# Funny how things happen!



## NorthernRedneck

Went to a local auto parts store today to pic up some oil and a filter for my truck.  I forgot that an RV/snowmobile/ATV dealer was in town doing a 3 day sale and were set up there.  Common guys, you know how things go when you go into one of these places.  Well, I went in for some oil and a filter and came out with a mini sled(snowmobile) for the kids and a new(to me) camper.  Now I understand what you guys go through when you show up back home with a new snowcat.   The look on the wife's face was priceless! 

Some pics of my new purchase...













It's not ours yet but when we head to the city in a week, we will finalize the deal providing it's up to our expectations.  It's a 1999 Jayco 31.5 ft. with a 14 ft. slide, bunk beds for the kids, a queen bed for us.  Now, question, due to this pending purchase, my truck needs may have changed slightly.(as mentioned in another thread, I originally planned on buying a 5th wheel camper and a 3/4 ton.  How much truck do you guys think I need to haul this.  I will get the weights and specs of the camper shortly.


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## NorthernRedneck

a couple more pictures of the inside...


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## NorthernRedneck

Ok, not the exact model but it'll give an idea for the withs and such......

unloaded vehicle weight:  6,435lbs
dry htich weight:  990lbs
gross vehicle weight:  9,000lbs

What kind of truck will I be looking at a a tow vehicle for this trailer?


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## Doc

Nice Camper.    Congrats.  

I'd stick with your original plan and get a 3/4 ton.  
Have you decided between diesel vs gas?


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## NorthernRedneck

All depends on price.  If I go with a deisel.  Any canadian prices are over 60000 for new and there's very little used out there with deisel.  The all seem to have high mileage or were former bush trucks beat to hell.  I can pick up a dodge 1500 4x4 ext cab right now with a hemi for around 33000.  That's what I'm wondering though.  A 5.7L hemi should have enough umph to haul that camper.


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## mtntopper

How about a quick trip to the states and pickup a year or two old 3/4 or 1 ton diesel to pull the camper? It appears you may save a bundle over buying the same truck in Canada. Would you have to pay extra taxes by doing that?

I have the 5.7 hemi in our Jeep Grand Cherokee and it is ok in that application but I would not want to pull a 6,000 lb camper trailer with a gas engine. The manufacturers are getting big gains in horsepower but these types of engines seem to lack in real pulling torque. You maybe better off with the Ford V10. I have one in a F250 Super Duty and it will do the job. A 6000 lb load will slow it down considerably on long pulls especially on warm days. 

For loads over 3000 lb. I normally try to use the Ford F350 diesel as the fuel costs are much less than the V10 engine Ford when pulling a trailer loaded.
  Now just go out and enjoy your new toy......


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## NorthernRedneck

I'll have to do some research on that.  Pretty much decided on a 3/4 ton.  Now, wether or not I can find one in my price range is another question.

I think a 3/4 ton will be best for pulling that size of a camper and maybe one day a snow-trac or a  ............kristi

But shhhhhhhhhh on that one........don't tell the wife, she's still trying to digest a new camper.


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## DaveNay

groomerguyNWO said:


> she's still trying to digest a new camper.



Oooo...that's a lot of fiber.


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## Bobcat

groomerguyNWO said:


> <snip>
> or a  ............kristi
> <snip>



Ah ha!


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## jwstewar

I guess it all depends on how far and how often you are going to pull and where.

My Mom & Dad pull a 31' bumper pull with a 1500 Chevy 4x4 with the 5.3 gas V8. We just purchased an 1984 28' Scotty. I pull it with my 1500 Chevy 4x4 with the 5.3. I've also got a cousin pulling a 30' fifth wheel with their 1500 Chevy 4x4. Mine and the parent's towing are mostly local, but I've towed Mom & Dad's camper to Indiana a few times. My cousin pulls his from Cincinnati back to Chillicothe usually a few times a year. The thing being here, most of our towing is on pretty flat ground. Just a few hills, nothing extreme. As far as power, seems like it has "enough," it just has to gear down and wind it out a bit. Other than that it does fine. If I were to "pick" my truck, I would definitately pick a 3/4 ton, but if I found the right deal on a 1500 series, I wouldn't hesitate one bit based on my towing.


