Trailer hitch on 1997 Fleetwood American Dream 39AF

GlennLever wrote:

dougrainer wrote:
Gillig is NOT the people to ask about tow capacity.
ONLY the OEM RV maker can answer that question as Gillig just supplies the chassis/drivetrain. The OEM RV maker adds ALL the extra weight. You really need to WEIGH the RV with full water/LP/Diesel and THEN get a look at the Sticker on the RV and compare to carrying capacity. As another poster stated, you could put a 20k capacity hitch and beef it up, but that does NOT mean your RV can tow even 5k. Doug

This is the e-mail I got from Fleetwood

Glenn
Thanks for the email.
You should speak with Gillig about the hitch and chassis. They install and rate the hitch before we ever get the chassis.

GILLIG CHASSIS
P.O. Box 3008
Hayward, CA 94540-3008
Phone: (510) 264-5160
Fax: (510) 887-0981

Fleetwood RV
American Coach
800-435-7345

Glenn, I understand but Fleetwood is WRONG. carrying capacity and Hitch rating are to be done by the OEM RV maker. The chassis maker follows the guidelines put forth by the OEM RV Engineering dept. I have 40 years in the Service side of the RV industry and well understand the pitfalls of dealing with various Chassis and OEM makers. Just because they towed that Space Shuttle with that Pick up Truck does NOT mean you can do such a thing in real life:B An EXTREME example, but goes to show my point. I have had customers beef up a 5k and add frame and steel gussets to go from 5k to 10k receiver, but the Motorhome was rated to tow that much extra. The question you need to answer here is, WHAT is the TOTAL weight of the towed trailer and Motorhome? 35,000? 30,000? 40,000? Doug

GlennLever wrote:

dougrainer wrote:
Gillig is NOT the people to ask about tow capacity.
ONLY the OEM RV maker can answer that question as Gillig just supplies the chassis/drivetrain. The OEM RV maker adds ALL the extra weight. You really need to WEIGH the RV with full water/LP/Diesel and THEN get a look at the Sticker on the RV and compare to carrying capacity. As another poster stated, you could put a 20k capacity hitch and beef it up, but that does NOT mean your RV can tow even 5k. Doug

This is the e-mail I got from Fleetwood

Glenn
Thanks for the email.
You should speak with Gillig about the hitch and chassis. They install and rate the hitch before we ever get the chassis.

GILLIG CHASSIS
P.O. Box 3008
Hayward, CA 94540-3008
Phone: (510) 264-5160
Fax: (510) 887-0981

Fleetwood RV
American Coach
800-435-7345

Glenn,
Doug is 100% right on!!! Actually by federal regulation, Fleetwood RV is the final vehicle manufacturer, and to change any weight specs, the coach would have to be returned to them for modification, inspection, and a modified vehicle spec/vin plate. You can install the new mount and trailer hitch, or have someone else do it, but doing so does not change the final manufacturers assigned spec weight/vin plate. It will remain at 5000 lbs until changed by the OEM RV manufacturer. There is more involved to assigning the GCWR and Tongue Weight of a motorhome than just the hitch rating, and Gillig has no idea what Fleetwood RV had done to their chassis!

It may be a beautiful coach, but best to find one already spec'ed out for your needs. There are lots of them out there that can do what you want without expensive modification.

dougrainer wrote:
Gillig is NOT the people to ask about tow capacity.
ONLY the OEM RV maker can answer that question as Gillig just supplies the chassis/drivetrain. The OEM RV maker adds ALL the extra weight. You really need to WEIGH the RV with full water/LP/Diesel and THEN get a look at the Sticker on the RV and compare to carrying capacity. As another poster stated, you could put a 20k capacity hitch and beef it up, but that does NOT mean your RV can tow even 5k. Doug

This is the e-mail I got from Fleetwood

Glenn
Thanks for the email.
You should speak with Gillig about the hitch and chassis. They install and rate the hitch before we ever get the chassis.

GILLIG CHASSIS
P.O. Box 3008
Hayward, CA 94540-3008
Phone: (510) 264-5160
Fax: (510) 887-0981

Fleetwood RV
American Coach
800-435-7345

Gillig is NOT the people to ask about tow capacity.
ONLY the OEM RV maker can answer that question as Gillig just supplies the chassis/drivetrain. The OEM RV maker adds ALL the extra weight. You really need to WEIGH the RV with full water/LP/Diesel and THEN get a look at the Sticker on the RV and compare to carrying capacity. As another poster stated, you could put a 20k capacity hitch and beef it up, but that does NOT mean your RV can tow even 5k. Doug

That 1800# of tongue weight on the single rear axle is really going to overload the rear axle and unload the front axle. Don't be surprised if handling will be a little squirely.

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The hitch is only part of the equation. What about the coach's tow rating and the GCWR? You can put a 20k hitch on, but the coach can't tow that much.

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Yep, I agree GlennLever, but that is what it says in the closet.

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