Hey guys!

Well, as some of you may noticed in my 'oil light' post yesterday, we got us a camper!

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/m...ann/camper.jpg

Everything works (so they say.... I don't know the first thing about campers- sure as heck not enough to see if anything works... lol), and it was well within my price-range.

I needed a 5" drop-hitch, but only had a 2" drop for the way home. Even, then the HSE was a CHAMP- it didn't sag a bit- can you believe that?

Anyway, I will be going to GR tomorrow to get trailers lights and brakes wired up, but I had three questions:

1) I have been looking all morning on AtlanticBritish for side-mirror extenders, so I can see around the camper. But, I haven't found anything. Do you guys know where I might find these? Thanks!!

2) Do I need "anti-sway bars"? If so, where can I find those?

3) I would like some kind of video camera to wire to the back of the camper, with a small monitor to put in the cabin. Do you guys know if anything like this exists?

Thanks folks!

Pat

 

You won't find mirror extensions for your mirrors.
Yes, you will want the control of a sway bar, do you already have a lift, if not, consider one cause you factory suspension won't cut it.
Talk with a good mobil home trailor service, they have them but boy are they expensive, I wouldn't waste the money.

 

SWEET FIND!!
Your SLS will be fine with that.
The type of mirrors that you want are the ones that go on the fender, look at Millbrook Trailer on 68th St and 131.
There is also a huge camper place in Wayland, I forget their name but they are right off the expressway.
The mirrors that I am talking about mount to your front fenders, they look like the mirrors that the '70's Chevy pick ups had.
For a cross country trip get the sway bars, if you were towing it to Cedar Springs in the spring and then back home in the fall then I would say save your money.
But for a 6,000 mile trip, get them.
Stay away from U-Haul.
As for the camera...any cheap security camera system will work, or you can buy a baby monitor with a camera and B&W moniter from Babies-R-Us on 28th St in Cascade.
I think Wal-Mart sells security camera kits as well as Radio Shack.
When do you leave for your trip? I know quite a bit about campers and towing so if you want to get together Pat let me know.

 

http://www.generalrv.com/

There are also tons of RV places on S.Division south of 68th st.

 

I have seen mirrors that attach to your existing side mirrors with straps extending them out around 8 inches. I just talked with my boss who has them and he said they run less than 50 bucks for the pair, I would check a rv store. I have also seen the aftermarket backup cameras before on ebay so I do know they exist.

 

I've read somewhere that you shouldn't use sway control hitch bars with an SLS..anybody know if this is true?

 

Thanks for all the info, guys!

NiteTrain- the manual says not to use a "load balancing hitch"- is that the same thing?

MIRRORS: Under NO circumstances will I mount big mirrors on my Disco. I almost vomited at the very THOUGHT. Holy cow, that makes me sick... Yuk... I will find another way. Thanks for the info, guys... Oh man, that is some NASTY crap, there.

Phil- we'll be leaving on June 20th, give or take a day. I know absolutely ZERO about travel trailers or towing, so I very well may look you up!! THANK YOU for the incredibly generous offer!

We paid $1,400 for the camper, and it has the perfect floor plan for what we want to do. We'll be spending the next couple weeks gutting it and replacing the soft stuff, and putting some cheap tile down in place of the carpet. It'll be a big under-taking, but we want to do it.


The COOLEST part will be the $20,000+ we will profit from selling the video+book we are going to sell online regarding the whole process.

 

disco2fever, yeah I think that's the same thing. I was looking into getting a reese until I read that.

 

Those mirrors that I am talking about are not permanent, the strap to your front fenders and then come back off when not needed.
I have used those strap on mirrors that strap onto your exisiting mirrors and they did nto work on my Oldsmobile that I had at the time, they fell off going down the road.*
*Your results may vary

If you want on a Sat after I get out of work I can stop over and give you a hand, explain stuff and stuff.

 

I picked up a pair of extension mirrors at Carquest a couple years back before I left Alaska. They are the ones Salve7 was talking about and made it all the way from Alaska to Arizona and back to Colorado without any problems. (Phil's problem with the mirrors was operator error.) They're universal and will fit any mirror without damage. I would never even think about the mirrors on the fenders. I towed my trailer with my Rover the other day and definitely should have put on the mirror extenders. If I had had to change lanes it would have been a grit the teeth and hope for the best ordeal. I couldn't see anything behind the trailer and my trailer is only 7' wide. It's not as wide as a camper.

http://www.amazon.com/Valley-53900-E.../dp/B0006PU9CI


The Rover manual says not to use a load distributing/balancing hitch. That is different than sway controllers. Sway controllers are more or less shocks that go between the tongue of the trailer and the hitch mount. The SLS is designed to adjust for the added weight of a trailer and a load distributing hitch will mess with the suspension.