Towing overweight

[jeremywatco]

Good Morning,

First off let me clarify by stating i am not looking for anyone to tell me what to do or what not to do. I know this will be a touchy subject with risks but its an honest question.....

My 2014 Fleetwood Storm has a 5000# towing capacity.

I am looking at a toad that weighs 5330# (Durango). Let's say I take half the fuel out of it (90#) I'd be at 5240#.

OK so pretty much zero tongue weight, how much extra stress is 240# of pulling weight going to cause? Hitch is 5000# hitch.

Now I realize 5000# is 5000#.. however we aren't full timers and probably would tow a toad 1000miles a year.. MAYBE if that.

I just want to know if I am being foolish by even thinking it...

[gone2dadesert]

RoyB wrote:
My F150 did great towing my 8800lb fifth wheel trailer until I go into the hills of SW Virginia.

I have ZERO problems now with my large and heavy OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer with my F150 truck.

In case you didn't know, towing a TOAD with a towbar is different than towing a trailer or 5th wheel. The main difference is tongue weight, there is virtually no tongue weight towing a TOAD (flat towing).

[RoyB]

My F150 did great towing my 8800lb fifth wheel trailer until I go into the hills of SW Virginia.

Going up the hills was just find but coming on the other side was white knuckle all the way...

Another point for TT trailers if you are near maxed out or just over maxed out is when you get swamped by an oncoming major load tractor trailer pulling a load of cut down trees for GEORGIA PACIFIC wood company on a two lane highway in East Arkansas on US82. The "swamped out" affected the travel trailer big time and I almost lost control of that... Another white knuckle situation.

I probably just chickened out in towing procedures as I know this is something you almost have to grow up doing like riding a motorcycle. You already know what to expect I guess and it doesn't bother you maybe...

I have ZERO problems now with my large and heavy OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer with my F150 truck. Gets great gas mileage when I am towing because of NO WIND RESISTANCE and my F150 doesn't even know it is back there. Me happy camper now...

[Bionic_Man]

NMace wrote:
For those of you warning of legal problems from towing slightly above specs, can you furnish a citation of where and when it has ever happened with a non-commercial RV.

I have searched Lexus/Nexus, Google, LegalNet, etc. with no hits.

I really think the OP should be more concerned about alien abduction, plenty of reports of that.

I am not saying it couldn't happen, just it never has. He is more likely to win the lottery without buying a ticket.

X2

You are talking about around 5% of rated capacity. Personally, I wouldn't worry about that margin.

[gone2dadesert]

If the hitch is rated for 5K, you still need to consider your GCVW. If you are under your GCVW, you might consider upgrading the hitch to a class IV hitch to compensate for the weight difference. It's just a suggestion to your dilemma and not advice. :R

[NMace]

For those of you warning of legal problems from towing slightly above specs, can you furnish a citation of where and when it has ever happened with a non-commercial RV.

I have searched Lexus/Nexus, Google, LegalNet, etc. with no hits.

I really think the OP should be more concerned about alien abduction, plenty of reports of that.

I am not saying it couldn't happen, just it never has. He is more likely to win the lottery without buying a ticket.

[GlennLever]

I would not think that it is much of a problem in static weight, but more of a problem when braking or accelerating. If we eliminate the acceleration (how fast can you accelerate?) You have braking. The law of physics comes in play "an object in motion want to stay in motion and an object at rest wants to remain at rest" My own paraphrase.

If you are adding brakes then I think you have over come that.

Personally when I tow something the receiver excesses it's capacity, the hitch accessed that capacity and the chassis excesses that capacity.

So what I would definitely check into is the capacity of the frame of the motor home.

[Bumpyroad]

rr2254545 wrote:
Just remember that when you get in trouble with it your post above will be here to help hang you in court

not to mention the civil suit when the mini van full of nuns gets crushed by your RV/toad and their lawyer puts two and two together and gets $4,000,000,000.
bumpy

[wolfe10]

Might want to do a little more research.

You say you have 5,000 pound towing capacity.

Towing capacity is the LESSER of:

Hitch rating (likely the 5,000 pound figure)
GCWR less actual weight of coach when loaded
Chassis AND coach maker towing rating

In many cases, the hitch is NOT the limiting factor

[rr2254545]

Just remember that when you get in trouble with it your post above will be here to help hang you in court

[03_RoadKing]

Whether you tow it one time or a hundred times, there is always the chance you may have problems. Like others have said, weigh the Durango to see just what it weighs you might be surprised. What ever you end up doing you need brakes on the car. You might want to check the Max gross weight for your MH, just a thought.

Good luck.

[tropical36]

falconbrother wrote:
I see RV's towing vehicles that I know are technically overweight all the time. That don't make it right but, it will work. When I pull my toad I just drive really easy regardless of the amount of weight. It's more of a stopping issue than anything.

Supplemental toad braking should take care of the stopping and would almost swear that ours stops even better when towing.

[tropical36]

jeremywatco wrote:
Good Morning,

First off let me clarify by stating i am not looking for anyone to tell me what to do or what not to do. I know this will be a touchy subject with risks but its an honest question.....

My 2014 Fleetwood Storm has a 5000# towing capacity.

I am looking at a toad that weighs 5330# (Durango). Let's say I take half the fuel out of it (90#) I'd be at 5240#.

OK so pretty much zero tongue weight, how much extra stress is 240# of pulling weight going to cause? Hitch is 5000# hitch.

Now I realize 5000# is 5000#.. however we aren't full timers and probably would tow a toad 1000miles a year.. MAYBE if that.

I just want to know if I am being foolish by even thinking it...

I wouldn't be too concerned and you can always weld a gusset or two on the receiver or other parts of the frame for good measure. Every spec. should have a 10% tolerance at least or I would think so.
One has to wonder how this 5K is figured. Is it like free hanging vertically and as if your coach was being hung in mid-air with a huge crane with the toad connected as well?
How's your GCVW numbers add up with all this?
We're heavy with ours, even though under 5K with the toad and the only weak point is with the transmission, so we're careful of that when in mountain terrain.

[falconbrother]

I see RV's towing vehicles that I know are technically overweight all the time. That don't make it right but, it will work. When I pull my toad I just drive really easy regardless of the amount of weight. It's more of a stopping issue than anything.

[lanerd]

How do you know the Durango weighs 5330 lbs? Have you weighed it? If no, then I suggest that you do so first so you know exactly what you're up against.

As for being a couple of hundred pounds over, I would never recommend that you go ahead and pull it; however, I seriously doubt if it will cause a catastrophic failure in you hitch system the first few times. But over time, it will definitely cause undo ware and tare on the hitch and it's mounting point.

Another factor to take into count would be the extra strain on the engine and drive train of the mh.

It's your call, of course.

ron

[TucsonJim]

dieharder wrote:
Not an expert here, but I don't see it as a huge concern, since your overage is minimal.

However, be aware that, in the event of an accident or other issue, a good lawyer on their part could uncover this fact and try to use it against you. Whether they're successful or not with this is totally out of your control.

X2