1978 Chevy 30 motorhome

Might mean floating the valves, and he is probably right. Not a lot of gear selections on that old Chev, so you pretty much would have to try to keep the rpms down in 1st while still actually getting up the hill.

If its got any Carbon buildup, you'll probably be burning premium octane to keep from burning through the piston tops from pre-ignition.

I bought a 78 350 3/4 ton pickup with auto and 4.10 gears to pull my boat to Nebraska years ago. Not only could it not get over 55, it couldn't accelerate without pinging. it was just not a truck for towing, not with the big block camper specials available out there in the day. I thought I was being wise because the big blocks didn't do well on fuel, but towing that little 350 was getting 4 mpg, so it backfired.

rockhillmanor wrote:
You can weld whatever to a chassis to whatever weight capability. But it won't help the coach pull it! :W

I 'know' that my toad is back there when pulling the grades or even small hills. You can drive on the straight away pulling just about anything with any size engine but you'll never make it up a steep hill without it floating out with an underrated motor for what you are towing.

I don't know what you are are describing when you say "floating out", but your claim of never making it to the top of a hill is certainly not factual. Back in my youth I hauled coal with a tractor trailer rig powered by a six cylinder International engine that developed about 165 horsepower and climbed some fairly big hills quite successfully. Those loads grossed about 75,000 pounds so what we are talking about here is nothing in comparison. Granted you won't go up hills breaking the speeed limit, but to say you will never make is flat wrong.

You can weld whatever to a chassis to whatever weight capability. But it won't help the coach pull it! :W

I 'know' that my toad is back there when pulling the grades or even small hills. You can drive on the straight away pulling just about anything with any size engine but you'll never make it up a steep hill without it floating out with an underrated motor for what you are towing.

First we don't know if this unit has a single rear wheel chassis or a dual rear wheel one. Either way GM rated the chassis as a one ton chassis, just with a slightly lower load capacity.

The engine is capable of the load carrying as well as the towing, it just won't go up hills or pull away from a stoplight like a passenger car. The transmission and rear end might be the weaker links, but have certainly been used in more difficult environments successfully.

The real dilema with this situation for any smaller coach/chassis is the hitch rating and how much someone is willing to trust it. Where the dilema begins is the frame extensions added to the chassis by the coach builder. Under the best of circumstances it is subject to how well engineered it is and how good the welder was that day.

If I was serious about a unit like the one being looked at and I could connect an appropriate hitch to the original frame rails of the chassis I would not be deterred by anything else about the drivetrain assuming a supplemental brake system is used.

Opinions will vary on this, of course, but I base my opinion on a career in the welding industry and dealing with welding engineering on a daily basis.

If you live where you have to do smog tests I'd stay far far away from older MH's with carberated motor's especially the Dodge ones!

Tannerwilliams wrote:
Hey everyone,

I'm looking at an 18 foot Chevy motorhome with a 350 big block, I can't find any specs on the motor or chassis but does anyone know if it would be possible to dinghy tow my Jeep Wrangler?

Short answer is no, as mentioned in all the above posts.

What 'year' MH are you looking at? What's your price range?

There are a ton of older MH's in the 90 years for sale with the Ford V10, which is what you ARE going to need to pull the jeep.

Most C's 'with the bigger engine' are rated for 6,000 lbs but NO ONE pulls that much weight it just too much weight. Most of us like to stick to towing cars that weigh around 3,000 lbs.

Tannerwilliams wrote:
@milehigh- that's what I thought too so I'm assuming the owner, an 80 year man, must have poor information. @braindead well I was trying to find out as I am supposed to go see it tomorrow but it's two and a half hours away, does anyone know if something a little lager such as an older 24 foot, have a little more chance of the capability?

There were a lot of the Dodge 360, 440 as well in the 24 foot. The 440 just used more gas, not really a big change in power. I wouldn't recommend those either. They may have pulled a Jeep or two, but the old CJ that weighed in at 2,200 lbs. That Wrangler starts at 3,500 or the new ones a little over 4,000 lbs.

If you can find a V10 Ford or the Chev Workhorse, I would think you would be fine but that is going to be a newer rig.

(I stand corrected on the 400 being a small block)

FYI -- 350 and 400 are small blocks. That is, dimensionaly the block is "smaller". belairbrian is correct with his big block list.

By the way, belair brian, I have a '62 impala with the 283. Off topic....

At that time the once powerful chevy small block was suffering under government emisson regulations and would make under 200hp.

Of course if you can buy cheap enough to build a proper small block anything is possible. The last 350 I built made just shy of 350 hp.

Chevy big blocks include the 396, 402, 427, 454, 496 and 502.

Mile High wrote:
I would say no. That 350 is doing what it can to move the motorhome without the Jeep. 350 is a small block, unless there is something unique about the MH engines. A big block might be a 454 or 400.

I believe the 350 and 400 are Small Block engines.
And, I agree, the 350 is probably maxed out just moving the motorhome.
Hopefully someone has better info.