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Motorhome hunting. Let's talk about weight ratings and towing

Sandy Johnson

Sandy Johnson

Harry Member
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
247
Messages
2,812
Loc
Spreckels, Ca
Been looking around for a newer replacement for our old motorhome. I'm torn between some kind of big ass diesel class A or Super C and something smaller and lighter that is easier for the wife to drive without my input.

I found a 2014 26 ft gasser V10 class A that sort of appeals to me based on the size. It's got a GCWR of 23K and a GVWR of 16K. That puts me right at 7K worth of towing fully loaded. Our jeep and flatbed together tip the scales right at 7,150. Am I going to hate it towing right at the max capacity of this little guy? Am I ever even going to get close to the GVWR in the first place, so maybe I shouldnt sweat it? I think our current 30' tow pig of a motorhome with a Cummins 6BT, Alison 2200, steel frame all the way around, full tanks, kids crap, jeep and trailer on the back fully loaded with tools sat at 22k and some change.
 
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Harry Johnson said:
Been looking around for a newer replacement for our old motorhome. I'm torn between some kind of big ass diesel class A or Super C and something smaller and lighter that is easier for the wife to drive without my input.

I found a 2014 26 ft gasser V10 class A that sort of appeals to me based on the size. It's got a GCWR of 23K and a GVWR of 16K. That puts me right at 7K worth of towing fully loaded. Our jeep and flatbed together tip the scales right at 7,150. Am I going to hate it towing right at the max capacity of this little guy? Am I ever even going to get close to the GVWR in the first place, so maybe I should sweat it? I think our current 30' tow pig of a motorhome with a Cummins 6BT, Alison 2200, steel frame all the way around, full tanks, kids crap, jeep and trailer on the back fully loaded with tools sat at 22k and some change.
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I think you should HGTD until you fix the current rig. :flipoff2:
 
Slide outs add a lot of weight. Frame extensions reduce towing capacity.

A friend of mine had a Ford class C v-10 with no slide out and no frame extension. It was basically a box truck, and got him much higher GCWR.
 
Tail overhang is of course a big deal. My old RV (a Minnie Winnie 25B) had a short one by most standards, and still, tongue weight was very noticeable. Otherwise, it was a hot rod, and that 6 speed transmission was pretty great. That class A you're talking about seems like a real sweet spot on GCWR/GVWR. But many of those would have some awful wheelbase ratio with a large rear overhang. Whether this class A could tow at max would depend on the overhang and would probably require you to program it so that the 5-speed wasn't completely stupid, from what I've read.

For what it's worth, I find my current 38' Super C easier to drive than the 36' pushers we test drove. It's not the weight or the length that make it easier to drive--it's the having the axle in front of you with a normal cab width, in my opinion. My wife hasn't driven this one yet, but she's very open to it. The pusher would have been a much steeper learning curve on driving.

Something else to derail your search and make it impossible--we absolutely love the split bath that our current model has. If we decided to upgrade, or decided that this one was too long or whatever, it would be tough to go back on that front. One of the current class A's that seems like a great floorplan is the Tiffin 32SA. Split bath, 2 slides, decent wheelbase, and can be ordered on a heavier chassis. That will be hard to beat, I think, but it's of course expensive as shit.
 
Good info, thanks!

I've found some of these shorter class As are about 2k lbs lighter than their longer versions, but have the same GCWR, so they cal tow more.

We are coincidentally also looking at a few different Super Cs. I like those better than diesel pushers because the interior seems to be built more with a family in mind (multiple places to sleep, actual areas you can attach a car seat, etc) as opposed to something built for an old retired couple traveling the country.

I'm a really big fan of a bunk over the cab or driver's area. I figure right now I can set our kids to sleep on the big bed in the back, and then we come in late from the campfire, we won't wake anyone up and we'll just sleep in the front bunk. Right now with our current class A, there are all kinds of ninja moves and slow door opening to make it to bed without waking up the kiddos.
 
I put a bigger hitch (class 4) on my dad's F-53 based class A (34 foot) V10 motorhome. We added gussets to the hitch portion and the extension back to the frame to ease some of the bending moment from the hitch on the extension.

It actually towed better than I expected and it has a 4R100. I would make sure that your trailer has brakes on all 4 wheels as brakes are an issue with a gasser MH.

Keep the tongue weight within reason and use a weight distributing hitch and you should be fine.
 
Harry Johnson said:
Good info, thanks!

I've found some of these shorter class As are about 2k lbs lighter than their longer versions, but have the same GCWR, so they cal tow more.

We are coincidentally also looking at a few different Super Cs. I like those better than diesel pushers because the interior seems to be built more with a family in mind (multiple places to sleep, actual areas you can attach a car seat, etc) as opposed to something built for an old retired couple traveling the country.

I'm a really big fan of a bunk over the cab or driver's area. I figure right now I can set our kids to sleep on the big bed in the back, and then we come in late from the campfire, we won't wake anyone up and we'll just sleep in the front bunk. Right now with our current class A, there are all kinds of ninja moves and slow door opening to make it to bed without waking up the kiddos.
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We wanted a cab over bunk badly with this purchase, but it was too much of an added expense. As in, that seems to be more common with the newer super C’s. Ours is a 2011 Jayco Embark. So, it’s larger than we wanted, and isn’t as length-efficient as a more modern one. That is the only issue I see with a super C. The front 10’ of ours is cab only. So maybe we have the same amount of living space as a 30’ class A or so, but are 38-1/2’ long. If price were no object, we would rather have had a newer ~34’ one with a cab over bunk. So, don’t forget to factor in the lost living space in a super C.

