Tow vehicle

We towed our Ranger home on a car trailer when we snap bought our 07. Went a crossed the scale at 5,500lbs on the trailer. Other than being a little slower going up hills, it didn't really care much. Lost 1 mpg due to the weight and yes, the V10 like to do 4K up hills. We are in the process of setting up the Ranger to be flat towed with the Harley in the bed. Ranger is a bit lighter than your Nissan though. Curb on ours is 3,200lbs they say. I will weigh everything after getting it outfitted though, so I know.

Onyrlef wrote:
Thanks guys, my expectations for the 3 valve V-10 are 7-8 mpg. As far as weighing I know what the Frontier weighs, what the kayaks weigh and will get pretty close on the misc. so I'll be in the ballpark of 5k anywsy. Just kinda Wanted to check around before I invest in the drive shaft disc., front plates and the blue ox progressive brake set up. That said, are you in tow haul on flat ground as well as in the mtns?

I think you missed my point. Sure it's good to know what the Frontier weighs, I am talking about weighing your motorhome. Your towing capacity is based on the loaded weight of the MOTORHOME minus it's GCWR. That is how much you can tow. It doesn't matter that they put a 5k hitch on it. What matters is that the chassis, brakes, tranny etc of the motorhome can safely tow that much car. Your motorhome has a gross combined weight rating. That means how much the motorhome was designed to carry and tow. When you load the motorhome for travel, (food, water, fuel, clothes, gear) and weigh it, subtract that from the GCWR. and THAT will tell you how much you can actually tow. My guess is, your car on that motorhome is too heavy, but the numbers don't lie. You just need to know the numbers.

I am not trying to be the weight police, but you might want to know this before you invest a bunch of money on bars, drive shaft disconnect, brakes etc only to find out the motorhome you are buying can only safely tow 2000 lbs. Just because it has a 5k hitch does not mean it can actually tow 5k. You'd be surprised the number of small Class A's that can't carry much more than their dry weight out of the factory, and then slap a 5k hitch on it.

dodge guy wrote:
I run in T/H whenever I start the MH. The MH is always loaded, so it’s always hauling.
Your expectation of 7-8 is a bit optimistic. Expect 6, 7 if you’re lucky! Knesset you drive 55 on every interstate out there.

Yeah, we're towing an Acadia, with some items loaded. Weighs close to 5K. On this trip so far we're getting 5.85 mpg with our V-10. On Saturday we had 20-30 mph winds with 40 mph gusts hitting us from about a 30 degree angle most of the way. It was pretty brutal driving, and I'm sure lowered the gas milage as well. All that said, the V-10 is a solid engine and will get you there. And tow haul is always on as well. As others have said, don't be afraid of 4,000 rpm.

Al

I run in T/H whenever I start the MH. The MH is always loaded, so it’s always hauling.
Your expectation of 7-8 is a bit optimistic. Expect 6, 7 if you’re lucky! Knesset you drive 55 on every interstate out there.

Thanks guys, my expectations for the 3 valve V-10 are 7-8 mpg. As far as weighing I know what the Frontier weighs, what the kayaks weigh and will get pretty close on the misc. so I'll be in the ballpark of 5k anywsy. Just kinda Wanted to check around before I invest in the drive shaft disc., front plates and the blue ox progressive brake set up. That said, are you in tow haul on flat ground as well as in the mtns?

I tow a 13 Explorer with a kayak on the roof as well as up to 4 bikes on the back. I’ve towed this out to CO up in the mountains with no issues. The Explorer is pushing 5k lbs loaded like that.
Don’t be afraid to let the V-10 rev, it needs the RPM to keep moving. 4000-4500 rpm is normal in second gear going up a mountain at 45-50mph! Loaded I’m right at 24k lbs. make sure you always have a tow Haul engaged.
I have since installed a tune from 5star. I haven’t been in the mountains with it, but it does make a difference.

How do you know you have the capacity to tow all 5klbs? I can't find GCWR for your MH. Have you weighed the rig loaded for travel and subtracted from the GCWR? You may find you don't have that much capacity. Your tow capacity is the LESSER of the weight of the MH loaded for travel minus your GCWR or the hitch rating. I assume this RV has a 5k hitch but that does not mean you can actually tow that much. You have to weigh it and do the math.

Don’t guess. If you can load the Frontier will all you expect to be loaded in or on it and get it weighed with full fuel. Do the same with the mh when you get it. Not sure how much it weighs but we tow a 2015 Jeep Wrangler 2dr hard top with a few hundred pounds of stuff with our 2016 V10 six speed Newmar. Works great. Yes it will churn out 4K plus rpm’s when going up steep inclines, but it makes it up every time, passing most trucks. The V10 also does a great job going down the same inclines but down shifting. (Also can be a bit noisy).

And just to set expectation’s in the six years we’ve owned the thing, the V10 chassis as been wonderful, but has never seen a mpg number of 8 or above. Most 7’s sometimes 6.

I run a 2000 Rexhall Aerbus with a V-10 for a while. I towed a Chevy Suburban from Atlanta, GA to Bozeman, MT and back without any issues. Over the yrs I also have owned gas RV's with the Ford 460 and some with the Chevy 454. The V-10 was superior in all ways.

If you have never had a motorhome with the Ford V10, you should know it likes RPMs ! And gas !!