hauls2022 Keystone Fuzion 373 behind a 2021 Ram 3500, a golf cart and a Road King
we have a 2022 Keystone Fuzion 373 that we keep at a campground outside Ocala from November to April. the ramp door goes down as a patio with the rails up most evenings. it is the best part of the trailer, honestly, better than anything inside it.
thanksgiving is at our site this year. my sister, her husband, their two boys, my wife's parents and the two of us. somebody is going to want to stand out on the patio with a drink while i fry a turkey down on the ground, and i am trying to work out how many people that ramp can hold before i find out the hard way.
what actually holds the ramp up in patio mode on these? i see two cables, one each side, and some kind of strap or chain. and how do you tell when those cables are getting tired? ours look fine from where i stand, but i couldn't tell you what a bad one looks like.
hauls2020 Forest River Vengeance Rogue 29V behind a 2017 Silverado 2500HD Duramax, RZR Pro XP and a CRF250R
the cables hold it. on most patio setups they run from the upper corners of the door opening down to the end of the ramp, and when you put it in patio mode they take the load that the ground would take when you use it as a ramp. some setups add a leg or a strut under the outer edge. if yours has legs, use them every time, it takes the load off the cables.
what tired looks like: broken strands sticking out anywhere, a kink, rust right at the swaged fittings on the ends, or the plastic sleeve cracked so you can see bare cable. run a rag along them slowly. a broken strand will grab the rag before you see it.
hauls2016 Heartland Cyclone 4005 (shop project) behind a 2017 F-350, a Honda Pioneer 1000 to deer camp
the rating is the only number that matters and the only place to get it is your own trailer's paperwork or the manufacturer. look for a label inside the ramp door or in the owner's manual. if there is nothing, call the manufacturer with your VIN. don't take a number off a forum, including from me.
two things i see on trailers that come through the shop: hinge bolts working loose at the bottom of the door, and the cable anchor at the top pulling out of the wall framing because somebody let the ramp drop hard a few hundred times. look at the anchors with a flashlight. any cracks in the fiberglass around them, any bolt that is not snug, fix that before thanksgiving.
and keep the turkey fryer off the patio and well away from the trailer. i should not have to say it but every year somebody puts one on a ramp door.
hauls2021 Jayco Talon 313T behind a 2021 F-250 7.3 gas, four dirt bikes from a PW50 up
with kids out there, the rail gaps are my bigger worry than the cables. our Talon has rails that leave a gap at the hinge end where the 5 year old fit his whole leg through in july. we zip tied a strip of shade cloth along the bottom of the rails. ugly, cheap, works.
also the patio gets slick when it gets dewy in the morning. we put down a cheap outdoor rug.
hauls2022 Keystone Fuzion 373 behind a 2021 Ram 3500, a golf cart and a Road King
did the rag test on both cables like you said. driver side is fine. the curb side has one broken strand about six inches up from the bottom fitting, the kind you would never see, and it snagged the rag like you said it would. so that settles thanksgiving.
dale, found the label inside the door frame. it gives a ramp rating but says nothing at all about patio mode, which seems like the thing they should have printed. i called Keystone with the VIN and they are supposed to call back with the patio cable part number and the rating.
meanwhile i ordered a pair of cables from the RV parts place in Ocala, replacing both even though only one is bad.
hauls2022 Keystone Fuzion 373 behind a 2021 Ram 3500, a golf cart and a Road King
sorry, slow to come back. new cables went in the tuesday before thanksgiving. took me and my brother in law an hour and a half, most of it figuring out how to hold the door up while we swapped the first one. we used the truck's jack under the ramp edge and a block of wood.
Keystone never did call back with a number for patio mode, so we kept it to four adults out there at a time and nobody minded. the boys ate on the ground. the turkey was dry. that was not the trailer's fault.
