Wheelbase Issues

[DennyM]

I just posted a reply to the "about thor" discussion, but thought this issue should be bantered about a bit... I am wondering how many of the owners of all RV products know what their wheelbase is, and how it affects the safe handling of their rig... I am focused on Four Winds because I own a Dutchmen Super C with a short wheelbase, but I have a feeling the problem is more widespread than we realize. With full freah water, if I add even 100 lbs of cargo on that side, my driver's side rear axle is overloaded.

I cannot load the front axle, even though I do have extra CCC on the front axle, because my front axle loading ability is zero unless I store stuff in the area over the cab, in which case I severely impact the center of gravity, which is already too high.

This means I have to find a way to load the passenger side rear axle only, which is impossible unless I place everything we take in the closet and bedroom drawers.

RVSEF recently weighed my coach which has confirmed what I stated above, but I wonder if anyone else is aware of this problem in their coach.

Denny

[DennyM]

I just posted a reply to the "about thor" discussion, but thought this issue should be bantered about a bit... I am wondering how many of the owners of all RV products know what their wheelbase is, and how it affects the safe handling of their rig... I am focused on Four Winds because I own a Dutchmen Super C with a short wheelbase, but I have a feeling the problem is more widespread than we realize. With full freah water, if I add even 100 lbs of cargo on that side, my driver's side rear axle is overloaded.

I cannot load the front axle, even though I do have extra CCC on the front axle, because my front axle loading ability is zero unless I store stuff in the area over the cab, in which case I severely impact the center of gravity, which is already too high.

This means I have to find a way to load the passenger side rear axle only, which is impossible unless I place everything we take in the closet and bedroom drawers.

RVSEF recently weighed my coach which has confirmed what I stated above, but I wonder if anyone else is aware of this problem in their coach.

Denny

[DennyM]

I should explain WHY I cannot load the front axle... because Four Winds extended the rear frame rails beyond the recommendations of GM for their Kodiak chassis, my Model 33K with an even load distribution will only load the rear axle. The axle loading is 0% front/100% rear axle for anything placed behind the cab. The same applies to the model 32B as well. The model 34G has a ratio of -3% front/103% rear, which means that if you evenly distribute the load on your coach, you WILL unload the front axle, which will create an unsafe steering problem.

Denny

[george henry]