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RE: GM's new 2013 tow ratings
blt2ski,
Well stated!
All tests/shootouts so far have shown the GM 6.6 D/A combo to out pull/accelerate either the Ford 6.7 diesel or the Dodge/Cummins 6.7 diesel on grades etc in the real world on the road operation, so both of those would have to have their SAE towing specs lowered from present claims even more than what GM had done.
BTW, several states have 45 MPH minimums or higher on their interstates and they do enforce them. One of my brothers was a sheriff for many years. We live in one of those states! The SAE spec is a benckmark for comparison only but far from the real needs for a tow vehicle.
Most tow vehicles purchased for RVing will never see extreme long grades at higher altitudes in 100 degree F temps etc with the "go pedal" planted tightly on the floor.
...Some states also have MAX speed limits for towing also....some 55 mph, some 60 mph and I know there are some that allow 70 mph...doesn't make it safe...especially when some tires actually have etched into their sidewall not to exceed a certain mpg....if it stated it on the sidewall of the tire, that is one speed I wouldn't exceed....
Be nice if those same Police Officers not only enforced the "min speed limit", but also enforced the law on driving over the speed limit...speed can still kill, it is what it is, seen many "wag the dog" situations from towing to fast while towing and making a passing maneuver
But again, as some have stated in here, it's "subjective"....so do what ever you want to do, it's your rig, your rv, your family, tow however heavy you want to with what ever truck you want to and tow however fast you want to and don't worry about any consequences to your actions...nothing going to happen anyway.....even when mods back this up, doesn't make it any safer....as for me, I'l err to the side of safety....don't seem to be in as big of a hurry as I use to be and have actually started using a little more common sense now a day's then I did back in my younger day's....figure it could prove to be healthier, but that's just my opinion and not worth much at that.
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NC Hauler
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05/24/12 03:48am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: new fifth wheel purchase
Help me out here guys! Most of the trailers in the same class and price range as the brookstone 295 have 6000 lbs axles on 6 bolt hubs, the brookstone has 7000 lbs axles on 8 bolt hubs, most of these trailers are 10500 to 11000 lbs empty, thats just about the limit of the axles!! with 7000 # axles would could gross out at 14000 #. What am I missing?? P.S. thanks all for the posts!
Remember that the "pin weight" of the 5er sets in the bed of your truck...If the GVW of the 5er is 14,000#, the pin weight may run 2800# or higher, thus you only have 11,200, more or less, on the axles and tires of the 5th wheel, your truck carries the rest of the 5er's loaded weight, which again, is the pin weight of the 5er, (amount you need to know if your truck can carry in the bed of your truck, after loading up to go camping with family, pets, loaded 5er, hitch, etc)
On Edit: The amount the 5er actually weighs will be determined by how much you load it up. So the pin weight could be heavier or ligher, again, based on the loaded weight of the 5er.
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NC Hauler
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05/23/12 06:37pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: new fifth wheel purchase
Thanks for all the info so far! I guess my next question is the tow vehicle, we currently have a 2008 Ram 2500 mega cab with the 6.7 diesel, I hope its sufficient for a 34/35 foot 10000lbs empty weight unit? any thoughts?
You'll need to use the 5er's GVW, not it's empty weight..as stated earlier, the dry weight is not realistic because no one tows an rv "empty" or "dry"....The problems with the 2500 Mega Cab is that the cab eats up quite a bit of your GVWR. You may want to weigh your truck with it ready to go camping...if you don't have a 5th wheel hitch in the truck, add another 200# for the hitch....Don't know what the GVWR is on an 08' 2500 Dodge CTD, but take the weight of your truck, loaded to go camping, + 200# for hitch and subtract that from your trucks GVWR and that'll tell you how much pin weight you can drop in the bed of your truck...Use 20% of the 5er's GVW to get a "ball park" figure of how much the pin weight of the 5er might be.
Some use the trucks RAWR to figure how much carrying capacity they have, but you start cutting into any safety margin that has been built into your trucks recommended towing capabilities once you start using that weight up.....
On Edit: Looks like the 295RL has an "empty weight" of 11,000# and a GVW of 14,500#, if that is the case, your 2500 may be pushed to it's towing limits with the weight of that 5er.
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NC Hauler
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05/23/12 03:03pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: GM's new 2013 tow ratings
i wonder if the weight police will be disappointed with the small drop in tow rating on GM vehicles. Personally about what i guessed, most configurations have very little change.
