Forum Discussion

Hydrowilly's avatar
Hydrowilly
Explorer
Oct 28, 2019

Minnie Winnie towing capacity...Confused.

Our first motor home plus first time towing a car on a dolly. Trying to determine if I’m set up to tow safely.My GVWR is 14,050. My GCWR is 20,000. At the scales my motorhomes total weight was 13080. I have a Honda Fit weighing 2500 lbs. A Mastertow dolly weighing 450 lbs. My rear axle GAWR is 14,050 and the weight on the rear axel is 8660. The factory installed hitch has a 3500 lbs capacity. and the Max Vertical Hitch Load is 350 lbs. The hitch seems good on the weight but the Max Vertical Hitch Load befuddles me. How is that calculated? I bought the motor home through a private sale, a used 2003 with only 21000 miles. Thank you for any help you can give me.
Class C
  • overdrive75's avatar
    overdrive75
    Explorer
    Oct 29, 2019
    What everyone here is saying. We have a 2003 Minnie 29B. We flat tow, so no tongue weight a 2003 Explorer 4x4. We have not had any problems with this setup. Explorer with bikes on the back and gear in it weights right near 5,000 lbs. Yes I have scaled it.

  • Beverley_Ken's avatar
    Beverley_Ken
    Explorer
    Oct 29, 2019
    You are good to go, very similar to our weights. The vertical tongue hitch weight with the dolly is minimal 50-60 lbs after the car is load, nearly all the car weight is in line with the dolly tires axel. I have seen people unhitch the dolly with car on and it was a one handed lift for the dolly tongue.

    I would guess that your Winnie would be in the vicinity of 29-30 ft, Our 29b weights in at 13050 lbs. and our CRV weighs about 3500lbs now with a tow bar.

    Ken
    Edit added. Winnebago put a 5000lb hitch on ours but added a sticker to derate the vertical hitch weight to 350lbs because of the frame extensions.
    Ken
  • Hydrowilly's avatar
    Hydrowilly
    Explorer
    Oct 28, 2019
    DrewE wrote:
    With a tow dolly, the tongue weight (which, as DaButcher observes, is the "Max Vertical Hitch Load") is quite low. It sounds like you'll be good to go.

    Incidentally, I believe you have a typo in your rear axle GAWR in the post; it looks suspiciously like the GVWR. I think it's actually 9600 pounds; but that doesn't change anything for being able to tow your Fit with this setup and equipment.
    . You are correct DrewE. The GAWR is only 9450. I grabbed the wrong one when I was typing. Thanks for your help. That took a load off my mind that I’m good to go on towing my car.
  • DrewE's avatar
    DrewE
    Explorer II
    Oct 28, 2019
    With a tow dolly, the tongue weight (which, as DaButcher observes, is the "Max Vertical Hitch Load") is quite low. It sounds like you'll be good to go.

    Incidentally, I believe you have a typo in your rear axle GAWR in the post; it looks suspiciously like the GVWR. I think it's actually 9600 pounds; but that doesn't change anything for being able to tow your Fit with this setup and equipment.
  • DaButcher's avatar
    DaButcher
    Explorer
    Oct 28, 2019
    From etrailer.com

    The vertical load limit is the amount of weight pushing down on the ball. On a regular hitch it's called tongue weight.

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