Community Forums

cthom04 · 03-16-2017, 08:51 AM

I was wondering would a 5.9 cummins be big enough to pull a 39ft motorhome. I shouldn;t say pull it buy drive it does it have enough power.

LJowdy · 03-16-2017, 10:51 AM

If I remember, they were used in Sportsman MH's??? My friend had one and wasn't happy with the performance in his 36' coach.

jimcumminsw · 03-16-2017, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cthom04

I was wondering would a 5.9 cummins be big enough to pull a 39ft motorhome. I shouldn;t say pull it buy drive it does it have enough power.

Yes, it would what really matters is the transmission gearing and the differential gearing that any motorhome has in it. The engine only will produce so much horsepower and torque the rest depends on gearing. The length really has nothing to do with what engine is in a motorhome what really matters is the mass (weight) of the motorhome. The more mass the more HP/TQ is required to move that load safely.

The Dynamax Line in some of their models they used the 6.7L Cummins engine before that the 5.9L Cummins engine was used. This would be any Dynamax Motorhome built before 2007, that was the last year for the 5.9L engine.

Bigd9 · 03-16-2017, 01:50 PM

I had a Cummins ISB 5.9 engine in a 1997 Discovery 36 foot coach. It produced 275 HP and seemed adequate pushing that 26,000 pound coach.

They also made a non ISB series engine that put our 230 hp I think it was. Owners I have contact with seem to be pleased. I do know my MPG was in the 11 mpg range, and my current Cat C7 is in the 8 mpg range!

jimmy braden · 03-16-2017, 01:56 PM

If you don't get in any hurry it will be fine. If you spend a lot of time in hills, you might as well boost it or else it will be getting beat on.

onechaddude · 03-16-2017, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cthom04

I was wondering would a 5.9 cummins be big enough to pull a 39ft motorhome. I shouldn;t say pull it buy drive it does it have enough power.

I have an 07 Neptune with ISB 5.9 Cummins. It came new with 325 hp and 610 torque. It stayed that way for 8 years. I then added the Banks power pack kit to it. My biggest issue with power was not climbing the big hills and mountains. My issue was cruising the rolling hills on the interstate and having to drop from 6th to 5th on every hill. I usually run on 2 or 3 setting out of 5. Now most hills I can cruise on up in 6th and only lose a mph or two.

My coach weighs in about 26,000 lbs and tow an 07 grand cherokee that goes close to 5000. That means I gross around 32,000#. Even before the Banks kit I could run up the mtns faster than the transfer trucks.

As another person said, the mpg that these little engines produce can't be beat. I usually get between 9 and 10 depending on terrain and speed.

Chad

Bigd9 · 03-16-2017, 06:16 PM

Ya always want as Tim The Toolman Taylor would say "More Power" . The big question is do you NEED more power.

PeteandDeb · 03-17-2017, 06:30 AM

We have a 5.9 coupled to an Allison 1000 in our 06 Monaco LaPalma. We put on 30000 miles last year troublefree ... pulling a Santa Fe from Arkansas to San Diego, Alberta, New Jersey, Oregon, etc ... so mountains, freeways, back roads. Quite impressed by the 300hp engine. So far the only issue was replacing the exhaust ... not the engines fault.

gsf35099 · 03-30-2017, 08:23 PM

We have the Cummins 5.9 in our 38.5 Damon 26k lbs & I normally pull a 20 ft car hauler ~7k lbs. does just fine and I just don't get in a real big hurry up the hills. They big boys don't beat me by much to the top and can't even come close to the mpg it gets.

. We love the way it performs and have had zero complaints in 8 years.