First r-pod trip - R-pod Owners Forum

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Tracydr

Groupie

Joined: 02 Dec 2017
Location: North carolina
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 42

Topic: First r-pod trip
Posted: 15 Dec 2017 at 9:40pm

I’ll give it a try this weekend.i need to find a video.

StephenH

podders Helping podders - pHp

Joined: 29 Nov 2015
Location: Wake Forest, NC
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6417

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 at 9:30pm

The "crow bar thingy" is called a "snap-up lever" by Equal-i-zer. The "L shaped brackets" are simply called "L brackets."

The easiest way to hitch is to raise the front of the trailer and back up until the ball is under the hitch. Lower the trailer onto the hitch and lock the lever. You may need to rock the vehicle a little to be able to lock the hitch onto the ball.
Next, use the trailer jack to raise both the front of the trailer and rear of the vehicle. This serves two purposes: it makes sure the hitch is locked onto the ball properly and won't pop off while you are going down the road and it makes it a whole lot easier to get the bars onto the L brackets. If both the trailer and vehicle are reasonably level, you may be able to raise it enough to swing the bars onto the L brackets without using the snap up lever. However, you may need to use the lever. If so, raising the hitch will make it a lot easier since most of the pressure will have been taken off.
Once the bars are on the L brackets and locked in place, then lower the hitch/vehicle, attach your safety chains and breakaway switch cable along with the electrical umbilical. Test your lights, and you are ready to go.

Unhitching is in essence the reverse of the above. Raising the trailer while still hitched takes pressure off the bars and makes them easier to remove. You may need to use the snap up lever to pry them off, but it will be a whole lot easier if you have it raised to take the pressure off them.

StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,...

ouR escaPOD mods
Former RPod 179
Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS

Tracydr

Groupie

Joined: 02 Dec 2017
Location: North carolina
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 42

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 at 2:54pm

I’m concerned about disconnecting and reconnecting the hitch by myself with those load distribution/swag bars. I’m going to try it tomorrow. Any pointers? It has
L shaped brackets and you use a crow bar thingy to put them up on the bracket leg. Not sure that makes sense but I don’t know what the parts are called.

Live2Camp

Senior Member

Joined: 17 Apr 2017
Location: No. California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 240

Posted: 15 Dec 2017 at 11:03am

Originally posted by Tracydr

I do need to learn how to get the sway bar part of my hitch off and on by myself as it would have been nice to unhook and go find propane or go to Walmart for a space heater.

You probably already know this since you have so much hauling experience, but the key is to get the load off. I have not yet personally done this so I'm not going to go into more detail. Just that I've been paying really close attention as my partner does it. It will be easier to practice with him coaching me since we moved our trailer back to our property recently from the storage space we have. I don't foresee taking our trailer somewhere without him but I like to know how things work, especially since we do so much dispersed camping (aka boondocking). The ol' "prepare for the worst and hope for the best" Smile

2017 R-Pod 179 HRE (the green one)
His:Ford F150 double cab 4WD; Hers/mine:Tacoma V6 double cab 4WD
Still love rugged, diggin' comfy too

Live2Camp

Senior Member

Joined: 17 Apr 2017
Location: No. California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 240

Posted: 11 Dec 2017 at 7:32pm

What a great trip! I've long said that anyone who can haul horses, can tow anything Smile

Glad it was so successful and that the lessons learned weren't from serious problems. Thanks for sharing your experience.

2017 R-Pod 179 HRE (the green one)
His:Ford F150 double cab 4WD; Hers/mine:Tacoma V6 double cab 4WD
Still love rugged, diggin' comfy too

Tracydr

Groupie

Joined: 02 Dec 2017
Location: North carolina
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 42

Posted: 11 Dec 2017 at 5:05pm

Thanks for the tips,I’ll give them a try!

StephenH

podders Helping podders - pHp

Joined: 29 Nov 2015
Location: Wake Forest, NC
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6417

Posted: 11 Dec 2017 at 8:39am

Originally posted by Tracydr

I’m going to start a note book to jot down things I need to do after every trip to make things run more smoothly,

The door to the cabinet under my sink fell off one of the hinges. Looks like it pulled out of the wood. Anybody have recommendations for fixing this?

Oh,I also won my classes at the dog show both days and a “Group 2”in the owner handles groups which was the best I’ve done so far without a handler! I show a Doberman and I’ve been out of showing for 25 years.

