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Morning y’all. Taking a short break here before I continue with my day’s projects. Already had a quick breakfast of protein bar with glass of milk and some blueberries. Washed and dried some fog bedding, vacuumed the house, washed kitchen floor and did quick clean of bathroom. After break want to run dust rag over house, then it’s lunch time. Hoping to get back at my scrapbook project but know there will be a daily walk in the mix someplace. Also looks like I have a buyer for a dresser listed on FB Marketplace. Think they might be coming to get it. So definitely busy day here.

Weather has been beautiful with mild temps, sun and clouds over past 3 days. Today is cloudy with some light drizzle. Guess there’s a clipper coming Sunday which will bring some snow. But great weather to have be penoutside in the meantime.

Hope you all are having a good day or at least a start to one, those on the left coast. I’m off to work

Happy New Year Everybody. I’m late checking in this month. Beth, please give my best to Kerry and tell her the sunrise photo was spectacular. I rarely see the sun rise.
JudyB and I finally connected and will meet up on Tuesday, the 7th. Irmi I will send you a pm with the time and place so you and Steve can join us. Carol and Donna please pm me with your contact information so you can meet up with us as well. I’ll give NaN a call as I have her number. Everybody is welcome to join us, but I don’t know where you are! Enjoy today Peggy

Good afternoon. I went to the Organic Produce farmers market this morning. It was their first market of the season. I managed to buy some goodies and leave many others there.

Anita, I can't imagine what your daughter is feeling. Heartfelt wishes that your grandson is able to stay healthy and out of danger. And I look forward to your granddaughters products for sale.

Kerry is busy for a few days, but I'll make sure I get your hi in somewhere, Peggy.

Good afternoon gals!

I took my trailer to Banning this morning to get the Andersen WD hitch installed. They also put my new battery on. On the way home tho, something didn't feel right. It was hard to control the car. Trailer wasn't swaying at all tho. I was thinking the chains were too tight (they adjust with a large bolt and nut on each side). I pulled off at a rest stop to check it out. Yes, they looked too tight but the tool (socket) I have wouldn't fit, to loosen them. So I just drove back that way. Also noticed my right back trailer light wasn't working. When I got closer to home, I stopped at my mechanics shop and had him take a look. He replaced the light bulb, and then was able to loosen the nuts on the chains a bit for me. It felt much easier to drive the rest of the way home after that. I did stop at Car Quest to get a wrench for the chains but they wanted over $30 for it so I didn't buy it. I think I have something here in my shed I can try. The nuts are 1 1/4 inches in diameter.

So now I am exhausted and need a nap!

BarbaraRose wrote:On the way home tho, something didn't feel right. It was hard to control the car. Trailer wasn't swaying at all tho. I was thinking the chains were too tight (they adjust with a large bolt and nut on each side). I pulled off at a rest stop to check it out. Yes, they looked too tight but the tool (socket) I have wouldn't fit, to loosen them. So I just drove back that way. Also noticed my right back trailer light wasn't working. When I got closer to home, I stopped at my mechanics shop and had him take a look. He replaced the light bulb, and then was able to loosen the nuts on the chains a bit for me. It felt much easier to drive the rest of the way home after that. I did stop at Car Quest to get a wrench for the chains but they wanted over $30 for it so I didn't buy it. I think I have something here in my shed I can try. The nuts are 1 1/4 inches in diameter.

Barbie, maybe Laura will chime in here, but it is my understanding about the chain part of the Andersen Hitch (and having driven from California to Yellowstone and back using this very same hitch without any problem whatsoever) is that, when they are correctly installed, the chains are very tight, very firm - no slack at all. This is how the weight distribution/anti-sway works - it connects your tow vehicle and trailer into "one unit". It's how the Andersen hitch works

Here is a video I always review before taking a trip (you can skip the first part, but the part about hooking up the chains is always a good review):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FhIEc62mKA

If you are having problems with controlling your car during towing, there might be something else at going on.

What weight is your jeep rated to tow?

For example, my van weighs in at 6,000 pounds, and is rated at a maximum of 12,000 pounds - this weight includes the unladen 6,000 pounds of the van (without passengers and contents), and the unladen weight of my trailer (3,500 pounds). So with 6,000 + 3,500 = 9,500 I have about 2,500 pounds leeway. I guesstimate that I am rolling with about 10,000 - 10,500 pounds, maximum - easily under the rated pulling weight, and easily handled by my full-size cargo van with no handling problems whatsoever.

What does your Jeep weigh? (Do like Melissa suggested that I do - take it somewhere and have it weighed). What does your trailer weigh? What is the combined weight of your Jeep and Trailer? How much weight is your jeep rated to pull?

