What brand and model 35'? For example, if you said you found a 1999 Holiday Rambler Endeavor 35WDS with the Cummins mated to a 6 speed Allison transmission, I would say - take a hard look at maintenance history on the engine. Should last you a few more miles easy. Radiator is rear mounted so tough to get to belts on the engine unless you go from top under the mattress in the back bedroom. Cannot move your radiator but at least move your oil filter to a remote housing accessible. And clean those radiator fins. And then look at the roof seals (and purchase two Maxx Air covers for the vents). The A/C units seem to be the low profile newer ones but make sure the shrouds are in good shape. Eternabond tape and Dicor leveler sealant are your best friends for roof maintenance. Murphy's Oil Soap for cleaning the roof. On the inside, take a look inside the rear most cabinets above the bed and the ceiling (which is a padded vinyl ceiling btw). Usual sign of water leaks are in the corners of the walls, the upper cabinets in the front or the rear and the ceiling itself (sagging here and there). Look inside the A/C return air vents (easy to pop them off and look around with a flashlight). 1996 is when Holiday Rambler was sold by Harley to Monaco (and quality there on might have suffered a little bit). Any idea when the brakes were overhauled? Or the engine properly serviced at a Cummins shop? How about the chassis - Freightliner made an ok chassis during that era so might want someone taking a look at the suspension (and then add a couple of mods to make it comfier). Awnings - one main, one over the door, one on the slide - how are they? Maintained originals or replaced new? LP gas appliances - all of them should work on LP gas primarily, then on AC electric. Replace all of the aging PEX connections with sharkbite quick disconnects and turn off valves = safety if you spring a leak and need to shut off water here and there. Inverter original? Batteries - shore and chassis - new or old? Dual pane windows but are any of them foggy? Best thing you can do - get rid of that OEM shower head and get a nice shower pik showerhead (one of those eco shower heads but has this turbo spray feature so it makes it feel like you've got high pressure water hitting you) with a shut off switch so when you have that hot and cold water mixed JUST right for your shower, you can just turn off that switch - soap up - turn it back on at the right mixture versus playing with the two individual handles...... believe me, you will appreciate not having to over think this small "convenience".

Edit: Does it have a washer/dryer? Does the bedroom and front have new digital TVs? Is the surround system speakers intact? Has there been any new additions to the power side - say a solar panel? Has the mattress been replaced? What "accessories" other than the Brake Buddy system come with the RV - such as water hoses, dump hoses, surge protector, cleaning supplies, water filters, 50A cord plus adapters to use 30A if needed, etc.

List goes on and on - you get the point. The money being asked isn't a GREAT deal unless you find accompanying maintenance records to satisfy your needs otherwise - some of these items on the list can quickly eat away ANY distinct advantage you had in purchase price.... It's a home on wheels and an older generation - requires some love and attention but makes for a good solid base to pursue full time living.

 

RV's are terrifying. Engine is probably the least of your worries.

 

Man, thanks for that rundown. Ultimately I decided against the pusher - insurance costs were such that it pushed it beyond what made sense to pay.

Currently working to finish a deal on a 31' Class C with the Ford V10. Not particularly excited about that, but at least problem areas are well documented, it's in good shape, and very affordable. Should shortly be a (motor)homeowner. Kinda excited about it, kinda terrified as Aidan said.

 

Living in the 949 parking lot?

 

Whatchu talkin' about? Annual full comprehensive insurance on that 1999 should be right around $500 or so, with a $500 deductible. Maybe $600 if I think Cali rates. But a home comes with homeowner ins and property taxes - a MH comes with auto insurance and RV lot charges (same as apt rental, I guess). It's still cheaper, isn't it? Or am I too far removed from the tooty fruity Cali costs for living expenses?

Fair warning - ask the owner of the Class C if the Triton V-10 has had it's spark plugs replaced and whether yes or no, torque those suckers down to 30 ft lbs. The issue of popping plugs out was on the early engines mostly but there are a couple of complaints similarly on the newer model years too. The engine itself came about in 1997 to replace an aging Ford 460 big block V8.

 

24/7 customer service henceforth.

 

Let us know how it goes when your first spark plug gets launched from the head.

I've had three friends with those things, all of them had that happen at one point. I haven't looked into it but maybe see if there's something preventative you can do about it?

 

Bought a 2009 Silverado 1500, Crew Cab 2WD with the 5.3 LMG, 59k miles. Cost 17k, bought it through a friend-of-a-friend who has an account at one of the "dealer only" wholesale auction places. Threw him a few hundred for the help.

Big issue that I may have not really thought through now that I'm looking at trailers, is that I'm screwed as far as keeping the (yet-to-be-bought) trailer at my house. Was planning on stashing an open trailer on the side of the house - the third bay of the garage is a pull through that exits to the side yard. Problem is that the door is small, only 92" wide. Looks like even a 7 foot wide trailer ends up 100+ inches at it's widest point, which I think leaves me high and dry. No access through the side yards, lot isn't wide enough. Any of you guys deal with parking your trailer somewhere you don't own? Seems like it's about $70/month for a spot at a local self-storage place. Could just rent, but from a quick search it'd be $50 a day, not really worth the hassle.

