Class A vs 5th wheel. Full time with kids and LOTS of bikes

eundercoffler wrote:
My 2008 Weekend Warrior FSC2800 is 34 feet to the end of the tongue. I have measured the tongue weight at approx 1,100 lbs. Thats with gear (pots, pans, food, clothes) but no water or toys. I don't know what the max tongue weight is on your truck but if the payload is 1,700 the hitch weight is probably in the ballpark.
Eric

1,100lb on the hitch, plus ~ 400-500lb's in the bed would be close, but doable I guess.

IIRC the only difference between the 03' Ram 3/4 ton and 1 ton diesels are the leaf springs. Would be an easy upgrade and the cummins has plenty of power to pull that load.

...but the one big down side is no easy way to scout out camp sites. Guess I could unload the wife's 105 and she could use that, but that's less than ideal.

We would also be stuck driving around a big truck for those times we are in the city.

LowRyter wrote:
You might consider a toy hauler that doesn't have a partition for the garage. Given that, you might be able to get 3 motorcycles and two bikes packed. I am not sure you can add two more smaller dirt bikes.

I think I could put 2 dirt bikes and a street bike in mine. The downside is having to unpack much of it get ample room in trailer. What I do is stay at a motel when I am doing overnights and long days.

Staying in a hotel is a good idea for short stays, definitely something to consider if we end up going the TT route.

OK.... I think I've found a solution that will keep everyone happy / least compromise.

2016 Thor Motor Coach Outlaw 37RB. It has a bedroom with a queen for us and a loft for the kids. Permanently setup beds for everyone (without using the garage) is high on the list for the wife.

We can put the street bike (~400lbs) and my KTM (~240lbs) in the garage, along with the mountain bikes (~110lbs). If the adult mountain bikes don't fit we can put them on the toads hitch (with a extender since the tail gate will be down).

For the toad we'll get a F-150 crew cab with 6ft bed (maybe an ecoboost) at ~4,600lbs. In the bed we can fit the wife's KTM 105xc (~160lbs) and the two kids dirt bikes (~100lb each). So total toad weight will be under 5,000lb's. These should be pretty easy to load since they are light.

The Thor is rated to tow 8,000lb's so we should be good there. But obviously the down side is it's going to be a very slow coach (especially at altitude). We always have the option of unhitching the toad and the wife driving it up the passes. I really wish they put the 6.7 diesel in these vs the v10 gaser.

I know the Thor's are not the greatest quality, but Newmar doesn't make a floor plan that works for us.

Unhitching the toad when we exit the highway and having the wife scout out potential camp sites would be a huge plus. Unloading and loading all the bikes should be pretty straight forward.

And if we get the bus stuck, we have a 4x4 truck to help us get out.

The v10 is slow, but at least it's easy to access and cheap(ish) to maintain.

My 2008 Weekend Warrior FSC2800 is 34 feet to the end of the tongue. I have measured the tongue weight at approx 1,100 lbs. Thats with gear (pots, pans, food, clothes) but no water or toys. I don't know what the max tongue weight is on your truck but if the payload is 1,700 the hitch weight is probably in the ballpark.
Eric

You might consider a toy hauler that doesn't have a partition for the garage. Given that, you might be able to get 3 motorcycles and two bikes packed. I am not sure you can add two more smaller dirt bikes.

I think I could put 2 dirt bikes and a street bike in mine. The downside is having to unpack much of it get ample room in trailer. What I do is stay at a motel when I am doing overnights and long days.

Thanks for the responses guys. Lots to consider!

My current 3/4 ton Dodge is an 03' with only 1,700 pounds of payload. I don't think it will handle a 30ft TT toy hauler.

The 15' gas powered newmar can haul 7,500lb on the hitch, but the older ones are only 5,000lbs. Looks like a 1/2 ton pick up is going to be over 5,000lb unloaded. Not to mention we live in the rockies at 10,000ft, so we'd be doing 10mph up the passes :(

I can't find the towing capacity of the older diesel newmars, but they are getting a little old too.

No obvious solution so far... except a 30ft bumper pull and a (too big) new truck.

I drive my 19ft truck around denver no problem (6sp manual tranny) I can even parallel park it in some pretty tight spots... but parking is a PITA and it's too big to take into a parking garage. Besides the wife won't be able to drive it or park it.

Anyone ever slap a turbo on the v10's in the newmars? Guess we could always unhitch the toad for the passes...

Another vote for truck and TT Toy Hauler. Something to consider is accessibility. A lot of the BLM areas in my neck of the woods (Northern CA) have windy, 1-lane mountain road access. I have pulled a 30 footer into Stony Ford which is in the Mendocino National Forest but I think you would be hard pressed to get anything much larger than that in there. That gives you the flexibility to use the bed of the truck and/or the cargo area of the Toy Hauler for bikes/bicycles. Drop the trailer and you are free to drive around the city in your truck.

Personally I wouldn't worry about having a small car to drive around the cities. I have driven my Ford F-350, craw cab, long bed, 4x4 around San Francisco and while inconvenient at times, it is managable.

Eric

You might look at the Newmar 3921/3922 gasser class A TH, or Thor has 3 models of TH. 2 class A models and a class C model. One of them might do the job and allow you to tow the truck.

Dave

You might want to consider a travel trailer toy hauler.

This way you can keep the current 3/4 ton truck, and stay within the weight limits. You will also be able to use the pickup to carry the bikes while out sightseeing too. No steep ramp to load the motorcycles into the pickup bed either.

Once at camp for a long term, you can unload everything and have plenty of room so the kids have their space, and the parents theirs as well.

If you want to open the back and hide the bikes inside, it should be a quick move of the bikes inside.

Most toy haulers come with the optional generator, or at least a place to put one! Some have a 18 - 36 gallon gasoline tank to run the generator and fuel the toys! Many toy haulers can carry 100 gallons of water too, and can last 2 weeks with daily showers (with practice) or you can carry some extra 7.5 gallon tanks along too!

Good luck,

Fred.

If we go the bus route, it will have to be a toy hauler. There are no new diesel's, but I believe Newmar made a diesel TH coach.

Money is always a factor, but depreciation, maintenance, quality and practicality are also high on the list.

I guess I will need to put a few options together a different price points and see.

Buying a ~30ft bumper pull toy hauler and using our existing truck would be the cheapest option. We could hire a small car when we do the cities.

But a TH coach and pickup would be a lot simpler and nicer. But is that worth the extra $100K?

The budget is there, but we don't like to spend money unless it's justified.

BTW your setup sound very nice!!!