Looking at Triton M-2951, Opinions?

[Chipworkz]

Hello everyone, I have had several RV's and currently have a Thor Tahoe trailer. We are looking at downsizing and are looking at the Voltage Triton 2951 unit. I know all trailers have issues and I will do most all the work myself to fix any normal issues.

I have not found a lot of posts on the Triton units so just looking for any opinions here from people who have one or have looked at one. The closet unit is about 90 miles away so we are going down to look at it Saturday.

Thanks for the input!
Chip

[Pinshootr]

We have had ours for about 2 months so far have only had it out once for camping, love the size we down sized from a 42' forest river bunk house.The only issue so far has been a loose wall panel by the fridge but took care of that myself, the short staples they use popped out. Other than that all has been working well.
One other thing is to leave the bathroom door open when running the furnace or you might melt while using the bathroom, need to change the floor register to one that can be closed off some as 90% of the heat goes into the bathroom.

[Chipworkz]

Thank you for the input, did you find the interior quality to be slightly better than some of the others or is it just the average trailer quality with a different name on it? The MSRP on these are about 10K higher than others we are looking at but that doesn't mean the quality is any better. We looked at the Iconic which has more bells and whistles and has more of the modern touches but the quality is questionable. The Triton looks a little more basic, not as many outdoor lights or speakers, no rear cap, old school hatch latches and so on but we like the floor plan better and are hoping the quality is a little better at least.

As far as the heater goes, yes my current trailer will bake you in the bathroom as well. I changed all the registers from the basic open plastic to the adjustable metal ones as well as adding one in our garage since it didn't come with one and the garage would be freezing at night.

[otr_pwc]

Originally Posted by Chipworkz

Hello everyone, I have had several RV's and currently have a Thor Tahoe trailer. We are looking at downsizing and are looking at the Voltage Triton 2951 unit. I know all trailers have issues and I will do most all the work myself to fix any normal issues.

I have not found a lot of posts on the Triton units so just looking for any opinions here from people who have one or have looked at one. The closet unit is about 90 miles away so we are going down to look at it Saturday.

Thanks for the input!
Chip

We purchased a new 2951 in March. All-in-all a decent unit. Spent a week siliconing leaky windows, tightening loose hardware (especially underneath the chassis), and applying additional roof sealant to roof seams (TPO roof). The flooring in the garage area is very fragile, tears/rips easily, and shows dirt quickly (ours is biege in color). We purchased a sheet of heavy-duty 17x8 garage flooring from Costco to cover the garage and living/kitchen area. We also use easy to clean, polypropylene rugs (on top of the Costco flooring) in the living/kitchen area when we're not carrying toys. Had to have the landing gear motor and gear assembly replaced after a month. It wasn't mounted securely and pulled away from its mount. Our dealer ordered the parts and replaced it a week later under warranty.

If you plan to use it in hot/humid areas, might want to consider the optional a/c unit in the bedroom (or have one installed after the fact). The ducting for the primary a/c unit in the garage area is very inefficient and supplies very little cool air to the bedroom.

For those who keep a close watch on weight, the 2951 is advertised as weighing 10,300 lbs. empty, with 2,300 lbs. of pin weight. Took our 2951 to a CAT scale right after we purchased it. In reality, gross weight was almost 11,000 lbs. and pin weight was approx. 2,800 lbs.---could be a tad much for some 3/4 ton trucks. We tow ours with a '16 Ram Cummins 1-ton SRW. Rear suspension travel is 5 1/4". It drops down about 2 3/4" hitched up---about half. We get about 10-11 MPG. If I had to guess, the extra weight was due to the optional 5500 Onan generator and bedroom a/c unit which are both located near the front.

FWIW, the 2951's biggest selling point for my wife was the huge shower. She loves it!

Lastly, during heavy rains a small amount of water tends to drip down the steel cables on each side of the bedroom slide. Unless you pull away the decorative covering at the bottom of the slide you would never notice it. Not a short-term problem, but could develop into a long-term one though. Our dealer couldn't replicate the leak, so we're going to have to live with it for now. Thank goodness having the slide in doesn't hinder the use of the bedroom too much. We tend to keep the slide in if we anticipate heavy rain.

