StarsInOurEyes
Member
Shock and Dismay are the only words that describe our feelings at this moment. For all of you who bolstered us thru the purchase of our new "used" 5er I've opened a new topic in hopes that other new comers will read this and take heed.
Here we are, 5am on Friday morning, perched at the top of an isolated campground on the Western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. As the snow falls outside and the ice beneath us thickens it feels as though we will end up here until the Spring thaw, and Quartzite is a million miles away...
Yesterday around 1:00 we joyfully packed the last box into the basement our 5er and rode off into the sunset singing "on the road again" and ruminating about Willy....not more than 20 minutes down the road, at the first right turn we had to make to enter the highway we heard a loud crashing sound and felt a big thump that shook the entire truck. Quickly glancing at the rear window we see the right front corner of the fifth is INSIDE the back passenger side window and our pet, who was lying quietly on her bed in the back seat of the truck, is covered in broken glass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shriek!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stopping immediately to survey what has just happened David realized that the super glide hitch in our NEW Dodge 3500 did not stay in the far back position and only AFTER it came thru the window did it slide into position. What's happening here and WHAT are we to do? We did not know what was going on...
After taping cardboard to the broken window we decided to head to the next town for help and to spend the night. Each time David had to step on the breaks coming down a very narrow steep mountain pass, the trailer would SLAM into the front of the hitch, causing the truck to sway wildly. We were speculating that the trailer brakes weren't working? Honestly, we didn't know what was going on...this is our FIRST fifth wheel, and our FIRST trip!!! As soon as we hit the outskirts of town we pulled into a vacated campground where fortunately- the owners live and agreed to give us electric for the night. We didn't feel safe continuing to drive and we couldn't get a local RV tech to have a look at the situation.
So, reaching for straws, we called the fellow from whom we had bought our truck with the super glide already installed and he reminded us that his 5er had a disk attached to the hitch that was a critical part of the towing process and asked us to look for that disk....YOU DON"T HAVE TO GUESS...it was MISSING !!!!!!!!!! AND WHO attached the fifth wheel to the truck as part of our PDI and Educational experience....AFTER we asked on three seperate occassions if we needed to purchase a disk....we asked the salesman, (who recommended the super glide), the RV tech, and the Tech Manager if we needed a disk for the trailer??? and each one of them said NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....
YOU GOT IT...We phoned the Tech Manager at the dealership. He said, (and I quote), "well you can't blame us we don't work with those kinds of hitches on a regular basis".....OH MY GAWD!!! No responsibility what so ever, and we didn't undo the hitch after they put it on. He told us he could order us a disk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When they were hooking us up on Tuesday David, again, asked several times if there should be a disk on the 5er side hitch...and they reassured him it was just as it should be...I AM COMPLETELY INCREDULOUS!!! I sensed as we slammed down the mountain pass that we were in danger and we were endangering other drivers around us.... IS THIS SO??? Could the fifth wheel have disengaged from the pickup? That's what it felt like.
Well, we'll take today and decide what to do next.
We'll most likely be snowed in here for a day or two any way and we need to find help.
So Sad...
David, Katy and the "Sparkly" Big Poo
Here we are, 5am on Friday morning, perched at the top of an isolated campground on the Western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. As the snow falls outside and the ice beneath us thickens it feels as though we will end up here until the Spring thaw, and Quartzite is a million miles away...
Yesterday around 1:00 we joyfully packed the last box into the basement our 5er and rode off into the sunset singing "on the road again" and ruminating about Willy....not more than 20 minutes down the road, at the first right turn we had to make to enter the highway we heard a loud crashing sound and felt a big thump that shook the entire truck. Quickly glancing at the rear window we see the right front corner of the fifth is INSIDE the back passenger side window and our pet, who was lying quietly on her bed in the back seat of the truck, is covered in broken glass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shriek!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stopping immediately to survey what has just happened David realized that the super glide hitch in our NEW Dodge 3500 did not stay in the far back position and only AFTER it came thru the window did it slide into position. What's happening here and WHAT are we to do? We did not know what was going on...
After taping cardboard to the broken window we decided to head to the next town for help and to spend the night. Each time David had to step on the breaks coming down a very narrow steep mountain pass, the trailer would SLAM into the front of the hitch, causing the truck to sway wildly. We were speculating that the trailer brakes weren't working? Honestly, we didn't know what was going on...this is our FIRST fifth wheel, and our FIRST trip!!! As soon as we hit the outskirts of town we pulled into a vacated campground where fortunately- the owners live and agreed to give us electric for the night. We didn't feel safe continuing to drive and we couldn't get a local RV tech to have a look at the situation.
So, reaching for straws, we called the fellow from whom we had bought our truck with the super glide already installed and he reminded us that his 5er had a disk attached to the hitch that was a critical part of the towing process and asked us to look for that disk....YOU DON"T HAVE TO GUESS...it was MISSING !!!!!!!!!! AND WHO attached the fifth wheel to the truck as part of our PDI and Educational experience....AFTER we asked on three seperate occassions if we needed to purchase a disk....we asked the salesman, (who recommended the super glide), the RV tech, and the Tech Manager if we needed a disk for the trailer??? and each one of them said NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....
YOU GOT IT...We phoned the Tech Manager at the dealership. He said, (and I quote), "well you can't blame us we don't work with those kinds of hitches on a regular basis".....OH MY GAWD!!! No responsibility what so ever, and we didn't undo the hitch after they put it on. He told us he could order us a disk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When they were hooking us up on Tuesday David, again, asked several times if there should be a disk on the 5er side hitch...and they reassured him it was just as it should be...I AM COMPLETELY INCREDULOUS!!! I sensed as we slammed down the mountain pass that we were in danger and we were endangering other drivers around us.... IS THIS SO??? Could the fifth wheel have disengaged from the pickup? That's what it felt like.
Well, we'll take today and decide what to do next.
We'll most likely be snowed in here for a day or two any way and we need to find help.
So Sad...
David, Katy and the "Sparkly" Big Poo