This post is a bit of a novel. Sorry about that. I just know how many times I've tried to research something and the most helpful information was on the blog of some random person I've never met, so I wanted to document our vehicle & trailer purchasing experience here so others can benefit.
The drive from Utah to South Carolina is about 2600 miles. We sold most of our stuff before we moved, but kept the things we would be using immediately (like Summer clothes), were of a sentimental nature, or were otherwise difficult to replace. We needed a way to bring that stuff with us across the country on a VERY tight budget. Our tax return was very kind to us this year, and we planned on selling our Civic, so we would have some money, but not a lot. Originally Karla's new employer (also her cousin) had offered to finance the move, and we would pay her back over time. That changed to "I can pay for your gas", and then that changed to "I'll contribute $300 toward your gas", and that even fell through after we had moved out of our apartment and we were packed up and ready to leave. We had budgeted for at least the gas money, and that was no longer available, so I'm not kidding when I say the budget was VERY tight.
Backing up now, we started out looking at U-Haul, Penske, Budget, and other truck rental places but we discovered 3 problems:
We looked at buying a used U-Haul, which is roughly twice the price of renting one, but we very likely could have sold it again for a comparable amount and basically come out rent-free. But we still would have the 3-seat issue.
We finally decided on buying an SUV. The ones we like the most we couldn't dream of affording (Yukon Denali, Sequoia, Escalade, Avalanche, Ridgeline, etc.), so we started looking at 7-12 year old compact SUVs and extended cab trucks like Blazers, Sonomas, and others.
BUT we were advised by my brother, Justin, who makes a living fixing cars that he makes a good living fixing THOSE cars. He advised us to skip right over the S-10 line of GMC/Chevy trucks and get into a full-size truck.
So we started to look at the Yukons and Tahoes which we love. But the ones we could afford and we actually liked kept getting sold right before we could go see them. We decided to look at a couple of Suburbans and we were really surprised by how much we liked them. We'd never checked them out before and always assumed they were just huge, beastly SUVs. They are, but they're also quite nice. Good stock sound system, front and rear air, HUGE towing capacity, power everything, cruise control, etc. Just way more options than we were seeing with the Tahoes and Yukons, and at a cost of only a couple miles per gallon worse.
Ultimately we purchased a 1995 Chevrolet Suburban C1500 (C means 2-wheel drive, 1500 is the smaller of the two engine options, the other being the 2500, which, as far as I can tell, are just marketing figures and have no direct relation to the actual engine size), as our 1997 Honda Civic just didn't hold or tow very much.
We looked at a wide range of trailer options. We started looking for box/enclosed trailers, but they are remarkably expensive. We actually looked at box trucks before we got the Suburban because you can get a box truck cheaper than a box trailer, but we decided that it was sketchy to try to drive an old box truck across the country. We really had no desire to be stranded anywhere.
We then looked at flatbed trailers which are MUCH more affordable than box trailers. But we weren't sure we wanted to subject all of our stuff to the elements. In particular we love our pillow top mattress and even fully encasing it in multiple layers of plastic mattress bags and tarps didn't seem like it would be enough.
In the process of checking out the
KSL Classifieds and
craigslist trailer ads, we discovered that travel trailers are BY FAR the cheapest way to get a large, enclosed trailer. Obviously not as convenient for loading as a regular cargo trailer, but for the price it's tough to beat. There are MANY available (at least in the Salt Lake area) for under $1000. Since we were looking at $500 to RENT a U-Haul trailer it just made sense to go this way. We bought a 1973 Prowler travel trailer for $550. I measured it as 15 feet, but the title says 16 feet, and the NADA guide where I tried to figure out the actual value had neither option. Either way it's a single axle trailer (again, not ideal for hauling lots of stuff, but we decided to take a chance.) The tires were in great shape–new, really–having only been used to relocate the trailer from Orem to Holladay. The keys had been lost, there's a big hole in the septic tank, and we're not sure if it's safe to pressurize with propane, but we didn't get it for camping.
