A couple of weeks back I asked for some advice from those of you who tow
enclosed trailers with your motorhomes, because I intend to take a
*long* vacation by driving around the country, towing my BMW in a
trailer behind a motorhome.
I got replies in about 6 categories:
1) Motorhomes don't have enough capacity to do it safely.
2) Motorhomes can easily do it, don't worry about it.
3) It can be done, but you have to do your homework and get the right
equipment.
4) Wow! I'm jealous!
5) Make sure to stop by here along your way!
6) Haven't a clue, but I'd sure like to hear what you find out.
I think I got more of #4 than any other, but I got a lot of very useful
help.
Executive summary:
Gas units that can pull over 6,000 pounds safely are few and far
between, but they exist. Best bet, a '98 or newer Class A motorhome
with the Ford V10 chassis/drivetrain (but that alone doesn't mean it's
good enough). However, these aren't likely to do too well in mountain
areas in terms of power. You will not find an actual hitch rated for
more than 5,000 pounds, but that part can be upgraded if the chassis can
take a heavier trailer.
Diesels (really turbo diesel rear-engine pushers) are more capable, but
much (much!) more expensive. Most will have enough capacity, but not
all.
End of executive summary. Only read on if you have a lot of patience
:-)
It's true that most motorhomes aren't built with enough capacity to pull
over 6,000 pounds of car and trailer. The way to know this is to look
at the actual "wet" weight of the motorhome (what it actually weighs,
including full tanks of fuel, water, propane, luggage, dishes, people,
stuff, etc), the GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) as specified by the
manufacturer, the GCWR (Gross Combination Weight Rating) as specified by
the manufacturer, and some other factors.
Basically, the GVWR is how much the unit can weigh on its own. If, for
example, the GVWR is 20,000 pounds and the wet weight is 18,000 pounds,
you have 2,000 pounds left over before you are overweight. The
difference between the GCWR and the GVWR is how much you can tow if the
unit is fully loaded (at GVWR). If the GCWR is 25,000 and the loaded
weight is 18,000 pounds, you can definitely tow 5,000 pounds (the
difference between GCWR and GVWR), and you may be able to tow as much as
7,000 pounds if the chassis is strong enough where the hitch is
mounted. All of this assumes that the hitch itself is properly strong
enough for the trailer weight/tongue weight.
Hope that's all clear as mud.
Okay. For the sake of argument, I made the assumption that my actual
wet weight would be at GVWR -- i.e., I'd have no more capacity on the
coach itself. With that assumption, all you need to look at is the
difference in GCWR and GVWR. What I found is that **very** few Class C
motorhomes (the ones with the van front and a cabover bed area) have
even a 5,000 pound towing capacity, though they do exist. Even fewer
have more than a 5,000 pound towing capacity (but they exist too). I
ruled these out because even if I found one I liked with enough of a
capacity on paper, the rear overhangs on the large class Cs is
frightening. And frankly, it's really the smaller units that have more
towing capacity (because they are on the same chassis as larger units,
but weigh less themselves). And I found that I liked the floorplans of
the larger units more anyway.
So that puts us in Class A territory (these are bus-style motorhomes --
a big flat front end). These come in basically three categories:
front-engine gas units (either Ford 6.8l V10 or Chevy 454 for new ones),
small-capacity rear-engine diesel pushers, and large-capacity
rear-engine diesel pushers.
The front-engined ones are built on either Ford or Chevy chassis. I
found that the Ford has considerably higher load-carrying abilities, and
the Chevy has poor reputations in some departments (most notably,
exhaust temperatures), so I just narrowed the field by looking only at
Fords. With this chassis (the F450 Super-Duty chassis with the Ford
V10) the GCWR is 26,000 pounds, and the GVWR is 20,500, 18,000, or
16,500, depending on the wheelbase. The longer the wheelbase, the
larger the GVWR. There are some other numbers to be found because some
of the motorhome manufacturers add tag axles to add more capacity (but
these don't increase the GCWR).
Most of the units I liked are built on the 20,500 GVWR chassis, leaving
only 5,000 pounds for towing. Not enough. I found a few on the 18,000
pound chassis that I liked, so I tried looking for these. However,
26,000 pounds total (what I'd probably end up weighing, let's be honest)
behind the Ford V10, although it's capable, doesn't look too good when
you realize that you're going to be spending a lot of time at high
altitudes in the mountains of California and the Rockies. I also really
wanted to buy used, and the V10 is a new chassis for motorhomes (only
since mid '98). The Ford 460 was the previous engine, and there are
chassis updates as well (for example, a much wider front track), and I
realized that to do gas, I'd have to buy new, and I probably wouldn't
have a great experience anyway with a fully-loaded rig in the
mountains. BTW, in the lengths I was looking at (32-35 feet), these
usually go for somewhere between $75K and $110K new.
So, diesels. There are basically two categories of class A diesels.
The smaller ones are basically the same coaches that you find on the gas
chassis, but built on a Freightliner or Spartan chassis with usually a
Cummins turbo-diesel. These typically have GVWRs of about 25,000
pounds. Then there are the larger units, which usually have a custom
chassis built by the motorhome manufacturer, with much nicer
appointments inside and much more storage outside. They seem to have
GVWRs of 25,000 to 30,000 pounds. The first type goes for $150-$200K
new. The second type goes for $250K and up.
There's actually another type, known as bus conversions, which are
exactly what they sound like. I want something built by someone who
knows a lot about it, rather than someone with a backyard project, so I
basically ignored these. However, there are some interesting used ones
available, including the Eagles 45' tour bus from their Hotel California
tour (let me know if you want details, it's $150K. It still has all of
the graphics and everything.)
Both of these types of diesels are too much money for me to buy new, so
I'm looking at used ones. That's good anyway, since I very well may not
keep this thing for very long, I guess you can call this a very
expensive experiment :-) Good thing my company just went public.
Anyway, these diesels pretty much have a minimum towing capacity of
5,000 pounds, and many go on up to 10,000 pounds, especially on the more
recent units, and that's assuming a fully-loaded coach itself (which is
pretty tough with these big diesels). Older ones universally have less
capacity than new ones. It's too bad, because I want lots of capacity
but I want the cost of something old! Hopefully cheaper than the cost
of a new gas motorhome.
I still haven't bought anything, but I've definitely decided to keep
looking for used diesel pushers that look like they safely can tow 7,000
pounds. What I hope to find is one of the really nice ones with (say)
30,000 miles. It will probably only technically have a towing capacity
of 5,000 pounds, but hopefully the actual weight of the unit will leave
enough room in the GVWR to add the additional trailer weight. That's a
more likely scenario with these big diesels than it is with the gas
units.
You'll all find out at Nationals :-)
Josh
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