How much can I tow with a 2000 Tradewinds 7370?

[carlspeed]

Hi guys, my hitch says 5,000lbs. I don't mind getting a different hitch if it means I can pull more. I have a car hauler that weighs about 6-6,500 loaded with the stuff in it. Is that out of the realm of realism for this thing? I have a 300hp turbo kitty and the Allison 6spd. Thanks guys!!!

[winniman]

Getting a heavier hitch would be a for sure thing, but if you subtract your gross vehicle weight from your combined gross vehicle weight, this would be a starting point on what you could tow. Some rvs dont have much left over. For example my gross vehicle weight is 26,800 pounds. My gross combined in around 33,000 pounds. My coach only weighs about 22,000 empty. If I had the proper hitch and nothing in the coach, I could tow around 10,000 pounds. More realistically, with stuff loaded in the coach, it probably weighs around 25,000 pounds. This would leave me a towing capacity of around 8000 pounds. The gross combined is the weight that the motor, tranny, and frame are comfortable towing without causing damage.

[carlspeed]

I'm going to have to drive by a scale and see how much it weighs. Any idea where I can get the gross weight spec?

[winniman]

There should be a label somewhere in the cab area of the mh that states all the info. Dry weight, gross vehicle weight, and combined vehicle weight. Sometimes there are two. One from the chassis mfg, and another from the rv manufacturer if anything they did changed the numbers. My freightliner sticker has the gross vehicle weight at about 1000 lbs more than the rv manufacturer sticker. I guess something Coachmen did during the manufacturing process lowered the gross vehicle weight. Mine are on the wall above the drivers seat.

[Richard S.]

This link may help http://www.rvroundtable.com/wp-conte...ewindsSpec.pdf

[10EC]

Factory brochure specs- 7370
gvwr 26,350

[10EC]

Wrong button :-(
factory brochure 7370
gvwr 26,350
gcwr 31,350
fgawr 9,350
rgawr 17,000
unloaded v w 21,000
max carry cap 5,350
but------this thing came with 235/80/22.5 rubber. Look those cap up on mich site and the tire was pretty loaded.
235@ 110 psi 8,820 lb DUAL (MAX PSI)
255@ 95 psi 8,820 lb DUAL (120 MAX)
my front 2 tires were 245 , 4 REAR WERE 235 when i got it and i replaced all 6 with 255/80/22.5 the 255 was as big as i could go with 6.5" wheels and front body clearance was getting very close. MY COACH SCALES ALMOST 8K FRONT AND 16K REAR. That is what i found with mine.

[sgtjoe]

Look inside the cabinet above the windshield on the drivers side, that's where mine is on my 2001 TradeWinds. I tow a 2011 Honda CR-V 4 wheel drive 4 down
Mine is rated for 5,000lbs.

[carlspeed]

Thanks everyone. 10EC, by my calculations, you have room for a bit over 7k tow? That's perfect for me. I'll have to scale mine with the trailer and see what my weight is at. I need to find a 6 pin to 7 way converter plug. 6 pin still has brake built in, but no power wire to the trailer if I am thinking correctly? I need to clean the lens on the backup camera too. I think if I can take the housing off I can pull the plastic piece out and polish it up. But I'll probably need to find a replacement, that won't last long I'm sure.

[carlspeed]

I checked my sheet, and from national, it says I have a 36350 gcwr rating, and gvwr of 26350. This means that the gross weight for the coach cannot exceed 26350, and allows me to pull 10,000 lbs, as I'm reading the build sheet from National. it even has an asterisk, that says pulling more than the max recommended amount is not recommended without having brakes on the trailer. so that leads me to believe that pulling 10k is fine, without even having brakes on the trailer. If all that is written down, on the paperwork from National with the Freightliner stuff in there too, then why oh why did they put a 5k hitch on it? the 5,000/500 sticker I was looking at before was on the coach above the hitch area. I removed a mount for the skirt and looked at the actual hitch rating, which was unfortunately still 5000/500. It is welded and then bolted in, with supports that go about 3' further under the coach and are also welded. I don't really know how much better a hitch could be constructed, it looks no different than the class V on my F350. I feel like if I bought a different hitch, I wouldn't get any better of a mount system. Why is my hitch on a diesel pusher only rated at 5k?

I'm thinking the lightest I can get the tongue is going to be about 900lbs. I weighed it guessing and it was 900lbs. Then I used some angle thing with wood I read on ETrailer, and with the bathroom scale and math I was at 1100. I know there is 200lbs more I can take off the front of the trailer and be down to no more than 900lbs, but with the engine already behind the rear axle of the coach, I'm afraid that that 400lbs may be too much. I don't know if I'm overthinking it. I think the lightest I can get the trailer with the stuff I need to take is going to be about 6500/7000lbs. Which would be about 2k more than what the hitch is "rated" for.

[BCam]

Originally Posted by carlspeed

it even has an asterisk, that says pulling more than the max recommended amount is not recommended without having brakes on the trailer. so that leads me to believe that pulling 10k is fine, without even having brakes on the trailer.

Regardless of what the spec sheet says, you must have brakes on your trailer or toad. State laws vary but 3,000# is a typical threshold:

https://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/trailer-brakes/

[carlspeed]

The point I was trying to make about the brakes is that if the spec sheet says it can handle 10k extra weight without brakes, with brakes, why is it still optioned with a 5k hitch. There should be no reason the coach can't handle 1,000lb tongue and a 10k trailer if I have brakes on it, IMO.

[ciclone429]

What did you end up doing?

[carlspeed]

Originally Posted by ciclone429

What did you end up doing?

Pulled the trailer.