the Imagine here shortly.
Good video y’all whether or not your vehicle can handle your trailer safely is for y’all to decide but I would suggest airbags for your truck that will help the ride but be clear they don’t increase your load capacity but if it can make your ride smoother then y’all will definitely enjoy it more good luck
Hey guys really enjoyed this video. We just purchased a 22MLE in July. So far we love it. We were just over at Spring Mill State Park a couple of weeks ago and go to Ferne Clyffe at least once a year. Getting ready to go to Virginia to visit daughter later this month and going to Waco TX to visit other daughter next month. Thanks for sharing your adventure with the Grand Design. New friends here. Take care and have a great week. KTKamping Kent and Tami
Thanks for the comment! We haven’t hit spring mill yet but it’s on the list. We’ve been eyeballing Grayson Highlands out in Virginia for a trip. Looks really nice. Hope to run into you on the road! Safe travels!
Change that rear differential fluid about every 40k miles towing that rig y’all👍🏼, oil every 2-3k miles, and check those rear breaks more often that the front. My 18, bought new, had rear pads down to metal at 50k. Just did it myself
so happy to see that Cardinals hat! I have an F150 with 2.7 Ecoboost... hope that works with the 22MLE. May need to make some tweaks. Southern Illinois is a hidden treasure... I used to go down there when I lived in St Louis. Enjoyed your video a lot!
We bought Grand Design MLE we’re taking to Indiana tour Grand Design. We noticed leak also with propane going to get fixed ASAP! General RV in Wayland very experienced with Grand Design. Thanks for your video. Michigan roads worst. We live in Michigan.
Hello neighbors from Boonville. I installed the AirLift 1000 airbags (well I had Lowells in Boonville do it) in my wifes Yukon and they made a world of difference. Not expensive. We tow a 2019 Catalina 241SBX with a loaded weight of 7600. Give them a look.
Hello and thank you! We have seen a little about airbags but we will need to research them some more. Anything that makes towing a little easier is worth another look.
We were happy to see y'all make a new video. They are very well done! We too are upgrading from our well-loved R-Pod to a Grand Design 22RBE. You all gave us the idea! Your upgrade video really hit us on all accounts down to the "glad we have a freezer to have ice cream!" Our last international trip was to Scotland and we miss traveling right now too. However, we found we love camping and here we are. Cheers from KY!
Great to hear! We went to look at the 22RBE but they only had the 22MLE on the lot. We fell in love! We are definitely missing our international adventures, but RVing has definitely created a great distraction in the meantime. Thanks for watching! Keep in touch and let us know your experience with Grand Design.
We are looking at the 22MLE and the 23LDE. We also have 2 large dogs, so we think the 22MLE might be better. The bathroom doesn't keep the dogs from always having total access (we never need to lock them up or separate them from anything or anybody).
I really like your videos about your travel trailers. The fact that the Imagine costs at least $20k more than the R-Pod could explain quality differences.
At the time we purchased, there was about a $12,000 difference in sticker price. After negotiating the purchase price difference between the two was about $7000. It could count for some of the quality difference, but the new trailer is also larger with more features, so that’s a good share of the difference too.
We found that our truck's rear axle was the area that hit weight capacity first. We had to redistribute the weight into our 22MLE more. We are very happy with our 22MLE as well.
It's neat to see your honest experiences with this. I always figure if we ever do RV camping it would most likely be a trailer camper over an actual RV for many reasons, though I'm quite nervous about towing a big thing. Knowing the ups and downs and the work involved is certainly important. For now though, it'll be our jeep and a tent haha.
Be sure to have your tires balanced even though trailer dealers and tire shops claim it is not needed. The little inbalance causes things to vibrate loose.
Been looking at renting a trailer to try it before buying. Your videos have been very insightful. Plus i laughed out loud when i saw our google map! I'm across the river in Henderson KY!
I added the roadmaster active suspension to my 1/2 ton. I also tow an Imagine 22MLE. I use a blue ox weight distribution hitch and the overall set up works great.
