Sometimes small systems are plenty
Friday my wife suddenly got the urge to camp. Immediately. All the TT has is the original Group 24 battery, 5w solar to maintain it and a 700w/1500w inverter I've never even run under significant l...
Forum Discussion
Mena,
As you know the Ford E450 chassis under many Class C rigs is a ton-and-a-half chassis ... more beef than a one-ton pickup.
My small Class C's E450 has a 5000 lb. tow capacity and the motorhome underloads the chassis by about 2200 lbs. (the DW likes to collect a lot of rocks on trips!). My E450 chassis can travel with a combined motorhome-trailer weight of 20,000 lbs.. I believe the new E450's under motorhomes are rated a bit higher and can handle 22,000 lbs. in combination between the motorhome itself and anything you might want to tow.
As a point of reference, my daughter hauls one and two horses around all the time with my GMC 1/2 ton 4X4 350ci gas pickup. However, I did install an after-market front differential manual engage/disengage mechanism so she can be in 4X4 low range but still in two-wheel drive. This allows her to get terrific torque in two-wheel drive for pulling the horse trailer up steep grades on hard surface grades (4X4 drive on hard surfaces will wrap-up and ruin my truck's non-front/rear-differentiated drive system).
1-ton trucks with diesel engines are not always needed for less than over-the-top hauling ... with one important exception: IMHO, in case of a rear tire blowout for the safety of the horse(s) one should always, if one can afford it, haul horses with a dually tow vehicle so you have another tire left on each side if a rear tire should fail. We so far cannot afford a dually pickup for her horses, so we're taking a chance with the horse(s). :(
As you know the Ford E450 chassis under many Class C rigs is a ton-and-a-half chassis ... more beef than a one-ton pickup.
My small Class C's E450 has a 5000 lb. tow capacity and the motorhome underloads the chassis by about 2200 lbs. (the DW likes to collect a lot of rocks on trips!). My E450 chassis can travel with a combined motorhome-trailer weight of 20,000 lbs.. I believe the new E450's under motorhomes are rated a bit higher and can handle 22,000 lbs. in combination between the motorhome itself and anything you might want to tow.
As a point of reference, my daughter hauls one and two horses around all the time with my GMC 1/2 ton 4X4 350ci gas pickup. However, I did install an after-market front differential manual engage/disengage mechanism so she can be in 4X4 low range but still in two-wheel drive. This allows her to get terrific torque in two-wheel drive for pulling the horse trailer up steep grades on hard surface grades (4X4 drive on hard surfaces will wrap-up and ruin my truck's non-front/rear-differentiated drive system).
1-ton trucks with diesel engines are not always needed for less than over-the-top hauling ... with one important exception: IMHO, in case of a rear tire blowout for the safety of the horse(s) one should always, if one can afford it, haul horses with a dually tow vehicle so you have another tire left on each side if a rear tire should fail. We so far cannot afford a dually pickup for her horses, so we're taking a chance with the horse(s). :(
