Picking up next week - ease my gastrointestinal distress

[Hollybee]

Dep on yer TV you may not need the WD hitch. We started w a 2wd Nissan Frontier long bed V6 and towed it home last summer w that..Found out that the truck had..not enuf ooompf in the mountains..so we switched and traded the Fronty in for a V8gas Nissan Titan XD 4x4. last Fall.
Much beefier truck and we believe we are not going to fool with those da**ed heavy steel arms on that WD hitch, tho we will use the anti-sway bar. We're heading out in the am and will take the bars, but try not to use them. You suit yourself. G'luck. We had to pick up our E21C in south Phoenix last June, thanks to the plandemic mess. We had NO factory orientation as a result.

[salmo7000]

Well, when I pulled out of Bob's Burgers towing our 19, it was the first time ever for me towing something that big and heavy. At first I was terrified! But it got better with each passing mile. As others have suggested, swing wide on your turns, watch your total length, and leave a lot of distance between you and anything you think might cause you to have to stop. Including and especially vehicles in front of you and turning traffic. You just can't stop as fast.

Go slow, avoid interstates, and pull over when you get people backed up behind you. These things will ease the stress quite a lot. Also, if you stay on the secondary roads south of Sumas, there are quite a few roundabouts. Have your partner watch carefully to help you choose the right exit out of them. I didn't do that part very well, so we ended up having to turn around and backtrack multiple times. Fortunately, there were plenty of empty parking lots to turn around in so we didn't have back it up.

You might consider making a reservation at the Lynden, WA KOA for your first night. It's not far from Sumas, and it will give you a chance to become familiar with your 19 and how to set it up and operate it. If something is awry, you're still close enough to Escape to get help fixing it if needed.

And do have lunch at Bob's Burgers! They have an excellent burger, and it will save you from having to find another place and get into it while towing for the first time. Might as well eat at Bob's so you don't have to deal with that later.

Best of luck, you'll do fine!!

[Ooshkaboo]

Ditto what everyone has already said, especially wide turns.

I haven’t driven a big rig in awhile but I still have my multiple trailer, liquids license and have been around trucks-but not rvs- most my life.

When backing pull forward to straighten out as many times as you need, once you hear the crunch of a mistake, it’s too late to take it back.
Keep your mind on the job at hand..When new at towing it’s challenging to say the least, but as you get more experienced you can become somewhat over confident and get the same bad results.

The big killer in backing up, the stress of people watching your obvious inexperience along with at times blocking things up for a extra minute or two.

Everyone had to learn at one time-

I once saw a guy that had 25 years with a company driving, then started driving the bigger trucks,he-3-striked himself out of a job by having 3 separate backing accidents all at the same dock door with the same load.
There were guys with way less time in laughing at his lack of skill and it got the best of him.

Ego is not useful when backing up, or really anytime while driving...

[a&e]

Well, we managed to make it back in one piece and without any real problem. Thanks, all for the advice. Here is what we learned:

1) After picking up in Sumas, if you need take I-5 through Seattle/Olympia and it's Friday afternoon, forget it. Spend the night somewhere and leave the next morning if you can. We left Sumas at 1pm, got near Seattle around 3pm, and didn't get past Olympia until 7pm - so it took FOUR hours. For context, it took us one hour to get from Olympia to Seattle on our way to Sumas the night before.

2) the universal towing mirrors that you can clip on to your existing mirrors universally suck. They shake a ton and are more distracting that useful. We could see OK without them.

3) the backup camera was a lifesaver for us newbies - it gave us much more confidence when changing lanes. It simulated a rear view mirror quite well.

4) the power lift jack was also a lifesaver, it took us several tries to hitch/unhitch correctly and it seems like it would have been more of a hassle to jack it manually. If we had taken the manual option we'd probably at least be sure to switch hands while cranking to avoid having Popeye-like forearms only on the dominant arm.

5) backing up into a space for the first time was an ordeal. Watch multiple Youtube videos beforehand (we did not). Give yourself plenty of time. We figured half an hour to unhitch and back into a storage space would suffice. It took us an hour before we got it right.

6) towing itself wasn't bad at all. Not that we have any prior experience for comparison but we believe the 19 towed pretty easily, all things considered. The braking took a bit of time to get fine tuned and to get the right feel.

7) you will be ashamed at the way you used to drive around trailer towers but no will no longer do now that the shoe is on the other foot and you understand what it's like.

8) Bob's fries are not very good.

9) Tighten the lug nuts at the recommended intervals no matter what. At 60 miles it didn't seem to make a bit of difference and I was wondering why we had to bother. at 120 miles, I was surprised at how much movement there was in the nuts.

[kavm]

Thanks for sharing! We pick up in a little over 2 weeks, so this is very real...

[Craiger]

Since you have two weeks, go to U-Haul and rent a big trailer. Make sure you know a large parking area like a large mall. learn how to properly back up and park. Since I lived about 10 miles from where you'll pick up your trailer. When you leave with the trailer don't go all the way down 539 to connect into the five at Bellingham. When you get to Lynden turn westbound on Birch Bay Lynden Road. It will connect you to the five freeway without having to run into the traffic on guide Meridian. As for going through Seattle take the five freeway all the way through just remember you're running to traffic 50 miles from downtown Seattle and you won't clear it until literally after you leave Olympia. And they were still working on the five between Tacoma and Olympia. If you're staying on the five freeway south do not take the five through Portland there's a cut off that'll take you right by the airport it may be 15 miles further but it's less problems.

