It Happened, Camper has been purchased!!!

[Jeeperjamie]

We bought our first camper today, a Grand Design Imagine 18BH, Dry weight of 4086lbs. I must say the JT Max Tow handled the pull like a boss. I might look into different shocks because I can tell the Rubicon Fox shocks aren't setup for towing because I did feel a little bounce on a few bumps. I'm gonna throw my Max Tow Shocks back in before buying new ones and see if they make a difference but overall I could barely tell it was back there. I didn't get in no hurry and still was able to get up to speed well and maintain speed well. I am impressed . Curt wireless Bluetooth brake controller and weight distribution hitch and this thing is money. It's the first time I ever towed anything this large on the road other than a pontoon boat that I could easily see around. It wasn't intimidating at all once I got pulled out on the road and started going I felt right at home behind the wheel. We might take it out next weekend. We are super excited and a big thanks to all the forum members who reached out and helped me out with making a decision and gave advice.

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[JTGuy]

Practice some emergency stops. that's a big one.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

Practice some emergency stops. that's a big one.

For sure . I got to figure out a good phone mount for the dash. Researching now but for the most part I feel pretty comfortable pulling it. Seems 4 on the brake controller was the sweet spot on mine. It was preset at 5.

 

[Farmer Fran]

We bought our first camper today, a Grand Design Imagine 18BH, Dry weight of 4086lbs. I must say the JT Max Tow handled the pull like a boss. I might look into different shocks because I can tell the Rubicon Fox shocks aren't setup for towing because I did feel a little bounce on a few bumps. I'm gonna throw my Max Tow Shocks back in before buying new ones and see if they make a difference but overall I could barely tell it was back there. I didn't get in no hurry and still was able to get up to speed well and maintain speed well. I am impressed . Curt wireless Bluetooth brake controller and weight distribution hitch and this thing is money. It's the first time I ever towed anything this large on the road other than a pontoon boat that I could easily see around. It wasn't intimidating at all once I got pulled out on the road and started going I felt right at home behind the wheel. We might take it out next weekend. We are super excited and a big thanks to all the forum members who reached out and helped me out with making a decision and gave advice.

I would not call myself a tow master, but I have towed a few different TT all over the country. Before you make major changes to the truck, at a minimum;

verify you are loaded correctly - Tongue weight will make a huge impact
verify the WDH is setup properly for the proper load setup
Tire pressure will play in here, especially the tires.


EDIT: Nice setup

EDIT: EIDT: re-read your OP, it looks like you are in good knowledge. I would still try and tweak the above, especially if you are only making local-ish trips

 

[Jeeperjamie]

I would not call myself a tow master, but I have towed a few different TT all over the country. Before you make major changes to the truck, at a minimum;

verify you are loaded correctly - Tongue weight will make a huge impact
verify the WDH is setup properly for the proper load setup
Tire pressure will play in here, especially the tires.


EDIT: Nice setup

EDIT: EIDT: re-read your OP, it looks like you are in good knowledge. I would still try and tweak the above, especially if you are only making local-ish trips

Appreciate the advice brother and I'm still in the learning phase so I'm just getting to know everything right now. Definitely gonna go to a parking lot and tweak the brake controller and air pressure some to find that sweet spot. I had already considered swapping out the shocks and putting my max tow shocks back on. I haven't really thought the Rubicon Fox shocks were a improvement over the max tow ones. The are a little softer ride honestly, I just put them on because they came with he Rubicon suspension I bought and I only installed the front springs to level the truck out some more. I still got my max tow springs in the rear. I'll definitely take all the advice I can get though.

 

[NGNERD]

Congratulations, nice looking rig

 

[Jaxmax]

Thorn mirrors, member here sells the adapters to Rampage mirror to fit our trucks makes world of difference when towing. Not sure how wide your camper is but my mirrors work great with 7.5’ camper. Congrats!….Jack

 

[Jeeperjamie]

Thorn mirrors, member here sells the adapters to Rampage mirror to fit our trucks makes world of difference when towing. Not sure how wide your camper is but my mirrors work great with 7.5’ camper. Congrats!….Jack

A guy that works at the place I bought it at tows with his Gladiator and he had these on his, I have no experience but he said they snap on, and look factory. He said a lot of them he tried vibrate bad when going down the road but these don't . He didn't have his Gladiator at the place with him at the time so I couldn't see them in person . I definitely need some though and I need to find a good dash mount for my phone.

https://www.jegs.com/i/K-Source/179/80750/10002/-1

 

[Jaxmax]