Not much to look at, but we like it. We had enough fun cleaning it up (dusty & all that) before we loaded it up that we're thinking about refinishing the inside and replacing the septic tank and actually taking it on a trip. We threw away the bed mattresses because they weren't worth saving, and the curtains/drapes (someone educate me: what's the difference?) disintegrated when we touched them, but again, we didn't care on this trip.
We were in a big hurry to get out of our apartment because the landlord had new tenants lined up and he gave us an offer we couldn't refuse. We loaded up the trailer very quickly, not concerning ourselves yet with weight distribution and all that, because we could redo it all at my mother's house a few blocks away. When we got there it looked like this:
You don't have to be any sort of truck/trailer expert to see that something is wrong here. We have weight in the back of the truck, on top of the truck, and in the front of the trailer (where there's the most room). At this point the hitch bottomed out going through gutters. We had no intention of actually going across the country with it like this, yet everyone felt the need to inform us that it needed attention. While we appreciated the concern, it got tiresome very fast.
By the way, we got the cargo bags at Walmart on the RV & towing aisle in the automotive section for $20 each. THEY'RE HUGE. Similar ones sell online for $150. These were advertised as waterproof. We drove through A LOT of rain and our clothes & such all came through as clean & dry as when we'd packed them. (Well, except for the added humidity.)
Side-story, but directly related:
My parents decided to buy us new tires. I was hoping to get by on the ones that came with the truck, but one blew out on the freeway before we left town, and it was one of the better ones. I was certainly grateful that the tire blew not only before we left town but even at a time when the trailer wasn't connected, as we wouldn't have been able to get into the back of the truck where the spare is without disconnecting the trailer and removing all the stuff we had packed back there.
Anyway, my dad insisted on Michelins from Costco's tire center. I can't say I'd ever owned Michelins before (I'm too broke and/or cheap), but since he was paying I was happy to go along with that. He works every Saturday, so he worked out with my mom to pay for them and he'd pay her back. But she was busy babysitting a few dozen grandkids (at least that's how many it felt like) so Karla and I took her Costco card with us to get them started, then we would go back and trade with my mom when it was time to go pay for them. But the guys at Costco refused to help without her there because it was her card. (Our Costco membership had expired and we needed to save that money for gas for the trip.) So we went back and Karla watched all the kids while my mom & I went back to Costco. The first time we'd been there we were the only customers. Four empty work bays, Costco employees standing around looking bored, etc. The next time we had to stand in line and wait, then we paid for 2 new rear tires, plenty to get us to South Carolina. I asked that the best of the remaining tires be the spare, even if that meant keeping the existing spare. The guy had serious communication problems and tried to charge us almost $600 for the 2 tires. Turns out he had rung up 4 tires. Not really a listener.
He then announced that it would be at least an hour and a half wait. Fantastic. (Again, we're already a couple hours into this process.) It was hailing violently outside, so my mom called Natalie and asked her to come pick her up on the way back to get her kids, which she did.
I then wandered the store for an hour or so. I got a piece of pizza (I LOVE COSTCO PIZZA) and then the phone rang. It was the handi-man at the tire center informing me that, although they had already taken almost $300 of our money, they would not be able to do anything for us unless we purchased 4 tires. Basically the spare tire was a passenger grade tire, while the other front tire was a light truck tire. He tried to tell me that it's against the law to mismatch the tires like that so he couldn't let me leave that way.
If you know anything about Millers you'll know how well I took that. I hung up the phone and walked over to chat with the guy face-to-face. But he wasn't there. I had to wait for someone to come to the desk. When some kid showed up I asked for a manager. He insisted that he is a manager, despite any sort of nametag identifying him as such (Costco always makes their managers, supervisors, etc. very visible). So I expressed to him my frustration with having already been trying for 3+ hours to get just 2 tires and now, after paying, being told I couldn't leave without buying 4 tires.
