How nice and safe it is on the road. Tundra towing a DS 36ftr'. Has slider hitch, 10ply tires, and air bags on truck. safety switch is disk brakes on the DS.
Glad he will be here till spring thaw in Indiana, We are here for the month at Meahar State Park @ Mobile, Al.

I have ordered a new GMC 2500 HD Crew cab standard bed with the factory installed RV prep package. Do I need a slider Hitch or can I use the standard fixed hitch withn my 2013 Redwood RV. I currently have a standard bed chevy with a fixed hitch and have no problems. Any GMC owners out there with experience would be helpful.

We have a 2015 RL-38 being towed with a 2016 GMC 3500 crew cab single rear wheel 4wd . With 100 gallons of water in the fresh tank and basic camping gear , no food and clothes. I went across a Cat scale and found my rear axel is 7050 max weight on the tag and scaled at 7400 lbs. Front axle on the truck scaled at 4990 ,the GM rating on my single wheel truck 5500 lbs. Most 2500hd have 4800 lbs rated front end so its very possible you be over weight front and rear with a 2500hd. In my case I am 100% sure I need a duel rear wheel one ton however I am going to put 19.5" tires on my truck and only pull it with 20 gallons of fresh water in the tank. The holding tanks are exactly half way from the hitch pin to the trailer axel center so roughly 300lbs will come off the hitch weight and some of my tools will have to go in the rare storage area in the coach from the front basement storage area. Air bags are a MUST on the rear axel if you deside to stick with the 2500hd , 265/70/18 tires are at MAX load or over weight slightly for sure. The 19.5" tire combo I am putting on my truck will increase my safety margin but as other have pointed out running overloaded in the DOT eyes is a VERY big deal. My 3500HD truck has a 25100 LB combined max combo truck and trailer , I am under that number by 700+ LBs . Yes do need a slider with a 6.6" bed (short bed)

Good evening all. I'm a newbie. I am in the market for a RW 3901MB (1/2 bath) model. I'm trying to learn about towing. Can someone direct me to reliable sources of information on what is needed to properly outfit a truck? I'm interested in a Ford. I've heard about addons like RV or camper packages, lift kits, etc. Also what engine size, braking mechanism and other items are required to safely pull. I'm hoping there is some web site or book/pamphlet that provides good solid info.

I went to the Dallas RV show back in Sept. and a representative from Escapees said over 50% of the trucks (on the road today) are improperly match to their 5th wheels. I'm interested in doing this correctly and keeping my wife and myself safe.

I'd appreciate any good factual information the forum has. Thank you.

Hi John and welcome to our group. You will get many opinions on towing, so brace yourself.

I'll give you my experience. The first truck we had was a 2012 F350 Ford crew cab short bed srw. Loved that truck and figured it would be all I'd need. We pulled the 36RL for about 8 months, never really had the warm fuzzy feeling. Added sway bars, airbags and had a good slider hitch. Had the rig weighed, individual wheels, and found rear axle and tires almost 850 lbs overweight. Someone got a very nice 9 month old truck with 10k miles. I got a F350 Dually that I love. If I was doing it now, I would get a F450 just for more weight capability. Ride is same if not better.

As for equipment, Diesel for certain, probably Crew Cab. Mine has the Camper package which gives you different springs on the rear and also has the snowplow prep which gives you some extra cooling capacity and heavier font springs. In any case you want to add Airbags for suspension control and spring for an onboard compressor and remote. Buy the best hitch you can. B&W makes an excellent one if you want a normal hitch, I'm partial to my Comfort Ride Hitch that is cushioned and adjustable. Also make sure the truck has the factory fifth wheel prep puck system for hitch mounting.

We also changed th suspension on th coach to a MorRyde IS and also have disc brakes and H rated tires. The result is that we have towed the rig over 33k miles with no issues and in comfort and safety. We are now fulltime in the coach and couldn't be happier with it.
There re quite a few other mods I've done to both the truck and coach for handling and comfort, feel free to PM me if you'd like more info.

John, I concur with Vaughan.
Our older Glendale Titanium was pulled by a F-350 SRW diesel, I moved up to a 2011 F-450 Dualy diesel,that model is really a HD F-350, same as the older F-350 Tow Boss models, it has 17 inch tires compared to the later ones with 19.5 tires. When I bought it we wern't thinking about the Redwood 36RL that we now have, I'm glad that I bought "more truck" than I needed at that time.

I think that an F-350 Dually diesel (super cab or crew cab) with a tow package and the hitch prep should be fine, people will debate what axle ratio you should spec, I prefer a 4.10 to get a bit of extra capacity at the cost of a bit less fuel economy.

Firstly, welcome to the Owner's Group, where you will find lots of owners and previous owners more than willing to share their experiences.

Our experience is also very similar to Vaughan. We started with a 2012 F350 CC SRW with a long box to pull our 2013 36FL. We travelled light, keeping the GVW to about 15,500 lbs and pin weight about 3,000 lbs. To achieve this we couldn't carry any FW. We were just within towing limits and rear axle load. We added air bags, which improved the ride. Probably competed 20,000 miles with this truck, with many miles being through the Rockies.

