hitch weight too much?

Discuss with others about towing. What is the best tow vehicle, hitches, brake controllers, etc, keeping in mind that everybody has his/her favorite.

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bufallo bobby

hitch weight too much?

Post by bufallo bobby »

We have a 2004 duramax 2500. We are looking at a 30ts, dry wt is around 9600 and hitch wt is listed at 2080. We are confident that the duramax can handle towing, but wonder about that hitch weight on a 3/4 ton. Any input?
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Post by Awfahey »

I currently have a 2005 GMC 3/4 Duramax W/Allison and am pulling a 30TS. I have not had any problems at all. I hardly know it's there.
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Rob & Cathy

Post by Rob & Cathy »

The listed hitch weight of 2080# is probably the dry weight and will actually be higher once you pack her up.

You should have a sticker somewhere that will tell you the GVW for the truck. As long as the weight of the truck + passengers + fuel + cargo ( which includes the hitch itself) + trailer hitch weight does not exceed the GVW then the manufacturer says you can safely carry that load.

Frankly I wouldn't think you would have any problems with that weight.

Rob
jennyt

Post by jennyt »

This can be such a touchy subject and so this is just our personal experience - no bashing anyone elses opinion is intended. (end of disclaimer :P )

We have the 29TS and pull with an F250. We went and weighed and I don't have all the 'actual' numbers with me here but the outcome was that we are over on GVW by about 700#s. We are under on rear axle (RAWR) and we are under on tire capacity. We are also under on combined. We try to keep our pin weight and overall weight down, although there is a fine line between trying to lighten and not having porpoising problems of being too light.

Seeing as we bought the truck to pull the trailer (before we knew about weight concerns) with hindsight we wish we had bought a dually as we would like to be able to add an auxilliary fuel tank. But that said, we have no problems pulling or stopping.

The engineers I work with (all ex-Ford design engineers) have assured me we are "safe" and that we need to watch the overall weight, try and distribute weight from the pin as much as we can and that tire rating and tire pressure are actually way more important from a safety standpoint than the GVW when weights are pretty close. I guess we are taking their word for it! :wink:
Rob & Cathy

Post by Rob & Cathy »

jennyt wrote:we wish we had bought a dually
At the risk of hijacking this topic, what is the advantage of going to DRW over SRW in the fifth-wheel world?

Rob
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Post by campswithcritters »

Buffalo Bobby, Go for it.....if you don't load that trailer too much you will be well within limits. See http://www.chevrolet.com/silveradoclass ... fications/ these are the numbers for the 07 classic but they generally don't change much until the truck is redesigned completely. Scroll down the page to 2500 & 3500 5th wheel towing (its way down there) then scroll down to 6.6 ltr diesel and read note 3 it will tell you the 2500 can take up to 3000 lb tongue weight and the 3500 up to 3500 lb, as long as you don't have the truck loaded so heavy you exceed the axle rating or GVWR. You can get an accurate GCWR for the 2004 at the trailer life website, they have a link to tow ratings and they carry several different model years.

Rob & Cathy
Dually advantages (from a dually owner) 1. Slightly more stable towing platform, especially when cornering, due to wider stance. 2. Slightly higher pin weight capability, I use that for an aux tank, due to increased RAWR. 3. Increased GCWR, can be 1000 to 4000lbs depending on manuf. 4. People tend to stay out of the way of something that looks so formidable.
Dually disadvantages 1. No more drive-thrus (they're just too wide to risk it) 2. Lots of walking when using parking lots (they are hard to park and too wide again) 3. As an empty truck it is usually 500lbs+ heavier than a single rear wheel truck. 4. Usually get 1 mpg less fuel mileage than a single rear wheel truck.

Having owned both I prefer my dually for what we do with it, but some times miss the 2500 shortbed for convenience.
My opinion only! :wink:
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Post by bop11 »

bufallo bobby,
We pull our 30ts with a 3/4 ton Dodge. With the Bird hooked it squats it a couple of inches.
When we first got the camper I thought about adding extra springs or timbrens but since I've had a chance to haul it for a few miles I don't think anything will be necessary.
A few years down the road when it gets time to replace the truck I'll probably go with a 1 ton and when we go full time I'll probably go with an air ride pin box.
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Post by jennyt »

Rob & Cathy wrote:
At the risk of hijacking this topic, what is the advantage of going to DRW over SRW in the fifth-wheel world?

Rob
For us personally it really is for the reasons that Bruce states....I hadn't thought about not being able to go through a drive through though! LOL :roll: One of the reasons we were against a dually to begin with was that Scott has to use it as his everyday vehicle and we thought it wasn't necessary. Now we would just feel more comfortable with the extra capacity, but not to the point where we are willing to take the hit $$-wise.
Rob & Cathy

Post by Rob & Cathy »

jennyt wrote:Now we would just feel more comfortable with the extra capacity, but not to the point where we are willing to take the hit $$-wise.
I know what you mean Jenny. However, you could go with a 1 ton SRW and have significantly more carrying capacity with the same size truck you have now.

Just a thought.

Rob
Rob & Cathy

Post by Rob & Cathy »

campswithcritters wrote: Slightly more stable towing platform, especially when cornering, due to wider stance.
Hi Bruce, I'll defer to you on that since I have never driven a DRW truck. But that does surprise me since the trailer it self seems to be a very stable platform. However if it were a big slide-in camper then DRW for sure.

Interesting topic.

Rob
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Post by campswithcritters »

Rob & Cathy wrote:
campswithcritters wrote: Slightly more stable towing platform, especially when cornering, due to wider stance.
Hi Bruce, I'll defer to you on that since I have never driven a DRW truck. But that does surprise me since the trailer it self seems to be a very stable platform. However if it were a big slide-in camper then DRW for sure.

Interesting topic.

Rob
Rob as I said "slightly" I have only noticed it during evasive manuevers such as swerving around something in the road. My 2500 always felt a bit squirrely when doing that but the dually is steady, heck it may be just the stiffer springs?
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Post by Future Fulltimers »

bop11 wrote:bufallo bobby,
We pull our 30ts with a 3/4 ton Dodge. With the Bird hooked it squats it a couple of inches.
We had the same problem with our F250. Installed a set of air springs to level it up.
"At the risk of hijacking this topic, what is the advantage of going to DRW over SRW in the fifth-wheel world?

Rob"
Rob, I have found the DRW to be a little more stable esp in a cross wind.
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