Palomino ss 500

[Leo]

The newer SS500 look to have improved over previous years. Not planning to go off road so it should work well for my needs. I had a late 90s eagle fwc that we liked but the prices have pushed me to try the palomino. 9k for a new 2018 and it is reported to weigh in just under 1200lbs fully equipped.
I'll post my experience with it after a few months have been put on it.check out the link below for some of the changes.
https://www.truckcampermagazine.com/news/tcm-exclusive-2017-palomino-ss-500/6/

 

[Old Crow]

That's great!

I hope it works out well for you, Leo. And I hope you won't be shy about telling us both the good and the less-than-great things about the SS500 as you gain experience with it. Your opinion is especially important here on WTW given your experience with your Eagle.

I'm very curious about the Rieco-Titan electric roof lift and the vacuum-bagged construction of the roof. Traditionally, this type of camper has been vulnerable to roof leaks which would cause damage to the mounting points for the torsion-bar roof-lift mechanism. That's the first thing I always look for on photos of a used one--- those bolts at the back of the roof often show distortion around them. Presumably this newer design will avoid that.

I also think it's interesting to see the article say that engineers looked at essentially every compact truck currently available and set the design goal for a weight of 1300 pounds dry. And I see this specs chart for the 2019 model shows a shipping weight of 1197 pounds. Still, that seems awfully close to the manufacturer's payload numbers for the typical compact truck....if one believes those are important.

Curiosity question-- was your camper provided with the Flex Drive Shaft shown on page 7 of the Reico-Titan Electric Lift manual? I ask because I've been unable to tell whether this really works as a manual backup on Palomino campers or is something that only works on camper designs which allow access to the Flex Drive port on the motors.

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[Leo]

I will check on the flex drive or alternate method to operate the roof lift. Picking it up next week about 8 hours from home so I should have some initial impressions to share. I'll do my best to be impartial and forthcoming with the palomino. Not sure what the eagle weighed but my frontier had no problem with it. I left it on unless I needed the bed space to haul something.