Possible to Tow a CD22 with Travel Lite RV?

[browntdb]

I tow my CD22 with a Ford Expedition. It tows easily. I was wondering if a 2001 Travel Lite 21 ft. RV with a Ford E350 Chassis and V8 with Dualies would tow my CD22. Not sure how much the RV weighs, so that would be a factor.

I thought I would ask in case someone here has experience towing with this vehicle.

It would be nice to be able to tow with an RV.

Thanks,

Terry

[Captains Cat]

What does the literature say about what it will tow?

Charlie

[PaulNBriannaLynn]

Its just a guess until a look at the owners manual proved otherwise, but that thing should have no trouble towing a 22' c-dory. 1 ton chassis and a big V-8 says it all to me. Check and see if its rated for 5000 lbs or more.

[thataway]

Several factors: One is the hitch assembly and frame of The RV. Many RV's have extended frames, which are either welded or bolted on the vehicle chassis.

The second is what the combined weight is for that vehicle. You need to take the vehicle to a truck scale--most truck stops have a scale--you can weight the total vehicle, front and rear axle weight (you should do this for all RV's anyway, to be sure they are not overloaded).

You also want to look at the over all length, the wheel base and the rear overhang. I did find the specs for the single rear wheel (vs dual you have) and the payload was 4160 lbs--I would expect at least 2000 more lbs with the duals--maybe a bit more. The WB and LOA looked good for towing from the specs. The tow capacity was 2000 to 10,000 depending on options and hitch etc.

What you may find is that the weight of the RV interior, tanks,your food, gear etc, has decreased the capacity. In this case you have to consider the extra weight that the RV tongue puts in the RV, and also the towing weight.

My general experience with that type of chassis and Rv is that if you keep the weight in the RV down, it should be fine towing a C Dory22. There is no issue with power (although you don't say which V8 you have).

[Sunbeam]

It'll be interesting to hear what the specs have to say (GVWR, GAWR, GCWR, etc.). I'd guess the V-8 is the 5.4 Triton which is what I have in my tow vehicle (3/4 ton camper van). I've looked at a number of 21' or so RV's, and they had good towing specs; but they also all had the V-10 version of the same engine (and perhaps a different transmission).

You probably know this already, but I'll mention it just in case. There may or may not be an actual "tow rating" for this particular RV. And even if it has one you still may not "be able" to pay attention to it (because of other factors). It's sort of like a ground tackle system in that you have to look for the weakest link and then that's the limit. For example, my van cannot tow up to it's actual tow rating, because I hit something else first (in my case, the GCWR). I still have plenty of capacity for towing the C-Dory 22, however. (The math shows that I have around 5,500# available to me for towing out of a theoretical 7,500# tow rating -- however I hit the GCWR at that 5,500# figure due to the fact that the van is not empty but instead has camper outfitting in it. The other ratings all have "room" left in them.)

So, if there is no rating, or even if there is one, what I would do is look at all of the following, and see if/where the "real world" limit is. One of these will probably hit the limit before the others:

1) GCWR
2) GAWR (rear)
3) Tow rating (if there is one)
4) Hitch rating (if this is the first "weak link" but there is room in all the other figures, it can possibly be raised by changing to a better hitch).
5) Tongue weight limit.

If you are going by calculations (prior to purchasing, for example), note that if there is a long overhang (distance between rear axle and hitch) that the weight on the hitch will "become more weight" on the rear axle. This can be calculated if necessary. Of course if you already have the vehicle you can weigh things.

There is also the GVWR, which as Bob mentioned is sometimes fairly close to being maxed out on RV's (before towing). Not always though.

Sunbeam