It took over half-an-hour and working my way up through managers to get it worked out. (I asked for the store manager by name which definitely startled the guys in the tire center. I don't think they saw it going any way other than me ordering all 4 tires and them getting employee-of-the-month or something.) I called them on the absolute lie that they couldn't let me leave without buying 4 tires. It's not a law, it's a store policy, and one that they shouldn't even consider if they insist on taking payment before doing the work. Or at the very least they should look at the vehicle before taking payment, particularly when they know that the person making payment isn't staying to pick it up.
Eventually I was able to talk to the Assistant Store Manager who was reasonable and apologetic; much more like my usual experiences with Costco. He said it's the first time he's ever heard of the pay-before-service policy causing a problem, and he had no idea why his employees had attempted to deceive me into buying 4 tires as though it was a law. He arranged for a cash refund, but only after I made it abundantly clear that they had already wasted enough of not only my time but my mother's as well, and it was completely unreasonable for him to require her to return to the store to arrange for a refund. (Nevermind that I had the receipt in hand and he could have simply reversed the charge through their card processing service; I knew how to do that when I was 15 working at Lagoon.)
It took another 20 minutes to get the refund. Then I went home and looked up tire reviews at consumerreports.com and current prices online. I found that a certain model of Bridgestone Wrangler light truck tires were rated for slightly more miles and 200 pounds more load-bearing capacity than the Michelins, at just over half the Costco price, at Walmart. Better yet they were the only tire shop I could find that was open after 5 pm (I got out of Costco around 4:30), and it was important to me to get the tires done that day. With the full cost of taxes and all that we ended up with all 4 tires (ironically enough) for just $45 more than Costco wanted for 2 tires, and they were better tires as well.
Bottom line: I really like Costco as an organization and I really like their business model (ask me sometime; it's not obvious), but Walmart's service was SO much better. (By the way, they were willing to let me buy just the two, but at the price I couldn't pass up all 4.) The guy installing the tires even tracked me down in the store to ask if I wanted the white lettering side of the tires showing or hidden. I chose the latter.
After redistributing some weight in the trailer the hitch angle and ground clearance improved, but not enough. My dad volunteered to buy us some new air shocks, Gabriel Hijackers to be specific, and help me install them.Very cool product: they have airlines that link both sides and provide an inflation/deflation access valve on the rear bumper right by the tow hitch. It uses a standard tire valve type connection so it's very easy to use, except that while they can be inflated up to 200 psi, it's hard to find an air compressor that provides that level. Most consumer ones max out at 125 psi. ($65 for the pair at Autozone, by the way, which is way less than I thought they would cost. Plus you can inflate them without a load and drive around with the back jacked up and the front looking like it's been dropped by comparison.)
Anyway, after discovering that we didn't have enough access to get the new, fatter shocks installed with the truck jacked up a few inches, we took it to Justin's shop and with a real vehicle lift and all the right tools we got the whole system installed and inflated. Justin also flipped the used hitch ball (also donated by my dad) over to buy us another couple inches of lift for the trailer. This sounds easier than it was, as it required a torch, a high torque impact wrench, and a huge impact socket. I couldn't have done it with my little tools. Everyone should have a Justin. Afterward it looked like this:
Apologies to my dad for the timing of that shot, as he was working on the trailer wiring when I took it. It's the best one I have to show the much improved angle between the truck & trailer.
Speaking of trailer wiring, I have to vent: Why in the world does a truck with a "tow package included" not include a trailer brake controller? It costs $50 to $150 for an aftermarket controller, so I have to believe that it would be even less expensive for the truck manufacturers to just include it, and then everyone would be safer because it could be designed into the actual brake controls and the trailer braking would be intuitive, rather than some attempt to "feel" how the truck is braking and then apply the same amount to the trailer. It's a PITA to wire up if you don't have a dedicated trailer brake controller port under the dash (they didn't even start to include this until 1999 on GM vehicles, and even then it wasn't standardized). I got a bit of it done before my dad joined me and fixed my work (basically just improving the quality of the connections). He also replaced the trailer wire harness connector, installed a port for that connector on the back of the Suburban, and fixed all the trailer brake, turn, and clearance lights. He even bought a new safety chain and mounting bolts to connect to the truck hitch and trailer tongue in case the ball hitch failed. He's a good guy to have around. Everyone should have a my dad.
