Towing with Class A diesel pusher
So I recently aquired a 1999 - 40' Holiday Rambler and Im currently using to tow my 32' race car trailer (10-11k lbs) to the track. Does great and I may be expecting to much out of the 78' ride but i...
Forum Discussion
Hey Slojoe72,
I have almost the same setup as you and have put tons and tons of miles on.
My rig:
2002 Itasca Horizon 39QD - with a 330HP CAT
2007 Featherlite 28' trailer with V-nose (33' tongue to taillight)
AirSafe Hitch with weight distribution bars (a must!!)
I have the Class V AirSafe hitch - http://www.airsafehitches.com/receiver-hitch
The weight distribution bars do work with the hitch and the combination make a WORLD of difference in how the rig handles. My wife loves driving it - as it's so much smoother with this setup when it's all properly set up.
I also bought a tongue weight scale. This way I load the trailer so I get about 12-13% tongue weight. I've had my rig on the scales, so I know how much it weights with just the RV on both the front and rear axle, and what the trailer does to it. I used this to figure out how many chain links I needed to strap up the WHD bars. Each link made about 200lbs difference from the front to rear tires, and if you have too much tongue weight - you will lift too much weight off the front tires of the RV.
My rig is about 27,000lbs and the trailer is about 9800lbs. (trailer, GTO, golf cart and other junk)
This is the tongue weight scale I have - http://www.sherline.com/lm.htm
Here is some more reading: http://www.sherline.com/lmbook.htm
So think of it this way. If you were put 1000 lbs on the trailer hitch, how many LBS end up on the rear axle? What happens to the front axle?
Yes your air suspension keeps the rear of the coach from sagging, but the real deal is you are putting *about* 1500lbs on the rear axle and taking off about 500lbs from the front axle with the 1000lbs on the trailer tongue. It has to do with how long of a "lever" your hitch is and the rear axle is the pivot point. Remember the teeter totter? yea - I've seen trailers almost totally lift the front axle of a vehicle up, and your handling is severely affected.
by having the weight distributing hitch properly set up - it restores some of the balance to the overall rig. I won't drive without them anymore.
I used to have a 24' trailer just hooked straight up to the RV and it really bounced around a lot and porpoised and was generally unpleasant to drive. Now it's a dream to drive with the airbag suspension between the RV and trailer along with the weight distribution bars.
So one other thing - I had a mega custom hitch built for my RV. The stock hitch was only rated for 500lbs of tongue weight and 10,000lbs trailer. The new hitch uses a really beefy "C" channel steel that goes up about 6' on the frame (towards the rear axle) and the receiver part also extends really far up, as the leverage of the weight distribution bars puts a lot of torque on the hitch assembly. If you'd like to see it sometime - I can take and post photos.
I've had this setup for many years and put probably 40,000 miles on...
I have almost the same setup as you and have put tons and tons of miles on.
My rig:
2002 Itasca Horizon 39QD - with a 330HP CAT
2007 Featherlite 28' trailer with V-nose (33' tongue to taillight)
AirSafe Hitch with weight distribution bars (a must!!)
I have the Class V AirSafe hitch - http://www.airsafehitches.com/receiver-hitch
The weight distribution bars do work with the hitch and the combination make a WORLD of difference in how the rig handles. My wife loves driving it - as it's so much smoother with this setup when it's all properly set up.
I also bought a tongue weight scale. This way I load the trailer so I get about 12-13% tongue weight. I've had my rig on the scales, so I know how much it weights with just the RV on both the front and rear axle, and what the trailer does to it. I used this to figure out how many chain links I needed to strap up the WHD bars. Each link made about 200lbs difference from the front to rear tires, and if you have too much tongue weight - you will lift too much weight off the front tires of the RV.
My rig is about 27,000lbs and the trailer is about 9800lbs. (trailer, GTO, golf cart and other junk)
This is the tongue weight scale I have - http://www.sherline.com/lm.htm
Here is some more reading: http://www.sherline.com/lmbook.htm
So think of it this way. If you were put 1000 lbs on the trailer hitch, how many LBS end up on the rear axle? What happens to the front axle?
Yes your air suspension keeps the rear of the coach from sagging, but the real deal is you are putting *about* 1500lbs on the rear axle and taking off about 500lbs from the front axle with the 1000lbs on the trailer tongue. It has to do with how long of a "lever" your hitch is and the rear axle is the pivot point. Remember the teeter totter? yea - I've seen trailers almost totally lift the front axle of a vehicle up, and your handling is severely affected.
by having the weight distributing hitch properly set up - it restores some of the balance to the overall rig. I won't drive without them anymore.
I used to have a 24' trailer just hooked straight up to the RV and it really bounced around a lot and porpoised and was generally unpleasant to drive. Now it's a dream to drive with the airbag suspension between the RV and trailer along with the weight distribution bars.
So one other thing - I had a mega custom hitch built for my RV. The stock hitch was only rated for 500lbs of tongue weight and 10,000lbs trailer. The new hitch uses a really beefy "C" channel steel that goes up about 6' on the frame (towards the rear axle) and the receiver part also extends really far up, as the leverage of the weight distribution bars puts a lot of torque on the hitch assembly. If you'd like to see it sometime - I can take and post photos.
I've had this setup for many years and put probably 40,000 miles on...
