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Why a Big Truck |
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Now, a listing of the weight of the trailers we are considering remembering that the tow vehicle has to be qualified from a GCWR and a GVWR aspect:
In the years we have been doing this research, we have observed the weights capacities of pickups rising, each in response to the others increases. We should note that the specs above are for trucks that have heavier capacities than a Dually. But we have not seen a concurrent increase in drivetrain capacities. But what is the real issue if not GVWR or GCWR, because you can see these FW trailers being towed by Dually pickups all the time? The issue is the stopping and handling capacity of the truck. When we first started looking at RVs, we were open to fifth-wheel (FW) trailers and motorhomes. At the first RV show, we were in a National Seabreeze FW and the dealer rep asked what we would pull it with. I indicated that I had a Chevrolet Silverado ¾ ton 4x4. The rep said that if I did it right, I would have to get a Medium Duty Truck (MDT). The next year I spent time researching MDTs and came to respect the reason the rep told me why I would need a MDT for the size trailer we had been talking about. The next show I asked the same dealer rep what prompted him to get a MDT and he replied, “The second time my trailer pushed my pickup through an intersection.” Most people look at the horsepower as the big issue and have felt that, with the new diesels that Ford and Chevrolet are using, they can easily pull big trailers even up hills. But can the pickup control the combined vehicle weight, when steering and braking? Pulling a heavy trailer with a pickup means you are over-stressing the truck. Things will break. Expensive things like the transmission. There are many add-ons to increase the horsepower of the engine. But the frame and the brakes are as they come, and even the transmission does not have capacity increasing add-ons. If you ever plan to travel in the mountains, the drive trains of these pickups, even with tow mode transmissions, will require you use your brakes to control your speed downhill. Compare that to a tow vehicle with an engine brake where engine braking is used to control downhill speeds leaving your brakes for emergencies. Probably the biggest reason to be concerned about having a properly sized tow vehicle is the litigious world we live in. If you get involved in an accident, even one that was not your fault, and you are over-weight, you are severely exposed to legal action. To start, the authorities may choose to cite you for operating an unsafe vehicle. Then your insurance company can choose to not cover you. And finally, there is always a lawyer looking to get money from someone who was in the wrong. See A Sad Story Some Canadian Provinces and a few states are starting to stop and check the weights of RV rigs to see if they are within the GVWR and GCWR ratings of the vehicles. ConclusionSo, if a Dually is not up to the job of pulling a heavy FW trailer, what do you need? The answer is a Medium Duty Truck (MDT). |
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Disclaimer: The information in this site is a collection of data we derived from the vendors and from our personal experiences. This information is meant as a learning guide for you to make your own decisions Best practices and code should always be followed. The recommendations we make are from our personal experiences and we do not receive any compensation for those recommendations. |
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