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I like it for its utility. I can haul 20 foot long 2x6's for my deck repairs. The tie down points ork out very well with ratchet straps. There is no noticeable wind noise when unloaded. I take it off when not hauling lumber so it is easier for me to get in the bed and put taller objects in there.

Prices vary. Go the Renogy store on e Bay.com for the latest offering.

I did not measure the ride in the Airstream with and without the hitch. There is a phone app that will measure g-forces in the phone over time that could be used to do this but it runs out of memory very quickly so it is difficult to get a read of more than 4 to 5 minutes. Then I would need a way to analyze it other than just looking at it. So I do not have scientific evidence, only seat of the pants. If popped rivets are any indication I have fewer now but not zero. That may have more to do with adjustments to tire pressure in the trailer and the load on the Weight distribution bars than anything else. I run my GY endurance tires between 55 and 60 PSI cold. I ran the old GY Marathon tires at 65 PSI cold. When I moved up to a RAM 2500 from my RAM 1500 I was able to reduce the tension in the bars a lot. After about 30,000 miles towing with the Gen Y hitch, I am satisfied with its performance.

@@jim9404 Thanks for the reply. I did not see it until today. I switched from a F150 to a F250 and was able to switch from 1200 lbs bars to 800 lbs bars. Seems to handle well. I am looking at a 16 klb rated Gen-y with custom 3" shank to fit into the F250's receiver. I hope to soften the ride for our camper. Would be an interesting test to measure the vibration before and after. Happy camping!

Thanks Dave!. Glad your tires are holding up. I love the TPMS system. I should have mentioned that its important to get the Higher rated (85PSI) valve stems when you use these monitors.

Yes, I highly recommend them. The TST system has worked great for me.

Glad it was helpful!

Dean, my 2019 Ram 2500 has stock 20 in tires and 4WD. I have never bottomed the hitch out. I use it with the long side down and have plenty of ground clearance. I found the best ride was when keeping the tires inflated to 65 PSI that is recommended on m door plates. I'll have a look at the Carli springs. Maybe they can help me. too.

Unlocked

I agree.

Can be done, but its not quite as simple as you make it out to be. A stainless body lock is much harder to drill, The drill is going to "walk" unless you do a center punch and you have to drill at a certain point on the lock. By locking the chains to the cover you can prevent easy cover removal even with the puck lock off and slow down the theft process. So if the thief brings a lot of equipment and has enough time with no one watching, they could succeed. The purpose of this lock is to discourage a potential theft of opportunity by requiring extra time and activity to defeat the lock.

I'd like to. If someone sends me one, I will .

Thanks for the comment. I am going to make another long trip with the Gen Y this month and try some additional tuning of the tire pressures and WD bars to see if I can get a better ride.

@@jim9404 I just recently bought this gen Y hitch. I do as well not see much difference in ride. I think I should go with the air ride shocker hitch...IDK

Amazon

I think you were running with too many washers and hitch ball was at too much of an angle for the torsion system to move as it should to soak up the road. It was transferring to your F250. Just my 2 cents. I'm looking to pull the trigger on this Gen-Y. Thanks for your review Jim. Helped me.

Gary, that is true, probably around 10 Amps is the max I could get, and average current is going to be much less. On a sunny summer day , that should be enough to replace about half my 2 battery capacity. That was my goal since I can typically go two days on a full charge.

Gary - I suspect that he was referring to the CC rating as 20a and probably has read the label on the panels and now has experience to know that in bright sun the panels properly aimed will produce about 8a/150v which is 200w equivalent to the 4a per panel i get from my Renogy 100w panel. Nice video though to tell folks how easy it is to set up and monitor. I chose a 150ah GC12 Interstate for my TAB teardrop replacing a 75ah group 12 that was too little charging. Currently "gunshy" about moving to LiFePO4 yet as the complexity is daunting at this point.

oops meant 8a/150w not 150v

Thanks for the great review and the follow up.

Bouge has extension cables from 10 ft to 100 ft in AWG 10 and 12 See them at this link www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BRFPD6R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

Long steel cable from a garage door, looped around a tree or picnic table and locked.

I have a padlock and a steel cable (Use one from a garage door or an old sailboat stay)

I bought “wsdcam 113db wireless anti-theft alarm” on amazon and stuck it to the underside. Even if you tap the panel, it gives off a warning alarm. Loud!

@@jim9404 Standard thief bolt cutters will cut the garage-type-cable but it is better than nottin and will keep all the non-pros away. Airstream well-deserves its reputation. Aircraft-grade body that helps them last forever.

That’s a nice setup, what did it cost for the total system? My first set of Interstate deep discharge batteries lasted 7 years so I went with those.

@@jim9404 If you go to diysolarforum, you can find a section there for DIY lithium builds. My battery, which I built early summer of 2020, cost about $650 or so for everything. It fits in a group 31 battery box, weighs less than 50 lbs, and is the functional equivalent of about 7 of the batteries that the rv dealer "gives" you when you buy an RV. I used eve 280ah cells and a Daly 200 amp BMS. Changing from lead acid to lithium is equivalent in a sense to adding significantly to your solar panel count. The round trip efficiency of a charge cycle is near 100%, what goes in comes out.

Glad I could help! I measured a couple of tenths of a volt drop through the 30 foot cables at 8 Amps in full sun,

CD ft to

Sounds great!

Thanks Daniel. I chose the Airstream because of its value retention. That's my Scottish heritage coming out! I am still working on my video production values. Hope I can do make them better in the future.

Yes, the best way is to have the charge controller as close tot the battery as you can. I did not do this because the charge controller is attached to the solar panel and I wanted to leave all that together as a unit. What you give up is a little bit of charging efficiency because of the voltage drop in the extension. Life is full of compromises.

Any relation to Pete Benham from Ohio?

Measured the voltage drop today, it was 0.2 V at 6 Amps

I have now removed the controller from the solar panels and put it at the battery end of my extension cables to get a little bit better performance.

I am using a set of 7 year old Interstate Group 24 flooded lead acid batteries. These batteries have lasted a long time. I believe it is because when in storage they are always connected to a 15 w solar panel with a Morningstar charge controller, and I never discharge them below 50%. I have used that same setup on my sailboats for years with good results.

Jim, so in the Renogy control Panel you chose lead acid ? Just wondering what battery type you select in the control panel or does it do it automatically? I’m going to set up this weekend

@@douglasbenham3349 Yes, I set up the battery type in the control panel the first time I hooked up to the battery before hooking up to the solar panel. Follow instructions provided with the panel as your controller may be different than mine,

Glad it was helpful!

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"BougeRV 30 Feet 10AWG Solar Extension Cable with Female and Male Connector with Extra Free Pair of Connectors Solar Panel Adaptor Kit Tool (30FT Red + 30FT Black)" Available from Amazon. You will have to crimp the unattached connector on yourself.

Follow Up - Today is a nice sunny day, I put the panels out for a test at noon and they are producing about 6 A into the batteries at 14.6 V. The batteries are a pair of flooded lead acid. Interstate SRM 24 in parallel. The voltage drop in the 30 foot cable is 0.2 volts from the controller to the battery terminals.

Used it in Oklahoma while Boondocking last month, We got a bout 28 A-Hr of electricity on an overcast day, replacing the energy I used overnight running the furnace, pump and lights. Kept the batteries topped up. I moved it once at noon from east facing to west facing.

The panels were purchased form the Renogy store on E -bay. Great deals there.

Renogy Store on E-bay

Hope you enjoy it!