New to owning a camper

[Chaser1992]

I grew up going on plenty of camping trips. Now i get to share the experience with my own family. My wife and i recently purchased a 1998 jayco 302 fk. I was wondering on what stabalizer system works best for that camper. I'll be pulling it with a 2011 ford f150 5.0. Also any issues with that model of camper? Any other helpful hints for a first time camper will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[oldmanAZ]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations at getting back into RVing.

By 'stabilizer' you mean a 'weight distributing hitch and anti-sway', then there are a number of us that have the Equal-i-zer® brand 4-point hitch and are very please with it. If you use the search function you will find lots of posts on this site regarding hitches and anti sway.

Another thing to keep in mind; trailer tires usually get too old to be safe even though there is good tread left. There is a DOT date code on your tires you can use to find their age. If they are over 4 years old, or visually have problems, most of us replace them.

[smithmdsmith]

Good advice from oldmanAZ.

According to the limited info I could find on the internet for your trailer, the dry weight on your camper is around 5,000 pounds. Add in accessories, water, and camping stuff and you'll probably be close to 7,000. I would get the 1,000/10k Equalizer. That should work for any travel trailer you tow with your current truck.

The tire advice is sound. All of my trailer tire problems have come from tires that were over 4 years old...some of them just barely over 4! Keep them inflated to the tire's max rated pressure.