Born Free towing a TT

Thanks for the follow up. Good deal, now you know!

I heard back from Born Free and I thought I should post the reply here, just in case someone else looks for this kind of data in the future:

The hitch on a 2003 Born Free is rated at 500 lbs. tongue weight and 5,000 lbs. maximum towing capacity.

The combined capacity of the Ford chassis ( 14,050 lbs.) and what you are towing is 20,000 lbs. but keep in mind the hitch is still only rated to 5,000 lbs. (Total combined available 19,050 lbs.) 20,000 lbs. is Ford maximum combined if the hitch was rated higher.

ohhh, I see. Thanks! I think I better just call Born Free.

beaubeau wrote:
Hmmm, the spec sheet does call it GVWR - check the last page here...
http://media.wix.com/ugd/038630_1b1944a39fb9446daa9436e47d699d29.pdf

That is correct. That is the Gross VEHICLE weight rating. There is another number that assists you with the towing capacity called Gross COMBINED weight rating.

Two separate ratings that representing two different capacities. GVWR is the maximum weight your vehicle is rated to carry without a trailer connected, the GCWR is the maximum weight of your vehicle loaded AND the trailer weight. And, like someone else pointed out earlier in your thread, the frame extensions can derate these numbers.

Hmmm, the spec sheet does call it GVWR - check the last page here...
http://media.wix.com/ugd/038630_1b1944a39fb9446daa9436e47d699d29.pdf

beaubeau wrote:
Great info! I'm just looking at the Born Free website to see what a new one specs out as. It's GVWR is 14,500 (not 23,000) and the completed RV weight is 11,900. Does that mean a new empty one could tow 14500-11900 or only 2600 pounds?

You might be confusing GVWR and GCWR.

Sounds like my TT is out of the range of what it could tow...

beaubeau wrote:
Great info! I'm just looking at the Born Free website to see what a new one specs out as. It's GVWR is 14,500 (not 23,000) and the completed RV weight is 11,900. Does that mean a new empty one could tow 14500-11900 or only 2600 pounds?

An older 2003 or so E450 has a GVWR of 14,050#, not the 14,500# GVWR of the newer E450's. The GCWR (according to Ford) was 20,000#. I believe that vintage MH was rated by most MH builders, to tow 3,500#. Many newer E450 class Cs with the 22,000# GCWR (according to Ford) were rated to tow 5,000#, with restrictions on tongue weight of 350#-500#. It's only in the last year or two that some manufacturers rate their Cs to tow up to the Ford specs of 22,000# GCWR. I believe they have limits on the tongue weight (500# ?)
Chances are somewhere in the owner's manual for that Born Free, it will tell you not to use a weight distribution hitch (for the reasons listed by tatest).

Great info! I'm just looking at the Born Free website to see what a new one specs out as. It's GVWR is 14,500 (not 23,000) and the completed RV weight is 11,900. Does that mean a new empty one could tow 14500-11900 or only 2600 pounds?

That chassis, as it came from Ford, was rated 20,000 pounds GCWR and given a nominal tow rating of 5000 pounds. Used bare (i.e. with a toolbox and fifth wheel and "bumper" hitches it was regularly used as a tow vehicle for RV delivery, up to about 14,000 pounds on the fivers.

But a motorhome manufacturer changes things, extending the frame several feet behind the rear axle, sometimes also stretching between the cab and rear axle, and building a house that uses up most of the weight carrying capacity that would carry your tongue loads.

It is unlikely that the hitch receiver, and the frame extensions to which it is mounted, are up to the 700-900 pound tongue loads of a 5000 pound trailer. The hitch itself might be rated to pull 5000 pounds, but effectively that is a flat tow. There used to be dollies, like the tow dolly for a car, that you could use to carry the tongue or hitch weight of a trailer. I have not seen those since the 1960s.

The hitches on a finished type C motorhome are usually marked with warnings against using weight distribution. With the hitch receiver 8 to 14 feet behind the rear axle, the geometry is all wrong for the assumptions used to design and rate WD hitches. A hitch design that carries the trailer tongue weight all the way forward to the rear axle might work. We used one of those (a DrawTite axle hitch) in the early 1960s but I have not seen those since, either. It was something like a super-strength WD hitch longer than the tow vehicle overhang.