I appreciated the cost update. We will go to a bigger TT in a few years just like you did. Need to get a bigger tow vehicle first. I will subscribe to you videos. Nice to see you came to CO.
Appreciate the subscribe. We hope to get the motivation to put out a few new videos soon. We hemhaw back and forth over a 3/4 ton truck but they’re so expensive. Our current setup is decent but i think a bit more beef in tow vehicle would add comfort and remove some stress. We loved the time spent in RMNP. I think we could do that trip over and over again and never get tired of it.
Very nice. I have a brand new Renogy charge controller if you want to start SOLAR ? It will open up your RV experience ! Please do more videos on this, even little updates. Peacefrom510
Thanks for the tip! Solar is on our list of considerations. Staying close to home, we usually stay at campgrounds with hookups. If we may the jump to full time, we would definitely think seriously about solar and generators.
No news about the mattress? Perhaps that 4" topper is just enough to disguise "the brick". We replaced the OEM mattress in our '20 "Millie" with a standard queen mattress - much better.
We really enjoy your videos and travels. Your "From RPOD to Grand Design" was the deciding factor in our decision to go with the Imagine XLS 22MLE over the other caravans we were considering.We have nor purchased a unit yet, and I wanted to ask if I need to worry about towing it with my 2014 Ford F-150 Supercab 5.0L V8 (3.55 axle) rated at 7,800lb towing capacity. Also, are you still happy with the Husky Centerline Weight Distribution unit, and did you go with the 8-1200 torsion bars? Thanks and keep posting!
Thanks for the note. We have been pretty happy with the husky hitch. We may add something like roadmaster active suspension to take out some of the bounce. As for tow vehicle, I’d pay attention to payload max on your truck. We are very near the limit of our payload and axle weights with our loaded 22MLE. Our truck is rated for 10,500 lbs towing and 1863 lbs of payload. Both axles are at 90-95% of capacity. We’ve thought about a 3/4 ton truck but haven’t made the leap. Hope that helps.
I always figure an average of 50MPH due stops for my dogs and myself as a sole driver. I run 60 to 63 MPH towing an Aliner with a large V-6 in a Hyundai Santa Fe....Looking to up grade to a travel trailer 17-20 feet long with a bed you can walk around to make....3000-3500lbs due 5000 tow limit.
@@LandlockedLovebirds I love being able to store the Aliner in the garage but a 10 foot box with 2 70-77lb dogs is a bit tight. I have had 4 Aliners due seeing other floor plans I liked. LOL
@@FearlessFred848 we liked the Rpod being able to easily fit it in the driveway to load and still be able to get a car around it. The new one is more of a struggle. It still fits in the drive though. 😂. I see more concrete in our future though.
I came across your channel by accident looking for honest reviews of rvs. Great information! We have a 2018 Ford Expedition Max and are new to camper life towing. I will say that right after the 60,000-mile warranty point, we ended up having to replace our transmission. This is due to the 'learning' transmission the Fords have in the F series and also the expeditions. Just be aware of that with your vehicle.
Thanks for that tip. We’ve been thinking of adding extended warranty. My father in law works for ford and said they’ve been having a number of f150s with our engine come back right after warranty with major work needing done.
How is the rear kitchen doing during travel? We have a similar size trailer with mid-kitchen and rear bath/wardrobe/pantry in rear of the trailer. There's significant bouncing of stuff in that area that I think is just a characteristic of travel trailers. We do have an E-2 weight distribution/antisway system that is set up correctly.
We have a couple areas where things seem to get tossed and turned. We use plastic and correlle kitchen items to avoid glass breakage and have that rubber shelf lining down and in between plates and such. We do end up with a few things tossed around in the cabinets but not too bad. Our shoes always seem to get tossed from the nook by the entry door. With most of the storage being forward and with the bed being forward, I sometimes think we’re a little heavy in the front. We swapped in a residential mattress that is hefty, so I think we may have created some excess bounce at the tongue. We use a Husky centerline hitch with 1,000 lb bars.