Why would the "weight police" be disappointed with the small drop in tow ratings. Your comment makes no sense. The, as you say, "weight police" usually harp about trying to keep weights under a trucks GVWR, which allows less than the RAWR, this just reinforces the fact that there is actually less "leeway" than once thought by those who think you can tow any weight with any truck. Thus, the "new" towing weight adjustments just reinforces the reason to try to stay closer to one's GVWR instead of RAWR to allow some for "margin of error" when equating how much one's truck should be able to tow....safely and efficiently..
just my thoughts and not worth much coming from a so called "weight police":R
Seems to me many were saying how overrated all the vehicles were. And that the new SAE standard would surely reel in all these over inflated outragous tow ratings. And (with the exception of the 5th wheel numbers) the ratings dropped about 200 lbs.
Wow... 200 lbs. That's like ONE person!!
No, IMHO the real weight police go around saying that a half ton should only be used for bringing home groceries. And that when truck shopping you should really start with a 1 ton DRW, then go pop up shopping second. People that advise a vehicle to be used within it's ratings are not Weight Police IMHO - they are rational thinkers.
But if you want to label yourself the weight police, hey go for it. I'd suggest making a lil badge out of tin foil or the like.:B
"I" never labeled myself as the "weight police"...it was "bestowed" upon me by those that felt when I recommended staying around the trucks GVWR, that I was a "weight police"...
Don't need a little badge made out of tin foil...had one in the 50's when we use to play Cowboy's and Indians, but that was over 50 years ago...not politically correct now a day's, and I grew out of that a LONG time ago.....I've also recommended that a TV be used within it's weight towing capabilities, but still had the label of "weight police" given to me...guess you might call it "justification" by those who know they're towing over their TV's limits but resort to calling people names when they're called on it....
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NC Hauler
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05/23/12 03:41am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: GM's new 2013 tow ratings
That is where the "leeway" I referred to earlier in a post comes in.Here in Australia you would see more spectacular drops than 4,800lb.
They had to lower it there because of the tendency of the natives to use the equipment upside down, causing severe stresses on the vehicle.
Now THAT was funny.....:B
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NC Hauler
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05/22/12 06:24pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: GM's new 2013 tow ratings
i wonder if the weight police will be disappointed with the small drop in tow rating on GM vehicles. Personally about what i guessed, most configurations have very little change.
Why would the "weight police" be disappointed with the small drop in tow ratings. Your comment makes no sense. The, as you say, "weight police" usually harp about trying to keep weights under a trucks GVWR, which allows less than the RAWR, this just reinforces the fact that there is actually less "leeway" than once thought by those who think you can tow any weight with any truck. Thus, the "new" towing weight adjustments just reinforces the reason to try to stay closer to one's GVWR instead of RAWR to allow some for "margin of error" when equating how much one's truck should be able to tow....safely and efficiently..
just my thoughts and not worth much coming from a so called "weight police":R
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NC Hauler
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05/22/12 05:40pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Holiday Rambler presidential Parts?
I have the doors in my 5er. Never use them. They are a PITA if the strap breaks while going down the road. Damn things come off the tracks and then you spend 20 minutes getting them back on.
Why does your wife want them? When does she think they'll actually be used? Ask her to think about that before you spend time and money replacing them.
Mine work great, they aren't held down with straps....They have a locking device in each corner....Have never come loose in all the years I've towed the 5er through the mountains of WV, TN, NC, SC and VA...
Sounds like if you had the type your talking about, I wouldn't want any part of those either, BUT evidently these sliding French glass doors have a little more quality built into them than the type you are referring to...Again, my 5er is almost 6 yrs. old, doors work great, have never come loose while towing and have never come off track...give you a little more privacy at times.....
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NC Hauler
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05/22/12 04:43pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Holiday Rambler presidential Parts?
Welcome to the forum...We have "almost" the same 5er, Sig. 5er is an 06' Presidential Suite, 37RLQ...We have the sliding French doors going into the livingroom...but also canned the recliners and the sleeper sofa...replaced the two recliners with an almost 8' wide scizzor bed and the sleeper sofa with a Lazy boy dual recliner.....Also replaced the cheap stereo system with a Sony 5.1 sound system, using the original 5 speakers and my own subwoofer...Also canned the sliding glass doors on the closet and replaced with insulated drapes....much easier to keep clean, no where near as heavy.
Don't know where you could find the doors, I'll do some checking around here if you'd like for me to. Anything else you might like to know, shoot me a PM..
Love ours, bought it brand new in 07' and it still looks as good as the day we purchased it. A very well built unit....
