DanielBoondock

You read my mind, I anticipated there would be interest lol .. I made sure to wrap this up by the last Dexter trip GM just dropped an Surround Recording feature via OTA, but it ‘only’ records four cameras front/back/sides, so ill have to have my wife point a phone at the screen Just thought I’ll check the trucks App Store and see if there’s a screen record..

Trail cam! The Sierra EV has one of if not the biggest screen in the industry, massive 17” tablet, and GM’s got IMO the best cameras in the industry. Anyhow I can have two trailer cams, I’ve got one on the back for transparent trailer etc. I put the second on as a trail cam Spent a long time thinking about where to put it. Up top is pretty well covered with the other cameras, I realized the ground was the weak spot. Use cases you all will be familiar with Shows levelers/chocks etc. When driving on/off levelers it’s impossible to tell where you are and I often overshoot and bung them up as there’s few inches of margin with dual axel When offroad, or even parking lot speed bumps, will be really nice to see them coming instead of guessing for known obstacles. Sometimes I have to drive over a curb too Fun and a good idea to keep an eye on the trailer suspension Backing up to a stop. At my park I have the cement parking stop placed where I want it, but I can’t tell where it is until I hit it. Installation was ridiculously easy. This and only this cross bar was perfect as its the only one not holding anything up, so I could simply zip tie to it. And of course they have these genius cable runs on the two edges.

Congrats - the following March here 🥳 Wasn’t planning on it. As noted the Alcan are beefier, and basically don’t see a reason to mix and match. But also as mentioned it’s a good idea to keep them as spares, in fact I’ll keep the whole set as a spare until eventually I probably get sick of them kicking around and recycle 😅 VERY good tip, was not aware of that thanks!

Thanks for the encouragement! Good tip on the impact wrench, that’s the tool I was looking for. I already have a DeWalt mini vac and a leaf blower for the trailer so will add the mid impact wrench and 3/4” thin walled protective socket, plus a general impact socket set for using on the trailer AI is helpful here to pull out the tips from the forum, here’s the ones that stand out Make sure the shackles point up when assembling or it’ll have to be redone Do one side (driver) completely both axels first, then the other side, so the opposing side is aligned and secure Tighten U-bolts in a criss-cross Align the wet bolts with the grease holes horizontal, and seat the splines (e.g. rubber mallet) before final tightening Shocks Leave the compression strap on the Bulldogs until assembled and on the ground, then clip off to uncompress Be careful about compressing but not squashing the shock end bumpers Torque Bulldogs to 40 ft-lbs and the rest to Alcan specs (provided) Do all final torque settings while the trailer is on the ground and ‘loaded’, not hanging in the air Use the impact wrench only for loosing and spinning on the nuts, always use a torque wrench for final setting. Don’t use the impact wrench on the wet bolts

Thanks JD, yeah been busy, sandwich generation stuff … Thanks for the reminder about your post, taking notes, I’ll probably PM you once I’ve compiled them if you don’t mind correcting my homework That sounds more like it! I don’t mind doing it, shouldn’t be hard for old engie’s like us but I’m getting pulled in ten directions at the moment so just wanted to pay somebody. Anyhow I’m mooch camping supporting some family again in a couple weeks so I’m thinking I’ll just do it then. Yeah at this point it’s been enough effort spent talking to people I’m ready to call it sunk costs and just git ‘er done. I’ve got a couple good jacks, stands, a DeWalt torque/breaker bar, and as JD says there’s the rear trailer jacks. And hey saving myself $400/$900 I can pop for another tool or two for ‘free’, hmmmm …😅

OK, so I ordered the springs in springtime and made an appointment in July when we’d be in Utah near Grand Junction. But then they got a series of wildfires all throughout that area, my wife has PTSD from us going through them at home, so we cancelled the trip. Alcan wanted steep fees for holding on to them until we could come again next spring, no good (I had already paid for the springs per their requirement when you order). So I paid to have them shipped out figuring a local trailer suspension shop would have no problem with it. Wrong - they won’t install ‘customer supplied parts’. They want to sell you the parts themselves, sigh … OK so then I’m trying my local garage, near where I store the trailer with easy access. Great folks, used them for lots of stuff, but they don’t normally do trailers. Gave them all the information, they thought it looked doable for $1500, but I should check if they’re ballpark. AI search of this forum gave more like 300-500 or so. He said $900/minimum at a upcharge for (again), customer supplied parts and wouldn’t do it for less than four hours @ 250/hr. Grrrrrrr There’s another shop I can try locally, or I could take them BACK to Alcan next year, but I’m getting frustrated and thinking about just installing the damn things myself. I’ll troll the (38 page!) thread for DIY install. Anyhow feeling down at the moment, looking for advice thanks

Interesting choice. Cushioning the pitch seems like a good idea, that's the main reaction I get at my hitch. The Anderson is designed to constrain yaw to prevent sway. I get none of that, and the truck has antisway built in with rear steer wheels. You don't get any weight distribution, but the Anderson doesn't do much of that anyhow as far as I can tell, don't know why they advertise it as a WD hitch.