[kavm]

Originally Posted by Craiger

Since you have two weeks, go to U-Haul and rent a big trailer. Make sure you know a large parking area like a large mall. learn how to properly back up and park. Since I lived about 10 miles from where you'll pick up your trailer. When you leave with the trailer don't go all the way down 539 to connect into the five at Bellingham. When you get to Lynden turn westbound on Birch Bay Lynden Road. It will connect you to the five freeway without having to run into the traffic on guide Meridian. As for going through Seattle take the five freeway all the way through just remember you're running to traffic 50 miles from downtown Seattle and you won't clear it until literally after you leave Olympia. And they were still working on the five between Tacoma and Olympia. If you're staying on the five freeway south do not take the five through Portland there's a cut off that'll take you right by the airport it may be 15 miles further but it's less problems.

Thanks a lot! Renting trailer from U-Haul is a good idea. I will try to do that. What I do not know is whether 5.0 will feel similar to bumper pull.

As for driving from Sumas, WA - we are staying the first two nights in Anacortez . I have just posted my plans for the trip on https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...tml#post382381

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by kavm

Thanks a lot! Renting trailer from U-Haul is a good idea. I will try to do that. What I do not know is whether 5.0 will feel similar to bumper pull.

As for driving from Sumas, WA - we are staying the first two nights in Anacortez . I have just posted my plans for the trip on https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...tml#post382381

Hi: kavm... NO!!! The 5.0TA will jackknife much faster. Once you pull ahead.....go farther than you think..... then put it in reverse and practice, practice, practice!!! Spotters are great until they start swatting at bugs. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Chris R]

Originally Posted by escape artist

Hi: kavm... NO!!! The 5.0TA will jackknife much faster. Once you pull ahead.....go farther than you think..... then put it in reverse and practice, practice, practice!!! Spotters are great until they start swatting at bugs. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

before you practice, look on YouTube for vids for backing up 5th wheel trailers. Also, you and your spotter HAVE to agree on what hand motions will be used for direction and distance. Otherwise

[kavm]

Originally Posted by escape artist

Hi: kavm... NO!!! The 5.0TA will jackknife much faster. Once you pull ahead.....go farther than you think..... then put it in reverse and practice, practice, practice!!! Spotters are great until they start swatting at bugs. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

Thanks for that! We can only practice once we have the trailer. Will just wait till we get the camper and practice after that.

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by Chris R

before you practice, look on YouTube for vids for backing up 5th wheel trailers. Also, you and your spotter HAVE to agree on what hand motions will be used for direction and distance. Otherwise

If you get the raised middle finger, your spotter wants a break.

[Bill and Earline]

Three things that I have found helpful when backing:

1) Put your tow vehicle in low range, if you have it. This slows everything down and you can see the changes in orientation. Of course you have more power, too.

2) Every living soul has a cell phone now. Spotter calls you on the phone and you put yours on speaker. This reduces the hollering.

3) Spotter need to keep talking, and really there are only three instructions: keep coming back, more to the left, more to the right. And of course, stop.

[kavm]

Originally Posted by Bill and Earline

Three things that I have found helpful when backing:

1) Put your tow vehicle in low range, if you have it. This slows everything down and you can see the changes in orientation. Of course you have more power, too.

2) Every living soul has a cell phone now. Spotter calls you on the phone and you put yours on speaker. This reduces the hollering.

3) Spotter need to keep talking, and really there are only three instructions: keep coming back, more to the left, more to the right. And of course, stop.

Thank you again! Very helpful. We do have a tow / trailer mode. So will use that. We have cell phones and a backup walkie talkie set if there is no phone coverage. I will ask my wife to keep talking…

[CADreamin]

Everyone here is definitely giving good advice. Can't add much but as a couple that is 'backup challenged', we can add the following:
1. Get walkie-talkies (cell phones are okay and do allow you to chat back and forth but walkie-talkies are great when cell service is spotty).
2. "Left/Right" doesn't work for us (whose left, whose right?). We prefer to use "driver side/passenger side".
3. Watch YouTube videos for sure. One nice series is by the Long, Long Honeymoon couple. They present instructions/tips in a pretty clear and amusing way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzlOfBGr1i4

4. Wide turns for sure. No matter what 'friends' tell you, the trailer does follow your TV but not in the same track (says the couple that ran over the median in a McDonald's parking lot and who nearly took out a gas pump in Oregon ....).
5. Don't worry about others watching you back up. After a painful amount of time backing into a spot at Beachside, we were greeted with clapping and cheering by fellow campers who had been happily watching (and listening to) us.
6. When in doubt, look for campgrounds with pull-throughs.
7. Get a Good Sam card and you'll get 5¢ off every gallon of gas at Pilot/Flying J.

[kavm]

Thank you, CADreamin! My wife and I binge watched the YouTube backing 5th wheel trailer videos yesterday. I don’t know about the trailers but I am now completely turned around I will watch this one and download it as well.

[FMLNM]

Also, be sure your gas tank is NOT near empty when you start to try to back into a spot...you may use up a fair amount of gas in the process and you don't want that to be nagging at you!!

[gshadel795]

I hear your concerns as we are picking up our trailer in August and it has been many years since I pulled my small fishing boat.

My biggest advice is "You Tube". My wife and I have watched so many trailer videos it's like we have owned a trailer for the past year. A couple of favorites for advice are KYD (Keep your Daydream) and Long Long Honeymoon, but there are many others.

When Backing up keep the "GOAL" in mind - "Get Out And Look!"