Congratulations on your successful trip.
For the door, here are a few possible solutions:
1. Use a screw that is a little larger than the one that pulled out (diameter, not length). If it was a #4, use a #6, if a #6, use a #8.
2. Take a round wooden toothpick and some glue. Break the point off the toothpick. Coat it with glue and insert it into the hole where the screw pulled out. Wait for the glue to dry and then cut off the excess toothpick that is sticking out. Then re-mount the door with the original screw. I have done this a number of times on various items where screws pulled out. Gorilla Wood Glue or Elmer's Carpenter's Glue are good choices for this.
3. Look for some good quality wood filler. Fill the holes with wood filler and let dry. Drill and mount the door with the original screws. DAP Plastic Wood is a good choice. Look for a blue tube. It claims to be 3X stronger and states that it is suitable for "Strong nail & screw anchoring."

StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,...

ouR escaPOD mods
Former RPod 179
Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS

Tracydr

Groupie

Joined: 02 Dec 2017
Location: North carolina
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 42

Posted: 11 Dec 2017 at 6:06am

I’m going to start a note book to jot down things I need to do after every trip to make things run more smoothly,

The door to the cabinet under my sink fell off one of the hinges. Looks like it pulled out of the wood. Anybody have recommendations for fixing this?

Leo B

podders Helping podders - pHp

Joined: 13 Jan 2012
Location: Lyndonville, VT
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 4518

Posted: 11 Dec 2017 at 5:57am

Sounds like an interesting trip! We have had an rpod since 2009 and we still find that we learn new things on every trip.

Leo & Melissa Bachand
2017 Ford F150
2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk
Previously owned
2015 Rpod 179
2010 Rpod 171

Tracydr

Groupie

Joined: 02 Dec 2017
Location: North carolina
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 42

Posted: 11 Dec 2017 at 5:39am

so, had my first trip in the r-pod this weekend Left Laurinburg for Winston-Salem in a downpour at 5 am Saturday. This changed to snow and started to become heavy snow at Greensboro. Luckily they had plowed the roads already as I was running late for my dog show.

Boy am I glad I have 4WD! I didn’t need it on the road but at the fairgrounds the snow was deep with wet mud underneath. I would have been stuck a couple of times without it trying to find the perfect spot.

Set-up and tear down were simple by myself. My husband had suggested taking the battery operated impact wrench and that made the corner leveling jacks incredibly easy to operate.

Some learning moments- engineer hubby’s are sometimes wrong about things. He even has a t-shirt about this that his kids bought him! We had discussed the furnace last week when he decided to leave it on 64 degrees all week to make packing pleasant for me. I asked if he thought it would use all my propane. “It’s on the electric,it’s a “3-way furnace”. He was absolutely positive that he was right. I was sure that 3 way furnaces don’t exist in camper land and the seller must have confused him between the fridge and furnace. Friday night I talked to a friend on the phone about this as I was packing,I thought about getting the extra propane tank out of the barn but it was pouring rain and I was really running behind getting ready. So I didn’t. We also talked about me grabbing the little space heater from the greenhouse but I forgot about it later.

Needless to say,the heat worked like a champ and kept my camper warm all week,including the trip up to Winston-Salem and then stopped working about 2 hours after I arrived.

Thankfully,my friend had brought a space heater to keep her dogs warm in her van. She was going home for the night and loaned it to me.

Other than that,no issues. I do need to learn how to get the sway bar part of my hitch off and on by myself as it would have been nice to unhook and go find propane or go to Walmart for a space heater.

I learned a lot and feel confident doing this by myself. I didn’t really have any doubts as I traveled a lot with my horse trailer/ camper by myself and I’m pretty self sufficient. I did blow the CB at the post a couple of times between crock pot,space heater and microwave but luckily there were lots of plugs to chose from. Just not a 30A that matched my cord. I need another dog-bone to go from 30-50amps. There was a plug I didn’t recognize with 3 holes but the holes didn’t match my cord?

I am going to get a waterproof cargo bag to put the light stuff,especially bedding and memory foam so that I can store it outside on my cargo roof rack. With all my show clothes I have no room for the bedding and my bunks got pretty messy. I may get a receiver hitch rack. I’d love to get a cheap scooter to lug things to the buildings since my feet cause me problems. For now,I’ll just remember the bike for the next show.

I had so many compliments and questions about the r-pod.

I do wish I had gotten my light hangers up so that I could have shown off my teardrop camper Christmas lights! Oh,well. I’ll use them and he lighted flamingo next time as “party lights”.