Acadia and Bounder

[jrhartle]

Does anyone tow an Acadia with a Ford V10 Gas RV? I have a 2001,Fleetwood Bounder 36S. It is a Ford V10 gaser. I'm thinking of setting up my 2007 GMC Acadia FWD for towing 4 down. The curb weight of the Acadia is 4792 lbs. Anyone with experience of pulling a vehiclew this size with a Ford Gas V-10?

[vsheetz]

My Jeep tips the scale at 5000 lb + and tows just fine. Not a speed demon going up long grades, but I maintain ~50 mph on long grades such as the Grape Vine north of Los Angeles. The v10 engine is a high winder - really spins when getting the job done.

[CLIFFTALL]

I think you are approaching an overweight condition ( if not there already ). If you should be in an accident , any attorney worth there salt will uncover this information and use it against you. If you are in fact operating an illegal ( overweight ) vehicle , it will be difficult to defend.

Cliff

[Gary RVRoamer]

My 2007 Acadia scales at 4900+, so you are really pushing the envelope on your hitch receiver.

[Lincolnboy2]

I have a particular interest in this thread, because I have a 2007 Saturn Outlook XR with all the toys it weighs in around 4600#.

I have heard and gleaned a lot of information from people the past year or so on towing this vehicle. It is well within my Gross Combined Vehicle Rating (My coach loaded all tanks, groceries, me, babies and company and adding another 1000 lbs is around 17,500#). I have the same gasser, V-10 Ford chassis.

I have talked to people that have towed the same vehicle with their much heavier than my coach same chassis. A couple of folks have been towing an identical car to mine for 5+ years and over 60,000 miles and no problems. Another couple with an Acadia and 2 folks with Traverses, same thing, no problems. Also talked to folks towing full size F-150 pickups with the same chassis and no problems.

However; I want to err on the side of caution, ....So I would like to hear more on this issue if anyone has any further input. Technically, I am well within the limits of my tow capacity, rating and Gross Vehicle weight limits if I tow my Outlook, but I'm still kind of edgy about it.

[CLIFFTALL]

Hey Kent. The total weight of your fully loaded coach and toad is only one factor. Your hitch has a rating that should not be exceeded no matter what the total of the above weights are. Your Saturn weighs approximately 4700 plus lbs. If you had a 5000 lb rated hitch , you still have to subtract the 500 lb tongue weight. You may have a 4000 lb rated hitch. I recommend you call FW to verify ( 800-322-8216 )
You mentioned that some tow a p/u truck without any issues. My Mother used to tell me " if your friends jumped off a roof , would you follow them? "

Travel safely , my friend.

Cliff

[Lincolnboy2]

Originally Posted by Clifftall

Hey Kent. The total weight of your fully loaded coach and toad is only one factor. Your hitch has a rating that should not be exceeded no matter what the total of the above weights are. Your Saturn weighs approximately 4700 plus lbs. If you had a 5000 lb rated hitch , you still have to subtract the 500 lb tongue weight. You may have a 4000 lb rated hitch. I recommend you call FW to verify ( 800-322-8216 )
You mentioned that some tow a p/u truck without any issues. My Mother used to tell me " if your friends jumped off a roof , would you follow them? "

Travel safely , my friend.

Cliff

I will have Fleetwood's blessing before I even think of towing anything. Good Idea.

Yes, I agree with you Cliff, they also towed a 4 wheel drive Jeep Grand Cherokee (4700#) with the 37' Bounder for about 6 years and of course now they have a big Monaco monster diesel pusher, but they were all over the country in that six years and never had issues. Their Bounder was heavier than my Storm, maybe their chassis was a heavier rated chassis? Had to be, because I know the Bounder is a bigger and much heaver MH than mine.

[Lincolnboy2]

Update: Fleetwood Inquiry/Verification to tow my Saturn Outlook XR:

I talked to Ken at FW, I have a 500# hitch rating and 5000# tow rating. He said

I can tow up to 5,000# safely and should have no issues as long as I am within my Gross Combined weight

, which I am under about 1500 to 2000 lbs depending on how much stuff is in the Tow Vehicle, like my Ex-Pens I will put in there, 4 of them weigh about 100#

I brought up this issue of a 'safety' zone and he told me this issue has come up before and that the MH is designed to tow up to 5,000# safely. I have a Class III hitch on the MH, which has a Max Rating of 6,000# or 600# tongue weight, Fleetwood does not rate the MH for towing up to those maximums, instead it uses the 5,000 and 500 numbers on the design specifications for the MH. I know others tow over 5,000#, but I will not exceed the specifications or design limits from Fleetwood by doing that.

I also factored in the extra 100# for my ex pens, which I will tow/stow in the back of the car, full tank of fuel, and 200# of extra still gets me to only 4700#. My Vehicle Curb/Tow weight is 4350.

Now I just gotta start figuring out what type of flap/rock shield and the towing mechanism. I am being herded to the Blue Ox Line:

Tow Bar Baseplate - 07-10 Saturn Outlook | Blue Ox BX3330

Blue Ox BX3330 Base Plate for Saturn Outlook 07-09 Camper Trailer RV

These links also have the equipment for the Acadia, Traverse, and Enclave.

[Lincolnboy2]

Originally Posted by Clifftall

Hey Kent. The total weight of your fully loaded coach and toad is only one factor. Your hitch has a rating that should not be exceeded no matter what the total of the above weights are. Your Saturn weighs approximately 4700 plus lbs. If you had a 5000 lb rated hitch , you still have to subtract the 500 lb tongue weight. You may have a 4000 lb rated hitch. I recommend you call FW to verify ( 800-322-8216 )
You mentioned that some tow a p/u truck without any issues. My Mother used to tell me " if your friends jumped off a roof , would you follow them? "

Travel safely , my friend.

Cliff

Cliff, I didn't know I had to deduct the tongue weight rating from the tow weight rating?

Now I am confused again.....granted, that doesn't take much with me....

[CLIFFTALL]

That's what I have always thought. Maybe someone else will verify or dispute the tongue weight and hitch rating factor. I did google your vehicle and Motortrend says it weighs between 4750 and 4950. http://m.motortrend.com/roadtests/su...aturn_outlook/

. That ought to really confuse you. :-).

Cliff

[Lincolnboy2]

I need to get the car weighed on a scale before I know for sure. Its not an AWD so it should be at the lower end of the mfg. weight range, course, I'll have to be out of the car to get a true weight rating...hahahhahaha!

[CLIFFTALL]

Did you ever verify with FW if you're rated for 4 or 5,000 lbs?

[Lincolnboy2]

I got the care weighed at the CAT official scales at the Love's last weekend. The car was full of fuel and about 20-30 lbs of stuff from Camping World.

The official weight of my Saturn Outlook XR (It does have those two big glass windows in the roof, they call it the California, Texas, Florida Sun Package) was 4,740#

I know the base plate will probably add another 50-75# so I should be in good shape still, around 4800-4850 lbs. But I'll have to make sure I don't carry anything in the car.

[CLIFFTALL]

Good news. Hopefully you're putting a brake on that thing.