HELP! Looking for a pre-trip checklist...

[adamwright]

We are about to take off from FL to California. It is a 2500 mile strip. Our trailer is rather new, but I am curious what we should check before hitting the road? Should we do something to the tires or axel? I heard you should grease the bearings? Is this the case?

[McDave]

If your fresh water tank hasn't been sterilized in a while, it would be a good idea to do that. Plug into shore power and test that the AC and all your other gadgets work as they should. Check with a local RV mechanic about greasing the bearings, if your tires and brakes are okay, etc. Roll out the awning and lubricate the fittings with silicone spray as needed. Get yourself hitch locks for your tow vehicle and your trailer.

Most people will forget to do something critical when hitching or unhitching the trailer, at some point in their lives. Once I was in a park with a sharp young guy and his family. He had just tried to drive off with his stabilizers down, and ripped one off. I drove off with my hitch jack most of the way down one time, and planed off the tops of a number of bumps before I noticed. People drive off with their steps down and their TV antennas up. I left my inverter on all night on a recent trip. Pilots routinely try to land with their gear up. These are all really dumb things that none of us would do in a hundred years, except that we get distracted and do them anyway. Find a good checklist, like the one in "The Newbies Guide to Airstreaming" and use it each time you hitch or unhitch.


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[adamwright]

Thanks, McDave. We live full time so hitch and towing is something we do a lot of. The checklist I was looking for is more mechanical, like should I have the wheels re-packed, is there a way to know if it needs it. Are there certain things to look for on the axel to check the integrity.