My Dad had a 2012 36 ft Tiffin Rv with the V-10 f-550 chassis with the 22.5 wheels and tires with around 6000 miles on the coach.. Question i have it according to Tiffin and Ford its only rated to pull 5000lbs. We want to use it to pull a 28ft vintage trailer. Loaded i am thinking the trailer is 7500-8000 lbs. Pretty much figured out if we tow it would be with a trailer toad. Rv has 4 slides and we are worried about chassis flex if we didn't use a toad. I guess my question is if this even a good idea based on the weight of the trailer in the first place. Ford also question the trans in the towing application. Looking under the rv this chassis really looks heavy duty

Looking for some good advise. Would not tow with it all the time just the 2-3 day events. Right now we have been using the truck when we do these long races. Kind of a pain to take both burning double the fuel.. Any ideas would help i know the real fix would be a pusher ,but that is not really a opinion right now

quote:

Originally posted by RacerVX54:
My Dad had a 2012 36 ft Tiffin Rv with the V-10 f-550 chassis with the 22.5 wheels and tires with around 6000 miles on the coach.. Question i have it according to Tiffin and Ford its only rated to pull 5000lbs. We want to use it to pull a 28ft vintage trailer. Loaded i am thinking its 7500-8000 lbs. Pretty much figured out if we tow it would be with a trailer toad. Rv has 4 slides and we are worried about chassis flex if we didn't use a toad. I guess my question is if this even a good idea based on the weight of the trailer in the first place. Ford also question the trans in the towing application. Looking under the rv this chassis really looks heavy duty

Looking for some good advise. Would tow with it all the time just the 2-3 day events. Right now we have been using the truck when we do these long races. Kind of a pain to take both burning double the fuel.. Any ideas would help i know the real fix would be a pusher ,but that is not really a opinion right now

I had a 05 Sigthseer with the Ford chassis and v10. Towed fine, either a 24' trailer, dragster, golf cart etc or a 28 ft with two dragsters. The MH was 30 feet long so not sue how much heavier yours is. And I would say your trailer hitch is only rated at 5000lbs too so that's most likely where the rating came from.

Top38 Tiffin and Ford both said 5k max. The frame does have a small frame extension that's about a 2.5 foot long that is attached to the ford chassis. I thought we could just weld and reinforce that and be fine to tow anything , but my pops is really worried about flex and damaging the sides. After crawling under this chassis i really don't see how it could flex it looks really beefy. I know Tiffin and ford will say what the need to cover there butts.

Top38 the hitch does say 5000lbs. Hopefully some of the RV guys will chime in. Thanks

I have a 25' long Class C ( shortest they make ) and tow a 26' trailer with my dragster in it. Not a real heavy trailer.

I reinforced the MH rear frame and hitch as much as I could and have had zero problems....

My MH does not have a long grafted on rear section and is a 2010 with a better "splice" than some junk of the past. From rear axle to hitch is about 8 feet I think.

I see lots of people with longer class C's and no toad and pulling heavier trailers with door cars inside.....and no toad.

I boxed the frame and added cross bracing and tied it all to the hitch. Welded to the hitch crossbar. I also added metal to the hitch receiver portion up to the crossbar......


I use a Reese weight distributing hitch with sway control.

My MH with trailer in tow stops great....Handling is dependent on the road and how much truck traffic is around me.

I may buy a new hitch......Had the Reese 30 years !


Most of the hitches are stickered 5000lbs.....

Some of the newest MH's I see have a much better rear section and splice and a hitch that may be stickered 7500-8000lbs....


John D of DRC installed, sold, made a truss type reinforcement that welds below the frame. You can't do much more than that....

Definitely reinforce the spliced on rear frame deal before doing any real towing. That and a distribution hitch should do the trick. Mine was decent back there but I also added some reinforcing.
I would say unless your towing a heavy trailer with a bunch of big hills, that MH should be fine.

I towed for 5-6 years with a 35' class A with the V-10 Ford. IMO it did a very good job for what it was BUT I only had 1 slide. I would assume a coach with 4 slides would be a lot heavier and more flexible. I don't think any MH is rated to tow the loads we do, you pretty much have to upgrade the hitch & reinforce the back of the frame at the very least. Power was pretty good for such a heavy MH & trailer but I mostly towed on pretty flat trips - any kind of steep incline and it would struggle.

I have a 28' class C with a V-10 on a Ford E450 chassis. Just your typical class C with 16" tires and the whole bit. I also use a trailer toad and tow a 32' triple axle trailer with dragster, golf cart and all the usual goodies. I have towed all over the place with this rig for several years. The only real complaint I have about it is stopping for fuel. It's hard to find a place to pull in and get "gas" in a 70' rig. Other than that it's a pretty good little rig for 1 or maybe 2 people. Also, I don't tow in overdrive 98% of the time, usually only pull about 67 or 68 mph. The only time I pull in overdrive is when I have a good tail or cross/tail wind and then it sure is nice to cruse along at 72 to 74 mph.

By the way, the toad will take most all of the load off of the coach so there shouldn't be a big problem. Just do like the rest of us and reinforce the frame rail/hitch and go on down the road. Do spend some time to get your trailer load sorted out so the toad has plenty of weight on it. It will make your life much easier. Toads don't like a lot of weight at the back of the trailer, at least mine didn't.

You are right Mike. Basically, the more load you put on the Trailer Toad the better it tracks and performs. Trying to "make it easier" on the Toad by shifting weight to the rear just creates a sway issue like it would anytime the rear wheels have more weight on them than your front axle.

I would brace the frame splice and also make sure your hitch, where the receiver slides in, is fully welded and if you have space put a brace on the receiver tube to keep it from trying to "rock back and forth". The Toad keeps the weight off the coach but you still need to pull it and stop it.

With four slides you are absolutely correct to be concerned about floor and especially sidewall flex and possible slide-out support frame damages. Seen a lot of 4-slide coaches that need slide alignment after towing without a Toad but never had a customer with a Trailer Toad tell they had a problem like that.

Jok

quote:

Originally posted by Toad1:
You are right Mike. Basically, the more load you put on the Trailer Toad the better it tracks and performs. Trying to "make it easier" on the Toad by shifting weight to the rear just creates a sway issue like it would anytime the rear wheels have more weight on them than your front axle.

I would brace the frame splice and also make sure your hitch, where the receiver slides in, is fully welded and if you have space put a brace on the receiver tube to keep it from trying to "rock back and forth". The Toad keeps the weight off the coach but you still need to pull it and stop it.

With four slides you are absolutely correct to be concerned about floor and especially sidewall flex and possible slide-out support frame damages. Seen a lot of 4-slide coaches that need slide alignment after towing without a Toad but never had a customer with

a Trailer Toad tell they had a problem like that.

Jok

Thanks Jok i need to call or get my Pops to call you to easy his mind. Thanks for the info

2011 sunseeker 28 foot e450 with v10 . Tow a 28 foot trailer dragster and cart. Works great. Do yourself a favor and get a tuner from 5 star tuning. Feels like a v 12