Love your RV! Thanks for a great video. When you swapped out your mattress, can you still lift it easily for storage underneath? Also, how far does your slide go out? We have two dogs two and need to bring a cage for one of them.
@@djones1231 we need to upgrade the struts I think. It’s hard to lift the storage cover with the heavier mattress. There would be room for a crate or two with the slide out. But depending on size it would crowd things.
Well….zero. We hit a deer and did $15k or so worth of damage, so we used that as an excuse to upgrade to a 3/4 ton. I recall us averaging around 8-10 mpg with the f150.
What size engine does your f150 have? We are looking at buying a Grand Design and I have a F150 with a 2.7 litre turbo engine...and our camper is a Passport 199ml 5200 gvwr.
Ours is the 3.5l turbo. Payload rating is around 1900 lbs. gvwr on our trailer is about 7,000lbs. I think our model is heavy in the tongue, or we just load it poorly. Cat scales had us around 95% of max axle weights. It tows ok. Struggles in a headwind a bit but still only hovers around 2,000rpm when running 65-67.
@@LandlockedLovebirds We made 3 trips with our TT before it was stolen. Cougar 24sabwe weighs more and my 2016 Ram 1500ecodiesel had 1490 payload, with a Husky Hitch (don't lose the special tool, hard to find) My hitch was installed by the dealer, no issues and pulled great. You may need to fine tune the hitch more. Only time I was wishing for a bigger truck was in the mountains, where honestly it still did great compared to others, but always want more!!
@@willieninefivenine6476 dang! Hate to hear about it being stolen! That’s awful. We had our hitch installed by the dealer as well but it was a hack job. I ended up taking it all apart and reinstalling myself and ordering the stiffer bars. It does much better now. Hope you were able to get compensated for your loss. That stinks.
@@LandlockedLovebirds Lol sorry, between confusing turnpikes and big truck rattled roadways, you’ll feel like you’ve been in a blender. Like a really, evil blender. 😈 But at some point you’ll probably need to, or take a way southern route, or northern. Believe me, after living in the four corners of Mo, Ks, Ok, and Ar, for most of 40 years, I can tell you their roadway dollars aren’t being spent right. Lol
I have had several different Tow Rigs and trailers. MY experience is; if you need a distribution hitch, you are ALREADY pushing the safety barrier of your tow rig or your trailer is not properly loaded. All you really did was put a bandage on an already dirty wound. I don't like to pucker just because I want to do more with less. The reason a half ton today is rated for more than a 3/4 ton say 10 years ago, is because people push it too far with the 'do more with less' mentality. By having a 3/4 or 1 ton, I drive WAY more comfortably and much safer. Most people buy a 1/2 ton because they know they will not tow often enough to justify a heavy duty. Then, they are the ones on the sides of the road, or in an accident. You sound like you KNOW that your rig is not enough and you compensate with the weight distribution hitch. So you still take risky trips. Companies make a lot of money selling things (as safer with it than without), but not really in your best interest (all about selling things and making money). People will say, 'wow that really helped' and so they drive faster, until one day........ If you love camping, buy a heavy duty truck and drive a great gas mileage car the other 350 days of the year.
I find this humerus as just saw a dash cam video of a 1 ton duelly losing control of a trailer on a busy highway. Weight distribution hitches properly setup ensure the vehicle front wheels are firmly planted on the road so steering control is not compromised.
Ford’s engineers say it’ll tow 10,500 lbs. Our trailer weighs 5,000 lbs. We tow the trailer maybe 10 times a year. I’ll keep dreaming but probably about where we’re camping next.
@@LandlockedLovebirds You mean 7,000 lbs gross weight for the trailer. then substracted 1800 lbs from your 10,500 total tow weight and your darn close to max for towing with that truck with that trailer. Too close for comfort for me. This would explain the reasons you have with ride and feel. stay safe.
@@skydancerforever if don't travel with your tanks full, you're not even close. Payload is the important number and they have plenty at 1860. Hitch weight is usually 10-15%, even at 20% not even close. Numbers look good. I towed a heavier camper with less payload and was still well within numbers.