Monster brakes, a heavy steer axle, and air ride on the rear axle are the tits, though. And I’m so fancy that I also have one of those sweet 12v/120v coolers mounted in a storage bay, and we are in love with that, too.
 
OHV Wildcat said:
We wanted a cab over bunk badly with this purchase, but it was too much of an added expense. As in, that seems to be more common with the newer super C’s. Ours is a 2011 Jayco Embark. So, it’s larger than we wanted, and isn’t as length-efficient as a more modern one. That is the only issue I see with a super C. The front 10’ of ours is cab only. So maybe we have the same amount of living space as a 30’ class A or so, but are 38-1/2’ long. If price were no object, we would rather have had a newer ~34’ one with a cab over bunk. So, don’t forget to factor in the lost living space in a super C.

Monster brakes, a heavy steer axle, and air ride on the rear axle are the tits, though. And I’m so fancy that I also have one of those sweet 12v/120v coolers mounted in a storage bay, and we are in love with that, too.
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Yeah, if we go super C route, it definitely will have to have a bunk over the cab. A lot of the older ones on kodiak chassis have them, but also a lot of those are beat to heck.
 
Most of the tow ratings are made up, the Motorhome builder really has no idea what your coach weighs when complete, they guess.
If you actually want to know, you need to weigh it.

Like others have said, the ass swing (Distance from rear tires to hitch) is critical, shorter the better.
The other big thing is the frame splice (if done on an altered wheelbase) .
Each builder does that frame splice or frame extension (what ever you want to call it) differently.

I have a normal class c (28'), I had to add a truss and gussets to my frame extension to feel better about it.
I wanted a 26' but didn't see any layouts that I liked, I like the super C's but could not stomach the price.

in 2 years I've put 10,000 miles on my RV, most flat towing a TJ, but a few hundred miles towing a 4k early bronco on a trailer.
Fuel milage on a ford V10 is 5-8 mpg.
 
welndmn said:
Most of the tow ratings are made up, the Motorhome builder really has no idea what your coach weighs when complete, they guess.
If you actually want to know, you need to weigh it.
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Luckily I've got a scale just down the road that's open to everyone. Right now just trying to figure out a starting point since whatever motorhome we go with will probably not be local, so no real way to weigh it. I've just been going off of trying to make sure the chassis mfg's GCWR has a lot of wiggle room compared to the gvwr.

I think my biggest worry is having enough brakes/engine braking for mountain roads.
 
Harry Johnson said:
Luckily I've got a scale just down the road that's open to everyone. Right now just trying to figure out a starting point since whatever motorhome we go with will probably not be local, so no real way to weigh it. I've just been going off of trying to make sure the chassis mfg's GCWR has a lot of wiggle room compared to the gvwr.

I think my biggest worry is having enough brakes/engine braking for mountain roads.
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The Ford 6-speed does at least a respectable job of holding gears on descents. When I had my 26’ class c towing 6k or so, my total weight was only about 18k. I could go down all sorts of gnarly descents without having to touch the brakes. I don’t know how it scales up, though. I felt I had enough excess engine braking power that I at least could’ve handled another 4K without any difficulty, but that’s pulled completely out of my ass. If freaking Ford would’ve put select-shift in the RV chassis, this would not be a big issue on smaller gassers. The 36 footers with 3 slides, though…. Well, somewhere there’s a limit, and I don’t know where.
 
2016+ gassers have the 6 speed instead of the 4 speed, that is also when the mfg started updating them from sub 6k tow to sub 8k tow. The deep first gear is a big benefit.
 
OHV Wildcat said:
The Ford 6-speed does at least a respectable job of holding gears on descents. When I had my 26’ class c towing 6k or so, my total weight was only about 18k. I could go down all sorts of gnarly descents without having to touch the brakes. I don’t know how it scales up, though. I felt I had enough excess engine braking power that I at least could’ve handled another 4K without any difficulty, but that’s pulled completely out of my ass. If freaking Ford would’ve put select-shift in the RV chassis, this would not be a big issue on smaller gassers. The 36 footers with 3 slides, though…. Well, somewhere there’s a limit, and I don’t know where.
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I wasn't even giving the V10 a consideration until I met up with a buddy who had a 32-ft class a with the V10 and he towed a 22-ft enclosed trailer with his four-door JK on tons and 40s in the back.. Plus his kids quad and all that. I'm pretty sure he was way over whatever published numbers are in that motorhome, but it worked for him, and he was only 10 mph slower up the grade we had to take to get there than my setup, and he didn't die on the way back down the other side.

He does that run probably 10 times a year with no issues.

I can't wait for a few years when all the new motorhomes with the ford 7.3 gasser hit the used market.
 
rockota said:
I still say fix the wiring on the current beach mobile
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Wiring is fixed. Fired it up today and she's rocking and rolling. Going to do a few test drives over the next week to see if I can break it again. As a bonus, I mapped out most of the crazy engine compartment wiring for the next owner(and my own sanity).
 
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