We now have a 2016 F-350 CC DRW with long box. I spent months debating on whether to go F-450, F-350 with tow package or the basic F-350 dually. At the time it was our only vehicle, so we opted for the better fuel economy of the basic F-350 dually. The towing specs easily handle our coach, however the turning circle is much wider than the other 2 options.

If we had the 2nd vehicle for driving around our sticks & bricks home, I would have opted for the F-450. The specs for the F-350 with towing package and F-450 are very similar, but the F-450, as a de-rated class 4 truck is vastly superior - in my opinion.

Highly recommend getting the Ford factory hitch prep. Installs and removes in seconds and leave a clear truck bed when removed.

On the coach, we upgraded to Centrepoint Suspension, which is a fair bit cheaper than the MOR/ryde IS option. Is it as good as the IS system, probably not, but it is a vast improvement on the factory system. We also completed about 25,000 miles on the factory electric brakes, with no problems. Have since upgraded to Disk Brakes, which are a significant improvement. Definitely recommend getting the factory disk brakes, or upgrading at the 2018 rally

The other system to consider is tires. Our coach was delivered with Marathon "E" tires, which we immediately upgraded to Goodyear "G" tires. At the 2018 rally we will further upgrade to 17.5" H-rated tires. I note the factory does install H-rated tires, but questions have been raised with their speed rating. Therefore, check both the load rating and speed rating of the tires, as having lots of reserve load capacity means nothing, if the tire is limited to about 60 mph.

Good evening all. I'm a newbie. I am in the market for a RW 3901MB (1/2 bath) model. I'm trying to learn about towing. Can someone direct me to reliable sources of information on what is needed to properly outfit a truck? I'm interested in a Ford. I've heard about addons like RV or camper packages, lift kits, etc. Also what engine size, braking mechanism and other items are required to safely pull. I'm hoping there is some web site or book/pamphlet that provides good solid info.

I went to the Dallas RV show back in Sept. and a representative from Escapees said over 50% of the trucks (on the road today) are improperly match to their 5th wheels. I'm interested in doing this correctly and keeping my wife and myself safe.

I'd appreciate any good factual information the forum has. Thank you.

John,
Not to start the truck storm, but ANY of the big. 3 DRW 1 tons are more than capable of handling these RWs.
As far as learning to tow these beast, just be careful & vigil of everyone else til you get a feel for it & find a large empty lot & practice.
Also welcome to the group.

x

Thank you to everyone who responded. I didn't know there was a special setup for attaching a hitch. Also, I didn't know disc brakes were an option. I see I have a lot of learning in front of me.

Since I'm new I'll give you a little background. I'm looking to retire in 1-2 years. The wife and I are interested in becoming full timers. We want to boondock >50% of the time. We want our first trip to be to Alaska. Then follow the warm sun.

We looked at several other bath & 1/2 units and the RW seemed to have the most options we want. We plan to tour the plant this summer. I've sat in the 3901MB many times and really like the fit and feel. It's the truck that has me perplexed. I didn't know there were so many options and configurations.

I had a friend tell me about the tires. He bought a new Forest River about 1 1/2 yrs ago. His first trip from TX to NM he lost 2 of his cheap Chinese tires and had all four upgraded to Goodyears right on the highway. He also suggested I spend the money to attend an Escapees bootcamp. What do you guys think? Would it be worth the price (@ $450) or do you think there are other options in learning?

I see I'll be doing a lot of reading. I appreciate any and all advice. I know everyone's situation and preferences are different. So I believe everyone has something to offer. Thanks 🙂

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If you have the time, I also recommend coming to the 2018 Rally. The campground owners also have a hotel next door.

Some of the presentations will be of interest to you - tires, disk brakes, electrical systems for boondocking - genny & solar. It also includes factory tours of Redwood & MOR/ryde. July 18th to 21st are the core rally dates.

I recently purchased a 2018 3401RL which listed the dry weight as 13482. Everything I have read so far indicates that is not close to being correct. My tow vehicle is a 2014 dodge cc sb with 11700 GVW and 4.10 rear axle with Firestone AirRide. According to the posts I don't have enough truck for this camper....Am I correct in my thinking?

x

The dry weight should be from the scale before it departs the factory. It doesn't include propane, water and probably only 1 battery. If you weigh the coach now it will most likely be over 16,000lbs. Your pin weight is probably 3,500 lbs or more, depending on how much water you carry.

You indicate a rating of 11,700lbs for GVW, which seems low for a 2014 model. Don't know the Dodge specs, but my 2012 F-350 SRW was rated for 16,000 lbs. Therefore, my assumption is your truck could be a 2500 with a Gas engine and SRW. We need some additional truck specs - 1500/2500/3500 and gas/diesel engine. What is the rating for the truck's rear axle and what is the Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating (GCVWR).

The other spec to confirm, is the 11,700 lb the rating for trailer towing or 5th wheel towing. What is your total coach weight and pin weight.

Based on the information you have provided the short answer is yes, your truck specifications probably do not meet the needs for your coach. However we need additional information to make a proper determination.

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