New Voltage 3905 Toy hauler

[SearsK]

Maybe you are human

 

[moparme]

"Unfortunately the wife doesn't like to camp all that much but she loves this one so much because of the layout that she has actually made a month long vacation at the Outer Banks. That right there is worth sacrificing some quality points. "



Wertles,

When you going to OBX and where u stayin?

We are hittin the OBX out on Hatteras at the KOA.

Will be there in Aug 8th-14th.



I heard they are closing more and more of the beaches out on Hatteras(Access, swimming, and ORV traffic/surfishing) due to the Government and Bird sanctuarys! I want to go out there before it is all gone. The long time businesses out there are suffering terribly from this. It would be cool to see a TDR member out there.

Bryan

 

[Wertles]

Sorry Brian, I got there last week and just got home a couple of hours ago. I will be going back at the last weekend of the month to haul my camper back home. I was right next door to where you will be at Camp Hatteras. There is still a more beach than you will know what to do with. The only thing I do NOT suggest is trying to take your truck out on the beach unless you have a lift and large oversized tires. I will not tell you why or post pictures so don't ask! PM me if you want to know what is fun to do out there.

 

[Wertles]

Just thought I'd give an update on the real first outing of the camper. Towed it fully loaded (guesstimating about 16-17K) for the first time with all of the truck upgrades. Smarty Jr on 70 hp towing setting, rear tires at 120 psi, fronts at 100, air bags set to 100 psi after trailer is hitched and Max Brake gain set to 90. I find that I am much more comfortable towing this trailer than I was towing my previous 10K Jayco with a stock truck. I can definitely feel the extra weight when pulling but the new transmission was flawless, the extra axle and Max Brake provided much better braking and the Smarty Jr proveded more than enough power to make up the extra weight. This was the first time I have towed with a Mor-Ryde pin box but I found the ride to be very comfortable. I got a high of 10 MPG on the way down and a low of 8. 6 with 4 hours of traffic jam stop and go. Average for the way down was 9.

Thanks to Walmart for letting us camp in the parking lot for free and not giving us any crap. I went inside to ask permission, they gladly pointed me where to go and we bought some stuff from them as thanks.

The trailer did have a few issues that needed fixing. One of the toilet seat bolts was missing its nut so $1. 75 at Home Depot fixed that. The gas station electronics panel located outside the "garage" had a few screws holding it in that weren't placed in anything. The hole cut in the side for it was too big and half the screws weren't in anything. Another quick trip to Home Depot and a small piece of 1/8" X 1. 5" aluminum strip fixed that problem. At least I got to buy a new hack saw. A few of the drawers needed adjusting to stay shut but this was easy to fix and more a lack of set up by my dealer than a quality issue. Lastly, one screw in the shower was not stainless steel and rusted within one week. 75 cents at ACE hardware and problem is solved. I was on the lookout all week for anything else to go wrong but was pleasantly suprised as this was all I had to do. The layout is perfect for out family and there was 8 people living in it comfortably for 10 days and no one wanted to kill each other.

I had quite a few people come over and want to look at the truck and trailer set up. Two had other toy haulers that were from the other 2 major competetors and both said that the layout and interior quality was better than theirs. I did not go into any of theirs to compare for myself.

The trip home today (unloaded. Home alone. Family still on vacation), was uneventful. Tires to 70 psi and air bags completely deflated was still very rough. My parents came home with me and found the ride very uncomfortable compared to stock. Every bump was killing them. I did average 18. 75 mpg doing no more than 70 mph without changing any settings on the Smarty. I did notice that my Home Depot CAI was not at all functional because I put the plug in earlier in the week because there was a lot of standing water that I had to go through and I "attempted" to take the truck out on the beach and did not want any sand to be sucked up into the filter. Again, my set up is NOT beach friendly!!!

I am at this point very happy with my purchase, happy with all the modifications to my truck and consider my vacation a success. The only thing I think I would change is that I would have gone with Timbreens over air bags. I have enough pin weight that they would always be in use when loaded and would not be a factor at all when unloaded.

Thought I'd post a pic taken on the way down. The small red dot at the front of the trailer is my truck.

 

[CUMMINZ]

W,



Your rig looks great and for the color of your truck! I had an 06' that color and I think it was the prettiest truck I ever owned. I am sure you will have a few issues with your rig like every other rig on the road. Good luck:-laf

 

[Wertles]

Just an update on the trailer. We had an average of 9 people in the camper for a month and for 3 weeks, no one in the camper new anything about on how to take care of a camper other than emptying the tanks. I got it home late last night and went through it this morning with a fine tooth comb looking for anything before I head to NASCAR at Pocono this weekend!!

Routine maintenance was changing the generator oil. I had 17 hours on a new engine so I replaced it with some Mobile 1 and NAPA Gold oil filter. Since the water on the ocean really sucks, I flushed out the water system and boy am I glad I did. Even though I ran a water filter, I couldn't believe the amount of junk that came out of the water heater and how much ??softer metal?? was taken off of the hot water heater plug. The only other issues I found was the cheap carpeting in the garage was wearing over top of all the tie downs (fixed, I hope, by adding some carpet padding under the whole thing), and one of the widow shades was ruined because both my sons wiggle all over the place while they sleep and killed the shade. I don't find it a quality problem, but a 6 and 7 year old boy problem. No other screws were loose, no drawers were out of alighnment and everything else stayed tight while traveling. I do think that I need to have my brakes adjusted now that they are broken in and have 1500 miles on them so far. The only other "quality" issue I am running into is when to replace the cheap ST tires. They are new this year and I don't know if I should replace them next spring or the year after. I have heard that they are usually "good" for about three years but after suffering a failure on a previous trailer (5 year old tires, yes I know now, didn't know then), I'm not sure how long to keep this junk. I am still happy with my purchase. It suits my family better than any other layout that we have had or seen. I hope it continues to serve my and my family for a few more years to come.

 

[EricBu12]

Glad you like it. the trailer is awesome. . The tires should be good for at least a year or 2. . I started having blowouts after 2 years. . I'd replace them next year. But if you do them now with 10 ply 16", you would get better mileage and less rolling resistance.

I bought BF Goodrich Commercial T/A 225/75-16" 10 ply. . they roll and wear good.

 

[FPettijohn]

Wertles

Since this is your 4th trailer you know that there is always going to be maintenance, since I have never owned a "high quality" trailer I can only assume (yes I know) that they also need stuff fixed just like my Raptor. It has been my good fortune to have many toys and they all needed worked on. The stuff that sits the most needed the most work. The best thing about a toyhauler is you can "take it with you". I was going to change my mission tires 2 yrs ago because every 1 said they are will pops but I have over 15k on them and they appear to wear better than my Goodyear G614's. Your Voltage is a great looking rig and looks like a perfect fit for your family.

 

[SRichards]

We looked at a Voltage 3950 the other day and loved it!! I thought the quality was pretty good compared to some other brands we have looked at. It is at the top of our list when we go to our next rig. Nice rig!!!!