If the weight of your trailer is approaching the weight of your Jeep. . . might need to do a bit of a re-think. If the weight of your jeep and the weight of your trailer combined, exceeds the total rated pull weight of your jeep. . . might need to think some more.

An over-laden tow vehicle can definitely have handling issues when towing. . .

Anne

I have been in contact with Laura. She said the driving issue makes sense if the chains are too tight. I sent her pics and she says the brackets are too far forward on the a-frame of the trailer. (That is why the bolts are sticking out too far and the socket won't reach the bolt). I will have to get those moved. My Jeep is rated for 5000 pounds and my trailer is 2600 lbs. I have very little in it to add much more weight.

I took this all the way to Banning thinking these guys know what they are doing since they are an official dealer of Andersen Hitches. I saw the guy (who is the owner of the place) come back to the front office and printed out something which turned out to be the instructions on how to install the hitch (he gave them to me before I left). Will find someone around here to fix it.

Thank you Anne, for the video link. It was very informative to see how it all goes together. Looks like my brackets need to be moved back about another 4 or 5 inches.

Barbie, I know it's aggravating when you think someone knows what they are doing and they don't.

It rained all night and half the day. We got about 3 inches of rain. Now it's suppose to get cold or colder. Then next week when I will be camping it's going to warm up and rain again.

I'm still working on my project a day. Yesterday I cleaned a place to put the file box, moved the 2019 files and made new file for 2020. We'll see if that gets my taxes done any faster. I am aggravated at the estate lawyer because he still hasn't finished the estate. There are still things being reported under Harold's SS number and I can't claim it this year. Someway it will have to be transferred to the estate number. Today I went and gave blood and brought a bag of clothes to the ARC. I guess that counts as a project.

I cooked some chicken wings in my air fryer and they turned out good. It took 20 minutes on each side so a bigger piece of chicken would probably take an hour.

Anita, not a good time to be going to the Middle East. When the news bulletin came on TV last night I thought now what. When my son was in the Air Force there were times he couldn't say where he was going.

Martha

Cudedog wrote:
What weight is your jeep rated to tow?

For example, my van weighs in at 6,000 pounds, and is rated at a maximum of 12,000 pounds - this weight includes the unladen 6,000 pounds of the van (without passengers and contents), and the unladen weight of my trailer (3,500 pounds). So with 6,000 + 3,500 = 9,500 I have about 2,500 pounds leeway. I guesstimate that I am rolling with about 10,000 - 10,500 pounds, maximum - easily under the rated pulling weight, and easily handled by my full-size cargo van with no handling problems whatsoever.

What does your Jeep weigh? (Do like Melissa suggested that I do - take it somewhere and have it weighed). What does your trailer weigh? What is the combined weight of your Jeep and Trailer? How much weight is your jeep rated to pull?

If the weight of your trailer is approaching the weight of your Jeep. . . might need to do a bit of a re-think. If the weight of your jeep and the weight of your trailer combined, exceeds the total rated pull weight of your jeep. . . might need to think some more.

An over-laden tow vehicle can definitely have handling issues when towing. . .

Anne

BarbaraRose wrote:My Jeep is rated for 5000 pounds and my trailer is 2600 lbs. I have very little in it to add much more weight.

Like Barbie said, we've communicated today and once she sent the pictures, it was obvious to me that the brackets are too far forward. The Jeep is plenty of tow vehicle for the trailer she has. I towed a Jayco SLX 145RB (pretty much the same length, width, and weight as hers) when I had my Jeep Liberty and it towed just fine.

I think once she gets the brackets the correct distance from the coupler, the Andersen will work great for her combo.

Laura

Oops! Thank you for setting me straight, Laura. Me and my big mouth.

Barbie, I surely hope you can get it all sorted out. I have been very happy with my Andersen hitch. Hope you will be, too. What a drag to have had to drive all the way to Banning, and still not have it done right.

Bummer!

Anne

Martha that is certainly way too long for chicken wings. I cook mine 10-12 mins at 360 then flip and increase my temp to 400 for another 10 mins. I test with my digital temp thermometer frequently at this point. Should be 165°. When I cook chicken thighs (bone in with skin) I cook at 370 for 12-15 minutes skin side down, then I flip over skin side up and cook for another 10 minutes or so. Then I turn temp up to 400 for 5 minutes to crisp it up more. Less time for boneless skinless chicken thighs. Most important is checking with your digital thermometer frequently as all air fryers cook a bit different. I dont want mine over done and like them juicy.