We bought our fifth-wheel used and have never gotten it professionally looked over. Unless you count after the hail, but that was different. Before our travels this year we decided to get a “platinum service” check-up this year to look over the electrical, plumbing, hot water, heating, A/C, tires, etc. We also had a list of things we wanted them to take a look at including the door/steps, our toilet that sporadically leaks around the base, the electrical fuse that’s blown, and the tire we’ve replaced three times. We arrived in Denton on Saturday (Feb 14) in enough time to drop it off at the Camping World that day. We unhitched but there was another unit in front of us so we didn’t move the truck fully out from underneath. We checked in and went over our list of questions. When we were done, Scott went to drive the truck away but got stuck when the hitch hit the tailgate.
We had unhitched, put the tailgate up, then tried to drive away. But the tailgate was up and in the way of the hitch-pin on the fifth-wheel. Once we got our tailgate down and fully disconnected we had to add replacing the 7 way plug that connects the brakes/lights because it got pinched and smashed by the tailgate situation.
We headed to a Vrbo with our work stuff, kitchen stuff (including food that might spoil if the fridge was turned off for the week), and everything that was in the basement storage compartment so the techs would have easy access. The Vrbo was a two bed two bath unit in an apartment complex that had seen better days. It had the space but it wasn’t home. The rental had twice as much space, double the bathrooms, and yet felt like a lot of wasted space.
When we checked in with the technician working on the fifth-wheel, he confirmed a lot of what we suspected and told us our unit was pretty solid. The stairs need to be replaced to resolve that issue, so we’ll continue to live with it for now. The front axle is bent, which puts more weight on the rear, causing that rear passenger tire to take more of the pressure than it should, thus the uneven wear and cracked rim. We’ll need to get the axle replaced or get a new suspension system. Previously we had debated getting a MORryde Independent Suspension system which removes the axles and instead allows each tire to independently absorb shocks. Our summer loop this year takes us pretty close to the MORryde factory up in Indiana so if they had bookings available and we decided to do it we could make that happen. Camping World didn’t find anything wrong apart from what we had already identified. We had booked the Vrbo for a week so we worked from there until Friday when we picked up the fifth-wheel and moved over to the KOA a little north of Denton.
The other repair we needed was the truck tailgate. After ramming it with our hitch pin it wouldn’t close but we were able to use a ratchet strap to cinch it shut. We searched for repair shops and decided to go with an independent autobody shop, Weaver Wisdom Collision. We stopped by on Monday. When we started talking to them, turns out the owner was AT the Camping World when we were dropping it off and saw our tailgate collision. They thought they could get the work done in a week so they ordered us a new tailgate and got it painted (during which we kept the vehicle) then on Thursday we took the truck over and they attached it. An expensive mistake but quickly resolved.
While in Denton I was able to catch up with my friend Teo whom I haven’t seen since like 2018. I joined their union happy hour and we met up for breakfast on Saturday.
While in Denton, Scott was checking on the upcoming weather for the locations we were planning to travel and saw there was a pretty big thunderstorm headed to Oklahoma City right when we were planning on being there. We initially planned to be there for a week but decided to modify our plans to avoid the weather. We debated skipping it entirely but in the end we chose to go up for three days rather than the full week. We traveled to Oklahoma City on Saturday and to Little Rock Arkansas on Monday (three days in Oklahoma). While in OKC we were able to visit Science Museum Oklahoma, the fifth museum I’ve worked with whose space I’ve gotten to see in person. It was amazing (love their water play area so much!) and I’m so glad we stopped by.
