Forum Discussion
Steakman
Mar 10, 2014Explorer
Interesting Conversation here. Up till Saunday, I was hunting for a "light weight"5th myself
I drive an '06 GMC 2500HD Duramax and even so, weights are an issue.
My TV GVWR is 9200.
I weighed it this past Friday: I have a steel bumper up front, Titan Tank 52 Gal and a slip tank at 30Gal, Alum Toobox with a few gallons of fluids (trans fluid/oil etc.) and a bit of other stuff + the Dog and myself and it came out to:
8120lbs.! Fuel tanks were in fact full.
Given that I was left with about 1200lbs for pin weight I was surprised...particularly when GM themselves tells you the vehicle can handle trailers up to 14,200lbs....yea, as if.!
We ended up settling on an '11 Coachman Chaparral 275RLS. Dry at 7720 - likely loaded at 8750...and the pin weight will be what the pin weight is...very likely exceeding my GVWR of the truck.
I'm running 265/75R17 BFG Rugged Trails rated at 3195lbs ea - so they should not pose an issue.
Plan is to add cpl air bags to the rear, load the 5th carefully. Later this spring I will build a welded 8' X 18-24" deep extension off the back frame rails - dumping that useless 4 X 4 pce of sheet metal called a bumper and eventually set both my 6 Volt Batts and possibly my 2 X 30lb propane btls there to lighten up/re-balance my pin weight.
I have built a couple of these in the past Using 2 X 4 X .250 wall 6061 Aluminum HSS (bolted w/Gr 8 bolts to welded steel brackets made for the purpose), and they work exceeding well for excess storage capability.
When I'm done..I'll post some pics of that.
Stk.
I drive an '06 GMC 2500HD Duramax and even so, weights are an issue.
My TV GVWR is 9200.
I weighed it this past Friday: I have a steel bumper up front, Titan Tank 52 Gal and a slip tank at 30Gal, Alum Toobox with a few gallons of fluids (trans fluid/oil etc.) and a bit of other stuff + the Dog and myself and it came out to:
8120lbs.! Fuel tanks were in fact full.
Given that I was left with about 1200lbs for pin weight I was surprised...particularly when GM themselves tells you the vehicle can handle trailers up to 14,200lbs....yea, as if.!
We ended up settling on an '11 Coachman Chaparral 275RLS. Dry at 7720 - likely loaded at 8750...and the pin weight will be what the pin weight is...very likely exceeding my GVWR of the truck.
I'm running 265/75R17 BFG Rugged Trails rated at 3195lbs ea - so they should not pose an issue.
Plan is to add cpl air bags to the rear, load the 5th carefully. Later this spring I will build a welded 8' X 18-24" deep extension off the back frame rails - dumping that useless 4 X 4 pce of sheet metal called a bumper and eventually set both my 6 Volt Batts and possibly my 2 X 30lb propane btls there to lighten up/re-balance my pin weight.
I have built a couple of these in the past Using 2 X 4 X .250 wall 6061 Aluminum HSS (bolted w/Gr 8 bolts to welded steel brackets made for the purpose), and they work exceeding well for excess storage capability.
When I'm done..I'll post some pics of that.
Stk.
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