Beginning to research used Diesel pushers to pull my 34’ tag that will have a dragster, door car, and golf cart (plus tools and fuel) in it. What are the main things I am looking for in a motorhome to tow this size and weight of a trailer? Any particular brand and engine / chassis combinations to look for? It will be mostly used by my girlfriend and I, with another adult meeting us at the track so it does not need to be huge. I am trying to get an idea of how much money I will need to budget for this. Will be mainly towing around Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Steve H.,

Stay with Cummins over Cat motors - Cat no longer supports on-road vehicles, it can be difficult to get truck places to work on motorhomes sometimes and even harder with Cat, plus they seem to get worse fuel mileage in general.
Stay away from the 300hp 5.9 ISB, it's a good motor but underpowered for towing.
Stay away from anything with a propane generator.
Make sure the tires are in good shape and under 5-7 years old or factor that into the price.
Climb up on the roof and look for damage as well as water stains on the ceiling inside.
Look for delamination (spots where the fiberglass has pulled from the plywood backing) on the sides of the coach, usually from water damage.

I have made mistakes in my life but the biggest one ever was buying a motorhome. If you think racing is a money pit you have not seen nothing yet. Racecar is not a f@rt in 50 MPH wind compared to motorhome for wasting money. If you do make worst decision of your life and get one make sure you have a good place inside to store it to keep it out of weather. Roof $30,000, and Sun, Wind, Hail and Rain will destroy it. Tires $3,000. Slideouts break, Electrical problems. Mice love to get in all the holes for slideouts, electrical and plumbing. Always keep it plugged in with battery charger. Always. They are a pain to drive as long as they are when you are pulling a trailer. Some places to get gas they are too big. When stuff breaks and it will believe me you can not find parts.
If you get one make sure you get good insurance full coverage with towing so when it breaks down (and it WILL!) it does not cost you thousands of dollars to get it to shop where they will get thousands more. Pay cash for it and do not finance anything. Always have thousands of dollars in your bank account when you leave for the emergency problems that will come up.

The proper name for one is not Motorhome, it is Moneypit. Now that may all sound bad but a Motorhome will provide you with TWO of the Happiest days of your life. The day you Buy it and the day you Sell it. Every single day in between not so much. Just saying. By the way I have one for sale......... Cheap.

Personally if I was going to get one, it would be a Totorhome or super C. Truck chassis, engine in the front. Designed to tow.

What Curly said was a little over exaggerated, but I did have someone tell me once, if you have $100K to spend on a MH, get a $50k MH so you still have $50K to spend on repairs lol

2 months ago I picked up a 96 Holiday Rambler Navigator, 330hp Cummins 8.3, 6 speed Allison, no slides, 2yr old tires, roof needed resealing wich i did myself for about 300 bucks. 87K. Had to fix a few small things like the backup camera and a hydraulic line for the auto leveling system, and a few other small details. Tows my 30ft haulmark with dragster and golfcart fine, paid 15K. Right now insured with Good Sam but looking into a better plan with more towing coverage. In the off season i will be using it to head to south carolina to get away from the snow for a couple weeks. So far so good!

quote:

Originally posted by Steve H.:
Beginning to research used Diesel pushers to pull my 34’ tag that will have a dragster, door car, and golf cart (plus tools and fuel) in it. What are the main things I am looking for in a motorhome to tow this size and weight of a trailer? Any particular brand and engine / chassis combinations to look for? It will be mostly used by my girlfriend and I, with another adult meeting us at the track so it does not need to be huge. I am trying to get an idea of how much money I will need to budget for this. Will be mainly towing around Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.

Steve, I pull the exact same setup 34' trailer, door car, dragster and golf cart, I have a 38.5' 2002 Holiday Rambler with a 330hp Cummins 8.3 and it tows very well. We've had it for about 5 years now and the only thing I've done to it is general maintenance, change my own fluids/filters and put 4 drive tires on it, steers will be changed next year, it has been a very good unit. It had 57k miles on it and I paid $45k for it, I will say I probably overpaid but it was shortly after the covid crap and prices were out of control, probably can find the same unit for $25k but honestly, it has been so reliable that I can't complain, it's been a great RV and still looks great for it's age. We tow mostly NY,OH,PA but have been to Bristol a couple of times with no problem.

If you must have a pusher make sure it's a freightliner chassis and an Allison 6 speed trans. Definitely stay away from the 5.9 Cummins isb. I wish I had known before I bought mine. Anything that looks like an incline and it will struggle. Having said all that if I was starting from scratch I'd definitely have LQ trailer and dually

quote:

Originally posted by Curly1:
I have made mistakes in my life but the biggest one ever was buying a motorhome. If you think racing is a money pit you have not seen nothing yet. Racecar is not a f@rt in 50 MPH wind compared to motorhome for wasting money. If you do make worst decision of your life and get one make sure you have a good place inside to store it to keep it out of weather. Roof $30,000, and Sun, Wind, Hail and Rain will destroy it. Tires $3,000. Slideouts break, Electrical problems. Mice love to get in all the holes for slideouts, electrical and plumbing. Always keep it plugged in with battery charger. Always. They are a pain to drive as long as they are when you are pulling a trailer. Some places to get gas they are too big. When stuff breaks and it will believe me you can not find parts.
If you get one make sure you get good insurance full coverage with towing so when it breaks down (and it WILL!) it does not cost you thousands of dollars to get it to shop where they will get thousands more. Pay cash for it and do not finance anything. Always have thousands of dollars in your bank account when you leave for the emergency problems that will come up.

