8,000# hitch on new E-450 Chassis

[LSVLance]

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 previously used.

Has anyone visually looked at a chassis with this new hitch on it to see if there are any other changes made to the chassis besides just bolting the new larger hitch on? And what is a 8,000# hitch anyway? I've always thought that a Class II is a 5,000# total\500# tongue hitch and a Class III is a 10,000# total\1,000# tongue weight hitch.

A little background on us, we have recently started looking for our first RV to use on long weekends, few driving vacations a year and as a tow vehicle\portable home to use to take my car to a race track a few times a year. Being able to tow an open trailer with a 3500 pound car on it is important (total weight around 5500-6000#) as well as being able to easily dry camp for 2-3 days at a time. We've gone all across the board, started looking at small class As, considered the F-550 Super Cs for a bit, leaned toward the B+s and now since this latest hitch revelation has surfaced are now looking at Class Cs again as well as small Class As.

It's just the two of us, no kids, 2 small dogs, brand new RVers, walk around bed is important, opposing dinette and couch floor plan preferable, driver and passenger seat swivels help increase living space, being rated to tow 6,000-7,000 pounds comfortably is important, fitting under an 11"11" door to my building would also be a plus.

We have found many RVs that fit all of the above requirements but have that 5,000# hitch on the E-450 Chassis even though the GCVW has room to tow 7,500 pounds. Being able to adapt an 8,000# hitch on any of the other E-450 chassis would really open up our possibilities. Or if more of the other manufacturers also start putting the 8,000# hitches on their E-450 chassis soon that would also work (ie Coachmen Concord).

Interested in any and all comments that may help steer us down the proper path here. I'm not looking to step way over any lines here but at the same time am not afraid to modify things just a bit to fit my needs if applicable.

[LSVLance]

So fast forward to this spring...

I put 70 pounds of air in my Firestone RideRite air bags, swapped to a 8" drop from 4" drop draw bar and moved the car back 4" on the trailer. Net result was 180# from the rear axle to the front axle leaving me a 280# cushion on the rear tire capacity. I think I'll try to forgo the weight distribution hitch on the trailer for now. In order to do the Anderson Hitch setup, I'd have to go with the 8" drop style and I'm afraid it'll hang down too low and catch on things. Anderson said I could cut off the portion I don't need but I think I'll be alright without one.

It tows great, drove about 25 miles at highway speeds into a 25 MPH head\cross wind and it handled things very well.

[LSVLance]

My car trailer has a bulldog style coupler...like this one.



Should be okay right?

[carringb]

LSVLance wrote:
That Anderson hitch looks pretty interesting, looks like you have to make sure you back up to the trailer at the same angle you did when you dropped it off though or it becomes a pain in the butt to straighten the triangle plate.

There's a couple workarounds: use a mallet to smack the bottom of the hitch to loosen the grip of the friction cone, so you can spin it by hand. Or... Hook up the loose chain first, pull forward to snug up the loose chain, then hook up the other side.

Note: there's another problem that may actually a bigger concern... It loads the pawl in the coupler, and some coupler designs don't like this. Anderson has a list of incompatible couplers.

[LSVLance]

That Anderson hitch looks pretty interesting, looks like you have to make sure you back up to the trailer at the same angle you did when you dropped it off though or it becomes a pain in the butt to straighten the triangle plate.

[carringb]

Weight distribution will put less bending stress on the frame extensions, and apply more shear load, which the frame is much stronger than under than simple bending. WD had few downsides, as long as it's not over tightened. You are so close to not needing it, you may be a good candidate for the Anderson hitch. It rides the best, is silent, and hooks up easily (and takes way less space in storage). It just doesn't distribute as much weight as other hitches, but for you I think that's OK.

[LSVLance]

My only concern with using a WD hitch is the RV frame has been extended twice. This hitch says nothing one way or the other about using a WD device with it like some others do. It's not like I'll be moving 1,000 pounds to the steer tires with it though, it won't need to transfer much weight to balance everything out.

I may try one just to see. I've never used one before personally but I still remember the day we lifted my brother's truck's rear tires off the ground with his TT weight distribution hitch. Hopefully the newer ones are easier to setup and use properly...

The front axle of the coach had 3420 pounds on it when weighed and is rated at 5,000 pounds.

