RAM 2500 with drop Axle

[Ozgrade3]

Greetings from Australia

In the last few years, US trucks and 5th wheelers have started to take off in the land down under. We are regularly seeing Redwoods on the roads behind GMC, Fords, GM Sierras etc. The RV's and trucks all have to be converted to Oz standards, as well as moving the steering wheel to the right side. The trucks are not officially imported, but there are several companies that do very high quality jobs, though at great expense.

We are looking at purchasing a redwood 36RE and a 2014 RAM2500 6.7 diesel SRW. Have looked at the 3500DRW but it rides more harshly when unladen.

A company called Automated Safety Hitch makes an interesting device http://www.automatedsafetyhitch.com/ . Has anyone had any experience with this unit. Would it eliminate the stability issues associated with the SRW truck.

[atom ant]

Welcome!

One of our members "Titan" was testing one with his Redwood. You can follow it on this thread:

http://www.redwoodowners.com/forums/...ighlight=titan

I'll let you draw your own conclusions or even discuss with him direct, but as I understand it he found some interesting downsides to using one, such as braking ability.

[Titan Guy]

Oz, I am now towing with a 2014 RAM 2500 6.7 diesel and only made 1 pull so far but have no stability issues at all with the SRW. I am in Iowa now at Kelderman having air suspension installed on the rear that will allow me to better control weight distribution and level towing. You can contact me directly if you have any questions on the safety hitch.

[rcflame]

I don't know about the stability, but it's not for me. For one thing, I am long enough without adding something to make me several feet longer, and I can't see any benefit I would get out of it . A have and am well satisfied with drw.

[johnboytoo]

If going srw, bags and sway bars are the first thing I'd do....

our 38gk handled SUPER on our recent 2200 mile round trip over some God-awful sections of I-20 through Mississippi and Alabama...

[spindrift]

It appears as though you have to unhitch and use the remote control in order to back up. Am I correct? If so, no thanks.

[lwg]

Originally Posted by johnboytoo

If going srw, bags and sway bars are the first thing I'd do....

our 38gk handled SUPER on our recent 2200 mile round trip over some God-awful sections of I-20 through Mississippi and Alabama...

I added all of the above but am not sure I see value in the sway bars for the rear axle. I don't think I really notice any difference with the addition of the rear sway bar. I did also upgrade all my shocks and steering stabilizers to Bilstein 5100's. Now the scary death wobble when on a turn and hitting a bridge joist is gone. That was scary at times!

[johnboytoo]

IMHO, the anti-sway bar does just that - helps eliminate sway on turns and road dips - have added one to every large vehicle I've ever had that didn't have a sway bar....

And another thing that I'm liking is the Rancho 9000xl adjustable shocks that I put on just before this trip - set on 1 they are almost too soft, set on 9 they control the heavy pin weight of the rw nicely... YRMV though

[piper guy]

John. Did you use the Helwig Big Wig sway bars ? That was the setup I had on my f350 CC SB along with airbags. Towed fine with that, I just went to a Dually 'cause I knew I was overweight on the rear axle.

Now going to 8k axles with the MorRyde IS and Kodiak Discs. I'll post what my opinion of that is. Col John is here also getting there's done

[Marilyn H]

Hi - this is my first post. Forgive me if I mess it up. This is Barton responding. I found my Redwood here and have been monitoring the Forum everyday for a month or so.

I visited Joe Jamieson, the creator of Automated Safety Hitch, in Denton TX recently. I was absolutely impressed with his invention and have ordered one. I have yet to pick it up - I'm waiting to get a 2014 Redwood 36FB in CO (used) and haul it back to Texas.

So why did I buy the ASH? First a little background might be of interest. I worked in heavy equipment demolition for a number of years in the SF Bay Area. I've driven professionally, as a number of you have, for years. I drove semi-end dump trucks and heavy equipment transport. Back in 2003 I had a Excel 36 which I pulled w/ my 2000 F250. My concern w/ pulling my new Redwood w/ the same truck (yes - I have 300K and still love the truck) is that I realized I had no problem pulling a 16K RV but stopping was another issue.