At least I finally have a truck. Been talking about getting one for a year now. It's nice and clean, although I'm not in love with the rims. Has the Z82/Z85/VR4 codes, which I believe means it has all the trailering goodies already. Just ordered one of the HP Tuners dongles so I can disable the AFM/DOD "v4 mode", and it'll be helpful later on when we get my wife's Volvo 240 LS-swap done.

 

WOW storage in AZ is expensive. I store the hydroplane for $20 a month in the winter in a non heated pole barn. Heated is like $50. But I am working on a few other heated options.

 

I store my trailer at the landscape business yard for 70 a month and have a key to enter 24/7.

 

Towed the miata with the cayenne diesel last week. mixed driving 100 mile round trip got 24mpg very impressed.

 

Towed Subaru Sti total weight on the scale with trailer was 5,400 lbs - from Chicago to Denver 1000 miles. The MPG was 11. The flat midwest towing my miata should net me 13mpg hopefully on a Tundra 5.7L.

 

same issue you have.. had this built a couple years ago... problem solved—car stays on trailer in garage. Can’t remember exact width off hand but my single bay doors are so narrow my wife’s odyssey only has a couple inches to spare off the mirrors on each side.

Enough ramp/angle for my S2 style air dam. tows great.

 

Our Town has an ordinance against parking any trailer, boat or RV closer to the road than the front edge of the residence. I had no idea about this when we bought our trailer, since there are trailers, boats and RVs parked in peoples' driveways and yards all over town. It took 6 months before we got a warning notice. After speaking to Code Enforcement guy, I drove around and counted 30 violations within a 1/4 mile radius of our house. They say they're "complaint driven"...

Anyway, I have room on the side of the house for our 8.5x24' enclosed, but can't put it there because our street is too narrow to make the turn, so I rent a storage spot. $81/ month, and an 18 mile drive to get it. It's pretty infuriating, but I don't really have an option. We have a new storage yard opening up a lot closer, so I'm looking into that.

IMHO it's worth it, because with your own trailer you know the condition of the tires/bearings/brakes/wiring, and you can set it up for your intended use. You can also look at this as an opportunity to step up to a little more trailer... an enclosed trailer makes a handy mobile storage unit.

 

That's a slick setup!

Are those ramps steel? If so, they must weigh a ton!

 

How wide is the deck and what's the widest part? Expensive to get something like that made?

 

81” wide.

Ramps aren’t too bad 8 footers are probably 40-50lb

price is pretty reasonable depending on configuration

 

2002 Dodge Ram 2500 5.9
ATS turbo manifold
ATS Aurora 3000
4" downpipe to 5" exhaust
ATS intake manifold
AEM intake
75HP DDP injectors
FASS lift pump
Superchips tuner
ATS stage 3 47RE

 

What a great thread! I currently have a 2002 NB Miata track car that is still drive-able to the track....for now. Looking way down the road, I may consider towing the car one day if I do a full cage. I have a hard time justifying spending the money on a truck and trailer until I absolutely need it, but I like to plan way ahead and am curious as to what you all think.

First off, closed vs open trailer. My issue with the open trailer is security when parked and my Miata is not weather sealed as it has a racing hard top, so if I did get caught in the rain I am screwed. For this reason, I am thinking a used enclosed aluminum trailer may be best, but not cheap I am sure. Or is the price tag of the aluminum trailers not worth the cost of the weight savings? I know this may be dependent on what tow rig I choose.

Next would be the actual tow rig. The Chevy Colorado with the Duramax Diesel peaks my interest as I bet I can get a good deal on a used one when the time comes. Has anyone here had experience towing with the Diesel Colorado? It can tow as much as a full size gas truck, around 7,700lbs but gets much better gas mileage. I would also be more inclined to drive a mid-size diesel for commuting in LA as opposed to a full size gas rig which I would not want to drive it for any other reason than track days. I do have a Honda Civic Type-R as my daily, which gets decent MPG, so I don't necessarily need another DD and I do plan on keeping it once its paid off if I can afford to do so and still buy a rig & trailer. I was just thinking that if I had to spend the money on another vehicle, it would be nice to get some use out of it other than just driving it to the track. If I got an enclosed trailer, would pulling it with a mid size truck still be solid as opposed to a having a bigger frame truck? For the record, I have zero experience towing. I live in SoCal and would need to climb grades going to the local tracks as well as doing some excursions to the NorCal tracks.

 

A diesel Colorado makes little sense when you do the math. The one perk is it will be more relaxed while towing since the torque is available at such low revs, but it'll be slow still. With gasoline considerably cheaper than diesel in LA right now paired with having to buy DEF, doing the math has them about equal, and the gas truck is much better to drive when empty.

I wouldn't tow an enclosed race trailer behind a mid size truck. Go full size if you're doing enclosed.

If you don't need a daily, buy a good condition older truck or SUV for towing duties and keep dailying the Civic.