| |
Subject |
Author |
Date Posted |
Forum
|
 |
RE: How much HP & torque do I need ?
It seems as though you don't need to focus on HP and torque, since your Trailblazer had plenty to do the job. You need a vehicle that is properly engineered to tow your trailer without overheating which sadly your Trailblazer can't do. I used to tow a trailer almost as heavy as yours with a Ford Aerostar with only 160 hp and 235 torque. It would go up the Cascade passes at 45 but more importantly it never heated up. Like others said any 150/1500 series pickup or larger SUV should handle your trailer with ease. A big diesel would be ridiculous overkill but if you plan on getting a much bigger trailer at some point go for it.
|
rjstractor
|
05/22/13 10:41am |
Tow Vehicles
|
|
RE: Off pavement in a Class A?
The idea of driving off road highlights the fact that when you drive you have six sides of your motorhome you need to pay attention to- it's not just front, back and sides, you really need to watch above and below you to avoid damage. Having said that, since most motorhomes have roughly 2/3 of their weight over the drive wheels they have enough traction to go almost anywhere they will fit. The exception to that would be mud or soft sand.
|
rjstractor
|
05/22/13 10:29am |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
RE: Payload capacity for typical class C
Weighing is probably the only way to tell OTHER than asking the dealer for their specs from manufacturer.
Motorhomes, like other RVs have a label that lists the actual weight of the unit as it left the factory. This of course does not include any equipment not factory installed so weighing is the most accurate.
|
rjstractor
|
05/17/13 07:38pm |
Class C Motorhomes
|
|
RE: Payload capacity for typical class C
Generally speaking, the larger the rig the less payload it will have- if we are speaking of the same E450 chassis. The 24'-25' models with no slides have great payload capacity, and I've seen 31' models with slides that have only about 1200 pounds which makes the rig practically useless unless you either leave everything at home or just run overloaded. The newer E450 models have higher GVWR, but the fine print on that is nearly all of the extra capacity is on the front axle where it is of little use. My 29' with no slides has about 2000 listed on the sticker, but in real world useage it's very easy to overload the rear axle.
|
rjstractor
|
05/17/13 01:11pm |
Class C Motorhomes
|
|
RE: over on RAWR occassionally
OK, I'm confused...He stated he's NOT over his GVWR (gross vehicle weight), but IS over his RAWR by 400#
Did anyone not catch this...If he is over his RAWR he's WAAYYY over his GVWR..unless he meant he wasn't over the trucks GCWR...but again, I get the impression that he IS over his trucks RAWR, but because his tires will handle more weight, he should be ok
Not necessarily over on his GVWR. The GVWR on a newer SRW F350 is 11,500. So, if he is 400 over on RAW, is he is running less than 4K on his front axle he could be less than GVWR. Granted, that is pretty light on the front end. I myself am surprised no one asked where the kingpin placement is in relation to the centerline of the rear axle. If it's too far back he could be unloading the front axle, and if that's the case moving it forward to just ahead of the rear axle could solve all his weight problems.
|
rjstractor
|
05/13/13 04:10pm |
Tow Vehicles
|
|
RE: 3/4 ton Duramax capacity
Power wise, the truck should do fine. At some point in time, ie about 12K total, a 9200 gvwr gm does get a bit screwy, in that one will be hitting bump stops on the rear when going over some speed bumps, or if you hit a hole at speed, then start going up quickly, ie a river crossing or equal in a valley....
x2. My 2500HD drives and handles pretty good at 10K. With the 1000 lb dump insert and 4K of gravel it gets pretty squirrely. The worse was 2 full pallets of wet sod on top of the dump insert, don't know what it weighed but was pretty heavy. Acceleration and braking were always more than adequate.
|
rjstractor
|
05/11/13 09:42pm |
Tow Vehicles
|
|
RE: Supplemental Brake Dilema
Well the car is ready but I must say OUCH! $1000.45 Don't have a list of all that was done but will have tomorrow. It's probably to much to list here anyway. Thank You BRAKE BUDDY! Needless to say the unit will never see the car again. You may find it on Craigslist though.
Ouch indeed! Maybe they should rename it BROKE Buddy!
|
rjstractor
|
05/09/13 10:13pm |
Dinghy Towing
|
|
RE: Idling engine while towing questions
Will, I must have lost track of your other thread. Sounds like you got the Readybrake installed in the Fusion ok?
|
rjstractor
|
05/06/13 08:39am |
Dinghy Towing
|
|
RE: Towing with a Gas MH??
There is no "paperwork" that shows anyone can "legally" tow anything other than the manufacturer's and hitch ratings and I don't think those are legally binding documents, just manufacturer ratings.
|
rjstractor
|
05/06/13 08:29am |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
RE: Readybrake may not be an option. What to do..
Yes, and that is not an issue at all. Its actually the exact opposite - Active braking is one of the reasons to stay with Readybrake, as its operation is not really affected by whether or not you have active braking on all the time, vacuum assist, or just a 'dead pedal'.