The manual wants you to use bleach and the boondocking port to use the pump to pull diluted bleach through into the tank. Disadvantage is its a bit of a pain, and I’d prefer a better alternative to bleach. So instead I’m using the Sani-System packets which use a mixture of ammonium chlorides. It also has the advantage that it can be run through the water heater. Regardless of your sanitizer, looking for pros/cons of this approach. Instead of the boondocking port which requires futzing around with valves which is a pain, I got this https://www.amazon.com/RV-Inline-Sanitizer-Easiest-disinfect/dp/B08F2QTQ5T The picture is deceiving, it’s a neat little inline container that the bleach/NCl can be poured into, that then is attached to the (for me) streetside port direct to tank. Then just run the faucets through the system. No messing with valves, much quicker and easier. However, are there parts of the system that are not being sanitized? I guess the answer is yes - the curbside port, which I rarely use. I guess I answered my own question, it really should go through the curbside. Anyhow comments are welcome …

That’s only three years old! Any idea why they got so bad, previous owner didn’t grease?

From the new weekly update Jason said it kind of oddly - they've been selling from the factory for years and that's how I got it as as West Coast dealers are sparse - but I think he means they're no longer going to sell through dealers. My guess would be the cost of the trailers and customization. One of the 'closest' dealers to me is a couple day drive over to Utah. I talked to them, but of course they didn't stock what I wanted so it was a custom order with a big downpayment. And the sales guy wasn't super helpful, I wanted the big 640 Lithionics which he pushed back on. "Those are too expensive!" 😅 Odd thing to say, my finances are my business, and I'm glad I got them even with the EV. Anyhow got tired of trying to work with them and just went straight to the factory as there was really no advantage to the dealer.

I've got a Mitsubishi I had installed in my garage/office. Looked at doing it myself, doesn't appear to be a big job, but at the time the price was good to have the experts do it. I think these come with precharged lines too so you don't have to get the vac pump and mess around with all that. I'd be cautious about having multiple registers/heads. I worked with them about putting a second in the bedroom ... I don't recall the limitations now, but I remember the upshot is that its better to not do these hydra installations.

These look pretty awesome, thanks for the tip! The '26's don't have touch lights, but plain jane bright white which cheesy little switches. Olivers have a huge amount of lighting for a small trailer but I use them all. Getting to choose your temp is amazing! How good is it, which one did you choose? Otherwise the remembering the state is a huge feature too. Choosing blue for a nightlight is absolutely brain dead though, it should have been deep dark red to preserve night vision and not wake you up. Blue is a morning light and is the clue to your brain that its time to wake up. Oh well ...

I’ll call (probably), but still won’t change the axels. I’m at 0% gain on the freeways now and only go up to an exciting 0.5% when in traffic. Don’t use the brakes much basically

OK. Yeah the Alcan guy on the phone asked if I also wanted to install new axels? “Uh, no, why?” I explained that they were D52’s with the spring derate, to which he replied that the brakes were (maybe?) different. Like I say he didn’t seem confident of that and I wasn’t really buying it, I think from our discussion we can conclude that we believe it’s just a stock D52.

Right The question is whether these have gimped 3500 brakes, maybe the conversation is getting a little mixed. Just realized I misinterpreted what scuba was saying, I thought he meant that a 12” drum means a different brake than the standard D52, but on re-reading I think he means that’s just a D52. Those drums look like they’re 12”, and from the label we know 26’s have D52’s derated to 3500. Long story short I think these are stock 52’s with the on paper derating due to the springs. Speak up if I’m missing something

Dunno, what do you think?

Agree, not sure how much I believe the hype. Shocks have a simple job, have been around forever, hard to believe it can be improved that much. Anyhow at $40 each its a cheap upgrade Good to hear. I get a little (non problematic) side waddle. It’s the porpoising thats annoying, if that goes away I’ll be happy.

4k and soon to be 6k. But why? Why not? They’re redoing the suspension so it’s certainly the right time for it. Plus those Bulldogs look so much more coooooooollllllll 🙂 The bigger thing is I largely went with Oliver because I just don’t want to deal with problems. I’m a retiring engineer dammit, I don’t need to keep fixing bad designs and issues! 😅I could get some more milage out of this suspension but if I believe that it is undersized then there’s no reason to wait … FWIW here’s what Google thinks about the two, but granted we (or at least I) don’t know what if any differences there are with Bulldogs HD and these light duty trailer shocks

On the Bulldog shocks Alcan didn’t want to order them (I got the feeling like they’re just about the leaf springs and didn’t want to be bothered), so I did so from advice on this thread from 4trucks. Note they don’t carry them in stock but have to come from a warehouse which adds delay, it was maybe a month all told to get them.

