Driving in a blizzard last night

Chuck FB · January 2

11 hours ago, rjgvt said:

The HD truck box at 6’ 10” is already way better than the half ton 6.5’ bed. Any longer and it won’t fit in my detached pole barn type garage. My 1/2 ton double cab trucks with a 6.5’ bed had room to walk around front and back in the garage. The AT4HD just fits with no room to walk around, have to open the garage door to get around in the garage.

I ordered my truck with the plow prep/camper package and 5th wheel/gooseneck option. I figured when I get rid of this truck, someone might want to plow or tow a 5th wheel. Dealer added the aux battery option because of the plow package and I left it on the order. The aux battery supplies 12v to the 7 way trailer connections. It also powers the lights in the cap that I wired to the 7 way trailer connection in the bed. I’d get the aux battery again along with the other options.

I added a 12v socket to my truck since GM decided to eliminate it for my truck. I wired it to the aux battery and it’s hot all of the time. I have a Garmin satellite communicator that I carry hunting as I’m by myself in the woods. I charge it at the end of the day with the 12v socket. I’d order the aux battery again.

The upfitter option wasn’t available for my truck but it is on the newer trucks. I’m going to get that option on my next truck.

When I had my last 1/2 ton truck, I had all of the stuff I normally carry and took some firewood to camp for the fire pit. I had 2 jet sleds loaded, a smaller plastic container loaded plus the back of the truck. I’m pretty sure I was overloaded. My current truck has over 2k pounds left in the payload for stuff. I don’t need an HD truck for my daily driver but I like it!

My truck is like a Denali without the chrome and came with black wheels and KO3’s.

It seems these days so many of the Chev or Ford 1/2 tons on the road or on the new lots are the "short short" box and part of that theme would be for keeping the length down while also having a true crew cab pickup. For parking as well as being able to fit into a garage. They do not seem to make the typical attached garage on houses large enough, it seems they were made for mid size cars or smaller, not pickups and the door width and height are issues and often see larger pickups sitting outside in town where they have a garage and it has no vehicle in it, can't fit their vehicles into it. For example one of my friends that had a 2017 Chev 1/2 ton crew cab 6'6" box and it fit in his garage, then he got a 2023 model of the same theme and its longer and barely can squeeze it in and close the door as its a bit longer. Interestingly the crew cab 6'6" Chev 1/2 ton and the crew cab 6'10" HD Chev trucks have a wheel base within an inch of each other but the HD is quite a few inches longer ... I think over 9" longer and that would make all the difference, that and towing mirrors being standard push the HD trucks of this cab and box length beyond what a lot of garages can fit.

If it had not been for the concern of creating a rougher riding truck I would have had the plow prep thrown on it but from comments I had been reading with the gas truck and that package it didn't inspire me to go down that road as I was doubtful I would make use of such stiff bars. Plow pickup trucks are not very common around here like they are in some places it seems and never did get onto that topic as to what the local dealers tend to being in spec wise but nothing has jumped out at me on dealer listings to say its a common spec item. I also in a sense wanted the silly grill shutters, they may bite me down the road by failing but the idea of them in being able to help somewhat in warming up the engine was my line of thinking and that is why they put them on after all but they don't put them on with the plow prep.

I may had already listed these items but I did order mine with the two battery/two alternator setup and if I will ever make use of it I don't know but the price was right in getting it on the truck. So in theory I should have all sorts of alternator capacity with the 220 and 170 amp alternators and the second battery is supposed to be adding a slight amount of cranking power to the system or so that is what I have been lead to believe. I also did order mine with the fifth wheel prep and again unsure if I will ever use it but if I ever want it, its right there and its impossible to add the GM system to a truck after the fact, and yes it adds weight but to me that is just traction weight for the rear when not carrying heavy. Its certainly RV ready in the sense of trailer use, not so much slide in camper use but that also goes back to it not being a long box and the short comings there, just depends on what one was after for a camper. As you brought up the power into the cab issue, I had ordered mine with the upfitter system so it would have had the harnesses etc and the switch already in the dash and the added items to the battery fuse wise or in the package. What happened with that is that the salesman had the shop install the harness and said surprise .. no charge ( would have cost around 500.00 for installation I gathered ). Mind you I don't even know how to pop the panels to gain access to the back of the switch panel !, but it is all there and wired up. It also was one of those things that I figured I may as well get and if I wanted it in the future it is there vs wishing I had gotten it after the fact. That too at the time was an item that I knew the GM AT4 or Denali did not have sorted out yet due to the different dash/console layout and yes now they have it but not when I ordered my truck. One would have to be driving trucks with both dash layouts to figure out what one preferred but I will say I like that tray area ahead of the side by side drink holders and its not so close to the row of toggle switches to accidently hit one of them ... oh like unknowingly lowering the tailgate. Too much bs these days in pickups for my liking. And your right, what a piss off for them to have deleted the 12 volt socket, there are so many devices yet on the market even that require that outlet as well as the amperage its able to supply, what a retarded move and Ford I think did the same thing now as well ?.