ON EDIT: I forgot to add that I could take measurements of my doors for you, as well as a picture, but the unit is parked on my property in WVa right now and it'll probably be weekend after next before I would be in it to take any measurements...If you don't get the measurements from anyone, let me know and I'll get them for you when I go back to WVa.
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NC Hauler
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05/22/12 02:52pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Help with weight numbers
...Only difference between your truck and my truck IS the 4:10 rear end...
GVWR on my truck is 12,200#, so that should be YOUR GVWR as well....
GCWR on my truck because of the 4:10 rear end is 24,500#...YOUR GCWR is LESS than that with the 3:73 rear end...thus the reason I HAD to get the truck with the 4:10 rear end.
Not exactly sure what your GCWR is with the 3:73, but do believe it's in the 21,000-22,000# range.
You really need to use your 5er's GVW weight, not it's "empty", "dry" or "shipped from factory weight" because that is with nothing in the unit...I don't think you should have any problems except that you may exceed your trucks GCWR as you seem to think you might in an earlier post...the 4:10 would have given you at least 2,500# or more GCWR weight capabilities...
Again, the above is your true GVWR (same as mine) and your GCWR with the 3:73 is quite a bit less than the 24,500# that someone had stated your truck was rated at...
I tow sig. 5er with a GVW of 16,900#, but loaded to 15,400# with no problems at all in the mountains of NC, TN, VA and WV...one heck of a tough truck..EB is AWESOME:B
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NC Hauler
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05/21/12 03:16pm |
Towing
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RE: Friends from the "OOP'S" thread.
...doggone Jon, read your post, now I'm hungry...going to grab a bite to eat, be back shortly..
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NC Hauler
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05/21/12 02:52pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: 5th Wheel Tripod Stabalizers?
I've had a steel tripod for about 10 yrs. now..heavy? yep, I carry mine in the basement of my 5er...My 5er has a GVW of 16,900#, loaded just recently to 15,400#....does it help "stabilize" the front end of "my" 5er? yes it does....to me, seeing as how I've had it for almost 10 yrs. now and really have nothing invested in it, it's worth it to me....I can tell a difference in the front end being more stable...especially when the washer/dryer combo goes into spin cycle..can hardly tell it with the tripod up front....never even noticed until I did a "before and after" comparison.....
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NC Hauler
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05/20/12 03:26pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Friends from the "OOP'S" thread.
We're home, left WVa this morning around 9:30 and got home around 1:30...seem's sorta vacant out there in the driveway with no 5er setting there.....
It's hot here right now, at least to me it is....suns bearing down and I believe I'm going to wait a little before I mow the yard...
HEY!! hand calculated, 16.2 mpg with the Dually coming back...up and down mountains and up and down and etc...so I was really pleased...I ran about 2 mph over the speed limit from 70 mph down to 50-55....Of the 258 miles or so we travel up to WV, probably have about 45 or so miles of seconadary roads to travel and the rest is interstate, so again, that's the best I've done so far with the 2010 6.7 CTD with EGR and DPF....
Hope all of you are well and having a great day....take care, talk to you later.
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NC Hauler
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05/20/12 12:27pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: The old buggy met its match!
I think you did good. When i top the (I call it the Saluda mountain grind) on I 26 I am going 45 with the 99 powerstroke and the 11K fifth wheel.
Saluda grade is a long grade that'll let you know that "something is back there":B
Topping it with your combo at 45 mph is pretty doggone good..seen many a TV and it's TT or 5er pulled over to the side from where they've over heated....
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NC Hauler
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05/20/12 12:21pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Estone DVD System in Keystone Products
As stated above, look at the menu and you should be able to select a higher resolution and pick the component you want to hear through the speakers. BUT most will find out that the majority of these 5er's come with very low end sound systems...lacking in more than several areas...Almost every TT or 5er I've owned over the last 12-15 years, I've gotten rid of the "no name" systems that they put in these units and spent far less than what was charged us for the "junk" that came in them and purchased DVD players and 5.1/7.1 A/V systmes...you can purchase them now a day's for very little and they FAR out perform the junk they put in some of these high dollar 5er's...usually, about the only thing worth keeping is the TV...at least in a lot of them....
A new Sony, Panasonic, Yamaha system, just to name a few are far more user friendly and work great, and a new Blue Ray low cost DVD player will support 1080P easily if your TV supports it.
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NC Hauler
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05/19/12 11:16am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Friends from the "OOP'S" thread.
