Tag Axel

skid rowjoe: not correct. For many years mfrs. were having problems on the 40 ft. and above coaches. The RA was almost at 20,000 or even above with no passengers or goods on board. A tag axle allowed them shift some of that weight off the RA. Most went to a 42 ft. at that time. Better handling is a bonus. Our Dynasty has the tag and I would not buy a 4o f.t and above without a tag. Has nothing to do with braking.

To add what was already posted, besides being able to lift, our tag is owner adjustable. This allows you to modify your rig for the weight you're carrying. Adding weight to the tag adds weight to the steering and reducing weight adds weight to the drive axle....Dennis

Kayteg1, you don't NEED a tag axle coach to drive straight, it's just an added benefit on our heavy tag coaches of today. The tag balances the drive axle over bumps.... like on a speed bump. It also helps in porpoising on wavy roads.

MM.

From motorhomes I own, 40' country coach and 34' wide body Barth had 2 axles and both tracks straight with no problem.
Both were build on commercial Gillig chassis.
They had no slides, so weight on the axles was no problem.
Than my first was 20' ClassC on Toyota chassis and it did have tag axle.
That one actually was hard to control in cross winds.
I agree that tag adds stability, but if you need tag to drive straight, your problems started elsewhere.

Kayteg1 wrote:
If you need tag axle for driving straight, you start from wrong point.
Tag axles are for extra weight carrying and on good coaches they are liftable.
I had my vintage Prevost park in spot with sharp turn required, so lifted tag for better turning.
200 miles later I start thinking "did I lower the tag down?"
I did not and could not tell the difference in driving but fact is that it was slower driving in weekend traffic.
The tires on bus conversion operate at 60-70% of weight carrying capacity, so dropping another 30% is not posing any danger.
Beware about designs where builder overbuild the coach on small chassis and add tag as bandage to cover inadequate design

The extra axle is for weight, like you said. The 'side' benefit is that it helps the motorhome track straighter. It also makes going over speed bumps softer.

MM.

If you have a problem with a campsite, it will probably come from being 43' long instead of 38' long!

If you are happy with the layout with the slides in, and can sleep with the slides in, then you can fit anyplace!

I would rather be out dry camping someplace, with nothing within 1/4 mile of my RV. If there is not 24" space on each side for the slide outs, I don't really want to be there anyway!

I have found some difficult places to park my 30' Bounder. And when I was driving my buddies 40' DP to Sequoia NP in July, I made sure to show up at 10 am on Friday, to get a site. The first one that we pulled into was the only site available at the park. But I did have a back up plan in case it did not fit anyplace! There is a dry camping location about 3 miles south of Hume Lake. I had to rent a second site for his Jeep to park in, the site we had was barely 40 feet long, and barely fit the RV.

Good luck,

Fred.

Haven't owned either but everything I've heard/read says the tag axle is the way to go for stability, carrying capacity and overall experience.

As for the slides I believe most DP/class A slides aren't quite as deep as TT and 5th wheels (maybe someone can confirm or correct me). For, example the slides on my TT are roughly 40" deep. If that were hanging off each side of a 45' DP I could see running into the some problems.

Around 2003-4 many 40'-42' DPs got so heavy that they had very little CCC... Four slides, tile floors, corian counters that tags were added. Yes they are more stable and once you've owned a tag you will not go back.

Maybe twice in ten years I have not been able to put out all four slides... In a USFS CG.

Right, the tag axle is not optional equipment to be ordered - it is there to carry the additional weight of heavier coaches.

Yes the tag is worth it. Mine comes down as soon as I pass 5mph if I forget.