A Couple Days at MORryde in Elkhart, Indiana
After a somewhat peaceful night in the MORryde parking lot (Did we mention how close MORryde is to the Norfolk Southern rail line that runs through Elkhart, IN?), we were up and ready by 5:30 AM chatting with the Service Manager, Rob Kolean and another couple who was there to have some maintenance done on their 2005 Grand Teton. Yes, the same couple who saved our night by allowing us to borrow a spare 50 amp cord so we could run our air conditioner.
We re-hitched shortly after 6:00 am and pulled in front of the service bays so a MORryde technician could crawl under the belly of our trailer and take some measurements. A few minutes later it was time to put Calvan in the service bay for a couple of days. The parking lot was a little tight, with several trailers parked across from the garage door. After getting turned around, and a couple of unsuccessful attempts at the 14 ft. wide service bay door, I relinquished the controls to our technician, Keith. Having done this before, Keith quickly put Calvan in the bay; we disconnected and promised to check back on Calvan later in the day.
So you may be wondering what exactly we’re having done at MORryde. Ok, here comes the over safe, over engineered side of me. The main reason for our visit is to add an Independent Suspension (IS) to Calvan. The main advantage to adding an IS, replacing the 8,000 lb axles and Trail-Aire suspension, is increasing the wheel travel in each wheel. In other words, each wheel will now have 5 ½ inches of travel, independently, not an axle at a time. This allows the trailer to handle rough roads, bumps, etc. without disrupting the contents of the trailer. Along with the IS upgrade, it only makes sense to replace the disc brakes on the trailer. So MORryde is more than happy to complete this also. The last upgrade is to replace our existing pin-box with a MORryde pin-box. The improvement that comes with this upgrade is a mechanism that absorbs front and back movement, also known as chucking. This may not seem like a big deal, but when you get a 20,000+ lb. trailer surging forward and back on an uneven road, you can feel it. Even with a tow vehicle the size of The Big Tow’er.
At the end of the first day, we definitely saw progress, as the old axles were cut off and the new IS mechanisms, wheel hubs and brakes were already mounted on the trailer. Calvan would be spending the night inside, somewhat of a treat for him. Although Rob offered us the option of staying in our trailer, inside the service bay, we opted to get a room at a nearby Hilton Garden Inn for the night. We love living in Calvan, but it was a nice little treat to splurge at a hotel. We swam in the indoor pool, relaxed in the hot tub, and had a great breakfast the this morning.
We returned to MORryde this morning, and by noon, Calvan was pretty much done with his improvements. After paying our bill and getting a couple of “free” MORryde t-shirts, we were on our way. Everyone at MORryde was awesome! They have a very nice customer lounge if you choose to pass your time there. We thanked Rob for everything and said we would stop by for adjustments or service whenever we were back in the area. Or if we needed any other MORryde products . . . maybe a little foreshadowing?