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## NorthernRedneck

Well, was in the city again yersterday and went to look at the camper to see what shape it was in.  Until yesterday, I had only seen pictures of it.  We had only put a small deposit for them to hold it till we got there to see it.  That thing was mint inside and out for being a 1999.   It has new tires, a new rubber gasket seal for the slide out, electric tongue jack, four stabilizer jacks.  The inside looks like new.  The outside body panels are in excellent shape.  They said they gave it the diamond coat treatment to help protect the exterior.  Looking underneath at the frame and suck reveiled that it had not been trailered very much.  Overall, a very nice trailer.  They showed us a new trailer to give us something to compare it to and it was in the same shape as the new one for less than half the price of new.  We bought it!  It's still there though and will stay there till spring when we go to pick it up.


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## Snowcat Operations

groomerguyNWO said:


> or a  ............kristi:










Have you lost your ****ing MIND!     Thats it your outa the exclusive snow conquering snow club and will be banished to the realm of LOONATICS that go around and paint everything tie die and smoke that weedish smelling stuff and taking little green and pink pills before you drink the coolaid.  Your FN nuts!  I cant believe what I just read.  GROOMERGUY has lost all sense of what being a man is all about!   So so go and get in your little KR*U*sti and drive away little man just drive away   The 60 feet or so till you get stuck!  UNBELIEVABLE!!  Heres your new Krusti club hat you have to wear at there meetings! :Mickey: while doing strange things to animals that fail to pull your Krusti back to the parking lot.


AND BOBP you just stay the hell away from this!  No comments from you man.  No comments!


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## bczoom

Snowcat Operations said:


> Have you lost your ****ing MIND!     Thats it your outa the exclusive snow conquering snow club and will be banished to the realm of LOONATICS that go around and paint everything tie die and smoke that weedish smelling stuff and taking little green and pink pills before you drink the coolaid.  Your FN nuts!  I cant believe what I just read.  GROOMERGUY has lost all sense of what being a man is all about!   So so go and get in your little KR*U*sti and drive away little man just drive away   The 60 feet or so till you get stuck!  UNBELIEVABLE!!  Heres your new Krusti club hat you have to wear at there meetings! :Mickey: while doing strange things to animals that fail to pull your Krusti back to the parking lot.
> 
> 
> AND BOBP you just stay the hell away from this!  No comments from you man.  No comments!


OHHH BOY!!!!

I'm telling Poobah about this post.  You're in biiiiggggg trouble now.  I'll bet he kicks you out of being an Honorary member to the KKK.  Hey Groomerguy, we may have a spot for you in the Klub.  You'll need to check with BigAl on entrance requirements.


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## NorthernRedneck

I was wondering how long it would take to get a reaction out of mike  

Actually, since we are in the process of buying the house next door and having it torn down, removed/ whatever, we will end up with a decent size lot.  Now hear me out on this Mike and follow closely!  With a bigger yard, my wife said that she wants something to to put in the front yard to plant flowers in and close off the front yard from the main street...............following me so far..............she said that she would need something permanent that would be _*very hard to move*_.....something unique, something that not many other people have.  SO I put my thinking cap on and came up with the following idea.........

Instead of the usual fence or hedge to protect my property,  I thought about picking up the following........








.........Line them up in the front yard, then let my wife go to town with her flower garden using those as planters. I could probably go to any local scrap yard and find one for free.  People driving by would see the hideousness of those two things  sitting in my front yard and would most likely take pitty on me.  I've had allot a attempted thefts in my back yard in the past.  I figured with those things sitting there dripping oil and collecting dust, it would make a great theft deterent.  Theifs would see those ugly things and feel sorry for me and not take anything else.  If that doesn't work, I could try firing one of them up.  The loud knocking sounds coming from the engine compartment would mimick a machine gun firing scaring off any intruders.  See, there is still a practical use for these Kristi things even if most of them have not seen snow in years.  One thing I hadn't thought of till just now is that buy tearing down the house next door, I'm essentially trying to increase my property value.  That would kind of go against what I'm trying to accomplish if I manage to get rid of one hideous eyesore only to put another in its place.


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## Snowcat Operations

OK Man.  For a minute there my Boxers were all bunched up!  Sorry I should have known you were a man of honor.   FFFEWWWW  man my heart is still racing!


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## NorthernRedneck

It's ok Mike.........we know you're still having some side effects from that exhaust leak you had on one of you're Thiokols a while back.


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## Snowcat Operations

You know.  I keep trying to tell the wife the same thing.