...I see they're having a sell on grills at CW, BUT, I'd still check K-Mart and Wally World, they have some of the same grills as CW does and they are cheaper...we purchased a propane stove to use outside and it was about $15 cheaper than the identical item at Wally World.
You can't beat CW's prices on a LOT of camping "stuff", but if K-Mart and/or Wally World carry the same thing, it'll be more expensive at CW..
Beautiful day here, supposed to get near 80 and it's sunny with blue sky's...hate to leave tomorrow, but that's part of it for now...
Cleaned out the basement of my 5er, rearranged some things to make it easier to get things out that we use the most...I'll bring all the slides in, turn off the water but leave the electric on to keep the fridge going...
hoping y'all are having a great weekend, catch ya later.
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NC Hauler
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05/19/12 10:57am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Friends from the "OOP'S" thread.
Hope you find what your looking for Jon, do understand the chance one takes if they see something they like and then "hesitate" on getting it and someone else buys it...I alway's play the "sour grapes" philosophy if something like that happens to me...just figure something was probably wrong with it, or it DID cost to much, you know, just any excuse that makes me feel better about missing out on a "deal".
A beautiful day here yesterday, stayed pretty busy with getting a gravel driveway laid from the start of my property up to the 5er, had a "road crush" composite put down first, then gravel.....a total of 18 tons of each...feel better about backing in and out now. With the property on the river, with enough rain it can get quite soggy, so I took care of that...though I pushed around about 4 ton of the stuff myself...believe I worked off my breakfast and lunch with the work I did.
The son, DIL and two grandsons also came up yesterday late afternoon, they'll be here till tomorrow, and we'll shut everyhing up, leave the fidge on and hope to be able to come up weekend after next...least that's an early plan...
Hope all of you are well and having a great weekend...take care.
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NC Hauler
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05/19/12 05:15am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: New Truck Break in period
I would agree some type of break-in is good for the rear end. That said, does it need to be exactly 500 miles? 300-400 wouldn't bother me.
...again, guess it depends on you and how much money you have invested in your truck...I'd say you could probably get away with 300-400 miles instead of the recommended 500, but "I" would break the truck in exactly the way the manufacturer recommends it be done.....
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NC Hauler
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05/16/12 02:53pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: The old buggy met its match!
OP, I apologize for my part in the topic drifting. I wasn't even realizing it had, until just now reading that it had, I'd forgotten where you started.
I've lived in NC, TN, GA, and know some of the excellent climbs. Lots more fun in a V8 Camaro than towing a camper, until I caught up to a camper, nowhere near a passing zone.
Thats the other bad part,,,driving in your car, coming up on someone like us towing on one of those roads, nowhere for the one towing to pull over and the driver of the car can't find a place to pass....
I go off topic all the time, don't mean to, but I do...
You also reminded me of the Chrysler Crossfire SRT I owned some years back, it was fun driving on those curvy roads to see how well a hot little sports car could handle it...I kind of miss that:B
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NC Hauler
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05/16/12 02:51pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: New Truck Break in period
As Rick and several others stated, I would use the advice the manufactuer of your truck suggest you follow for the first 500 miles before towing...The money one of these new trucks cost, I'd do everything within power to help make it last....It may be just me, but I actually read the owners manual and try to follow them, that way if something does happen to the truck, I've done what was suggested by the manufactuer by following their recommendations,
Go for a long drive several times before you "hook up" and go...you may also see recommendations for speeds to tow at for "X" amount of miles...a real pain, but again....these trucks ARE expensive..
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NC Hauler
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05/16/12 11:04am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Friends from the "OOP'S" thread.
rosie, y'all be safe....two girls will keep you on your toes...we'll have ours weekend after next, may even come back up here with them "IF" I don't have to work the entire Memorial Day Weekend....and I may have to...
Beautiful day here, blue sky's and sunshine...supposed to be like this through Sunday...works for us....
Beenw working on our lot....washer/dryer is working to perfection, Kathy is quite happy with it, and our aircard is allowing me to post on the forum, in the middle of nowhere...Google Pence Spings WV and you'll see what I mean...it's "close" to Hinton in one direction and Alderson in the other, located on Greenbriar River....hard to believe that we have Internet and phone service, but we'll take it....
Since we've been here, seen deer, turkey, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, the occasional opposum, groundhogs, etc....haven't seen the bear yet, but not going to go out of my way to look for one either.:B
Hope all of you are well and having a great day....catch ya later.
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NC Hauler
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05/16/12 10:54am |
Around the Campfire
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