Buying a 39' Keystone Alpine 3660 and picking up Oct. 1st.

rhagfo wrote:
Chris, good luck with the weigh in!
Have you lightened the bed boxes a bit? I assume you will post numbers once you have scaled good or bad.

Russ

Yes Russ, not going crazy loading things in the truck like I did last year! Chris

Chris, good luck with the weigh in!
Have you lightened the bed boxes a bit? I assume you will post numbers once you have scaled good or bad.

Russ

The answer is in the dry pin weight of 2950. That is going to be 3500-3800 when loaded. You need a dually. If you load really light and put in an aluminum Andersen hitch you might squeeze by with a 350/3500 SRW. 250/2500's should not be in the conversation.

I am going to a Cat scale to today to weight a similar size trailer that starts with a 500 pounds lest pin weight. This is to check that I am under rear axle capacity on our SRW 3500.


Specs for 3660FL / 3661FL - NEW
Shipping Weight 13620
Carrying Capacity 1880
Hitch 2950
Length 39' 1"
Height 13' 4"
Fresh Water 66
Waste Water 44
Gray Water 68
LPG 60
Tire Size ST235/85R16G

The Montana's and Alpine's are pin heavy rigs. I bypassed them for that reason as I already had a new 3500 SRW truck.

For comparison here are my BH3575el numbers.
GVWR 16,000 lbs
Dry Weight 12,950 lbs
Hitch Weight 2,435 lbs
Width 8' 0"
Height 13' 3"
Length 39' 4"
Sq. Ft. TBD
Tires LT235/85R16-G
Fresh Water 65 gal
Gray Water 90 gal
Black Water 45 gal
LP Capacity (2) 30 lbs
No. of Slide Rooms 3 Slides

As you can see they are similar in size. Keystone has however placed the axles further to the rear shifting more weight to the tow vehicle. I found that the new Cardinals were similar to the Keystone products regarding heavy pin weight. Cedar Creek and Big Horn got on our short list based on our desire to tow with a SRW truck.

You will also find that you will max out that 15.5K GVWR easily. I have a 3050 carrying capacity and you will have only 1880. Filling the water tank with eat up 535 pounds of the 1880 CC. They(keystone) should have given the trailer at least a 16K GVWR instead of the 15.5K, actually 16.5K would have been even better.

People looking at new trailers should to learn to look at all these numbers and understand them up front.

So! A dually is in order. You then can put some of the heavy items in the truck to offset the low CC of the trailer. And you need it for the pin weight anyway.

BTW the six sides are what pushed the dry weight much higher than our Big Horn. Any salesman that says a 250/2500 can tow a six slide trailer is in the wrong job.

Chris

We have the same unit and pull it with a Chevy long bed dually. Wouldn't think about pulling it with anything smaller.

Well you never base towing/carrying ability on DRY weights!

That 5er has just under a 2,000# payload and a 15,500# GVWR. 2,000# payload in a 39' 5er is really easy to reach and even exceed.

You will be pressing a 350/3500 SRW, best experance will be a 350/3500 DRW.

Technical Specifications:
Length 39'-1"
Width 96"
Height 12'-8"
Dry Weight 13,580#
Payload Capacity 1,920#
GVWR 15,500#
Hitch Weight 2,950#

Go with the 350/3500. If buying new, there isn't much of a cost difference. Is that the published unloaded(dry) weight(usually a ficticious number), or the GVWR(much better planning number)? I ask because you are getting close to the single rear wheel vs the dual rear wheel decision point. I happen to tow my Cardinal in my sig with a 1-ton SRW, and am within towing specs. My cardinal weighs in at 15K ready to camp, and I wouldn't go any heavier of a trailer unless I went DRW truck too.