Community Forums

Alfa154 · 10-30-2020, 10:19 AM

I recently purchased a 2004 Itasca Sunova 30' Class A, with the Triton V10. Bought from a friend (the original owner), and have all the maintenance records from day one. The mileage is now at almost 23K, after our first few trips. The towing capacity is 5,000#. What would be the best weight in a toad for this RV? Trying to narrow down the best choice based on comfort, and not overtaxing the rig. Seems to be a tough act. Would be shopping used, as we don't want to make a large outlay while we are still feeling the RV experience out. Thanks in advance for your advice.

Mr_D · 10-30-2020, 10:25 AM

2014 or older CR-V if you can find one.

WhippetTaxi · 10-30-2020, 10:52 AM

Used 2-door Jeep Wrangler.

lllkrob · 10-30-2020, 11:10 AM

Something under 4000 lbs. like a Chevy Equinox.

Solo_RV_Guy · 10-30-2020, 11:16 AM

Jeep death wobble... what's the attraction to towing the Jeep as a 'daily driver'? I understand off-road use, rough terrain, etc. But towing a vehicle that can flip my RV? Naw...

@Alfa - welcome to iRV2! You'll receive no shortage of opinions here!

The CCC should on a placard in the RV. That's the amount of weight you can add to coach - clothes, tools, food, bedding, additional appliances or cooking stuff, other personal items, and any towed vehicle. In some cases you really can't make a good guess about towed vehicle weight until you load and weigh the coach.

MSHappyCampers · 10-30-2020, 11:21 AM

Hi ! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined us!

I would be more comfortable at about 4000 lbs. We really love our 2013 Honda CRV!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

HarryStone · 10-30-2020, 12:18 PM

You have choices to make. How do you want to tow? On a trailer? 4 down? On a dolly? Each has its limitations.

Alfa154 · 10-30-2020, 12:55 PM

4 wheels down. Thanks

georgelesley · 10-30-2020, 01:49 PM

Since you have a F-53 chassis there is something else you need to be concerned about. That is how high off the ground is the baseplate towbar hook up point. The hitch on the F-53 chassis is high. If the vehicle is low like the Ford Focus we had you will need a large drop hitch adaptor. We had to use a 10” to get the tow bar within it’s 2-3” of level requirement.

This will be prone to “tail drag” on uneven surfaces such as entering or exiting a parking lot that has a sharp elevation or sharp drop. Any drop hitch over 6” is quite prone to tail drag especially if the motorhome has a long rear overhang. This is one reason you see many Jeeps behind gassers as they sit higher than most other cars.

We have a 2019 Jeep and it works fine. Over 20000 miles towing and never had the “death wobble”. Jeep says they fixed it on the 2019 models and so far I agree with them. We had several Honda CRV’s in the past so I checked on the Honda CRV height. It would have needed a 8” adaptor so we passed and bought the Jeep to replace our Focus.

Gary RVRoamer · 10-30-2020, 02:21 PM

"Best weight" would be anything under about 4200 lb, whatever suits your vehicle needs. Since the toad weight is carried on its own wheels, the only time the extra weight becomes significant is when pulling it up a hill, or braking on the downhill side (but you will have toad braking system for the latter, right?).

Up until about 2014 there were a lot of 4-down towable vehicles under 4000 lbs, often closer to 3000 than 4000. Among newer models, the choice of 4-down towables dwindled a lot. I suggest you look through the Dinghy (aka 4-down) towing guides and focus on models in the 2008-2014 range. There are quite a few excellent SUVs and sedans and clean, relatively low mileage examples can be found with a bit of patience.

https://www.motorhome.com/download-dinghy-guides/

NXR · 10-30-2020, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alfa154

I recently purchased a 2004 Itasca Sunova 30' Class A, with the Triton V10. Bought from a friend (the original owner), and have all the maintenance records from day one. ... The towing capacity is 5,000#. What would be the best weight in a toad for this RV?

Have a brochure: https://library.rvusa.com/brochure/04Sunovabro.pdf

Assuming it is the 30B and you're sure it has the Triton V10 which means a Ford chassis and not a Workhouse chassis, your GCWR is 26,000 and your GVWR is 18,000.

GCWR minus GVWR equals 8,000 pounds. That is how much weight you can safely tow if you have an adequate hitch. That is weight that can only be used for towing, not for putting stuff inside the motorhome.

Why do you think it can only tow 5,000 pounds? From the brochure, that Workhorse chassis can only safely tow 4,000 pounds without removing "stuff" from the motorhome to stay below 17,000 pounds.

NOTE: It is possible you really are limited to 5,000 pounds if the motorhome manufacturer did something like add frame extensions that will not handle 8,000 pounds of towing.

HTH,

Ray

Isaac-1 · 10-30-2020, 02:49 PM

Note depending on how they are optioned out the current generation of Jeep Cherokee (not Grand Cherokee) weighs in around 3,900 - 4,250 pounds, and are flat towable if they have the optional Active Drive II transmission (not the Active Drive I, or front wheel drive models though). We have one and consider it to be a nice daily driver, though it is heavy for its overall size.