I thought about purchasing another newer vehicle or modifying my current truck to have duallys. My research led me to ASH. I watched all the videos and surmised that moving the weight off of my rear axle and adding additional braking power was exactly what I wanted. This is no different then the configurations we used hauling massively heavy equipment with a role jeep - get the weight off the tractor and pull it rather then carry it.

My visit to ASH in Denton, TX consisted of a walk through of the manufacture facility and a demonstration ride w/ Joe in his truck, ASH and trailer. Observing the relationship of the trailer with the hitch and truck while maneuvering through tight interchanges was fascinating to say the least. The tracking of the trailer following the ASH provided the ability to make turns that w/o the ASH wouldn't have been possible. Backing the trailer was equally impressive - the ASH is securely attached to the truck and the trailer pivots off the ASH. If you watch the videos there are demonstrations of jack knifing the trailer at ridiculous angles that good not be possible otherwise.

Joe also performed a speed test of maneuverability demonstrating how well the trailer tracked at high speeds when swerving. Stability of the tow vehicle and trailer was superb - not once did I detect any sense of the trailer "pushing" the truck - something I had definitely experienced when towing previously with my Excel.

Personally, I think the ASH is a vision of the future of what RV'ing could become. The concept is a fundamental solution to safely hauling a trailer - be it RV or heavy equipment. I would suggest watching all the available videos on the site and carefully consider the concept.

I'll share more first hand experience with the ASH once I get my Redwood and tow it myself with my ASH.

Sorry for the long post - I believe in what Joe has created w/ the ASH and hope to see this widely accepted in the future.

[Titan Guy]

Barton, Good Luck with your purchase. I hope you have better success than I did. The first thing you need to do is convert the Redwood to disc brakes. The ASH is electric/hydraulic disc and you want your brake controller speaking one language.

[atom ant]

A vision of the future...or vision of the past? I don't know anything about them nor do I have an opinion, but the ASH seems to be a "Watson Dolly" on steroids, the same device that let Desi Arnaz pull that 36 New Moon as a bumper pull behind that flathead V-8 53 Merc Monterey!

[TNTBaker]

OMG We LOVE that movie. SO funny. I can FEEL the tension when they are climbing the mountain with all the ROCKS she collected in the trailer! Haha!! The first residential refrigerator too.

[atom ant]

I loved the part where they pull in the park and get hooked up to gas!

When Desi was backing into the relative's house driveway, Dory asked why everyone was laughing, it didn't look any different than me backing into a campsite

[Titan Guy]

I have threatened to trow some rocks out myself!

[Dave&Ginny]

Originally Posted by TNTBaker

OMG We LOVE that movie. SO funny. I can FEEL the tension when they are climbing the mountain with all the ROCKS she collected in the trailer! Haha!! The first residential refrigerator too.

I used to have. 1955 Silver Streak that had a residential refrigerator

[atom ant]

No way! OK, upload some pics with cuffed levis!

[atom ant]

I have two DVD movies in my rig that are a tradition.

RV
the Long Long Trailer

We periodically throw them on and amazingly laugh at how close we relate to each

[Dave&Ginny]

Originally Posted by atom ant

No way! OK, upload some pics with cuffed levis!

I had collected everything from 1955 to go along with this trailer. We had old metal fishing poles, coolers, radios and magazines from 1955 with hopes of traveling with this thing but never did.

We found out from the factory that they only produced 18 Silver Streaks (these aren't Air Streams) in 1955 and this was the 15th one made. This one had the mirror finish and was 25 ft long (this was huge for the day). ALL of the interior was original (no modifications at all). The factory said that it was the oldest road worth one that they knew of and they wanted to buy it off me but the company was in financial straights. The company was in CA I think it was Chino. They encouraged me to complete fixing it up and send them pictures which I did. This trailer had a pink and white porcelain toilet just like a home does and didn't have any waste water tanks but did have a 10 gallon stainless steal fresh water tank.

One day a collector came to my house and hauled it away. He said it was going to Europe.

[atom ant]

Oh man, I love that stuff! My older daughter wants to get a classic tow along, just because. I worry a little about the appliances and LP, but other than that I would help her.

I restored this little guy from the farm - just learned the plant is getting torn down this year after a decades as a Lincoln NE icon. One of the reasons we looked at Redwood was because we could hitch a small covered trailer on the back and go to some of the Cushman rallies once we retire.