Hitch capacity - Class C Extended Chassis

[trirwl]

I have a class C 1998 Tioga SL 31.5 feet long with extended chassis. The tow bar is rated at 3,500 pounds. However, I put my 2007 Jeep Wrangler on the scale and came in at exactly 4,000 pounds with gas.

I have a brake system.

I am wondering if anyone has towed something similar and exceeded the tow hitch rating and if any problems.

[jcthorne]

You are well in excess of the design capacity of the hitch and the motorhome.

NOT SAFE. Don't get on the road with me and my family.

You need a lighter weight toad or a higher capacity motorhome. I know this is not the answer you wanted but this is not even a grey area. You are not just a few pounds over but 500lbs over. You could not even tow the 3500lbs without the brake system so that does not make things any better.

[oldnotdead]

I agree w/jcthorne. Not only is your weight over max, your brakes will not work properly either!
OND

[Diplomat Don]

trirwl.....If you said you were towing a boat or car trailer with a tongue weight and excess tow weight I would say no. Since you're towing four down, there is no tongue weight. If your RV hitch is rated at 5000 pounds and you are under your GCRW, you'll be okay.

If you emptied the Wrangler gas tank, took off the spare and rear seat and loaded everything in the motor home, you would be under weight and no one would disagree. Not a big issue.

[oldnotdead]

It doesn't seem like the best scenario to have to load stuff from one vehicle to another for convenience. I just hit some gusting side winds (about 40) while pulling my boat this last Sunday and was thankful for having the capacity. Their your knuckles, and you can choose to treat them how you will.OND

[jcthorne]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diplomat Don trirwl.....If you said you were towing a boat or car trailer with a tongue weight and excess tow weight I would say no. Since you're towing four down, there is no tongue weight. If your RV hitch is rated at 5000 pounds and you are under your GCRW, you'll be okay. If you emptied the Wrangler gas tank, took off the spare and rear seat and loaded everything in the motor home, you would be under weight and no one would disagree. Not a big issue.

Dude, he already stated that his hitch was only rated 3500 lbs. This is a normal rating for a class C. His is NOT ok to tow well in excess of that. Please quit giving advise that is going to get folks KILLED. The combo would likely exceed the GCRW as well but its alreay too high for the coach to pull/control.

[alvinc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diplomat Don trirwl.....If you said you were towing a boat or car trailer with a tongue weight and excess tow weight I would say no. Since you're towing four down, there is no tongue weight. If your RV hitch is rated at 5000 pounds and you are under your GCRW, you'll be okay.

It is not the hitch I am worried about, but the frame extension. Was it designed for a 5,000 lb towing weight?

trirwl - I can appreciate your frustration, when we started looking at RV's we first were looking at Class C's because they were typically more family friendly, but could not find one with a 5,000 lb rated towing capacity (at the time). It was frustrating and we ended up having to stretch into a Class A and found family friendly one with lots of storage (another lacking of Class C's).

You might consider having the frame extension reinforced???

[Campingman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcthorne Dude, he already stated that his hitch was only rated 3500 lbs. This is a normal rating for a class C. His is NOT ok to tow well in excess of that. Please quit giving advise that is going to get folks KILLED. The combo would likely exceed the GCRW as well but its alreay too high for the coach to pull/control.

He said his towbar was rated at 3500#'s, not his hitch.

[trirwl]

Hello:

I meant to say hitch not tow bar. Does this change anything? Also, remember flat towing with brake system.

Thanks

[JimM68]

The only question here is how much safety margin is built into the system, and how likelyis it to fail.

You are over weight.

[Diplomat Don]

jcthorne......DUDE.....Why don't you read the post.....it said tow bar, not hitch. My point is still valid....if he removed 500 pounds from the Jeep and put it inside the coach, no one would have a problem. Yes, that would be a pain, just making the point. Keep in mind that tow ratings on any vehicle are a compilation of frame, hitch, engine, brakes, suspension, cooling package, transmisson, etc. You buy a Class C with a Chevy it gets 5000 pounds of tow rating, if you buy it with a Ford, it gets 3500.

It seems awful arrogant to just tell people to run out and buy another toad or motor home.

DUDE

[Hikerdogs]

The limiting factors in this case are most likely the frame extensions on the motorhome, along with the under rated hitch. While the hitch can easily be replaced I doubt you can do much to strengthen the frame.

Most older motorhome frame extensions consist of welding some C channel to the back of the existing frame. The extensions are generally lighter gauge and physically smaller than the original frame. Unless you do something to strengthen the frame extensions you'll be taking an unnecessary chance that could result in a catastrophic failure.

[TXiceman]

The extended frame is usually smaller than the main frame and if you look at the welds they do not look too good. i would not go beyond the rating on the chassis.hitch.

ken

[Gary RVRoamer]

Let's keep the discussion cool, dudes. No potshots at each other. And the OP amended his original to clarify it is the hitch receiver he is talking about.

He also stated that his Jeep weighs in at 4000 lbs with gas in it, so moving 500 lbs elsewhere does not seem to be an option.