This was painful! I did not want to share these videos, but in the interest of sharing my mistake as a learning experience, I reluctantly agreed. This may be the only time anyone has caught this kind of RV towing mistake on camera.
Cheri’ wasn’t even supposed to be recording at that RV site. But here they are, all 3 videos! Watch and learn so you can avoid this mistake. If you are new to our RV living and travel videos, thank you for subscribing! (Subscribe on YouTube!) For those that want to know, our truck is a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado 3500 dually with a 6.6 Duramax diesel engine, Allison transmission and a Husky EZ Roller 26K hitch (at the time of this writing).
In the first video, I made several mistakes that lead to dropping our new RV onto our truck, now we are going to inspect the damage and see what other challenges are in store for us today.
Now in the final video of this series, I can’t disconnect the RV from the truck! What did I do wrong?
Thank you for all of the supportive comments on this video series! We have received over 2500 comments on the series so far!! That’s something that is so great about the RV community, we are like a small family and everyone helps each other out. Why do we share a mistake like this?? Like all of our videos, we want them to become a resource for everyone to learn from. Here our some of the takeaways from this RV living mistake:
- Note: These are not excuses! What happened was my responsibility and I fully own my mistakes! This was a new hitch to me. My old hitch arm locked into place automatically. Plus I had to use a slick disc on my last hitch. I should not have assumed this hitch operated the same way. Takeaway – Know your equipment!
- I was tired from moving and overwhelmed by all the new stuff to learn. About a week had gone by since Mark gave me instructions on the hitch, so I forgot some critical steps. I should have practiced several times hitching and unhitching with my truck while Mark watched. Takeaway – Don’t move your RV when you are tired!
- For those that are enjoying the RV life already, you will be familiar with this one. We had 2 RVs to move to the new campsite that day, so we got behind and felt rushed. Takeaway – Don’t be in a rush when hitching up!
- We do have an RV campsite tear down checklist that you can get for free when you subscribe to our newsletter. We will be updating that list with new information from our experiences with our Grand Design Momentum RV. Takeaway – Use a checklist when setting up and packing up your RV campsite so you never miss a critical step!
I think our Husky EZ Roller hitch is working fine and would make a great hitch for a part-time RVer. Since we are full-time RVers, we want and feel like we need a hitch upgrade. So we are still going hitch shopping! What is your favorite hitch? Is it an Anderson, Reese, B & W, Curt, gooseneck upgrade, or another option? Let us know in the video comments!
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Safe travels friends!! Tom & Cheri’ 👍
Hi, love yr shows. That happened to us so dont feel to bad. We have a dent on both sides of the bed and the tailgate was dented so we got a new pipe style tailgate which makes it look alot better. We hope to meet up with you two on our travels. Just now selling our house!
My husband and I have been following you for over 2 years now and learned so much about full-time RV life. We just signed a contract for our new fifth wheel and have been following this transition of yours to your new coach – congratulations! As we cringed along with everyone else as your trailer dropped out of the hitch, we are anxious to know what you are finding out on your research for a new (alternate) hitch system…. have you explored the Anderson fifth wheel hitch?? We are approaching our 70’s and the Anderson seems to offer benefits over the other heavier models. Thank you so much for all you both do (loving Cherie’s new venture!) and are always top of our subscription list on YouTube!! Thanks from Phoenix, AZ
Hey Tom, Tom here. Met you both in the 2020 Momentum 381 at the Tampa RV show yesterday. Sucks that happened to you. I really like the 24k from Pullrite. The J hook style is awesome. Plenty of vids to see how it works. Very simple to use. And I also use a plastic disc. The only other thing I do is a visual after hooked before I close the tailgate to make sure the pin is wrapped. BTW I got mine from Amazon by the factory at a great price. Best wishes.
You are not the first or last to drop your trailer on your truck. I did the same thing with my 36ft TETON and Ram 3500. I was sick and tired also. Expensive lesen to learn.
I did not like the king pin type hook up to much slop in the connection, I went with the reese goosebox, easier hook up, positive lock,and a much smoother ride.
We have a keystone raptor a big beast and we use an Anderson hitch which is not a drive on hitch but a ball you lower the rv down directly over the hitch ball like a goose neck