2004 Mountain Aire

[Casey Balvert]

Well she is here at long last. Arrived last Thursday. She is a heavy beast at 14,600 empty so we will need to be weight conscious when we load her up for long trips to stay withing the truck's Trailer WR. We look forward to many weekends and vacations in our new rig.



The truck did a great job. Acceleration is a bit slower than our old fiver but the fuel mileage was about the same as the old one. Probably because the new trailer is more aerodynamic than our old flat front fiver was. The 03 Cummins was bought last fall with this trailer in mind.



Casey



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[RustyJC]

Casey,



Be sure and stop by some 3-platform truck scales when you get everything loaded up and head out on a trip. I'd be very interested to see your numbers.



What's the length of the new Mountain Aire? Triple or quad slideouts? My wife loves those Mountain Aires!



Rusty

 

[Casey Balvert]

I am going to make a point of weighing this rig like I have with my others. I like to know what I am dealing with. I am not concerned at all about the trailer as I have over 2 tons of payload. The trailer GVWR is 20,000 pounds and she has huge brakes. Despite what some of the guys say, I don't want to overload the truck any more than necessary. I figure I am going to be sitting with a combined weight of 24,000 pounds. A bit higher than I had hoped for but manageable. I found the Timbrens were a great addition to the rear axles of the truck. She sits nice and level.



Casey

 

[RMcCulloch]

Congratulations, Casey, on your new 5er.



Which model [and options] did you get?

 

[Midnight]

Nice looking rig Casey. Where were you camping when you took the pic? More pics!

 

[Ron Bissett]

WOW , look out for that Pac-man in the Pic . Looks Grrrrrate. Ron Bissett in Metro Louisville KY









Oo. Oo. Oo.

 

[Casey Balvert]

I took the picture at Holiday Beach Conservation Area, a local park, for the shakedown. The trailer is a Mountain Aire 34RDCK double slide. Major options included tandem axles with dual wheels and MorRyde equalizers, AC/Heat pump, home theatre system with DVC, VCR and inverter, lots of windows, power entrance step, hardwood oak cabinetry, generator and solar prep, holding tank heat pads, double pane windows and acrylic awnings, and lots of little touches my wife wanted.



As mentioned it tows well and has lots of braking, a benefit of the larger axles. Here is a view of the back end. It is a very solid and well built trailer. I will take some pictures of the the rig's suspension when I get a chance.



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[Paul Somers]

Beautiful rig

Casey that is one good looking rig. Spent two months last winter in Florida camped next to 39' Moumtain Aire with two dually axels and 100% paint job. That was the prettiest 5er I've ever seen. Down side was he was pulling it with an older model F**d with a 460" gas.

 

[George D]

Tandem duals

You are right about the braking power. Dexter rates the axles on my MA at 10k per and the brakes are sized accordingly. On advice from my dealer, when it was time to repack wheel bearings, I filled them with gear oil instead. I change the oil about every 8-10,000 towing miles and it seems to be working fine. Sure is easier than pulling the wheels, especially with those big brake drums (or are they disc now?).

This is our third Newmar FW, wouldn't buy anything else. Good luck.

George

 

[CROW]

George: Question for you. I have a Newmar Kountry Star fifth wheel that has Dexter axles and packed the wheel bearings this last summer, quite a job. How does one use gear oil instead of grease in the bearings? Do you need special seals? Sounds like a good idea if it would allow one to avoid having to take everything apart to pack the bearings. My understanding is that Newmar is now offering disc brakes as an option on lower end fifth wheels and as standard equipment on their high end trailers. Seems as though it has taken the RV trailer manufacturers a long time to offer disc brakes on trailers, guess price rules all.

 

[Casey Balvert]

I believe only the dual wheel axle hubs are set up for oil. All you need is the clear plastic dust cap kit with seals. It cost about 20. 00 per axle. This cap has a fluid level line on it. Oil lubrication is not suitable for trailers stored for more than two months at a time as the oil drains off the bearings and allows corrosion. It also means that you need to be vigilant about keeping an eye on the oil level. If it drains out unnoticed say due to a bad seal, the bearing gets ruined or worse.



I got that from Dexter yesterday when I noted George's posting and fired off an email to them. Don't want to steal your thunder George.



I am going to stay with the grease until I retire and then switch to oil when we are on the road a lot more and not going into winter storage.



Casey

 

[George D]

Oil in hubs

I agree with Casey. As far as I know, only the duals are set up for oil. Mine came from the factory with black plastic hub caps that have a rubber piece in the center that allows the hub to vent pressure and pops out to check/add oil. The newer ones are clear plastic which makes checking the oil level easier. I am parked for 4 months each summer in Rocky Mountain NP where I work. Midway through the summer I jack up each set of wheels and turn it 180 degrees to avoid problems with the oil draining off the bearings. So far I have been very happy with the change to oil.

George

 

[Casey Balvert]

I guess I could turn the wheels once during storage. Not a big deal. I was going to order the clear plastic caps anyway. Maybe I will switch to oil during my first maintenance.



Casey