The proper name for one is not Motorhome, it is Moneypit. Now that may all sound bad but a Motorhome will provide you with TWO of the Happiest days of your life. The day you Buy it and the day you Sell it. Every single day in between not so much. Just saying. By the way I have one for sale......... Cheap.

Dang you should be a salesman for an RV dealer.

I would avoid class A for hauling a trailer. Too many complaints and they frankly are not made for it.

I have a Gulf Stream Super C and travel at least 2.5 hours every weekend each way to a track. I have had ZERO problems over the last 10years to speak of. Ok stair motor did break because a guy stepped on it when coming down. Its a gas motor and I chose that because I can work on it if need be.

I would definately get a Super C as they are built on platforms that require strict compliance standards for electrical and chassis safety. RV (class A stuff is put together based on who knows what standards). My coach is based on a Chevy Kodiak C5500 platform and goverered by chevy standards. CAn there be issues - yes but I am sure its under better standards than 100% RV manufacturers.

If you have the coin, opt for a bigger rig like a Renegage. Again these things are built on platforms that are expected to last 1million miles. And you can get them repaired anywhere if something happens. Nobody wants to work on the Class A stuff.

Last time I was at money race a few weekends ago a guy pitted next to me in a very nice class A said it took them forever because it kept overheating and then they were duct taping the windshield in because it was the 3rd time it started to come out because of the chassis flexing. He was going to find a Renegade or equiv.

I will add that when I was at a very large dealer looking for a class A years ago the guy found out what I was going to be using it for. He immediately told me that not a SINGLE Class A RV is equipped with the hitch or brakes to handly anything more than 5k pounds towing. He walked me around the place and showed me several very high end Class As that all had only 5k pound hitches. He said you can beef them up but that doesn't change what the platform was setup for and rated at. He said you have a drunk pull out in front of you and you kill them you WILL be in deep **** when they investigate and you can bet on getting sued by the family when they see you are "probably" worth money. And you will Lose because your vehicle was not equipped to slow down properly. That scared me enough to keep looking.

We're on our second diesel pusher. First was a 98 Tradewinds with a 300hp 3126B Cat engine on a Freighliner chassis. Pulled our 26' enclosed trailer with 3300# door car, golf cart, fuel, tools etc just fine. I felt it was a little fatiguing to drive regardless of wind. Hills suck regardless. Replaced an ECU and a HEUI pump on it but it never left us stranded. Got 7.5-8mpg.

New motorhome is a 2006 Fleetwood Revolution LE with a 400hp Cat C9. 4 slides, nicer amenities, more power and torque obviously. Pulls our trailer "better" but don't expect diesel pickup truck performance. This coach is built on a Spartan-based chassis and is 10 times easier and smoother to drive. This coach as a 15000lb hitch and is rated accordingly for towing. We sold the trailer and are picking up a stacker soon. Expect it will do just find pulling that as well. We get 5.5-6mpg pulling the trailer or empty.

I have Cat ET, which is the technician tool for interfacing with the engine. I would consider the diagnostic tools a requirement for ownership.

If you can work on your racecar, you should be able to work on your rig. If you pay people to build your stuff, step up to a much newer and nicer coach, but expect to spend north of $100k and remember that none of them are trouble free.

Ive had a couple Tiffins and we love them. Freightliner chassis. Try to stay away from the rear mounted radiator. You need to clean them often and they will get hot if not kept up. I have a 34ft and its loaded all the time with a dragster and a door car, golf cart pit bike and two drums of fuel and a full tool box. I would say around 15k lbs in the trailer. I had a 02 tiffin 330 hp Cummins for years and it struggled up hills but was a great coach. I now have a 06 tiffin 400hp and its way easier to pull. I would say min hp is 400hp pulling. Everything is expensive if it breaks just be aware. If you are handy you will save thousands. I change the generator oil and filter at 350 hours and change all the fluids and filters every year on the engine.

Dynamax or Renegade Super C on a Freightliner m2 chassis is hard to beat. You absolutely should be mechanical minded with any rv and due diligence on one is very important on any kind ... self repair abilities will save you tons. i went from a one ton truck and 53ft living quarters trailer to a dynamax force hd with cummins 9.0 450hp and a 34ft trailer with golf cart and roadster and love it and should have done it long ago.

Tag…Side radiator…600hp Cummins…..SEND IT…

Thanks everyone for your input. Lots to think about while searching!

I'd opt for a Super C or Toter.

We switched from a class a pusher to a lq trailer. The mh was just that much more maintenance. Although the living space in the mh was way way better. We really don't spend that much time in the motorhome at the race track.
Now that said.....the track has pushers and stackers all over the place. So they must not be that bad. LOL