Best advise I can give is just take your own time, and don't get intimidated by other drivers zooming past you. Try to keep up with the flow of traffic, but don't drive out of your comfort zone.

Other advise which has already been mentioned is stay in a lane that continues straight through and doesn't end or become an exit lane. When I first started towing, I always tried to stay in the far right lane all the time. That becomes a pain when you suddenly realize your in an exit lane and you don't want to exit. You end up changing lanes constantly, which I found a bit scary as a rookie. Find a lane and stay in that lane.

As far as SLC goes, if you have ever driven any major multi-lane freeway, it really isn't any different. Maybe try to plan your days so you miss the rush hour traffic in the bigger centers like SLC.

I got broke in towing my first trailer (5th wheel) on Deerfoot Trail in Calgary at rush hour. Since then I have towed to Los angeles (took the I-15 all the way home) and Vancouver Island. I call the trip to LA going to Disneyland the hard way, but that is another story.

Everyone starts somewhere. You'll be an expert by the time you get home.

 

Just give yourself plenty of buffer room and time to stop. A trailer can really push on you.

 

After years of towing boats around, both in town and on the open road, the best advise I can give you is to have at least 1 spare tire and a good jack. It's not a question of if you will have a flat tire on the trailer it's a question of when. Most trailer tires are JUNK(16" excluded).
Good luck and be safe!!!!
Jay

 

Ditto on the spare tire. Your truck jack may not be suitable for the trailer, I carry an additional hydralic bottle jack IN THE CAMPER.

Head back north through Denver. You can overnight in my driveway and I sure want to see your new TT. 303-940-1639.

 

Thanks again, I'm picking up a decent jack on my way down. Rare1 I'll send you a PM when I get a chance.

 

Uh, if I may: If this is your first trailer, I suggest you DO put the weight distribution hitch on it. And attach the anti-sway. Without, even at only 4,000 lbs, your investment is just flapping in the breeze. Big rigs passing you will risk setting up a bad sway situation, and there goes your rig. You won't believe how small the pieces are from rolling a trailer.
Put the hitch and anti-sway bar on, and smooth things out greatly.
Seriously.

 

There is a place called Cliff's Welding (4007 E Main St. Mesa,Az 85205 480-478-0247 ) They do all types of trailer and R.V repair. I have been doing buss. with this shop , mainly parts and brake controllers, for about 25 years. They put a hitch in a 01 dodge for me when I was off work hurt and did a fantastic job, usually I do them myself.

 

I have seen the pieces...most of them. Amazing how they can blow apart.
Its a good point that you make especially with a smaller, and/or lighter trailer...they can move and bounce a lot more then a longer, heavier trailer...I have watched in the mirror and saw how the wheels can literally bounce off the road and then skip left or right close to a foot when the right conditions are present.
Check the tire pressures often. I have had my share of cheap garbage tires on new campers I hauled. Some don't make it 20 miles and are coming apart.

Not trying to instill fear, just a heads up.

Scotty

 

Good info thanks

 

What do you guys suggest for w/d hitch and s/c setup? Kind of confusing trying to figure out the options. The Reese dual-cam looks to be superior to friction sway setups but it costs close to $700. If I buy the standard Reese trunnion or roundbar w/d setup can I add the dual-cam sway setup later as an option?

edit: after doing some research I see you can add the d/c sway setup afterward. I also see there are significantly cheaper setups than Reese that appear similar (Curt for example).

 

Update: made it to DLUX fab shop this afternoon in Murray UT and just grabbed a hotel. With any luck truck should be back on the road tomorrow late afternoon with a host of new parts Ball joints are tapping consistently now and today for the first time one of my front u-joints made a grind turning sharp so I think I'm just in time for the frontend!

Bought an Equal-i-zer brand hitch this morning at State Trailer in Idaho Falls. It should work great for what I need and puts my mind at ease.

Comments on the trip so far 1) Great Falls to Helena MT is absolutely gorgeous country, nicest I've seen anywhere 2) Holy smokes really windy all the way through MT and ID and 3) SLC freeways are indeed crazy considering the relatively small population!

I'll update more when I get the trailer in a couple days.

 

Curious about the DLUX Fab hubs and installations as they are pretty close to me.

And the rest of the trip?

 

Well the hubs work well, definitely picked up MPG. No BS here, after 10 years with this truck I know I get around 800km with the gauge on 1/8 mark. With the hubs free I got 900km at the 1/8 mark. Mind you my original wheel bearings were a little tight so new bearings might be part of the MPG increase.

One thing to watch is the extra track width especially if you have less-than-stock backspacing wheels and bigger tires; I got a minor tire rub on the mudflap near full steering lock.

Now as for the rest of the trip what a total gong show. I ended up leaving truck, trailer, most of my stuff in Phoenix and flying back to Edmonton so I can go to work.

Nothing major was wrong with the trailer from Cranky Ape except tires were worn really funny and batteries were dead. Someone had squashed the front ladder (probably jacknifed the trailer backing it) which was not in their photos. Also not in the photos was someone had put the spare tire on; original tire was inside the trailer worn bald on the inside edge and delaminated.

So no showstoppers but I was worried the axles might be out of alignment to cause the strange tire wear. Got it in a shop for Friday for axle alignment, bearing pack and brake service. I picked it up Saturday (parts dep't open, no service) set up my hitch and headed out. Checked the brakes and nothing - Brake Overload on the controller.

So lost 2 days and Monday they fixed a shorted wire inside the axle tube. Charged me another $200 even though I know they caused the short as it was working fine before. Whatever no big deal.

Monday afternoon found a golf cart shop in Mesa and converted over to 6V series battery arrangement. This went pretty well actually.

Tuesday I went first thing to a tire shop to upgrade all 4 + spare to 225/75/15 load range E tires. The jacka** service techs put their floor jacks under the relatively weak spring mount plates coming off the frame holding and promptly bent them Big problem now!

So opened a claim with the tire shop, towed the trailer (screeching and groaning) a couple blocks to another trailer / aligment shop. They said no problem, not only will we fix it but we'll flip the axles under the springs and use shorter hangers off the frame so it's better than new once done.

I'm looking at the axle diameter and thinking looks like this will end up a lot taller. Are you sure it will be same height I ask? Yup within an inch. You're absolutely sure? Yup we do 300 of these a year don't worry.

Well Thursday I go look at it at end of day and from 400' away I can see it is sitting WAY tall. Five inches taller to be exact! I can't even level it with the tongue jack all the way out. And their shop f/m has the ***** to tell me that I'm wrong and they measured it and it's only 1" taller!

Thursday night I fretted about it all night; booked plane tickets home and called them Friday morning. Told them it needs to be closer to stock height. Now they're really snotty about it but agree they'll do something to lower it.

So that's where I left it. Not too confident in how they're going to fix it especially when they're clearly ****** off at me. I just hope it's done safely and a reasonable height when I fly back after my shift in 2 weeks.

Like I said quite the gong show.

 

No happy campers there. My offer to overnight in Denver still stands.

 

Pony up the $700 and buy the Reese Straight line with the dual cam right upfront. Yes, you can buy the hitch without the sway and add the cams later. In fact, I just bought and added a set of cams to a second trailer that we bought. But it is a very nice package when you get it all together. You do not really want to pull "at speed" off the bumper ball on a long trip.