Towing a vehicle with Winnebago

[stew47]

Well this isn't going to plan. I bought a master tow dolly with electric brakes. I planned on towing our Honda odyssey. I've since read that the towing capacity on my 35 ft adventurer is 3500 lbs. weight of odyssey is about 4500 plus 400 for dolly won't work. I have a Sebring that I can pull and its 3100 plus 400 pounds for dolly. So I'm at the limit with an empty trunk and no gas in the tank. Has anyone else pulled this rookie mistake? Will the 460 handle 3500 lbs ok? Any modifications or suggestions?

[stew47]

Lol I don't want this to go into a bash the engineer fest. If you had a hitch that was blessed by an engineer it would look better in court but an attorney could make quick work of that engineer as well.

Personally I would be content with a good fabricator telling me it will be fine.

Ok I only have a few engineer stories 🙂 before I was a full time fireman I was a maintenance mechanic. Our companies engineer would have things made up for the plant and we would be tasked with beating and fabbing into the finished product! I won't lump all engineers just because of that one guy though. Oh wait there's the engineers that design our fire trucks......

Lol anyways I just want a safe and trouble free experience. First it has to warm up enough to crawl under rv to see what's possible then get some opinions from local welder. I know a couple engineers as well. I'll see what they have to say. Thanks all.

[Hank85713]

That's for sure about 'engineers'. I have worked with some who have NEVER touched anything they were associated with and when they did they were at a total loss and relied on the mech/techs to tell them what they were looking at. They can do a lot on paper but not so much on real things. Had 1 work for over 2 years on a valve angle/pushrod problem that really didn't exist, and his solution caused more issues than had been before. Actual problem was preignition causing rods to go out the side of the engine! So much for engineers and knowledge!

[mowermech]

Considering some of the engineers (electrical, mechanical, and civil) I have known and worked with, I disagree.
Sometimes practical experience is much better than book learning!
An engineer that I know agreed with the well qualified metalworker.
Of course, he is a Navy educated Nuclear Engineer.
But, he IS an engineer!

[rr2254545]

mowermech wrote:
I wanted to tow a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited with a Tioga 29 ft. Class C.
I encountered the same problem the OP is having, a 3500 lb. hitch.
I took it to a highly qualified metal worker/welder and had the hitch reinforced and the frame extensions inspected.
He said "You are good to go!"
So we went.
We made several trips across the Continental Divide with that rig. Nothing bent; nothing broke; there were no accidents, incidents, or occurrences; no injuries; and no fatalities.
the Ford 460 in that Tioga did the job quite well.

Maybe it would have been better if an engineer said you were good to go
yikes

[mowermech]

I wanted to tow a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited with a Tioga 29 ft. Class C.
I encountered the same problem the OP is having, a 3500 lb. hitch.
I took it to a highly qualified metal worker/welder and had the hitch reinforced and the frame extensions inspected.
He said "You are good to go!"
So we went.
We made several trips across the Continental Divide with that rig. Nothing bent; nothing broke; there were no accidents, incidents, or occurrences; no injuries; and no fatalities.
the Ford 460 in that Tioga did the job quite well.

[Grandpere]

stew47 wrote:

Grandpere wrote:
The 460 will pull almost anything you want, the problem is the class 2 hitch. I took my MH in and had class 5 put on it, there is only 2 feet of frame addition to our P30 with a 454 so that is not a problem. We will be pulling an F150 Supercrew, that is as soon as we get it bought and all the towing paraphernalia attached. Currently we pull our Kia Sedona on a Master tow dolly and that 454 barley knows its back there. I am sure others will pipe in about how crazy we are, but to each their own. This setup is working well for us.

Thanks. A Sedona should be equivalent in weight. I'll look at the hitch and check all the weights. I suppose I'm not worried about the 460 it really seems to pull. The master tow has brakes so I'm ok with that....just don't want frame issues really.

See how much overhang you have from the original frame to the end of the frame where the current hitch installs. If it is only 2-3 feet, putting on a class 5 hitch will not cause you any problems. If you are longer than that you will need expert advice as to the stress a basic no-weight-all-tow will have. I did not need the carrying capacity of a class 5 since all the weight is on the tow dolly for now, I just went big to make sure I had more than marginal towing ability. I could have gotten by with a class 4 but for the little price difference I thought, Why not! My old class 3 could pull 5000 pounds, but the F150 I want weights in at 4950 pounds (curb weight), very little margin for extras. And who knows what ford, chevy, or ram consider to be curb weight. Guidelines are just what you make of them, could be some jerk with a calculator or it could be an actual weight.

[stew47]

Grandpere wrote:
The 460 will pull almost anything you want, the problem is the class 2 hitch. I took my MH in and had class 5 put on it, there is only 2 feet of frame addition to our P30 with a 454 so that is not a problem. We will be pulling an F150 Supercrew, that is as soon as we get it bought and all the towing paraphernalia attached. Currently we pull our Kia Sedona on a Master tow dolly and that 454 barley knows its back there. I am sure others will pipe in about how crazy we are, but to each their own. This setup is working well for us.

Thanks. A Sedona should be equivalent in weight. I'll look at the hitch and check all the weights. I suppose I'm not worried about the 460 it really seems to pull. The master tow has brakes so I'm ok with that....just don't want frame issues really.

[stew47]

BarneyS wrote:
Moved to Dinghy Towing forum from Towing.

Oops. Thank you 🙂

[BarneyS]

Moved to Dinghy Towing forum from Towing.

[Grandpere]

The 460 will pull almost anything you want, the problem is the class 2 hitch. I took my MH in and had class 5 put on it, there is only 2 feet of frame addition to our P30 with a 454 so that is not a problem. We will be pulling an F150 Supercrew, that is as soon as we get it bought and all the towing paraphernalia attached. Currently we pull our Kia Sedona on a Master tow dolly and that 454 barley knows its back there. I am sure others will pipe in about how crazy we are, but to each their own. This setup is working well for us.