We just finished a 5,000 mile nearly coast-to-coast trip with our 2951 last month. Just before we departed we replaced the E-rated, Westlake tires with all-steel, G-rated tires for peace of mind. The trip went well.

Some dealers sell the 2951 with a very heavy discount. With a little wheelin' and dealin' should be able to pick one up in the very high 30's if you live near Indiana; otherwise, the low 40's. (price assumes the unit has a 5500 Onan and a 2nd a/c unit). We also looked at a number of 30-32 ft. Eclipse, Genesis, and Forest River toy haulers. For the money, we felt the 2951 offered the best value. In any case, every manufacturer produces their fair share of bad units. I'd suggest a VERY thorough PDI prior to purchase, then cross your fingers

P.S. You asked a Pinshootr about build quality. IMO, our 2951 had a tad better build quality than the competitor's we looked at. However, as you probably know, quality varies from unit to unit with every manufacturer. Good luck with whatever you choose!

[Chipworkz]

Thank you otr_pwc for all the detailed info! The units available do have the 5.5K Onan and 2nd AC. I can see where the pin weight would be higher unloaded and balanced out a bit more once the toys are in the back. I have an F350 Dually so I am good there. Sounds like it is about 1500 lbs lighter than my current 39' empty.

The bathroom layout and the rear couches are the big selling points for us. That is what is different about the Triton vs the others which pretty much all have the exact same layout. Hopefully the one we are going to look at Saturday is one of the good ones.

[DesertRat]

What dealer are you going to? We bought our V3605 from Trailer Hitch RV.

[Chipworkz]

Originally Posted by DesertRat

What dealer are you going to? We bought our V3605 from Trailer Hitch RV.

The ones that are available somewhat near me are at Richardson RV.
I just checked and Trailer Hitch doesn't have any.

[DesertRat]

Originally Posted by Chipworkz

The ones that are available somewhat near me are at Richardson RV.
I just checked and Trailer Hitch doesn't have any.

Trailer Hitch RV was over $5,000 cheaper for our V3605 over Richardson RV

[lcv800]

For what it's worth, I don't have a Triton, but I did buy my Voltage 3990 from "Jessica" at Richardson RV. Best price I could find, plus she kept me apprised of my build status and answered a ton of questions regarding measurements and things my wife wanted to know during the build. I would buy from them again in an instant.
Rusty

[Chipworkz]

Originally Posted by lcv800

For what it's worth, I don't have a Triton, but I did buy my Voltage 3990 from "Jessica" at Richardson RV. Best price I could find, plus she kept me apprised of my build status and answered a ton of questions regarding measurements and things my wife wanted to know during the build. I would buy from them again in an instant.
Rusty

That is great to hear, thank you Rusty!

[Chipworkz]

Well I did it! We bought a 2017 2951 Triton today. We looked at most all of the trailers in this size range and the build quality of the Voltage did seem to be a step above the others. There are a few minor things that need to be fixed before we pick it up as expected but overall, I was pretty impressed with the quality of the unit. We were looking at the 2016 and 2017 and decided to spend the extra 2K and get the 17. It has the dual ducted AC units vs the separate bedroom only AC unit and a nicer floor. Looking forward to picking it up and bringing it home but still need to sell my current trailer so I may have two for a bit. We did buy it at Richardson RV and so far I really like the dealer. It is a large dealership and not a shady place that feels like it will be gone tomorrow.
I will let you know more how I feel about the trailer and dealer once I pick it up in a week or two.

[lcv800]

Congratulations on the purchase! Good luck on the sale of your current unit. Good news is you already have all the "essentials" which will save you a few bucks. For 2K, I would have went with the 17 as well.
Rusty

[otr_pwc]

Congrats, Chipworkz!

I'm sure you'll be personalizing your rig in short order. Always a lot of fun!

FWIW, some of the mods we did to our 2951:

Swapped out the WFCO converter. If you do any dry camping and prefer much quicker charge times for your batteries, you may want to consider swapping out the WFCO converter that are typically OEM on the Tritons. WFCO's are notorious for never going into a 14.4v bulk charge mode. WFCO's take 2-3 times as long to charge the batteries vs. a converter that goes into bulk mode. Very simple to swap out. Just two wires and mounting screws.

