Towing with a Class C

[Provience]

alright, help me out as a newb to life. Picked up a 29' Class C coach. 1993 Ford E-350 chassis, Fuel injected 460, overdrive trans, probably 3.73 gears, not sure.

Guy I got it from used to regularly tow his 19' fiberglass inboard boat, probably under 4k lbs loaded with gear for the week. My current 20' deck trailer is a little over 2k lbs, the buick will end up a little over 4k lbs (the goal) is it reasonable to think i could drag up to 7k lbs around with this thing? For some amount of money i could go to a smaller trailer and maybe save 1k lbs.

Wheelbase is about 188" and the overhang from rear axle to hitch mount is 132"

pictures under the back, this is the 'extension' channel, looks to be 4" C channel

Here you can see that they overlapped it on top of the much larger main frame C channel and used a fairly decent bracket, outboard view

this is about what the inboard view of that area is

this is outboard of that same spot

[Provience]

rear axle looks like this, full float dual. worth it to go to a 4.1 or 4.3 gear? don't really care to go over 70 mph ever, don't mind getting 8 mpg

and the current hitch attaches with 3 bolts per side, any reason to go up from the likely Class III to a Class IV hitch?

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

132" overhang from the rear axle, and a significant portion is 4" C channel?

I'd be adding a little material there for piece of mind. Otherwise I think it should be fine...

[Provience]

there's a whole lot of not shit in the way, would be pretty easy to make it quite a bit more rigid.

that and a brake controller and call it day? well that's encouraging. your saving me at least a grand in having to make up another trailer

until the buick is done, it will just flat tow the wifes car and that won't need shit done to it.

[Johnny5]

Ultimately think its comes down to tongue weight. A class 3 should be able to handle towing 6000 lbs but if ya end up with 1500 lbs on ur tongue there may be an issue

[Provience]

cool, easy enough to check tongue weight for a full load and keep it about there

if beefing up the rear extension is about the main concern, that's what i'll work on then

[arse_sidewards]

Yeah, I'd just beef the frame and call it a day. A quick and dirty way to do it would be to stick a hitch receiver under the OEM frame and then run a tube from that to the current hitch receiver that comes off the extension. Doing it that way loads the bottom tube in compression and the top frame extensions in tension which should be fine since channel is strong in tension and tube is strong in compression. In any case, whatever you do do something to increase the effective depth of the extension.

You should have a Dana 70 and the V10 loves to rev so I wouldn't think twice about picking whichever gear ratio has you bouncing off the limiter at ~95mph or so.

[Scoobienorth]

Most class c that I looked at are rated for 5000 pounds for the hitch rating and I thought because of the frame extension. Not sure on the legality side of things though

[Provience]

Yeah, I'd just beef the frame and call it a day. A quick and dirty way to do it would be to stick a hitch receiver under the OEM frame and then run a tube from that to the current hitch receiver that comes off the extension. Doing it that way loads the bottom tube in compression and the top frame extensions in tension which should be fine since channel is strong in tension and tube is strong in compression. In any case, whatever you do do something to increase the effective depth of the extension.

You should have a Dana 70 and the V10 loves to rev so I wouldn't think twice about picking whichever gear ratio has you bouncing off the limiter at ~95mph or so.

I'll have to see if i can clean it up and look for a tag or markings, apparently the D60 and D70 look the same but use a slightly different cover. this has got the V8, too old for the V10, but being a gasser probably is just fine with some more revs. Apparently pulling the cover will make it obvious and it probably has 30 year old gear oil in it anyways.

Most class c that I looked at are rated for 5000 pounds for the hitch rating and I thought because of the frame extension. Not sure on the legality side of things though

legality? Well...i'm not sure about that either. can't imagine i'd get stopped and cited for it though.

"in my head" just taking a piece of 1-3/4" and bending up the end and welding it to got from the hitch end to the main frame, with a few angled kickers is what seems easy in my head and should add plenty of height without being too heavy

[arse_sidewards]

D60 and D70 cover is the same. D70 has a bigger casting. If the cover covers the entire perimeter of the cover mating surface face it's a D60. If the mating surface on the housing is bigger than the perimeter of the cover it's a D70. The D60 never came in DRW AFAIK and regardless all the DRW E-series are D70 (I researched the shit out of this when looking for axle shaft info when I got my E-series D60) . Also, FYI you probably have 35spl shafts so you may as well stuff a locker in that bitch. You've got enough weight and wheelbase to negate the problems that people in short light vehicles have with them.

With regards to legality as long as you don't look dangerously overloaded or commercial you likely won't have any issues.

[Provience]

D60 and D70 cover is the same. D70 has a bigger casting. If the cover covers the entire perimeter of the cover mating surface face it's a D60. If the mating surface on the housing is bigger than the perimeter of the cover it's a D70. The D60 never came in DRW AFAIK and regardless all the DRW E-series are D70 (I researched the shit out of this when looking for axle shaft info when I got my E-series D60) . Also, FYI you probably have 35spl shafts so you may as well stuff a locker in that bitch. You've got enough weight and wheelbase to negate the problems that people in short light vehicles have with them.

With regards to legality as long as you don't look dangerously overloaded or commercial you likely won't have any issues.

awesome, good to know. this is my first real time messing around with a dana axle, i'm sure they make a clutch pack soft locker that should be cheaper and just as fine as a detroit.

[arse_sidewards]

I wouldn't trust a clutch pack locker under on something with that much weight but I guess you could hammer some extra clutches in. I was thinking lunchbox locker.

[Provience]

hell i wouldn't trust a lunchbox locker

it will certainly be something to keep an eye out for anyways.

[pointsnorth]

check with your local laws regarding rear axle to hitch ball distance as i know that comes into play here in bc if they are considered passenger vehicles not transport vehicles

[Provience]

check with your local laws regarding rear axle to hitch ball distance as i know that comes into play here in bc if they are considered passenger vehicles not transport vehicles

looked and looked, couldn't find anything in the WA state regs about that. overall length allowed is 65' without a permit and that's about all I could find that might pertain. I should be ~55' so should be good there.