Community Forums

Lngebrown · 02-03-2018, 02:15 PM

The specs list an 8,000lb hitch. I have a combined enclosed trailer with racecar that weighs in at 7800 lbs (aluminum tailer). Anyone tow something like this. Great price and looks very nice.

daverubino · 02-04-2018, 05:38 AM

7800 lbs with a gas coach? That’s nuts! We bought a Fiat 500 for our toad because we wanted under 2500 lbs to tow. The Challenger has a hard enough time moving itself up hills alone. We traded for a Tiffin Phaeton so now the hills disappeared!

BradnKaren · 02-04-2018, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lngebrown

The specs list an 8,000lb hitch. I have a combined enclosed trailer with racecar that weighs in at 7800 lbs (aluminum tailer). Anyone tow something like this. Great price and looks very nice.

We have a 2017 37LX. We have towed our 5,500lb Sea Ray and trailer hundreds of miles. My husband says he only feels it a bit when accelerating from a stop, but at highway speeds it's like it's not there at all. 7,800lbs would probably be pushing it.

fluffybunny · 02-04-2018, 11:23 AM

Hey everyone,
We completed our first long term boondocking a few days ago. We camped at Daytona International speedway for 5 days for the rolex 24. With some planning for water usage we made it through just fine with no problems, water wise. We did have some electrical problems. I have upgraded my batteries from stock, to 4 Duracel GC2 6 v batteries and that helps for sure with the battery life. The heater blower used the most power honestly. I have also installed the victron battery monitor to keep more info on my batteries.

The problem we had was recharging the batteries. The first night we had to use the heater and we got down to about 65% battery SOC available, so a little bit of power left but not a lot. Once we fired up the generator it charged very slowly. I did some research and found out we have the WF 9800 series battery converter, which is supposedly a 3 stage converter. I was not able to get it out of trickle charge into bulk charge at all. It is supposedly automatic. I did some reading and there are a lot of complaints about people having that problem, has anyone here experienced that problem? If so have you done anything about it? I am looking into possibly changing out to a progressive dynamics unit but wanted to know if anyone else has done that project.

Thanks for your help and info.

logalinipoo · 02-05-2018, 12:01 AM

If you idle the motorhome you'll get abt 60 to 80 amps per hr recharge rate. Depending on battery resistance. I found 4 batterys batter than 2, but 6 made a huge differance. Make sure you use very large jumpers between the batterys also.

logalinipoo · 02-05-2018, 12:05 AM

My jeep weighs 6500lbs and has never been a problem. Ive got abt 18k miles.

Sure there's a noticable differance in aceleration, and hills are a bit slower, but honestly those big hills are only a coupple of miles. Who cares about an extra 5 miniutes of driving.

TEXASED42 · 02-05-2018, 05:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daverubino

7800 lbs with a gas coach? That’s nuts! We bought a Fiat 500 for our toad because we wanted under 2500 lbs to tow. The Challenger has a hard enough time moving itself up hills alone. We traded for a Tiffin Phaeton so now the hills disappeared!

Do you use the TOW FEATURE when driving? I only feel the lack of power going up a 5 to 9 hill..... usually slow Challenger down to 45 or 50 MPH... but makes it....

b17drvr · 02-05-2018, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lngebrown

The specs list an 8,000lb hitch. I have a combined enclosed trailer with racecar that weighs in at 7800 lbs (aluminum tailer). Anyone tow something like this. Great price and looks very nice.

Hitch rating has nothing to do with what you can tow. You have to Look at the gcwr and the gvwr. The Challenger has a gvwr of 24000 and a gcwr of 30000–that is 6000 pounds you can tow. I pull my race car with a super C diesel.

daverubino · 02-05-2018, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TEXASED42

Do you use the TOW FEATURE when driving? I only feel the lack of power going up a 5 to 9 hill..... usually slow Challenger down to 45 or 50 MPH... but makes it....

I had a SCT programmer in it which helped a lot, but even pulling my little Fiat 500, it slowed significantly. We are full-time and carried a lot of weight. We took a decent hit trading our ‘16 37KT for a ‘14 Phaeton 40, but we felt it well worth it plus too many troubles with the KT, but don’t get me started on that since this is a Challenger forum. I’m a former Challenger, but have many friends on this forum I don’t want to piss off!

ctpres · 02-10-2018, 02:52 PM

#107 The 37KT water heater is at very end of coach under the bed - with a lot of pipe on the way to kitchen sink. Problem with that is it takes a lot of time and wastes water while you wait for hot water. My solution is to insulate hot water pipe. 1/2 inch PVC/Pex foam pipe insulation is readily available and total cost of project should be under $10. I bought five six foot pieces and had a bunch left over. Just be sure the insulation you buy has a split down the center. The split allows installation on existing pipe without taking things apart. If pushing insulation over pipe into areas you can not reach - put it on pipe and secure slit with wraps of duct tape before pushing it into areas you can't reach - like under shower. You probably won't get every inch insulated but I found just doing everything under the bed made a big difference. I am only showing bed section as it was biggest challenge.
Turn mattress sideways and stand on end at rear window. Can hold it up with string or rope - see pic. DO NOT climb or walk on long hinged section of bed platform. Veneer is VERY thin. Lift platform and with helper holding it full up -slightly pry C clip away from ball joint so end can be removed from bracket. If C clip comes off - not to worry it is just a pain to put it back on. With hinged platform free remove screws around the edges of fixed portion of platform. Once they are removed you can move entire bed platform far enough to get access to plumbing. I lined fixed portion up with opening and used it to support me while worked on the pipes. When you try to put empty platform back down to reinstall mattress you may find the struts need some help where they attach to platform. Push platform down at strut and end, otherwise you could break platform before struts start moving. Total time for bed section was less than one hour

sbleiweiss · 02-11-2018, 08:13 AM

You the man Chuck. That is why you have over 100 mods and we don't. Sounds like too much work to me for the payback. Thanks for the continuing ideas though. When do you head back to CO?

ctpres · 02-11-2018, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbleiweiss

You the man Chuck. That is why you have over 100 mods and we don't. Sounds like too much work to me for the payback. Thanks for the continuing ideas though. When do you head back to CO?

Hope to make it to Creede first week of May. Stuck in Houston for one more month. Lousy weather so plenty of time to play. To do list getting longer.

PappaJ13 · 02-14-2018, 06:21 AM

Sure happy to know that anyone that has purchased a Thor Ace Bunkhouse has experienced nothing but "good times". That is not the case here. There is not enough space to list all of the problems so I will focus on one specific issue---the Lippert Slide Out. I would like to hear from all of you that have or had problems with your slide-out requiring you to return to the shop for repair. It just seems that although Lippert says this is the most recent and best of their slide-outs that to operate a slideout that is almost the entire length of the motorhome requires more design etc than the smaller slideouts. Thanks,

ctpres · 02-15-2018, 06:53 AM

#108 MW/convection oven counter light not bright enough for tired old eyes. Also if left on for extended periods it will warm anything stored in the oven - not good for a candy bar. My solution was a 5 watt LED white light. MUCH brighter at almost 45 watt equivalent. Virtually no heat.
Avail. on Amazon Prime two for $8.00. https://www.amazon.com/Aooshine-Micr...ermediate+Base If you don't get this one just be sure it is dimmable - if not you will not get lower level light on the second switch tap. Old bulb probably has a dab of hot glue at lamp base and socket. Be sure to add hot glue to new bulb. It is there to keep bulb from vibrating and coming out during travel.
Hey Techno - drop by Sat around 4 for Happy Hour and you can have one.