That's right, your truck is for all intended purposes like a Denali without the chrome grill and shiny wheels, other than the different seat look with the sewn in highlights and some trim piping etc, its all the same dash, same seat functions and so forth. My truck on an MSRP price point was higher by a certain amount vs an AT4 and only because I would say its Chev's top line pickup trim, its where they make their most money. I should add that I wanted the camera rear view mirror which is bundled with the heads up display and for whatever reason a SLT could not be had with that but a LTZ could be, that was why I was then looking at the AT4/Denali and leaning to the Denali. Should I have gotten a LTZ instead, perhaps as it would have come with most of what I had on my wanted list.

rjgvt · January 2

I don't think my truck runs rough with the plow prep package. During summer I was running 55psi front and rear. For winter, I put in 60psi to account for dropping temps. Tire pressures usually stay 56psi or above. With myself and my GF, my trucks weighs about 1000 pounds over curb weight. If I towed anything heavier than my boat, I'd bump my pressures up to 60 front and 70 rear. My truck doesn't have the grill shutters. My cousin in PA has a 2024 Chevy LT 2500HD without the plow prep package and has no shutters.

You're lucky that you could get the upfitter option. I have a diagram and procedure on how to take the dash panels off and took them off one day looking for a place to put a GM 12v socket and retainer that I got from the dealer. There was no place to mount it like on the trucks without the full console. It cost less than $20 and I'm not sure where I put it, it's in my house somewhere. Then I decided to mount a 12v socket on the bottom of the dash. After getting the wires through the feedthrough, I'm sure I could install the upfitter option myself if the switches were mounted by GM. I currently have my cell mount in the flat area ahead of the electric trailer brake controller. The upfitter switches on the new trucks take up part of the flat area. I'd probably cut the RAM mount base to fit if I had that option.

Auxbeam makes various switch controllers that would probably be easier than the upfitter option install. I'd prefer the factory look of the upfitter.

Pryme · January 2

I’m glad our house has a long enough garage to fit my CCSB. Also having a 18’ wide door helps parking it next to our suv. Not much room to spare though. I can barely open the tailgate with the truck parked in the garage. And the front is very close to the garage door. I can barely squeeze around it if I really need to but never need to.

Edited January 2 by Pryme

Chuck FB · January 3

5 hours ago, rjgvt said:

I don't think my truck runs rough with the plow prep package. During summer I was running 55psi front and rear. For winter, I put in 60psi to account for dropping temps. Tire pressures usually stay 56psi or above. With myself and my GF, my trucks weighs about 1000 pounds over curb weight. If I towed anything heavier than my boat, I'd bump my pressures up to 60 front and 70 rear. My truck doesn't have the grill shutters. My cousin in PA has a 2024 Chevy LT 2500HD without the plow prep package and has no shutters.

You're lucky that you could get the upfitter option. I have a diagram and procedure on how to take the dash panels off and took them off one day looking for a place to put a GM 12v socket and retainer that I got from the dealer. There was no place to mount it like on the trucks without the full console. It cost less than $20 and I'm not sure where I put it, it's in my house somewhere. Then I decided to mount a 12v socket on the bottom of the dash. After getting the wires through the feedthrough, I'm sure I could install the upfitter option myself if the switches were mounted by GM. I currently have my cell mount in the flat area ahead of the electric trailer brake controller. The upfitter switches on the new trucks take up part of the flat area. I'd probably cut the RAM mount base to fit if I had that option.

Auxbeam makes various switch controllers that would probably be easier than the upfitter option install. I'd prefer the factory look of the upfitter.

