Possible CDR problem

[crew84]

I drove from home to Reno twice in one week to look at a 5th wheel trailer and then back again to buy it. On the east side of Truckee on Highway 80 is a long downgrade that goes almost to Reno. Both times after I arrived there where the trailer was parked I shut off the truck. When I started it up it smoked bad with oil smoke. Now when I come down Hwy 80 I am in OD and the engine RPM is not high. I figure that it is sucking oil into the filter housing and then through the turbo into the intake manifold in which it is pooling. I figured it then seeps into the heads when the engine is stopped. It does not smoke after a couple of miles. It does not smoke after the engine has been shut off normally. I get home and no smoke but I had been cruising on flat highway for about a hour.

BTW I bought an Alpenlite 29'with a slide. I pulled it up the grades alright. I had to keep my ETG's down by throttling way down and using all the gears I had using the GearVendor OD. My truck had power but the EGTs really limited how I used it. Keeping the EGTs below 1100 slowed me way down. Now it was cold there so I am going to have to deal with high EGTs by turning down the pump to deal with summer.

[arveetek]

What year is the Alpenlite? I have a 94 Alpenlite, 29' fifth-wheel. It doesn't have a slide though. Mine is the XL model, which they quit making in '95. It's a smaller version, but that's good, because it weighs less. Still a pretty good load for my n/a 6.2L.

You can see some pics of my trailer in my photo link below.

I think that the Alpenlites are pretty well built units. All aluminum framed walls and ceilings.

Casey

[crew84]

The Alpenlite is a 1993 model SL. I bought it from a private party. They had bought it a little over a year ago. They put in a new Onan 4KW generator, awning, DC convertor, brakes, battery, backing plates, water filter system, and had 2 3/4 years left on a Service warranty contract with they had bought for $1400.00. They had bought it to go on a caravan to Mexico last winter with a fellow trailer person. $6000.00 later they were tired of RVing. They had also raised the trailer 6 inches so it fit their truck. This also fit my truck. I also got all the accessaries that they had.

[arveetek]

I think the SL model is very similar to my XL. Does yours have a large, molded fiberglass cap on the front end that goes way over the top, past the roof vent directly over the bed?

Sounds like you got a good rig.

I did the axle swap on one very similar to yours last summer. They had a Dodge 4x4 that was very tall, and the trailer wouldn't fit properly. From the factory, the springs are located underneath the axles. It's a fairly simple job to relocate the springs on top of the axles, thus lifting the trailer 5 to 6". I assume this is what they did to yours.

Sorry about getting off your main subject!

Casey

[crew84]

Yes the moulded front cover goes over pass the bedroom vent. It is heavy. The factory says about 8900 lbs with 1350 lbs tongue weight. I have a B & W Turnover ball hitch with the 5th wheel Companion. The last owners raised it by having someone add a 6x2 inch steel box frame that is completely enclosed and fish plate welded to the frame. It was done very nice and if you were not told you would think it was from the factory. The springs are torsion type.
My trailer has the smooth fiberglass sides and a lot more compartments than your trailer shows in the picture. Even my steps have a compartment.

[ 02-06-2004, 03:03 PM: Message edited by: crew84 ]

[arveetek]

Oh, you've got the smooth sides, eh? Mine's laminated fiberglass too, but it's the ribbed style. Your SL must be the upper end model then. And I didn't realize that any Alpenlites used torsion type suspension. In that case you would have to add some sort of framing in order to raise it up.

My sticker shows 8500 lbs.

I'd like to see some pics of yours sometime!

Casey