Here he is at work:
Word to the wise: don't comment to him about his socks & shorts. You have been warned.
Seems like we should be done, right? We have the truck which runs great, the trailer which holds our crap, and the hitch, suspension, and wiring are all worked out. Ready to head down the road!
Actually we took a test drive first and discovered that there was significant trailer sway over 55 or 60 mph. Since we were hoping to do 60 mph most the way there that presented a real problem. Once again, it was Dad to the rescue: he bought us a Trailer Sway Control Bar which is basically a big, long brake pad that goes between the hitch bar and the trailer, almost but not quite parallel to the regular hitch, so that it creates friction when the trailer moves left and right relative to the truck. It's adjustable to compromise between the ability to do slow turns and resist fast swaying. Unfortunately it was designed for ball hitches that mount right on the rear bumper, with spots for auxiliary balls right beside it. We didn't have that, so we had to weld a plate onto the receiver hitch setup we have. Once again it was Dad & Justin to the rescue. Dad figured out the correct geometry for the system, and drove it down to Justin's shop. His welder was broken so Dad drove all over town finding the parts that were needed. Justin welded it up and it looked fantastic. Dad drove it back up and installed it with the sway bar and we took it on another test drive.
Once again we went on another test drive. Where on the first drive I was able to keep the trailer under control by manually applying the trailer brake with the controller (Tekonsha Voyager, by the way), this time we could barely get it to sway when we tried to force it into one. We tested it up to 80 mph to make sure it could handle it, which it did. (The plan was still to only go 60 mph to save gas and for safety.) It worked GREAT.
Because it occurred later in the story, but it is directly related, I want to jump ahead and finish the telling of the anti-sway bar product review:
The instructions said to take it apart and clean off the friction plate with a wire brush after the first 1000 miles. I took it apart in Kansas City and discovered that the friction plate itself had disintegrated. I knew it had felt a little bit more loose the last couple hours of driving, but I didn't think it was that bad. I think it was holding together well enough at that point, but not so much once I took it apart to clean it up.
I also discovered that the tensioning bolt had come loose by itself (the result of the disintegration? the cause? I'm not sure). I put some Loctite on it and tightened it back up with what little was left of the friction plate in place. We saved $15 or so by getting it at Harbor Freight instead of State Trailer Supply (http://www.statetrailer.com/ 3600 South Redwood Road in Salt Lake). Now I have to wonder if that was a good idea after all.
The plate that Justin welded on also warped considerably. Again, I don't know if this is the result of the friction plate failing or if both are the result of far more lateral force being applied than it was designed to handle. Either way we arrived in South Carolina safely, but the last day and a half of driving were much more tense as we could really feel the trailer sway EVERY time we were passed by a large vehicle. It felt just like getting pushed by the wake of another boat, except that it put us into the start of a death sway EVERY TIME. Fortunately the anti-sway bar seemed to keep it under control enough that I felt good about continuing, but every time it the trailer started to drive the truck I would tighten my grip on the wheel and hope it would be brief like all the previous rounds.
So that's the end of this story. We bought a Suburban, saved money on a travel trailer instead of a cargo trailer, and it didn't tow as nicely as we'd hoped, but it generally behaved well and I'd recommend it to anyone who needs to save money, BUT ONLY IF YOUR RIG IS SET UP PROPERLY. Really I'd recommend a REAL anti-sway solution which integrates with a weight-distributing hitch. But chances are if you can afford that you aren't moving your family across the country in an old travel trailer. JUST DON'T KILL YOUR FAMILY IN YOUR ATTEMPT TO SAVE MONEY.
Oh, and it can be just as dangerous to tow with U-Haul equipment if you aren't set up for it. They normally inspect your setup before they let you leave, but I have read about enough times that they didn't catch something important that I would be cautious. Do your homework.
