Ivy
05-23-2014, 08:21 AM
Thank you everyone on this site for the wonderful information posted.
When we bought our Hideout 28 BHS we were told by the dealer (at Camper City Buford, GA) that our 2007 F-150 would be the "perfect" tow vehicle to haul this load across the US.:banghead: The camper's dry weight is posted as 6726. The Ford site says that the max towing capacity for this truck is 8300. I wanted to believe him. The truth is we wanted this camper. The floor plan is exceptional and the thought of the 4 of us (plus 2 dogs) living in a camper full time, we really wanted the extra space.
So long story short we bought the camper and then tried to upgrade the truck to be able to carry the weight. Why? As my husband says "because the truck was paid for". We added a Roadmaster active suspension, Bilstein shocks/struts, and Michelin 10-ply tires. And biased on what I learned from this forum we got the Scanguage II to monitor the transmission temperature.
A couple of days ago we went out for a test drive. I have most of what I want to carry already loaded so we knew we were within a few hundred pounds of what our actual weight would be. First stop was the local dump to see what we weighed. 15000 lbs total and just over 8000 lbs without the truck on the scale. I knew right away we were in trouble. We were at towing capacity and were 1000 lbs over payload capacity!
My husband wanted to believe that the upgraded suspension would be able to handle it. So the second test was to go over a mountain and see how the motor/transmission handled it. I know you guys out west don't think we have real mountains here in the east but the mountain we drove over was about 8 miles of 8% grade. The motor did great but the transmission quickly rose to 237 degrees and it was only 78 degrees outside (wonder what would have happened if it had been 95 degrees out side :eek:). My local transmission guy told me not to let the transmission temp go over 240. We pulled over let it cool to normal temperature and then made our way back down the 8% grade. Everything went a little better coming down but we were having to use the brakes a little too much for my taste. I could imagine doing that for 30 plus miles.
We made it safely home unhooked and went straight to the Chevy dealer.
And this is what we found.... 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD LT Crew Cab 6.6L V8, Diesel. I now have a Jake brake, Allison transmission, side curtain air bags and a brand new hefty payment. We would have shopped around for a later model but we are leaving in 13 days and we had to have a fiberglass bed cover to protect work related stuff.
Moral of the story never trust a salesman no matter how bad you want to believe them. If you want the truth ask those who are doing what you want to do.
Thank you again guys for giving it to us straight!(tx)
When we bought our Hideout 28 BHS we were told by the dealer (at Camper City Buford, GA) that our 2007 F-150 would be the "perfect" tow vehicle to haul this load across the US.:banghead: The camper's dry weight is posted as 6726. The Ford site says that the max towing capacity for this truck is 8300. I wanted to believe him. The truth is we wanted this camper. The floor plan is exceptional and the thought of the 4 of us (plus 2 dogs) living in a camper full time, we really wanted the extra space.
So long story short we bought the camper and then tried to upgrade the truck to be able to carry the weight. Why? As my husband says "because the truck was paid for". We added a Roadmaster active suspension, Bilstein shocks/struts, and Michelin 10-ply tires. And biased on what I learned from this forum we got the Scanguage II to monitor the transmission temperature.
A couple of days ago we went out for a test drive. I have most of what I want to carry already loaded so we knew we were within a few hundred pounds of what our actual weight would be. First stop was the local dump to see what we weighed. 15000 lbs total and just over 8000 lbs without the truck on the scale. I knew right away we were in trouble. We were at towing capacity and were 1000 lbs over payload capacity!
My husband wanted to believe that the upgraded suspension would be able to handle it. So the second test was to go over a mountain and see how the motor/transmission handled it. I know you guys out west don't think we have real mountains here in the east but the mountain we drove over was about 8 miles of 8% grade. The motor did great but the transmission quickly rose to 237 degrees and it was only 78 degrees outside (wonder what would have happened if it had been 95 degrees out side :eek:). My local transmission guy told me not to let the transmission temp go over 240. We pulled over let it cool to normal temperature and then made our way back down the 8% grade. Everything went a little better coming down but we were having to use the brakes a little too much for my taste. I could imagine doing that for 30 plus miles.
We made it safely home unhooked and went straight to the Chevy dealer.
And this is what we found.... 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD LT Crew Cab 6.6L V8, Diesel. I now have a Jake brake, Allison transmission, side curtain air bags and a brand new hefty payment. We would have shopped around for a later model but we are leaving in 13 days and we had to have a fiberglass bed cover to protect work related stuff.
Moral of the story never trust a salesman no matter how bad you want to believe them. If you want the truth ask those who are doing what you want to do.
Thank you again guys for giving it to us straight!(tx)