The Mouse house is finally home!

radren

I am finally a T@B owner. You only bring your T@B home for the first time once and I just have to talk about my first T@B adventure.  I just brought my T@B home today. It has been a long wait but well worth it. I bought my T@B from Little Guy in San Diego. Eric my salesman and the entire dealership has made what could have been a very frustrating 5 month wait for my custom ordered trailer into a great experience. Eric let me know when my little trailer was on it's way and where it was as it made it's way from Ohio to California. Today, Eric spent 3 hours going over my trailer with me. He went over EVERYTHING, filled everything up, drained everything out, turned everything on and off, flushed, tested and answered questions I hadn't even thought of asking. He gave me lots of tips from his own experience with camping with small trailers, helped me hook up, tested all my lights and showed me how my electronic brake thing works. He gave me the confidence to get my trailer home safely and without too much stress. I am so glad california has san diego little guy. I am going to spend the night in my new home away from home watching a movie. 

Thank you Eric!

Nomad

Glad the long wait is over AND you had a good dealer. Since my dealer didn't do squat, here 3-weeks later I'm still experimenting and checking out various systems.

You're gonna love it - Loving mine in spite of the dealer.

jkjenn

Congratulations and I am so glad you had such a stellar dealer experience!

radren

Well I have officially had my first "incident" as a T@B towing newbie. I had unhitched after getting home from the dealer. I had to take the trailer to my wrap guy to measure it for the wrap install and THOUGHT I had hitched it up nice and secure. I did a drive way test, I did an "out of the drive way" test and another "stopped at the corner test. Bounced the trailer up and down, back and forth and it seemed to be fine. Then I went out on to the very busy street, turned and my little boy just popped right off the hitch!!!  What can I say... except how glad I am to have gotten the safety chains on correctly. I was completely rattled when I got out and saw the tongue of my brand spankin new T@B hanging from the safety chains. I wasn't even sure how to fix my situation. However the great T@B Mama in the sky was watching out for me and some GREAT guys who were directly behind me when the Mouse House tried to escape my TV, stopped, put on their hazard lights, jumped out and and saved the day. It seemed like in seconds, the three of us were able to lift the trailer back up onto the hitch, they spent a couple of minutes explaining what probably happened and showed me a couple of times what it should look like when properly seated on the hitch. They rode off into the sunset as I very gratefully waved thank you. I owe someone a very big pay it forward in the future. On this very first T@B adventure I got to experience my first bit of small trailer camradeire as well when I passed some happy travelers towing a little white Casita who honked and waved at me. I know I know I have lots of T@B adventures ahead of me but I will always have 3 guys, lots of love and a Casita in my heart as I start each new adventure. 

gilbutler

I'm sure glad that turned out so well for you.  I hope my first OMG turns out so well. Your Mouse House design is fantastic!

judymac

Oh, no. So glad it turned out ok. I will not share this with my husband as your situation is one of his fears. Mind sharing what your rescuers told you what 'might have caused this?" Funny story: We brought ours from the dealer and parked in our storage. We were unable to remove the T@B from the hitch. We have towed boats and jet skis and were baffled. Had to call the dealer, it was a more modern hitch than we had used, simple once we understood it.

vanderado

Agreed Judy. I am experienced with trailers of various types and struggled to remove hitch from ball on trip 00001. The sliding hat design is not intuitive until you figure it out.

judymac

Yes, sliding hatch indeed

TabyDD

Love the humor and 'get back on the horse' philosophy!  For me, the hitch is almost god like, so I treat it with the utmost respect and forever learning more.  I have a little 'hitch bag' as it were in the back of my TV.  In it are, chocks, gloves (a very big deal when working with the hitch), a hammer/mallet for helping things 'click' into position, a pry bar that can help raise up the hat, if need be.  Always remember the cotter pin needs to push effortlessly through the holes as they line up for the perfect fit.  Paint the holes with red nail polish if need be.  Visually makes it easier.  This is all new to me also, I'm a chick to boot!  'You must do what you cannot do'  Eleanor Roosevelt.  Good mantra.  

Justjudy

I totally LOVE your graphics! I have always wondered how the wraps worked. Now I know. Thank you! Judy

jkjenn

I agree about the hitch! I had a really hard time at first. Now, I feel pretty comfortable with it. Every once in a while it gets stuck or I can't get it seated properly and I will pull up and/or back up a couple of inches (or as close to that as possible to correct the issue. 

gilbutler

TabbyDD, Congratulations on being adventurous.  I see by your comment, "I'm a chick to boot!" that you missed Boys Gym class where they thought us all those secrets :-), but with guidance from Eleanor and Jenn, you should do great!!

Jenn's advice is what I depend on also.  If the receiver doesn't seem to seat properly, just moving the TV slightly has always worked for me, too.  I can hear a definite "clunk" when the receiver drops to a proper seating.  Then it's time to just check to see if the hat also seated properly.  I also depend on he reverse for disconnecting. If the receiver doesn't rise free of the ball, I just raise it enough to pull up on the ball slightly, raise the hat lever and hat as much as I can, and move the TV slightly 'til I hear it pop loose.