Installed a Progressive Dynamics 50 amp Electrical Management System to protect all the 120 volt systems in the toy hauler from electrical issues at the pedestal. A friend of ours had their microwave, converter, and both a/c units, destroyed due to a mis-wired pedestal at a Mom and Pop RV park in TX. Just requires splicing the EMS unit into your incoming a/c line.

Installed a winch just underneath the first step leading to the bathroom/bedroom area. We simply fold down the vented cover to access the winch. It's all tucked away---you'd never know it was there.

Swapped out the E-rated Westlake tires with all-steel, G-rated tires and metal valve stems. If you have the same black and brushed aluminum rims as our rig they are rated to 39xx lbs. and/or 110 PSI.

If it's the same as our rig, the converter, much of the plumbing & central wiring, winterizing valves, and heater, can be accessed via the aft side of the basement area. Just need to remove the large cover. You can access all the wires on the rear of the fuse panel by removing the right side panel in the storage area just underneath the kitchen sink. I believe you can access the HW heater via the left side panel in the same area.

Enjoy!!

[Chipworkz]

Thanks guys, especially for the tips on the unit. I will be replacing the converter for sure, been planning on doing it on our current trailer but didn't get to it. I will most likely be replacing the tires before our first trip which will be our annual Thanksgiving trip to the desert. OTR, which tires did you go with? I have BF Goodrich Commercial TA tires on my current trailer but those are only E rated.

I am the type of guy that likes to go through and cleanup the quick assembly line wire jobs and things like that. So I will be tinkering on this for a bit and make sure everything is good before it turns out to be a problem. As long as all the "bones" turn out to be as good as what it appears, this really is one of the best valued trailers out there.

Another thing on the difference between the 16 and 17 was the 16 looked like it had been towed out here from Indiana in wet weather with probably salt on the roads. The Frame around the tires and suspension had light rust on it where the 17 and no rust at all! Nothing major but I would have had to clean it up and paint the area for sure on the 16 so that was another deciding factor.

[otr_pwc]

Originally Posted by Chipworkz

. . . OTR, which tires did you go with? I have BF Goodrich Commercial TA tires on my current trailer but those are only E rated . . .

As you probably know, when it comes to tires there are no shortage of opinions. For what it's worth, here's mine--lol! IMO, any "all-steel" (steel sidewalls and tread) G-rated tire will serve you well. You have to be careful. Many manufacturers offer non-steel and all-steel versions of the same tire.

If you don't mind spending the extra money ($275-$300), the Good Year G614's are a good tire. Although it's not officially part of their warranty, GY has been known to warranty any damage to your trailer caused by a blow-out (be sure to save the blown tire). As to whether that extra potential warranty coverage is worth more than double the cost . . . well, your call.

For significantly less money, the all-steel Sailun S637 is very well regarded ($125-$175). To my knowledge, there have been very few, if any, S637 failures reported online. The Gladiator all-steel QR-35 also have an excellent reputation.

Me, I purchased the Hartland all-steel (87 MPH rated) 235/85/16 tires from Discount Tire (America's Tire in CA). It's my understanding Gladiator makes the G-rated Hartland housebrand for Discount Tire. They were asking $180 for the Hartland all-steel 235/85/16's, but they priced matched some Sailun S637's I found online for $125. I like the fact that Discount Tire has stores throughout large areas of the US. Hopefully this will make any potential warranty issues (knock on wood) easier to rectify.

Another hotly debated issue is tire pressure. Some believe you should run G-rated tires at 110 PSI regardless of load. I'm more inclined to believe you should take into account the trailer manufacturer's recommendation for the originally installed OEM tires in addition to the realworld load on the tires (realworld vs. the max load rating). For example, the G-rated tires on our 2951 are rated at 4080 lbs. at 110 PSI. Loaded for the road, with toys, water and gear, we only have 2,550 lbs. on each tire. With 2,550 lbs. only the very center of the tire is contacting the road at 110 PSI. After looking at numerous load charts for various G-rated tires we've elected to inflate them to 85-90 PSI.

Good luck!

[Chipworkz]

Thank you again OTR, I am like you and believe it matching the tire pressure to the load. There is a reason the manufactures put out the inflation charts. You don't want to under or over inflate your tires. I will be going to the weigh station to get the completely dry weight and again after it is loaded and full of water and then again after the trip once the water is in the holding tanks to get all my wights documented.

