This Year's Garden

Hello family and friends.  I finished putting in the garden today.  Actually, I put everything in last weekend except for some herbs today.  Thought I'd try herbs for the first time since Gina and I are working our way towards trying to eat healthier.  I'm not putting pics in yet 'cause it's ugly right now.  What I mean is that there is little growth and a LOT of black plastic.  I planted the veggies we like the most:  green bean, tomato, yellow squash, okra, peppers, strawberry, and cantaloupe.  The garden is on the smaller side, but I'm hoping it'll produce well.  This year, I planted pole vs. bush beans since pole are supposed to produce all season.  When I post a pic in 3 or 4 weeks, I'll explain why I chose the layout.

Let's Get Hitched

One of the final modifications to the truck is the installation of the hitch.  So, what is a hitch?  Well, it is the thingy that you connect the 5th Wheel to.  In other words, Herk and Voyager will get hitched!  LOL.  Ok, not really funny, but I did incorporate some pictures.  I was fearful of this modification 'cause if done wrong, you put your life in your own hands; however, after some research and hearing of others doing it, I went for it.  Well, that and the dang labor costs every time you turn around.  Turns out not to be a tough install.  All could have been done in 3/4 of a day for me moving slowly, but I had to take bed liner out, drill it, and reinstall.

This is the bracket bolted to the frame.  Herk had almost all holes already in the frame, but they were'nt quite 1/2", so I had to bore them out.  Hint:  Get a good bit and use oil.  One hole in the front had to be drilled a new on both sides.  Otherwise, getting to the nuts and bolts to tighten was only a chore around the spare tire near the muffler on the passenger side.  The big bolt in the middle also secures the air bags so I had to remove and reinstall through the air bag and hitch brackets both.

Notice the 4 bolts sticking through the bed liner?  If you look at the pics above, you can see where they slide into the frame bracket.  With 1/4" turn, they lock into place.  With this type of mount, you can remove all 4 bolts and the truck will have a normal bed for everyday use.  The 2nd pic below the posts shows the rails installed.  The hitch sits on these rails and are secures with removable pins.

Hitch completely installed and ready for pulling!  Oh, and lifting this sucker was a bear!  It weighs close to 200lbs.

This particular hitch is made for short-bed trucks such as the one I have and chose on purpose.  Click on the link *** HERE *** to see it in action.

Herk, Part 3

Got Herk back from the dealership.  They fixed the emergency brake, a traction control sensor, and aligned the wheels.  Now that he's back, I took a couple pictures to show you a few more mods that I'd accomplished in the name of safety and stability.

Number 1:  Helwig Sway Bar.  I put a heavy duty sway bar on the back of the truck.  Herk had one, but it was small.  This heavy duty one should help significantly control rear sway when carrying Voyager.

Number 2:  Firestone Ride-Rite Airbags.  The purpose of the airbags are to add an additional payload capacity and to level the Herk's back end when Voyager is loaded.  Traditionally, a truck uses springs in the back to do this.  The bags I've installed have a compressor that is mounted to the truck and controlled with a switch/gauge in the cab which gives me the ability to add 0-5000 lbs of lift depending on need.  I've included the compressors and controls further down.

Number 3:  Rancho RS9000XL adjustable shocks.  Installed 4 air-adjustable shocks that are touted to be one of the best out there.  These are controlled electronically by a remote control and air compressor which allow me to adjust forward and reverse shock stiffness depending on load.  Again, helpful if towing or just sight-seeing.

4.  The controlling mechanisms for the airbags and shocks.  I bought a piece of aluminum to mount both compressors to and then mounted them both to the truck frame on the passenger side below the back seat door.  The left compressor is for the airbags and the right for the air shocks.  The last photo shows the controllers--remote and button/gauge--in the truck.

Monitoring the Poop

Not a nice subject.  Not nice at all, but a necessary part of life especially for the RVer.  Voyager came with a probe/dummy light system.  It had 3 lights 1/3 full, 2/3 full, and 3/3...uh, full.  Normally, this is ok, but not great.  The problem is that these types of systems use probe that are prone to giving false readings.  This can leave one wondering if you're going to have an overflow problem and that leads to constant manual checking and this takes away from the fun of it all.  So, I splurged and bought a SeeLevel II system which has sensors that attach to the outside of the tanks and senses fluid levels without the concern of build-up or false readings.  It also displays much more accurately and in percentages, not just thirds.  Finally, it gives an inside temperature and monitors the battery juice levels.  Seems to be a great product so far.

For the non-RVer, the 3 tanks that RVers monitor are:

1.  Fresh.  This is where clean water is held and if needed, pumped via the 12 volt water pump throughout the RV to provide water to sinks, shower, toilet, and outside shower.  Our RV has an 85 gallon fresh water tank.

2.  Gray.  This is the "dirty" water that drains down the sink, shower, and washer/dryer drains.  Our has a 45 gallon tank.  A future project is to add to this quite a bit. 

3.  Black.  You probably guessed it.  This is the #1 and #2 storage tank.  We have a 45 gallon tank and it takes quite a bit of time to fill up. 

Here are some pics of the previous and new tank reading systems.  The last pic is the new unit installed.  If you look above the installed unit, there is a switch.  That is the new switch I purchased for the water pump.  I need to put a label on it.  Enjoy.