My half ton, I had ordered it with an optional stiffer set of torsion bars and I don't recall how they explained them but I don't think it was that much of an increase in weight capacity but a bit and that even made a difference between my truck and my brother who also had bought a pickup just like it but it wasn't bad but did notice a difference. I would have to drive an HD gas with the plow prep and same tire pressures I have been using and the important part, on our roads to feel what the difference is. That's the thing with both suspension and tires/tire pressures being carried, the roads make all the difference to what a vehicle will feel like. Just the gravel road that I take to get out to the closest highway, it varies so much depending on how it was graded or if there was traffic that roughed it up some and even during the winter with how the snow may pack down unevenly into a stutter bump type situation, boy do I feel it in this truck even with the low tire pressures I carry. Yet for the most part and a lot of that has to do with them having recently repaved some of the highways in this area, its not bad but only because of the low tire pressures as it was certainly not delightful when I first took it home from the dealership with the max pressures as that did show up the imperfections in our lovely paved roads. Like I mentioned, prior to making a decision on what way to order my truck I scanned around on the internet to find comments of those that had the plow package and I ran across enough comments and talk of having swapped out for the standard bars or the cognito bars and the claim it made a very noticeable difference. In saying that I have since heard the comment like you have that its not been a bad experience and in one case a youtuber who has the stiff bars and was using his truck with a plow, he ended up turning his bars up a bit as I think the plow use the first winter settled them in and he was hitting the jounce bumpers too harshly when he did not have the plow on the next summer although he did not go wild with the keys, just got it up some and claimed that really helped smooth out the ride. After all that was part of the reason I bought the Chev vs a Ford super duty as they do or at last did ride quite bad on the front end with the gas engine just a few years ago when I test drove one and the comments from those I know around here that drive them for work and the GM's are known to be a better riding truck up front. Of course its a compromise going to an HD truck for a main vehicle to drive around vs a half ton but there are things this truck is capable of doing ( and your well aware of that ... you bought one for the same reason ! ) that a half ton never was designed to do and there are a lot of guys around me and the area that have made the same choice in going to a 3/4 or 1 ton to have a truck that can haul or tow without pushing the truck to its limits. Farmers around here that used to drive half ton pickups, many of them have gone the heavy duty truck route and yes some for the diesel but others sticking with the gas and box size would play a part in it as well.

It is dumb that GM does not say anything at least officially on their website to explain which truck configuration will come with shutters and which will not. I don't know if the camper only bars also eliminates the shutters or not, or if they are also going on trim level as well and not putting the feature on some lower trims even if it has the standard bars. I just don't understand some of the quirky things vehicle manufactures do.

I almost have to wonder if GMC with the upscale dash/console design did not even think it out that anyone might actually want the upfitter switches, for them to have nothing right off the bat and took them until well into the 2025 model year to come up with that design. I will admit I am a bit confused by the console slots and the dished area where you ended up putting the Ram mount, its layout never did quite make sense to me although it certainly looks nicer in the sense of the angled sides that integrate into the dash as its very eye appealing as is the rest of the vent layout etc. Having the brake controller there may be a good thing but with that and an upfitter switch, they are getting rather mixed in with the liquid spill risk LOL. There was all the talk about how the gear shift lever was blocking the view to the info center and even some company that came out with a stubby shifter knob solution to "fix the problem", I never actually drove one to have it in drive to see if it was an issue for me or not but I more than likely would have ended up with a GMC had the dealer not been goofing around with their pricing.

With all the effort of what you have done to your truck so far interior wiring wise and including the color matching cap, the extra wheels for winter and so on, I guess personally I wouldn't be in any hurry to get rid of a truck like that which fits the use case perfectly. Then again perhaps I should have been doing more of that over the years and had updated vehicles but instead enjoyed watching said vehicles rust before my eyes ! ( why I am at least attempting to try out fluid film and see if I can slow that process down ).

rjgvt · January 3

1 hour ago, Chuck FB said:

My half ton, I had ordered it with an optional stiffer set of torsion bars and I don't recall how they explained them but I don't think it was that much of an increase in weight capacity but a bit and that even made a difference between my truck and my brother who also had bought a pickup just like it but it wasn't bad but did notice a difference. I would have to drive an HD gas with the plow prep and same tire pressures I have been using and the important part, on our roads to feel what the difference is. That's the thing with both suspension and tires/tire pressures being carried, the roads make all the difference to what a vehicle will feel like. Just the gravel road that I take to get out to the closest highway, it varies so much depending on how it was graded or if there was traffic that roughed it up some and even during the winter with how the snow may pack down unevenly into a stutter bump type situation, boy do I feel it in this truck even with the low tire pressures I carry. Yet for the most part and a lot of that has to do with them having recently repaved some of the highways in this area, its not bad but only because of the low tire pressures as it was certainly not delightful when I first took it home from the dealership with the max pressures as that did show up the imperfections in our lovely paved roads. Like I mentioned, prior to making a decision on what way to order my truck I scanned around on the internet to find comments of those that had the plow package and I ran across enough comments and talk of having swapped out for the standard bars or the cognito bars and the claim it made a very noticeable difference. In saying that I have since heard the comment like you have that its not been a bad experience and in one case a youtuber who has the stiff bars and was using his truck with a plow, he ended up turning his bars up a bit as I think the plow use the first winter settled them in and he was hitting the jounce bumpers too harshly when he did not have the plow on the next summer although he did not go wild with the keys, just got it up some and claimed that really helped smooth out the ride. After all that was part of the reason I bought the Chev vs a Ford super duty as they do or at last did ride quite bad on the front end with the gas engine just a few years ago when I test drove one and the comments from those I know around here that drive them for work and the GM's are known to be a better riding truck up front. Of course its a compromise going to an HD truck for a main vehicle to drive around vs a half ton but there are things this truck is capable of doing ( and your well aware of that ... you bought one for the same reason ! ) that a half ton never was designed to do and there are a lot of guys around me and the area that have made the same choice in going to a 3/4 or 1 ton to have a truck that can haul or tow without pushing the truck to its limits. Farmers around here that used to drive half ton pickups, many of them have gone the heavy duty truck route and yes some for the diesel but others sticking with the gas and box size would play a part in it as well.

It is dumb that GM does not say anything at least officially on their website to explain which truck configuration will come with shutters and which will not. I don't know if the camper only bars also eliminates the shutters or not, or if they are also going on trim level as well and not putting the feature on some lower trims even if it has the standard bars. I just don't understand some of the quirky things vehicle manufactures do.

I almost have to wonder if GMC with the upscale dash/console design did not even think it out that anyone might actually want the upfitter switches, for them to have nothing right off the bat and took them until well into the 2025 model year to come up with that design. I will admit I am a bit confused by the console slots and the dished area where you ended up putting the Ram mount, its layout never did quite make sense to me although it certainly looks nicer in the sense of the angled sides that integrate into the dash as its very eye appealing as is the rest of the vent layout etc. Having the brake controller there may be a good thing but with that and an upfitter switch, they are getting rather mixed in with the liquid spill risk LOL. There was all the talk about how the gear shift lever was blocking the view to the info center and even some company that came out with a stubby shifter knob solution to "fix the problem", I never actually drove one to have it in drive to see if it was an issue for me or not but I more than likely would have ended up with a GMC had the dealer not been goofing around with their pricing.

With all the effort of what you have done to your truck so far interior wiring wise and including the color matching cap, the extra wheels for winter and so on, I guess personally I wouldn't be in any hurry to get rid of a truck like that which fits the use case perfectly. Then again perhaps I should have been doing more of that over the years and had updated vehicles but instead enjoyed watching said vehicles rust before my eyes ! ( why I am at least attempting to try out fluid film and see if I can slow that process down ).

If I trade my truck in after 5 years or so, I’d do the same thing with a new truck. I like to get rid of a truck before it starts showing its age in a state that spreads salt all winter. Temps got into the 20’s today so I went through the car wash. Hopefully the winter wheels/tires would still fit a newer 2500HD. Current wheels have been the same size since 2011. My luck they would change it. My last truck was a 2018 GMC 1500 with 18” wheels. I had winter tires on 17” wheels, same size as my spare. I didn’t know at the time that the 17” wheels would not have fit 2019 1500 trucks and later. I kept that truck 5.5 years.

If my cap fits my next truck model, I’ll order Sterling Metallic. If not, I like the Coastal Dune color and start over.

I think the flat area that I mounted my cell phone to looks like the area where the newer 1500’s have the stupid console shifter. I hope GM never puts that shifter in the 2500’s. My column shifter doesn’t block my dash screen like others have complained about. Maybe it has to do with my height, seat position, etc.