I just put on two tires on my truck on the way to look at the trailer yesterday at Americas Tires (Toyo tire on the truck blew on the freeway). First time I have purchased from them and the price was good and they actually used a torque wrench when they put the lug nuts back on!

I won't have much more to talk about until I get the trailer but I will be doing a lot of searching here to see what everyone has been doing to their trailers.

Thanks again!

[Chipworkz]

Well I sold my old trailer on Friday, only took three days. I already bought my four new 6 Volt batteries for the new trailer and will start building the battery box this week. I have been doing a lot of reading here prepping for some common issues and mods that people have done. I schedule my pick up out two weeks since I needed to get my old trailer sold first but it went so fast, I could have picked it up this weekend. It is going to be a long week!

Oh OTR or anyone else with a Triton, anything special come with the trailer that I should make sure I get? Like the awning LED lights, are they just a plain on an off white lights or does it have a remote for color options like some of the other Voltage trailers do? Just want to make sure I get anything like that that could get misplaced and not given to me.

[otr_pwc]

Congrats on selling your old unit so fast. That's always a nice feeling to get that out of the way.

The only doo-dads that came with our rig was the spare tire & front landing gear crank handles, DVD remote, and TV remote. BTW, couldn't use the spare tire crank on ours. The outside hole was completely out of alignment. Thank goodness we can reach under with an adjustable wrench and still drop the tire. The outside hole was off for the landing gear crank, too. We can just barely get it in.

Our awning lights are standard white LED's with no color options. FWIW, the 2951 is, the smallest, least inexpensive toy hauler Voltage makes. They gotta leave something out to entice folks to purchase the higher-end units--lol! We're still impressed with the shower on the 2951. We've seen that same shower on $150k-$200k motorhomes. Also saw another Voltage with an MSRP $20k higher than the 2951 that had the same, exact bedroom suite (with slide) as the 2951. Again, for the money, I believe the 2951 offers pretty good value.

You'll be dry-camping with power to spare with 4 6-volt batteries. Not a lot of space for 'em, though. If your 2951 battery bay is the same size as ours, it may be a tight fit for those 4 batteries. BTW, what are fabricating your battery box out of?

Hope next week goes by real quick for ya

[Chipworkz]

Thanks for the info OTR, I know it is the least expensive unit they make but just wanted to make sure I get everything I am supposed to. I am perfectly fine doing little upgrades to it as I go so the "Bones" of the trailer is what mattered to me the most. The bedroom and bathroom layouts were a big part of what we liked about this trailer.

For the battery box, my plan is to build the structure our of 1/2 inch plywood. My plan is to use a plastic tub for the bottom few inch's to act as a catch for any spilled acid. I didn't measure the area when I looked at the trailer but it looked like there should be plenty of room. Now you have me worried. The battery's are 7" wide by 10.25" long by 11" tall. So the box would be 16" wide by 22.5" long by 12.5" tall approximately. The top and end towards the opening would be removable so I can get to the batteries when or if needed.

I hope that space is big enough for a 16 x 22.5 box, if not it looks like I may only be able to use 3 of the 6 volt batteries.

[donzinger]

Originally Posted by Chipworkz

Thanks for the info OTR, I know it is the least expensive unit they make but just wanted to make sure I get everything I am supposed to. I am perfectly fine doing little upgrades to it as I go so the "Bones" of the trailer is what mattered to me the most. The bedroom and bathroom layouts were a big part of what we liked about this trailer.

For the battery box, my plan is to build the structure our of 1/2 inch plywood. My plan is to use a plastic tub for the bottom few inch's to act as a catch for any spilled acid. I didn't measure the area when I looked at the trailer but it looked like there should be plenty of room. Now you have me worried. The battery's are 7" wide by 10.25" long by 11" tall. So the box would be 16" wide by 22.5" long by 12.5" tall approximately. The top and end towards the opening would be removable so I can get to the batteries when or if needed.

I hope that space is big enough for a 16 x 22.5 box, if not it looks like I may only be able to use 3 of the 6 volt batteries.

I know we have totally different layouts, but only wanted to give another idea as far battery box layout can go - you may have to get creative.