I should also add that this coach has the Firestone air bags on it and at that time they had no air in them. When I put 70 psi in them yesterday, it raised the rear ride height about 2" I'm guessing. I also had the wrong receiver hitch for the trailer ride height that had the tongue up in the air higher than it should be. All of those things are adjustable and I'm sure can move the weight around even more to fine tune.

[rjstractor]

If I were in your shoes, I'd bite the bullet and use a WD hitch. I was in a similar situation at work with an F550 and a 7K enclosed trailer. You'd think that it wouldn't be an issue with that big truck and little trailer, but the F550 was heavily loaded to begin with, and the WD hitch was necessary to get the rear axle under its 13K max.

[LSVLance]

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.

[RacerX10]

carringb wrote:

RacerX10 wrote:


Also, it looks like on all the E-350 hitches, the front most bolt holes are canted downward slightly, I assume to fit an angle on the factory frames. My extensions are completely flat so it looks like that front hole won't lie flat on the frame extension.

Frames are the same width. Major difference is the step in the van frame to accommodate the bumper brackets.

It looks like this DrawTite receiver is the best fit (also, its what I've installed previously. Just leave out some of the plate washers). It has a flat mounting flange, so its easy to fit to a cutaway frame
http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitch/Ford/Van/2014/41906.html?vehicleid=20141209

Looks perfect, thanks !

[carringb]

RacerX10 wrote:


Also, it looks like on all the E-350 hitches, the front most bolt holes are canted downward slightly, I assume to fit an angle on the factory frames. My extensions are completely flat so it looks like that front hole won't lie flat on the frame extension.

Frames are the same width. Major difference is the step in the van frame to accommodate the bumper brackets.

It looks like this DrawTite receiver is the best fit (also, its what I've installed previously. Just leave out some of the plate washers). It has a flat mounting flange, so its easy to fit to a cutaway frame
http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitch/Ford/Van/2014/41906.html?vehicleid=20141209

[RacerX10]

Thanks for the info guys .. I'll see if I can round up a good deal on an E-350 hitch @ 10,000#. The extension parts of the rails on my Fleetwood 25k are only 28 inches long from where the factory rails end to where the receiver hitch spans the frame. I'll go ahead and weld in some "V" bracing joining those short extensions back to the factory frame and call it good.

So I guess the E-350 and E-450 have the same frame width ? Mine is a E-450.

Also, it looks like on all the E-350 hitches, the front most bolt holes are canted downward slightly, I assume to fit an angle on the factory frames. My extensions are completely flat so it looks like that front hole won't lie flat on the frame extension.

[LSVLance]

My business partner ended up buying a 39' Monaco Knight DP in May which we have been able to use a few times...including a trip to Kentucky pulling my car trailer. Over this time we've watched a lot of rigs on the road and what they are pulling and are forming in our minds which way we want to go.

In my opinion, I think chassis capacity and maybe more importantly front and rear axle weight of the chassis before the trailer is hitched up is more important to this equation than the actual weight rating of the hitch.

We've pretty much decided that if we go with a C or B+ it'll be one a bit smaller in nature, mainly in the rear overhang area behind the rear tires vs the biggest C one can put on a E450 chassis. Driving a DP in many different situations that doesn't even know a 5500# trailer is behind it confirmed that I'd rather have more chassis than I need at my disposal than one that is at it's max rear axle weight before it's even loaded.

We looked real close at a 2015 Forrester 2800QS that is something I would have no trouble hitching my car trailer to and taking off. There are some other custom made B+s that fit the bill as well for us. I would imagine that RacerX10's Fleetwood Jamboree Searcher 25k is in that same ballpark, extra capacity available and putting a hitch on it to haul his trailer won't be an issue. Just need to find one to bolt up to the extensions or have one custom made.

[carringb]

The E350 van receiver fit fine on the cutaways. Just need to place the plate washers in a slightly different order. Of course, you'll also need to verify the extension can handle it.

[RacerX10]

Reviving a slightly older thread, but did OP ever find a hitch for his rig ?

I have a 2013 Fleetwood Jamboree Searcher 25k .. E-450 chassis, 26' overall length.

It's got a 5,000# hitch on it, and I'd like to get a 10,000# hitch for it. Not sure what part to order that will fit / bolt on. Need one that's ok for a weight distributing setup.

The REESE brand hitch that's on it seems to have a part number of R37-0114 but I'm not able to find that anywhere to see what it is.

Anybody have thoughts or ideas on upgrading this to a 10,000# hitch ?

Thanks !