I hope you enjoy your T@B as much as I enjoy mine.

Gil

TabyDD

Thank you gilbutler and jkjenn!  Indeed, the trick I've learned is to simply put the TV in gear either reverse or drive and it's just enough to 'un seize' the ball from the hat.  Does that make sense?  Anyway, love the support and helpful commentary.  DD

radren

Hello fellow hitch haters,

I agree the most important tool is a hammer. Mostly to use on the guy who designed this new kind of hitch!  I was used to the old style of hitch which did not have the lower "hat" portion to also lock down. The very kind gentlemen who stopped to help me during my PoPPING off the hitch adventure pointed out the lower part of the hitch and quickly showed me how to lift that, seat the ball by moving the trailer up or back the ball would seat and then the upper part of the hitch locked down much easier. They even had me feel underneath to get an idea of how it should feel when it was really well seated on the ball. All this while traffic is whizzing by us on a very busy main street. I have a huge "pay it forward" due at some point and I will be very happy to pay off the debt.

As I wear off the paint around the ball and inside of the hitch, hitching and unhitching for practice, I am noticing it is getting easier to get it locked down than at first. I spent a weekend, sadly in front of my very amused family, hitching and unhitching and backing up between two chairs and am much more confident that when I think the hitch is seated, it is seated. I still use the hammer rather than get back into the TV to unseat the ball, although I am getting better and yanking the trailer back and forth until it releases.  Below is two photos of how my dealer set up my hitch with the locking pin serving triple service, as the locking pin, as a way to keep the 7 pin connector cord in the proper place and as a way to attach the deadman's brake line. 

judymac

Do all of you run your 7 pin connector under the locking pin? I was concerned the movement might run a spot in the cable. We seem to have the least bit of 'play' in the space where trailer hitch fits into the receiver. I don't think it is a major problem, but with T@B unhitched, I can jiggle it a bit. Our neighbor gave us a spacer but it did not fit. Also, do any of you experience your trailer bouncing a bit up and down? No roads here are smooth, so perhaps that is the problem. We haven't noticed significant sway.

radren

My trailer bounced quite a bit before I loaded it. Now I hardly notice it is behind me. Unless I am going up hill... ha ha.

judymac

I feel better now. I thought it was due to the roads and the minor play in the hitch & receiver. We don't have anything in it when we tow, but, it is cold in KY and no trips planned at this time.

jkjenn

I actually don't use a locking pin, I use a trailer coupler latch lock. I like how the newer 2015 models run the breakaway cable through the tongue. Mine is on the outside of the tongue. My dealer instructed me to connect the breakaway cable to the same spot on the hitch receiver where I connect my break-away cables. Do other people connect theirs to the receiver?

judymac

Jenn, we use a trailer coupler latch lock when storing but not when towing. I asked my husband about that decision. Anxious to hear what kind of response you receive. Mistake, do not use the same Jenn. I like that.

radren

Thanks for the warning Walloe. Everyone needs their fingers and toes intact! 

Jenn, my breakaway cable is thru the tongue and it is seems more protected than the old style of outside of the tongue. They keep refining their design don't they?  I like it around and back thur connected at the hitch because I have popped off the hitch and was hanging by the safety cables and am not sure the breakaway cable would have been activated if attached there.  When the hitch came off I was screechingly stopped!  So I had very little damage to the jack stump hanging down (hitch adventure was prior to jack e up installation) and dragging on the asphalt. Just a few bangs with my trusty hammer and the wheel went back on very easily. I don't know how far I would have gone with the hitch hanging and dragging if the breakaway hadn't stopped the trailer...so abruptly.  There was not a lot of slack at the safety cables so I don't know if the breakaway cable would have been stressed enough to engage. 

radren

Home safe and sound, I have completed my first Mouse house adventure. It was just to our place in the desert but it was a 3 hour drive, on many different kinds of roads, ranging from freeway to bad dirt roads, up hill and down dale, more for practice than the practicality of having a place to sleep. I had to go up a couple of fairly steep grades (able to go 40) and experienced really strong gusty wind on my way out to our place in 29 palms, just past Joshua Tree.  While there, my brother mounted the spare tire on the tongue and on the drive home, the spare time made the trailer tow even better. I have the CS-S model and I know there is alot of weight in the back so I think I needed some more weight up front and the spare tire seemed to just top it all off. No bouncing at all.  I have an old van as my TV and it is very heavy and it never notices the wind but I was worried about the two together, however the wind didn't bother them a bit, no sway at all. The only drawback is the van is a gas guzzler but it was free so I can't complain. All in all it was a good trip. As to things I have added to the Mouse House emergency box, I just bought an extra locking pin (used to both lock the hitch down as well as lock the jack wheel in place) and a box of fuses at harbor freight. Very inexpensive and handy to have. The fuses come with 60 in a box. Both ATO/ATC fuses with 10 of each fuse, 5,10,15,20,25 and 30 amp fuses. I haven't found the glass fuses yet.