Overweight Toad?
So I just noticed yesterday that my tow hitch says max 3500 lbs. With my tow dolly and car, I'm going to be up around 4200 lbs. Is that too much? I know there has to be some wiggle room in that 350...
Forum Discussion
Thanks for all the post thus far. Some have pegged me incorrectly. Based on my last question concerning towing backwards, I have decided to disconnect the driveshaft and tow forward with my tow dolly brakes working as designed with my brake controller. Thanks for all the inputs on helping me come to that decision.
I am not trying to fish for ideas that support me, I'm trying to understand the limitations of my coach. You all are helping me with that and I appreciate it. I do have a reinforced extension on my P30. It's welded and reinforced with plate steel which is also welded to both frames. If I decided to tempt fate, I'll ensure my safety chains are long enough to connect to the coach frame if the entire rear of my RV detaches. Ideas like that are things I was looking to get from this post.
I'm understanding that there are 3 concerns here. Hitch failure, coach failure, and liability. I have a hard time seeing the hitch failing. It's box steel. The house frame could pull away from the coach frame, but I can't see this under normal towing conditions. The liability issue does concern me. There is the big "if" and as I've been told, "if is half of life."
I'm not sold on doing this. I have a hard time seeing that a rolling vehicle would subject the hitch and frame to huge acceleration forces. Maybe if I opened up the secondary barrels on the carb after every stop, maybe, but I would be very cautious knowing what I had behind me. As I said in an earlier post, the stopping forces concern me, but "if" my dolly brakes work as advertised, the hitch shouldn't be subjected to huge forces there either. I'll have to ponder the up and down forces based on the load. My tongue weight limit is 300 lbs, so I'm not sure if the vehicle on the dolly makes that much of a difference in the tongue weight. Most of the weight should be back over the dolly axles, so in my simple mind, I should be well under that 300 lb tongue limit.
I towed a 3400 lb vehicle from Alaska here, 4 down without brakes and the coach never seemed to mind. The Canadian Rockies were no joke either. Coming down from Mt. Rushmore was probably the toughest thing I did on the entire trip, and that was just because the brakes heated up. Otherwise the trip was easy. I may have the wife drive the toad, but I may tempt fate and keep a close watch on my welds.
I am not trying to fish for ideas that support me, I'm trying to understand the limitations of my coach. You all are helping me with that and I appreciate it. I do have a reinforced extension on my P30. It's welded and reinforced with plate steel which is also welded to both frames. If I decided to tempt fate, I'll ensure my safety chains are long enough to connect to the coach frame if the entire rear of my RV detaches. Ideas like that are things I was looking to get from this post.
I'm understanding that there are 3 concerns here. Hitch failure, coach failure, and liability. I have a hard time seeing the hitch failing. It's box steel. The house frame could pull away from the coach frame, but I can't see this under normal towing conditions. The liability issue does concern me. There is the big "if" and as I've been told, "if is half of life."
I'm not sold on doing this. I have a hard time seeing that a rolling vehicle would subject the hitch and frame to huge acceleration forces. Maybe if I opened up the secondary barrels on the carb after every stop, maybe, but I would be very cautious knowing what I had behind me. As I said in an earlier post, the stopping forces concern me, but "if" my dolly brakes work as advertised, the hitch shouldn't be subjected to huge forces there either. I'll have to ponder the up and down forces based on the load. My tongue weight limit is 300 lbs, so I'm not sure if the vehicle on the dolly makes that much of a difference in the tongue weight. Most of the weight should be back over the dolly axles, so in my simple mind, I should be well under that 300 lb tongue limit.
I towed a 3400 lb vehicle from Alaska here, 4 down without brakes and the coach never seemed to mind. The Canadian Rockies were no joke either. Coming down from Mt. Rushmore was probably the toughest thing I did on the entire trip, and that was just because the brakes heated up. Otherwise the trip was easy. I may have the wife drive the toad, but I may tempt fate and keep a close watch on my welds.
