Wired the truck for the Lance

[NETim]

Wired up the Lance to the truck today. No smoke, no sparks and no fires! The Dodge shop manual is indispensable for this kind of work.



Now all I need is my Torklift hitch extension and I'll be set.



Tim

 

[JWhitcomb]

You'll like that TL, biggest problem with it is how long it takes to get it mounted. Remember to do that before you load the camper, and don't forget to switch the license plate. Been there, done that.

 

[JWRowe]

wiring

NETim,

When I had my 1130 wired, everything went thru a jumper harness to the plug at the hitch on the rear of my truck. I had trouble running my fridge on 12V DC when going down the road. I could only go about 5 hours before the Lance battery was about dead. Solution was to run a 6 ga. wire for the 12 volt from the plug at the camper direct to the truck battery on the drivers side. Next run a 6 ga. wire for the ground from the camper plug to the nearest solid ground. I went straight down to the frame. 12V and ground wires are 6 ga. at the plug so use the same size for this setup. This will prevent the least amount of line loss of current. Just finished a 3500 mile trip and had no problem at all with fridge or battery.

Sounds like your rig is sweet. We love our 1130 and it goes to Alaska for 10 weeks next year. Happy motoring.



Regards, John

 

[NETim]

So far so good. We haven't had the Lance for a week yet. The Lance connector took me by surprise. I thought that it was just a "standard" six pin round plug. Nope!



The Lance plug/harness came with 8 gauge wire so that's what I ran to the pax side battery. I hope that's enough.



John, that Alaska trip sounds great. I get the impression that a lot of truck camper guys make that journey. Maybe someday.



The Torklift hitch is a brute. And the frame mounted tie down system is the only way to go IMHO.



Hopefully next weekend we can get out and use the rig.



Tim

 

[JWRowe]

Plug

Tim,

The plug took me by supprise also but it seems to work fine the way I have it wired. Lights go to the rear plug connector at the rear hitch and line loss does not seem to be there.

I made a version similar to the Happi Jac system for my tie downs. I had a local steel shop bend up the front pieces that go on the front of the bed and I used 2" x4" steel tubing for inside the bed reinforcement. I used 1/4" wall and put a web on the inside of each end to prevent it from compressing when I tightened the bolts. Nuts were welded to the front bed pieces. The rear tie down points are thick wall square tubing inserted into and welded to the rear hitch cross tube. Inside this I used 1" tubing and drilled holes for hitch pins and can recess them in out of the way when not in use. No flex and better yet, no holes in the bumper. And strong.

Always looking for new ideas and always adding additional touches. Finished a console for the front just before we went to Florida. Worked great. Thanks for the reply.



Regards, John