Since the Readybrake is basically a surge based system, it only activates the brakes until the toad is no longer 'pushing' on the MH enough to activate the brake. Having active braking like a hybrid does, only means that Readybrake won't have to pull as hard on the peda, before the car is slowed enough to release the actuator arm and the toad's brake pedal.
Thanks, that makes sense.
|
rjstractor
|
05/02/13 07:59pm |
Dinghy Towing
|
|
RE: turbo 400 tranny
A lot of what you are asking hinges on the vintage of the Isuzu diesel that is in the coach. The original 3.9 liter Isuzus only had about 135 hp, whereas the newer 5.2 liter models have about 205 hp and over 400 torque which would provide better performance than the original 454 gas V8 and good mpg as well.
|
rjstractor
|
04/30/13 08:52pm |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
RE: Readybrake may not be an option. What to do..
Routing issues for the cable aside, have you looked into the possible issue of the hybrid's active braking system causing problems with the ReadyBrake? When I looked into installing a system in my Escape Hybrid my research indicated that I would need to go with one of the electronic systems with a pressure reducer. Maybe the Fusion has a way to disable active braking prior to towing.
|
rjstractor
|
04/30/13 09:08am |
Dinghy Towing
|
|
RE: F150 with 4.6 V-8 & 3.55 gears
If you stay where it's flat you might be OK. Out west where we have mountains forget it. I once had a 97 Expedition with the same engine and axle ratio and towed an ultralite with a dry weight of just 3000 pounds. It struggled in the mountains and in fact did not tow the trailer much better than my previous tow vehicle, a V6 Aerostar. It also only got 7-9 mpg towing.
|
rjstractor
|
04/28/13 11:07am |
Tow Vehicles
|
|
RE: Ford and GMC to produce new 9 and 10 speed transmissions
And on these 9-10 spd trannys, I'll bet you'll never see one in a HD diesel powered PU. Too much stuffed into a small space can't possibly allow much torque.
???? The up to 18 speed transmissions in OTR trucks seem to handle 2000+ ft./lbs of torque pulling over 100,000 lbs. just fine. A smaller, fully automated version would work well in a pickup.
|
rjstractor
|
04/26/13 06:32pm |
Tow Vehicles
|
|
RE: F150 EB vs 5.0 towing
You can not tell how a truck will tow by driving it around empty. There are a lot of trucks that run like hell untill you dump some weight behind them.
My buddy's 6.0 Denalli would spank my 8.1 when empty BUT when he had 7,000 lbs behind him and I had 10,000 lbs I would leave him in the dust. I don't see any way you can rate how your truck tows with out ever towing.
Agreed. My 6.0 gas 2500HD will smoke my dad's 7.3 diesel Ford running solo, but I know which one will tow 10,000 lbs over the pass better, and it ain't mine. :)
|
rjstractor
|
04/26/13 10:36am |
Tow Vehicles
|
|
RE: Ford and GMC to produce new 9 and 10 speed transmissions
I'd need someone who wears a propeller on their head for a living to back my theory but I think that these new the development of these transmissions is being driven by emission standards as much as anything. Allowing computers to tightly control what the engine is doing given any speed, load or condition should help manage emissions and fuel economy and having lots of gear ratios to choose from should assist this. I've heard that one reason manual transmissions are becoming less available is that it's much more difficult to get them to pass emissions because there is no control over one critical aspect-the nut behind the wheel.
|
rjstractor
|
04/26/13 10:27am |
Tow Vehicles
|
|
RE: Exhaust break-- transmission shift down
Two ways to deal with that, turn it off when you don't need it, or you can modulate it with your right foot. If you keep just a little bit of throttle on, the fuel feed to the engine will be at idle but the exhaust (or compression) brake won't engage.
|
rjstractor
|
04/19/13 09:40pm |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
RE: Dolly towing a 2013 Chev Volt??
I can't comment on towability, but I know a guy with a Volt who had problems with the air dam scraping while driving in the very hilly area that he lives. He just removed the air dam and will put it back on when the lease is up. The car looks fine without it.
|
rjstractor
|
04/19/13 09:08am |
Dinghy Towing
|
|
RE: Anyone tow a 6000 pound dingy?
Adding 6K to something that already weighs 40K is not going to hurt that much (15 %).
x2. Should be much less of an effect than my 14K class C towing a 2500 lb. Saturn, which hardly affects my performance at all.
|
rjstractor
|
04/17/13 09:45am |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
RE: GM and FORD new joint transmission design agreement
10 speed transmission, what would that cost to rebuild?
Optional two speed differential would be a better solution IMO.
Less than rebuilding 2 transmissions, which is basically what you have with a 2 speed rear end. Not sure about the new autos, but 9,10,13,18 speed manuals in OTR trucks are built around either a 4 or 5 speed main and a 2 speed auxiliary, but in 1 case. A 2 speed differential in a car or truck would be bigger, more expensive and more complex.
|
rjstractor
|
04/15/13 10:33pm |
Tow Vehicles
|