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## BigAl RIP

I can't believe I have come back to this ! I go away for 5 weeks to put food on the table and return to a bunch of "Snow Cat Wanna Be Fat Rats " making fun of the superior Kristy Snow Cat . 

   There I was , miles from the nearest Star bucks , in the back country of Idaho . Crawling on my knees and belly ,inching ever closer to that elusive Bull Elk that I had doggingly pursued for 5 days . I was about to squeeze the trigger when a mountain goat ,with a limp , comes staggering up to me with a note tied to its horn . He is exhausted .  I read the attached note and drop my head in disappointment . The minute I had left the KKK meeting room , evil " devil worshipping " Anti forces had started to undermine my authority as Grand Poobaa of All KRISTI'S world wide . 

  I slowly stood and tipped my hat to the Bull Elk knowing that one well place shot would have finished his career as the Main Exhibit at the city zoo where I had tracked him too .I was just too upset to proceed any further and also because the children were getting real nervous as I laid by the fence , with my rifle ready . I gathered my empty hot chocolate cup and popcorn container and started the long climb back to camp ......urr.....  the parking lot where I was parked . Two days later I found my car ... 

Mental note to self : Always write down parking lot number where car is parked . 

 2nd mental note to self: Never buy white Mini van to go hunting in . Did you know there are over 2000 white Mini vans at most zoos on any given day .

 So I am back and lets just clean it up a little . Kristi's are #1 and if you have anything else it's called #2 .

Let me catch up on some real sleep and I'll tell you the real story of the hunt later . It was a great time !


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## Snowcat Operations

OOOPs..... Poobahs back.


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## NorthernRedneck

Holy Crap!  Over two months and the wife's still ridin my A$$ on how I pulled a fast one on her with getting a new camper.  OK guys pay attention here.......gonna tell you a little secret on how to get your way when the wife says NO!

I had been  for the past couple years  that I wanted to get a new truck.  My old one was fine for what I was using it for.  Every time I even mentioned a new truck, I got the old "Forget it!  The one you got is fine!"  You guys know what I'm talking about.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets that speech whenever I want a new toy.  So, I kinda pulled one over on her and she never had a clue till it was too late and the papers were all signed.  Here's what I did:  After the constant shoot down every time I mentioned a new truck, I turned my attention to a bigger camper which she agreed to in the first place.  After we signed the papers for the camper, we were pulling out of the dealership's parking lot and I dropped the bomb shell on her telling her, "Oh, and by the way, my truck's engine isn't big enough to pull the new camper so we'll need a new truck!"   The swelling on the back of my head went down after a few weeks then I started looking for a new truck.  So I ended up getting my way in the end but it took some creative thinking to get her to agree that we NEEDED a new truck.

Funny how all it takes is a little creative inginuity sometimes to get women to come around to our way of thinking.


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## ghautz

groomerguyNWO said:


> Funny how all it takes is a little creative inginuity sometimes to get women to come around to our way of thinking.



Be careful.  You don't know what she might come up with.  I'm reminded of the story where a guy was showing his buddy his new bass boat.  His friend asked how much it set him back.  He replied, "$30,000."  The friend said, "I saw one just like it in a showroom for $15,000."   The new boat owner said, "But that didn't include the new living room furniture."


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## Bulldog1401

I can't see the camper dammit!


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## NorthernRedneck

Just noticed that my original pics disapeared. Probably cuz I cleaned up my photobucket acct.  So, here they are again.


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## Ice Queen

VERY NICE!!!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

Took this picture the day I hauled it out of my seasonal campsite this fall to get it ready for a long winter's nap.


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## jwstewar

Looks like you ended up with a 1500? I'm really wanting a new GMC......gotta work on that trick you did. I was showing here a few new campers last night. Found a new 2008 26' for less than $9k. Though I would have had to do a bait and switch because I really want the 33' w/ 2 slides.


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## NorthernRedneck

I was originally looking for something around the 27' range but when we saw this one, we kinda fell in love with it.  Perfect floor plan for us.  The two kids have their own room and we have ours.  Much more enjoyable with the 14' slide out.  We've got a 25" tv/cd player combo in the camper for those rainy days.  This summer, we were out at camp even when it was storming outside.  We figured that if we're gonna be held up inside watching a movie or something, we might as well be out at camp where there's no phone constantly ringing.

The new versions of our camper have the extra slide out for the rear bunks which is also a nice feature to have.  It gives the kids thier own room to escape to.


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