Josh Sirota <jss@marimba.com> wrote:
> Is a 30-35 foot class A, towing an enclosed trailer with a 3,000 pound
> car inside, actually a comfortable towing situation?
Keeping in mind that I'm a towing newbie, and that my opinions and observations
are near-worthless...
I co-drive the McIver RV last year. I'm not sure what class/length it is, but
it's a big-ass RV with the Ford V10 gasser, and a single front axle/single tire,
single rear axle/dual tire truck chassis - and the rear overhang of an aircraft
carrier.
We used this thing to tow a medium-sized enclosed trailer with a 3100 lb Talon
in it, plus several sets of wheels, and every hand tool known to man.
On the road it's actually pretty good. We had a proper weight-distributing hitch
with an anti-sway friction shock, and most of the time you were unaware that the
trailer was back there. However, things got pretty busy whenever you passed/were
passed by a semi - the trailer and RV make pretty effective rudders, and the
wake from the truck would move the rig around. Not dangerously, but you /drive/
this rig, you can't just do the Interstate Autopilot thing.
Power was fine. You won't be winning any drag races, but it never seemed to
struggle, even in the mountains of PA on the way to Harrisburg. Top speed was
about 80 MPH - beyond that it got too busy for my tastes, and stopping distance
is an issue.
...which leads me to my next observation. John's rig sat noticably tail-low/nose
high, and as soon as it rained braking went to shit. Driving down a city street
at 35 MPH in the rain and moderately firm braking would lock the front wheels in
a heartbeat. He told me he was going to do an air suspension on it this year to
fix it, but he either didn't get around to it or it didn't work - he slid the
rig into the back of a semi this past weekend driving back from the Peru CENDIV
in the rain.
All the passengers are alright, although John's leg is injured (broken?). The
damage to the rig was minimal, mostly sheet metal and a radiator, and Alan's
car, riding in the trailer, is OK.
John's RV has a big bedroom behind the rear axle, which adds a lot of weight
behind the fulcrum. I don't know enough about RV contruction to know if the air
suspension could have corrected the nose-high stance, but my horrendously
underinformed opinion is that you want as little rear overhang as possible. It
strikes me that the bus-chassis RVs have their rear axles pretty well at the
outside corners.
For what it's worth,
DG
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