Over the summer months and even into the fall, RV trips and camping trips with travel trailers and fifth wheels are pretty common. What most people don’t think much about though is proper care for their travel trailer or fifth wheel. Now I understand if your trailer is about 20 year old and rusty but say you just bought a brand new travel trailer, then you should check into some of these tips to help it keep that new look and last for years.
The biggest thing that people might not know about is the tires on your new travel trailer. The tires are always being exposed to UV rays and this can have a lasting effect on your tires. Eventually it can just eat away at them and then small cracks will start to appear and then you really have a problem. The best thing you can do is to just monitor your tires through out the year and right before you take any trips. I know it’s a pain in the butt to hook everything up and haul your travel trailer to get new tires but it sure beats having a tire blow out on the highway.
Also making sure you have proper weight distribution in the trailer is important as well. If not you will have to worry about too much strain on your towing vehicle or just a very shifty trailer while traveling down the road. The easiest thing to do is check the levels outside to see which side is off a little bit. Just readjust items inside to at least make it close to balanced. It doesn’t have to be dead on but when the bubble is all the way to the left or right, and then you should consider moving some weight around.
When your not using your travel trailer, it’s important to always keep it clean on the outside to avoid any unsightly marks and streaks. Over time you will start to see black streaks appear on the upper portion of the travel trailer and around windows. They won’t be completely black at first but if you don’t deal with them, then your going to be getting some permanent black marks. RV stores and even places like Wal-Mart will carry some form of wash or cleaner used to get rid of these marks. Simply spray on and scrub away and then rinse. The most frequently you wash it, the less of these marks you will get each year.
Making sure certain parts are always lubricated is also important if you want your trailer to stay around for a while. Lubricating the supports that keep the trailer from rocking, keeping you ball hitch greased up, your slide out and so on. When operating certain things like the slide out or TV antenna, make sure you don’t have any branches or twigs in the way to avoid breaking anything. This is a pretty common thing people ignore and pay for it later on. Always make sure your torsion bars are in good shape, your anti sway bar if you have one, and all the supports on your trailer are always in good working function for safety reasons.
With proper care, your travel trailer will last you for years and years and always look good. It’s a good feeling to have people compliment your travel trailer and how new it looks even if it’s five or more years old already. It might take some time to square away any of these areas but it will be worth it to know your investment will stick around for a very long time.
