Loganhorse wrote:
JBarca wrote:
Loganhorse wrote:
I greatly apologize for that. I just searched picture hosting when I hosted those. I apologize.
So my main question is. I have a F350 and will be towing a 33 foot freedom express. 800 or so tongue dry. Can I use this??
You have the right truck for that camper. Good job!
But you have the wrong WD hitch. It is not rated large enough. If we know the year and model of the camper, I could get closer on the right sized hitch.
But this much we can say, 33 feet and 800# dry is a lot of camper. With a camper that long, you want a good WD hitch sized right with an integrated antisway system even with your F350. The 800# "dry" tongue weight means, the camper as a standard brochure empty camper, no LP gas in the tanks, no battery and no added options. The 800# can easily grow to 1,000# or more when you load the camper. The floor plan, (why we need the year, model etc) will drive if the tongue weight may gain 200, 300, 400# extra when you load the camper. Rear living room floor plans load heavy to the front as there is not a lot of weight in the back. A rear kitchen layout has a lot of weight in the back as that is where a lot of storage can be and the tongue weight changes are many time lighter gain then the rear living floor plans. And then there are where they add slides if you have them that change the loading.
Reese, a good hitch brand, makes what they call a HP Trunnion bar weight distributing (WD) hitch with the HP dual cam. They call it, a Straight-line hitch when they add on the dual cam kit. Part of what you showed in your pics was an very old version of it and it may not have had the cams with it. I could not see them in your pics. The current day version, they offer 600, 800, 1,200, 1,500 and 1,700# rated spring bars. All which fit the same hitch head. What is not known yet, will the 1,200# bars be enough or will you need the 1,500# bars for your loaded camper? Again need to know more about the camper and it's GVWR and the floor plan to better predict which size.
There are other good brands of WD hitches with integrated antisway controls also. Just do not be looking for ones with add on an add on friction antisway bar. You need one with "integrated" antisway. The camper is too long for the add in friction bar types.
Hope this helps.
John
It's a 2010 M-291 QBS Bunkhouse.
I did a quick search on the web, this is all I could find. I could not find this older model on the Coachmen web site. You will need to confirm the this is the one you have and that the GVWR they list is what your camper is.
https://www.crestviewrv.com/product/used-2010-coachmen-rv-freedom-express-291qbs-1168077-29http://northernmichiganrv.com/inventory/Freedom%20Express/291%20QBS/3907pThey list the dry weight and the cargo weight, adding those two together comes out to be 7,414# GVWR. That numbers seems odd for a GVWR, 7,500 seems more likely but, for the hitch sizing, either will do.
The on site lists a 756# as the dry hitch weight, not sure that is trustworthy, but the 800# you stated is close so we will use that.
With that floor plan, you can put a good deal of stuff in the large pass through cargo hole and under the bed in the front.
The slide appears over the axles and the kitchen, so that helps make that storage not add or subtract so much from the tongue weight.
The back of the camper has storage. This helps offset some of the larger storage up front.
On a camper this big, having good tongue weight percentage to the loaded GVW is critical to stable towing. While 10% TW of the GVW is the bottom limit, I look for 12 to 15% as better. One wrong gear move on a trip at 10% and you are under.
Since this is a bunkhouse, that normally means kids and they have stuff to bring too. Odds are very good you can put 1,000 to 1,200# of total cargo in the camper, "not" including hauling fresh water. Trust me, it is not hard to get that much stuff on a 33' camper. You may have 1,500# with your family. Camp chairs, LP gas, batteries., spare tires, pots/pans, food, cloths is all adds up.
Starting out empty, camper dry weight of 5,333 GVW with a 800# TW is 15% dry TW. This means the camper is made and balanced well empty.
Now you start adding things. Picking 1,200# of stuff added,
With a dry weight of 5,333 + 1,200 = 6,533 and you still have room to add more up to the GVWR limit.
The unknown is, how even across the camper will that 1,200# be loaded? You will not know until you load it and weight the camper. But doing enough of these camper loading and weighing per floor plan etc, I would "guesstimate" your loaded TW to be 1,000# to maybe 1,100# starting with 800# empty.
That added TW per added cargo weight is still in the 15% TW and a little more.
If you haul fresh water to camp, you need to check where the fresh tank is. Over the axles does not affect the TW, behind the axles subtracts and forward of the axles adds to the TW. When you are all done loading the camper, take it to the truck scales and weight it and get accurate loaded GVW and TW on the camper to confirm your setup
To size the WD hitch, I would pick a 1,200# TW rated WD hitch. The Reese HP trunnion with the HP dual cam would line up well.
Equal-I-zer brand by Progress Mfg also makes a 1,200# rated one and is a good hitch too with integrated antisway.
The cost between the two are competitive. The Reese is very good, it will take a little more time to setup and dial in, but worth it once set correct.
Hope this helps
John
2005 Ford F350 Super Duty, 4x4; 6.8L V10 with 4.10 RA, 21,000 GCWR, 11,000 GVWR, upgraded 2 1/2" Towbeast Receiver. Hitched with a 1,700# Reese HP WD, HP Dual Cam to a 2004 Sunline Solaris T310R travel trailer.
