8,000# hitch on new E-450 Chassis
It has recently come to my attention that all new Thor Motorhomes on the E-450 chassis built after 10/01/2014 come equipped standard with an 8,000 pound receiver hitch instead of the 5,000 pound hitch...
Forum Discussion
So I have an update for this thread.
Last week we found an RV for sale locally that fit all of our needs, but just to be sure I took my car on trailer to the seller, hooked it up and headed to the local scale.
The RV was basically completely empty, 1/4 tank of fuel and the black and fresh water tanks were half full. I later that day weighed the trailer by itself and it was 6100 pounds.
Hooked to the RV, there was about 750 pounds of tongue weight which put the rear axle weight at 9780 pounds. I wasn't really concerned about the 9600 pound axle rating but the tire load rating at 2470 each adds up to 9880 pounds. This is an issue as I was at 9780 with a basically empty coach.
We went ahead and bought the coach. I have several options on how correct the overloading of the rear coach tires which we will remedy once the time comes. It's a Coachmen Concord 300DS that came with a 7,500 pound hitch installed at the factory.
First option might be to upgrade to 235/85/16 tires which have 2778 load rating bumping the rear axle capacity to 11,112 pounds which would be more than enough. I have to measure carefully to see if they'd fit first.
Second option might be a load distribution hitch. I'm less excited about this for several reasons...but it still may be an option. I can also move the car back on the trailer just a bit and lighten the tongue weight 150 pounds or so and still have 10% on the hitch.
Third option might be a lighter trailer, this trailer weighs 2500 pounds by itself and a nice aluminum featherlight trailer would help lighten the load considerably.
We'll see how it goes eventually but I don't plan on towing the car to any events until next summer at the earliest so I have time to use the coach, get used to it and figure out a game plan. I will say this though, it pulled that trailer down the highway with less effort than my partner's 39' DP. I am totally impressed with the power this V10 has and how effortless the coach is to drive, both loaded and unloaded. We are VERY happy with our purchase so far.
Last week we found an RV for sale locally that fit all of our needs, but just to be sure I took my car on trailer to the seller, hooked it up and headed to the local scale.
The RV was basically completely empty, 1/4 tank of fuel and the black and fresh water tanks were half full. I later that day weighed the trailer by itself and it was 6100 pounds.
Hooked to the RV, there was about 750 pounds of tongue weight which put the rear axle weight at 9780 pounds. I wasn't really concerned about the 9600 pound axle rating but the tire load rating at 2470 each adds up to 9880 pounds. This is an issue as I was at 9780 with a basically empty coach.
We went ahead and bought the coach. I have several options on how correct the overloading of the rear coach tires which we will remedy once the time comes. It's a Coachmen Concord 300DS that came with a 7,500 pound hitch installed at the factory.
First option might be to upgrade to 235/85/16 tires which have 2778 load rating bumping the rear axle capacity to 11,112 pounds which would be more than enough. I have to measure carefully to see if they'd fit first.
Second option might be a load distribution hitch. I'm less excited about this for several reasons...but it still may be an option. I can also move the car back on the trailer just a bit and lighten the tongue weight 150 pounds or so and still have 10% on the hitch.
Third option might be a lighter trailer, this trailer weighs 2500 pounds by itself and a nice aluminum featherlight trailer would help lighten the load considerably.
We'll see how it goes eventually but I don't plan on towing the car to any events until next summer at the earliest so I have time to use the coach, get used to it and figure out a game plan. I will say this though, it pulled that trailer down the highway with less effort than my partner's 39' DP. I am totally impressed with the power this V10 has and how effortless the coach is to drive, both loaded and unloaded. We are VERY happy with our purchase so far.
