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Hudsoner · 09-27-2010, 06:42 AM

I am new to this forum, and came here because of the advise of a member.

I am considering to buy a used motor home but am not sure, what it should be for our purpose. My wife and I are planning to spend a few weeks each winter with close relatives in the southern parts of the USA (they life across the southern tier of the country, from CA to FL). However, we also know the that fish and visitors start to stink after three days. Because of this, we plan to have our own bedroom and car with us.

We used to have a 24 foot travel trailer, but we sold this a few years ago because we had no appropriate vehicle anymore that could pull this trailer. The size of the trailer was adequate for our purpose.

The motor home should be very reasonable priced, and we are not interested in any slide out, etc.
We are not sure whether we should buy a class C or a class A MH, we are not sure whether it should be a gas or a diesel engine.

the only parameters that we have are, it should have a bedroom (we do not want to sleep in a class C over the cab), it should have a fuel injected engine (to get over the Rockies to California), and it should be able to tow a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
I will look around here and might want to ask specifics in the dedicated areas of the forum.

**Petro** · 09-27-2010, 07:18 AM

Hudsoner;

Welcome to iRV2. It is always nice to hear from another Wisconsin member. I am not sure what your Jeep Grand Cherokee weighs but I believe you should start with an RV that has the capacity to tow your Jeep and that may require a diesel.

Don

JMonroe · 09-27-2010, 09:04 AM

Welcome aboard, Hudsoner. As it happens, I live 'just around the corner' from Petro. I agree with him, your Grand Cherokee is going to tax the limits of most gas coaches. It has to be close to 5k lbs, the maximum tow rating of any gas motor home I'm familiar with. Going 'max' usually ends up in disappointing performance.

Hudsoner · 12-05-2010, 05:45 PM

Thanks for the welcome! My Grand Cherokee weights about 4000 pounds.

I am currently looking at a 31' Fleetwood Fiesta with the 8.1 l (495 cinch) engine from 2002. This should be relatively "light weight" because it has no slides and is relatively short.

John H... · 12-05-2010, 06:08 PM

Welcome to the forum.

**NLOVNIT** · 12-05-2010, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hudsoner

... My Grand Cherokee weights about 4000 pounds.

Yes,

Please double check that with an actual scale weight. I think it's closer to 4600 lbs & that's the base model with no options. It was between that & a Liberty when we got our coach. We went with the Liberty, which weighed several hundred pounds less, in order to have a "cushion" for safety factor - our hitch rating is 5000 lbs.

Ultimately it's up to you, but I'd think you'd be better with a smaller diesel, both for hitch capacity & ride comfort.

Lori-

Easyrider · 12-05-2010, 07:32 PM

Or-- you want to consider getting a different toad, 1 that is lighter and would work better for towing behind a gas motorhome!

Hudsoner · 12-06-2010, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NLOVNIT

Yes,

Please double check that with an actual scale weight. I think it's closer to 4600 lbs & that's the base model with no options. It was between that & a Liberty when we got our coach. We went with the Liberty, which weighed several hundred pounds less, in order to have a "cushion" for safety factor - our hitch rating is 5000 lbs.

Ultimately it's up to you, but I'd think you'd be better with a smaller diesel, both for hitch capacity & ride comfort.

Lori-

Our Jeep is a Laredo from 1996 with the Inline 6, and it has a curb weight of 3790 lbs. Our modifications add a maximum of 250 lbs to this. A Liberty is not suitable for us, because it cannot be modified to meet our purposes.
The drawback with diesels is their ridicules high price (10 to 15000 Dollar more for a comparable unit), which is technically not justifiable! Any of the 5.9 l Cummins has less torque and hp than the GM 8.1 l gaser. Their only advantage is the turbocharger setup that works better in higher elevations than normal aspiration does.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Easyrider

Or-- you want to consider getting a different toad, 1 that is lighter and would work better for towing behind a gas motorhome!

The problem is that our Jeep is modified for hard core offroad driving (rock crawling), and modifications like this can be only done to vehicles like these (availability of parts and stability of platform). The 1996 Grand Cherokee Laredo is actually on the light side for vehicles of this kind. Any Grand Cherokee junger than 1998 cannot be modified (or only very difficult) to meet the challenges we encounter during offroading.

JMonroe · 12-06-2010, 08:00 AM

If you've confirmed the curb weight, you should be good to go, assuming you 'choose wisely' when purchasing. Make sure your loaded weight, of the motor home, will be well enough below the gross vehicle weight rating that you can actually carry something in the rig besides an extra pair of socks and underwear, and that when loaded with everything you plan to travel with, it is still enough under the gross combined weight to allow you to safely tow the Jeep. Most gas powered motor homes will have a 5k max tow rating, but that does you no good if the loaded rig is already within a couple lbs of GCVW.

Happy hunting.