If you like that you gotta try regenerative braking at 0.5 trailer gain! I’ll pull 130 kW silently on the regen and bring you to a full stop, it’s nuts. I have to lower the regen to the moderate level as the high level is too much. Big batter == more regen capability basically. Anyhow yeah the first gen trucks like Lightning, CT and Rivian aren’t for towing, but these second gen Sierra + Silverado are pretty hard to beat as a camping companion. Power is the one thing I don’t worry about boondocking. I’ve talked about it before but I haven’t mapped a trip yet that doesn’t have charging close enough for these trucks. The only vampire I notice is the WIFI (TP-Link travel router), slowly but surely it’ll eat at the battery and heat up the attic, even on Eco. Not a problem with all these kWh really but its’ annoying, I turn it off at night. I wifi hotspot mooching and tether my unlimited plan phone for the family otherwise.

Yeah cutoff switches, the solar pokes into the cabinet but the inverter is on the main layout panel under the bed. Stuff under the beds makes sense - I was wondering with the double hull how you’d access everything but it works great, except when you need to get to them! I’m fine with the electrical, that’s a rare interaction, but the water valves are super annoying. Why didn’t they put a Nautilus panel or the like just under the curb bed? Your motorized valve solution is cool.

The inverter, the solar is up in the street side cabinet

This mod is awesome but I’d go KISS with a simple switch too. It’s very useful for troubleshooting, in fact on my maiden voyage I ran into trouble with my Xantrex and Oliver support wanted me to isolate the battery by taking the leads off. I wasn’t too happy about that - they’re torqued and I didn’t have the proper wrench with me, and maybe not the right sized sockets anyhow. Pretty crude just pulling those leads … fortunately I quickly realized that these Lithionics I got have the built in power switches. So easy, but not everybody has a built in cutoff. The ‘26’s already have two master rotary cutoffs, one for solar and the other for the inverter. Odd they didn’t do one for the battery

I know - I’m an EV guy so my brain thinks in kWh. I do continue it here since the truck is the main power source off park, so for example “if I’m at 79 SOC (State of Charge) of 220 kWh, then taking 8kWh for the trailer leaves me 169 kWh or 75% of the battery, which is at 1.3 mi/kWh 219 miles which is fine to get back to civilization … Yeah your right it’s 640 Ah I was misremembering, 7ish or 9ish kWh or something …

Great minds think alike - I have this one for cooking outside https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G9YKPQC Stainless is nice but most is I like that its fine if it rains, don’t ask me how I know. Also it’s got .5 increments so is finer grained control than the interior stove Hm? Not sure what you mean either … I’m just saying that the cooktops have a specified input power they can spend however they want. For the home Bosch the electrician used the wire gauge and breaker size required for installation and obviously same here. So the induction is sized to that, but they can use that power however it wants. The Bosch has a boost mode which is super crazy fast for boiling water, less than a minute for a full pot. I forget how much it is, 6-9kW I think? Anyhow that can only be used with the other burners at a much lower power, so it basically hogs the input. The Oliver induction is much the same. I can use the main burner on 10, and the secondary on 1 or 2 IIRC. Or I can use the secondary on 8 (max), and the main on 3. So clearly, 11 is the maximum level (the engineer must have seen Spinal Tap), and the onboard PLC lets you spread that across two burners in this way. Now the burner could be sized bigger, say 2.5 kW, and (without doing the math) say that allows both burners on full. OK fine, but now that would only sell to RV’s with 3k inverters which isn’t as common as 2k. Even on shore power we only have a 30A input which still limits. Don’t know what this means, everybody is limited to 30A on shore, and on battery are limited by the inverter and battery. With my stock dual Lithionics 9kWh batteries and the Xantrex 3k I always have to be mindful of power while cooking. On battery I can do two things at once usually, but no AC. On shore I can do AC and cook, one or two things but still have to be careful. From the factory they incorrectly set the low voltage cutoff of the Xantrex at 11.3 IIRC. By accident I found that out, it’s supposed to be 12.1. At the previous value I could easily run two things at once on battery. At the correct 12.1 I have to be much more careful and run more like 1.5 appliances simultaneously. Making it more interesting I’ve got 10 kW off my truck if you can believe that. 7kW off the bed power sockets, and I have a ~3kW dongle which goes off the charge port in a ‘reverse power’ configuration. I think it’s using the onboard Level II AC inverter backwards for that. Anyhow this dongle has a TT-30 socket - they must have done it for the campers, so I can plug the trailer into mobile ‘shore power’. But it’s limited to 25A not 30A, so have to be a bit more careful. Buuuuuuut, if it really mattered, I could also go off the bed power (using an adapter for 240V), or just run the outdoor induction off one of the 120V, or whatever. tl/dr …