Flyliner
Explorer
Joined 11 years ago
User Profile
User Widgets
All Activity
Re: Cabover and Towing questions
Paul V wrote: I tow my Davis all over the place. It is about 8000LB with fuel and gear. I have super springs and air bags. I use a Tork lift Super truss hitch for the last 8 years with zero problems. I have tandem disk brakes on the trailer. I do not have the over ride system. I travel slow and easy when hooked up and leave a lot of stopping space in front. Even though it stops amazingly well. The Outfitter might be a little lighter than some hard sides, but not by much with all of the stuff I have loaded in there. Hey Paul, that's a real similar combo that I will be running. Looks like i'll be in the same ballpark of mods that you already did. Did you ever feel the need to go to a 19.5" wheel or did you just beef up the tires? Also, that looks like Pillar Point right?470Views0likes0CommentsRe: Cabover and Towing questions
Golden_HVAC wrote: I would keep the hubcaps, and change out what is between them. First take the truck to a scale. And then hitch up the boat and go back. Check the front and rear axle weights. If the rear axle only goes up by say 300 pounds (most boats do not have that much hitch weight) then forget about the WD bars, as they really don't help much on a heavy duty truck and a really light boat hitch weight. Even if the rear axle goes up by say 500 pounds, you really don't have that much weight for a 3/4 ton truck. Now you will get down to what the truck can carry with the trailer hooked up. Say the empty curb weight is 7,700 pounds and with the trailer attached it is around 8,200. Your GVWR might be 9,000 pounds, or might be 8,600. Leaving an additional 700 - 900 or perhaps 1,200 pounds left to carry a camper. Thus the need to change everything between the hub caps. A dually Dodge of the same year with the CTD should not be that much more expensive than trading in your current truck. Normally they will have about 400 - 500 pounds more curb weight with the ability to carry about 3,000 more pounds of cargo! So go see the scales, and forget about a "Comfortable" cabover in a diesel 2500 series truck. They do not make them that light. You might find a comfortable 2,000 pound cabover, but it probably will not have a refrigerator, air conditioner, or other heavy options. And probably will have a limited 15 - 18 gallon fresh water tank. A camper with a 8' long lower section might have a 3,400 pound "Dry Weight" with only one slide out! I had a 1972 Coachman camper back in 1992. Sold it in 95. It had a forward bath, and dinette on the passenger side. The drivers side was a 3' wide closet (same as the bathroom space) and closet door opened to close off the hallway from the rest of the camper. It was a HUGE bathroom, like nothing I have ever seen since that time. So drivers side was 3' closet, 2.5' refrigerator, stove, counter and sink by the back door. Above the dinette was a "Cabinet Bunk" that was either a cabinet or faceframe folds down into a bunk bed - so it will sleep 6 including the cabover section. It was 9' long at the floor length. I had a sliding rear bumper. Basically brackets that bolted onto the frame on each side with a 2" receiver hitch on them. Then 4' long 2" steel and that was bolted to the bumper. I used a 12" long receiver and 12" long hitch extension. I only towed a dune buggy on a small and very light trailer, so overall it was only about 1,500 - 2,000 pounds, and less than 100' hitch weight (I could pick it up and move it). Check your boat. If you can lift it (don't strain yourself) no need to check the weight. But don't lift so much that you take on more than say 75 - 100 pounds. You might be surprised and find out that the trailer axles are under the center of the weight, and the trailer hitch is pretty light. But if it is a huge cabin cruiser, it might not be under 500 pounds! I have not seen it, so have no idea how big it really is. If you are really determined to use the 2500 truck to carry the camper and tow the trailer, and your weight is OK, you might want to carry heavy things like generator and ice chest in the boat, so that you put as much weight as possible in the trailer, not in the truck. If you did not already get the brakes for the trailer, you might want to check the prices here. ETrailer.com Good luck! Fred. Thanks for the reply Fred. I'm gonna have to try and make it work. Putting the things like the generator, tables, chairs, ice chest, etc into the boat is a great idea. I am a little frustrated with trying to make this work. I have a 27' coachmen catalina travel trailer which has been great but I have never been able to tow my boat when we go camping. So right now i've go the TT for sale and starting to slowly scour the local craigslist for cabovers for sale. Looks like my first order of business is to check weights of the current setup w/o the cabover, and then i'd be able to determine a better ballpark weight for a cabover i'd need.470Views0likes0CommentsRe: Cabover and Towing questions
Buzzcut1 wrote: Flyliner wrote: Buzzcut1, do you have any links that would educate me towards the benefits of running 19.5" wheels? I've been towing my boats for the last 15 years, I just never towed with a cabover, so the requirements/recommendations are all new to me. load range E tires max out at 3750 pounds of load. to carry any thing over 7500 on the rear axle with a srw you need 19.5 s and G rated tires whick will get you 4500 per wheel and 9000 total for a safety margin Ok, so I have to ask here because I want to try to stay logical and no overdo anything if not needed. But in stock form, unloaded, how much weight do you think rides over the rear axle? Excluding the axle, you have the leaf springs, the fuel tank, the obvious long bed, spare and the back half of the frame. After doing some research i'm looking at 150lb wheel/tire combo and a hefty $2500-3000 upgrade. So I would have to seriously look at weights of the cabover. Even though I don't want to compromise safety, I don't want to go overboard with ridiculous $$$$$ upgrades. Honestly, I was thinking of airbags, the strongest load range E tires, the superhitch along with a super truss extension along with the good mounts. And, no, I will not be hauling the camper enough to warrant upgrading to a dually. No offense here guys and I respect everyone's replies but I have to piece this thing together logically. It's real easy to spend other people's money on internet forums. Unless someone here tells me i'm going to roll my vehicle or suffer a major blowout, i'm not spending $7000-10k to upgrade. If that were the case, I'd get a used class c diesel motorhome and call it done.470Views0likes0CommentsCabover and Towing questions
Howdy, i'm in the market for a cabover camper but before I get in over my head or too excited, I wanted to post my concerns. I've got a '05 Dodge 2500 Longbed with a cummins diesel and automatic trans. I've also got a 25' Parker fishing boat that weighs between 7000-9000k depending on what I put on it. That's including the trailer weight. I'm in the process of changing from hydraulic drums to Electric over hydraulic disc brakes. Meaning, I plan on removing the hydraulic actuator/coupler and putting a fixed coupler on the trailer. This would allow me to use the proper weight distributing hitch on it if I chose to use one. (The brakes would be actuated by a standard electric brake controller using the 7 pin wiring adapter connected to a electric brake actuator on the trailer that would actuate a hydraulic master cylinder and stop the brakes. Pretty nifty and i'm actually pretty excited about setting that up.) Anyway, with that being said, a lot of the nicer cab-overs that i'm looking at all seem to hang over the truck bed and somewhat block the hitch. -What type of cabover should I be looking for and can I get away without using an extension? -If not, what sort of extension should I get? -Is the standard hitch on the Dodge strong enough for use with an extension? -Do I also need a WD hitch? I want to have this kind of setup but I want it completely safe and I don't want to compromise anything especially with my family in the truck with me. Thanks all.6KViews0likes28Comments
Groups
Travel Trailer Group
Prefer to camp in a travel trailer? You're not alone.Jan 21, 202544,029 Posts
