Too heavy to tow safely?

[jymbee]

Weighed out motorhome a couple weeks ago and it came in at 21,180 pounds ready to camp-- sans passengers. About 3/4 tank of gas (80 gal) and both the house water & gray water were about 3/4 full.

The van we'd like to tow is around 4.1k pounds with middle seats out and low gas.

Would we be pushing the limit to tow the van with this motorhome?
https://tinyurl.com/yb78r6rt

 

[Back2PA]

You're under the towing limit, and the GCWR is 26,000, so it appears you are under the limits

 

[John From Detroit]

I agree you are a CGVW of 24,280 and most Class A Gassers are good to a CGVW of 26000
And you are 900 pounds UNDER the hitch limit.. ONe caution

IF you need a drop/rise hitch.. makes a means a major DOWNGRADE of that 5,000 pound hitch rating.

That 500 pounds assumes

Receievr----Tow bar----Connection point on Towed

Not
Receiver
.Drop
...receiver------Tow bars---Connection

 

[grashley]

You appear to be near, but under all weight limits, so good to go.

Note John's point!!

 

[jymbee]

IF you need a drop/rise hitch.. makes a means a major DOWNGRADE of that 5,000 pound hitch rating.

That 500 pounds assumes

Receievr----Tow bar----Connection point on Towed

Not
Receiver
.Drop
...receiver------Tow bars---Connection

Not sure I understand the terminology? Actually, quite sure I don't understand.    ???

 

[sadixon49]

If he's towing 4 down, there's virtually no weight on the hitch. Well, 1/2 the weight of the tow bar, the rest is on the toad.

 

[jymbee]

Ok, figuring I'm ok to proceed with this vehicle I'm starting to get some estimates. Looking for some input on some of the options I'm seeing in the attached. Specifically the difference between the Blue Ox Alpha and Blue Ox Ascent tow bar? I'm told the more expensive option is aluminum with a somewhat higher weigh rating, but both seem to surpass what I'd need so not sure if it would be worth the additional expense for the Ascent.

Also the portable braking system vs. the InvisiBrake system. If I understand the difference here they would both be effective but the portable system would require less modification (permanent) to the vehicle.

Fusemaster? I could do a lot of crawling around to manually do the fuse for five hundred bucks! 

 

[grashley]

Ready Brake is worth a look as well.

http://www.readybrake.com

 

[jymbee]

Ready Brake is worth a look as well.

http://www.readybrake.com

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any dealers anywhere near us.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Any reasonably competent shade tree mechanic that can read and follow directions should be able to install the ReadyBrake setup. We have a ReadyBrute Elite combined 8,000 lb rated aluminum tow bar and ReadyBrake system we use with a BlueOx base plate, and have been very happy with it for 50,000+ miles on two different toads and coaches. I most recently installed a ReadyBrake system for a fellow about 2 years ago when I was only 73...

 

[jymbee]

Well, "reasonably competent" mechanic leaves me out for sure.  :-\

But good point that my search doesn't necessarily have to be limited to dealer recommended facilities. I'll broaden my search and see what I can come up with. Thanks for the insights.

Still concerned that although we may be technically within rated weight limits that we'd be better off searching for a lighter vehicle to tow.

Any reasonably competent shade tree mechanic that can read and follow directions should be able to install the ReadyBrake setup. We have a ReadyBrute Elite combined 8,000 lb rated aluminum tow bar and ReadyBrake system we use with a BlueOx base plate, and have been very happy with it for 50,000+ miles on two different toads and coaches. I most recently installed a ReadyBrake system for a fellow about 2 years ago when I was only 73...