I think the brake controller on my truck is in a good location. I’d like to get a dump trailer with electric brakes this year. Not having to reach across the dash might seem like a plus.

Chuck FB · January 3

11 hours ago, rjgvt said:

If I trade my truck in after 5 years or so, I’d do the same thing with a new truck. I like to get rid of a truck before it starts showing its age in a state that spreads salt all winter. Temps got into the 20’s today so I went through the car wash. Hopefully the winter wheels/tires would still fit a newer 2500HD. Current wheels have been the same size since 2011. My luck they would change it. My last truck was a 2018 GMC 1500 with 18” wheels. I had winter tires on 17” wheels, same size as my spare. I didn’t know at the time that the 17” wheels would not have fit 2019 1500 trucks and later. I kept that truck 5.5 years.

If my cap fits my next truck model, I’ll order Sterling Metallic. If not, I like the Coastal Dune color and start over.

I think the flat area that I mounted my cell phone to looks like the area where the newer 1500’s have the stupid console shifter. I hope GM never puts that shifter in the 2500’s. My column shifter doesn’t block my dash screen like others have complained about. Maybe it has to do with my height, seat position, etc.

I think the brake controller on my truck is in a good location. I’d like to get a dump trailer with electric brakes this year. Not having to reach across the dash might seem like a plus.

Yes that is the killer of vehicles all right and was one of the reasons I wondered about buying a Ford instead but decided not to go down that road. Unfortunately most vehicles purchased are an extremely poor investment, a vastly depreciating asset and makes it worse when one doesn't put the miles on it per year and becomes an older vehicle with low miles vs a very current vehicle with higher miles. That was what turned me off of looking at the used market, pay top dollar for someone else's vehicle that was more than likely poorly maintained but quite new in years or still pay enough for seems like a low mileage but somewhat older vehicle that just hasn't quite gotten to the stage where its cancer has popped out yet. The vehicle market up here and at least in this part of Canada has become stupid in the last years because of the US market sucking one year old 45000 mile or less vehicles down to the states and turning a buck on them, leaving our market with far fewer used vehicles in the market place to choose from and why they were asking too much here for such a vehicle .. may as well buy new then was how I saw it and know it was cared for and not driven like a ****** behind the wheel and idled to death.

I had not been thinking about that 1/2 ton to HD theme with the console, I guess I was just assuming they designed it differently but your probably right, they repurposed the same console and stuck that little tray area in there pretending it had a purpose and that center narrow slot tray area. I am sure your right that seating position and height of the driver would make all the difference to where the shifter would line up to. I don't mind the shifters that are on the console as per half tons and suvs etc that give easy access to the shifter but that is always geared around two person front seating vehicles rather than an dual purpose HD truck that allows for having a front bench seat or buckets with a console. I doubt GM or Ford will go away from either a column or some other dash system for shifting gears unless they created two systems, a work truck system and an upscaled HD truck with a console shifter. One thing I was not crazy at all about was the Ram shift knob on the dash but not like I drove one either to get used to it and then for 2025 then went away from that back to the column shifter so they must have had negative feedback from that concept. But yes, getting a half these days with buckets means a console shifter in a GM or Ford, that is a fact.

Brake controllers, I suppose due to how they were never integrated in the past and was a third party add on stuffed under the dash and hard to reach for manual use, having the control on the dash seemed like an upgrade !. Definitely its closer to your hand with what GM has done but in all honesty its not that often one is reaching for the manual control once one dials in the aggressive percentage in the trailer controller system as it does its thing as your braking with the pedal. This summer I had hooked onto my brothers enclosed sled trailer to move it in the yard and was also curious just to try the lights out and make sure the truck didn't do something stupid like some 2024 models had issues with and that all appeared to be working but I am still puzzled about why the trailer brakes were almost useless no matter if I set the rate up to 10 and used the manual control to activate it for trailer brake testing purposes. I'll have to try another pickup on that trailer this summer and see if it was an issue with my truck or the brakes badly need setting up on the trailer as I am about 100% sure they have not been adjusted but the trailer doesn't have much use on it either. But that is definitely one of the times when a person is using that manual system for the electric trailer brakes, to test the trailer brakes out.

rjgvt · January 3

4 hours ago, Chuck FB said:

Yes that is the killer of vehicles all right and was one of the reasons I wondered about buying a Ford instead but decided not to go down that road. Unfortunately most vehicles purchased are an extremely poor investment, a vastly depreciating asset and makes it worse when one doesn't put the miles on it per year and becomes an older vehicle with low miles vs a very current vehicle with higher miles. That was what turned me off of looking at the used market, pay top dollar for someone else's vehicle that was more than likely poorly maintained but quite new in years or still pay enough for seems like a low mileage but somewhat older vehicle that just hasn't quite gotten to the stage where its cancer has popped out yet. The vehicle market up here and at least in this part of Canada has become stupid in the last years because of the US market sucking one year old 45000 mile or less vehicles down to the states and turning a buck on them, leaving our market with far fewer used vehicles in the market place to choose from and why they were asking too much here for such a vehicle .. may as well buy new then was how I saw it and know it was cared for and not driven like a ****** behind the wheel and idled to death.

I had not been thinking about that 1/2 ton to HD theme with the console, I guess I was just assuming they designed it differently but your probably right, they repurposed the same console and stuck that little tray area in there pretending it had a purpose and that center narrow slot tray area. I am sure your right that seating position and height of the driver would make all the difference to where the shifter would line up to. I don't mind the shifters that are on the console as per half tons and suvs etc that give easy access to the shifter but that is always geared around two person front seating vehicles rather than an dual purpose HD truck that allows for having a front bench seat or buckets with a console. I doubt GM or Ford will go away from either a column or some other dash system for shifting gears unless they created two systems, a work truck system and an upscaled HD truck with a console shifter. One thing I was not crazy at all about was the Ram shift knob on the dash but not like I drove one either to get used to it and then for 2025 then went away from that back to the column shifter so they must have had negative feedback from that concept. But yes, getting a half these days with buckets means a console shifter in a GM or Ford, that is a fact.

Brake controllers, I suppose due to how they were never integrated in the past and was a third party add on stuffed under the dash and hard to reach for manual use, having the control on the dash seemed like an upgrade !. Definitely its closer to your hand with what GM has done but in all honesty its not that often one is reaching for the manual control once one dials in the aggressive percentage in the trailer controller system as it does its thing as your braking with the pedal. This summer I had hooked onto my brothers enclosed sled trailer to move it in the yard and was also curious just to try the lights out and make sure the truck didn't do something stupid like some 2024 models had issues with and that all appeared to be working but I am still puzzled about why the trailer brakes were almost useless no matter if I set the rate up to 10 and used the manual control to activate it for trailer brake testing purposes. I'll have to try another pickup on that trailer this summer and see if it was an issue with my truck or the brakes badly need setting up on the trailer as I am about 100% sure they have not been adjusted but the trailer doesn't have much use on it either. But that is definitely one of the times when a person is using that manual system for the electric trailer brakes, to test the trailer brakes out.

That little narrow slot in my truck is supposed to be a place to put the key fob to start the truck if the key fob battery is weak. There are other locations for different model trucks.

There was a recall to replace the trailer module on my truck a while back for the integrated trailer brake controller operation. I wouldn't know if it worked or not. Hopefully it works when I connect to a trailer with electric brakes.

Chuck FB · January 4

4 hours ago, rjgvt said:

That little narrow slot in my truck is supposed to be a place to put the key fob to start the truck if the key fob battery is weak. There are other locations for different model trucks.

There was a recall to replace the trailer module on my truck a while back for the integrated trailer brake controller operation. I wouldn't know if it worked or not. Hopefully it works when I connect to a trailer with electric brakes.

That is what I read as well as per that narrow slot, I believe mine uses the nearest cup holder to drop the key fob into. I should pull the battery out of one and try it, also I haven't figured out what it is that I assume I must do after opening the door with the provided key without the alarm going off almost instantly !. I have no idea how long the key fob battery will last, if its a time that the engine is running or that the key fob is near to the vehicle. I make sure to have the key fobs about a 100 feet away from the truck so hopefully its not talking back and forth to kill the battery.

I heard about an issue with the brake control module but had not realized it was elevated to a recall, so hopefully that solved the problem for those that had it go ****** on them. If you have a friend close by that has a trailer, be it a holiday trailer or anything that has a braking system to try it out on a non busy rural road to see that the lighting system works as well as the brake system, and of course you have your new weigh safe hitch to try out as well.