I had mirrors like that on my Suburban for towing, the snap is a bit scary but they were solid, even after I broke one of the tabs putting them on, they were still going strong. The Thorns adapters are easier to put on with a Velcro strap, and very solid also. I think either would be fine for you!….Jack

 

[Koolcarguy]

We bought our first camper today, a Grand Design Imagine 18BH, Dry weight of 4086lbs. I must say the JT Max Tow handled the pull like a boss. I might look into different shocks because I can tell the Rubicon Fox shocks aren't setup for towing because I did feel a little bounce on a few bumps. I'm gonna throw my Max Tow Shocks back in before buying new ones and see if they make a difference but overall I could barely tell it was back there. I didn't get in no hurry and still was able to get up to speed well and maintain speed well. I am impressed . Curt wireless Bluetooth brake controller and weight distribution hitch and this thing is money. It's the first time I ever towed anything this large on the road other than a pontoon boat that I could easily see around. It wasn't intimidating at all once I got pulled out on the road and started going I felt right at home behind the wheel. We might take it out next weekend. We are super excited and a big thanks to all the forum members who reached out and helped me out with making a decision and gave advice.

Congratulations on the new camper!! Just find your limits(Jt's limits like speed ,stopping distance , turning ) and respect them you'll be fine

 

[Tyandpi]

We bought our first camper today, a Grand Design Imagine 18BH, Dry weight of 4086lbs. I must say the JT Max Tow handled the pull like a boss. I might look into different shocks because I can tell the Rubicon Fox shocks aren't setup for towing because I did feel a little bounce on a few bumps. I'm gonna throw my Max Tow Shocks back in before buying new ones and see if they make a difference but overall I could barely tell it was back there. I didn't get in no hurry and still was able to get up to speed well and maintain speed well. I am impressed . Curt wireless Bluetooth brake controller and weight distribution hitch and this thing is money. It's the first time I ever towed anything this large on the road other than a pontoon boat that I could easily see around. It wasn't intimidating at all once I got pulled out on the road and started going I felt right at home behind the wheel. We might take it out next weekend. We are super excited and a big thanks to all the forum members who reached out and helped me out with making a decision and gave advice.

Nice setup!!!

 

[Josh00333]

Looks good!

Nice set up.

As noted get the thorn adapters and the mirrors, they work great.

Sacle your truck at a cat scale then go take the whole rig in.

Your bounce proably has nothing to do w the shocks. Getting the scale numbers will show you were your tounge weight its and show you your payload.

I added in Sumo spring bump stops to my rig in the rear. They helped a lot, well worth it.

 

[KevinC]

Grand Design is a well made camper. Good choice.

As someone who towed a Winnebago 2106DS with a dry weight of around 4K, your JT will struggle a little on hills. As yours is also a single axle, semi trucks passing you on the interstate can be tricky. I might look into a Sway Control product.

And also being a single axle, I would caution you on tire choice. Do not buy cheap tires. A blow out can/will happen at some point in time. Quality tires and the right air pressure will prolong the inevitable.

Enjoy your trips.

KevinC

 

[Jeeperjamie]

Grand Design is a well made camper. Good choice.

As someone who towed a Winnebago 2106DS with a dry weight of around 4K, your JT will struggle a little on hills. As yours is also a single axle, semi trucks passing you on the interstate can be tricky. I might look into a Sway Control product.

And also being a single axle, I would caution you on tire choice. Do not buy cheap tires. A blow out can/will happen at some point in time. Quality tires and the right air pressure will prolong the inevitable.

Enjoy your trips.

KevinC

It's got BFG Goodwrench tires on it, seem to be good quality. We bought all the road side warranties which cover the wheels on my truck as well for 5 yrs. I'll keep putting the BFGs on as long as I own it. Thinking about taking my stock Steelie wheels and having 35 BFG's mounted and swapping to those for towing. I towed on about a 200 ft climb yesterday on the way home, it's about a little over a 1/4 mile climb so a decently steep grade and it downshifted to 5th and RPMs were at 2700 and I maintained 55mph on the climb, which I thought was pretty good.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

Tow mirrors and Backup camera ordered. I'm pretty set now. We got a free year of camping that came with one of the warranty perks we bought so we are trying to figure out our first destination now. At least in March I'll be in Myrtle Beach for sure with it because I'm signed up to run the Myrtle Beach Marathon and we booked Ocean lakes for 4 days that weekend. I'm looking at a few local places, within 50 to 75 miles of us, to practice some towing and a few weekend get aways between now and then. Still can't believe I got the wife on board to buy a camper!

https://www.jegs.com/i/K-Source/179/80750/10002/-1

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