is 16K hitch enough ?

[montanajoe]

hello to all,
new to the site , getting my new 2014 montana about nov 25. my question is, i am trading in my 2008 everest, it weights 11,800 dry, and loaded it is 14,200, thats about 2,400 lbs of stuff loaded in. the new montana is, 12,700 dry and the book says you can put another 3,100 lbs in it. now i will never put in that amount, but if i put in the same 2,400lbs that i had in my everest, that will bring the weight up to 15,100.
do you think my 16K hitch will do the job or should i look into getting a 18K to play it safe? any help you can give me would be great. cant wait until the end of the month to get the new trailer. JUST HOPE IT WASENT MADE ON A MONDAY OR FRIDAY, and i dont have to many problems with it at the start. thank you for all your help. joe

[jerseyphil]

Originally Posted by montanajoe

hello to all,
new to the site , getting my new 2014 montana about nov 25. my question is, i am trading in my 2008 everest, it weights 11,800 dry, and loaded it is 14,200, thats about 2,400 lbs of stuff loaded in. the new montana is, 12,700 dry and the book says you can put another 3,100 lbs in it. now i will never put in that amount, but if i put in the same 2,400lbs that i had in my everest, that will bring the weight up to 15,100.
do you think my 16K hitch will do the job or should i look into getting a 18K to play it safe? any help you can give me would be great. cant wait until the end of the month to get the new trailer. JUST HOPE IT WASENT MADE ON A MONDAY OR FRIDAY, and i dont have to many problems with it at the start. thank you for all your help. joe

Joe (fellow NJ RVer),
I'm one of those who totally believes in greater extra capacity than you are allowing. Since you are asking the question, I think you feel that way too, but are just looking for opinions.
I would get the 18K hitch. I have a 16K hitch with my setup, which was 9,200 lbs dry and about 12,800 loaded according to Keystone.
Enjoy that new Montana!!

Phil (JerseyPhil)

[hankpage]

My 2¢ from the Jersey shore .... The 16k should be fine, but like Phil, I would probably go for the upgrade to play it safe. Good luck with the new rig, Hank ............ I've heard they don't ship Mon. and Fri. trailers to Jersey.

[Cyncwby]

My Mountaineer is only 10,500 empty but I wanted "overkill". So I kept hunting till I found a practically new, made in '09 Hensley Trailer saver TS3, got it for $1350 shipped to the house. This hitch weighs 300 lbs, built like a tank and is very smooth, you don't feel any trailer bounce of jerking.

[SAABDOCTOR]

MY 5ER WEIGHS IN AT 14906 LOADED. I HAVE TOWED WITH A 16K HITCH WITH OUT A PROBLEM. i CHECK IT REGULARLY. AND HANK IS RIGHT They don't send hitches made on monday and friday to the northeast!! it's a law

[JRTJH]

Barney,

You're probalby right, they don't send hitches built on a Monday or Friday to the northeast, but as for trailers...... Now, that's a different story. The average assemblyline time at Keystone is 8 days, so every RV coming out of the plant is a "Monday" AND "Friday" rig...... No matter how you cut it, there's no escaping the "hangover day" or the "anticipation day" with that kind of timeline

Come to think of it, there's also no escaping the "Tuesday/Thursday blues" or the "Humpday horrors" either......

[Javi]

Just my opinion.... If it were my rig, I'd go with a 18K for peace of mind if nothing else.

Sent from my GT-P5210 using Tapatalk

[SAABDOCTOR]

HI JOHN I never bought into the monday friday thing junk can roll off the assembly line any day of the week. Saab used to build cars using teams every month they would change jobs (to avoid boredom) every month a problem moved to another part of the car. like left rear doors id not fit right. then cars missing front speakers the oil filter was so tight you had to remove the housing to cut the filter off. crankshaft nuts not tight. we called that team Sven dumkoff or team f&^$k up! so nothing surprises me.

[airforceret]

I went with the 18K... Then if I decide to pull a golf cart on a small trailer, or ATV, or boat... I'm good to go!

[montanajoe]

thank you to all, I will look into a 18K, to play it safe

[jlb27537]

Originally Posted by montanajoe

hello to all,
new to the site , getting my new 2014 montana about nov 25. my question is, i am trading in my 2008 everest, it weights 11,800 dry, and loaded it is 14,200, thats about 2,400 lbs of stuff loaded in. the new montana is, 12,700 dry and the book says you can put another 3,100 lbs in it. now i will never put in that amount, but if i put in the same 2,400lbs that i had in my everest, that will bring the weight up to 15,100.
do you think my 16K hitch will do the job or should i look into getting a 18K to play it safe? any help you can give me would be great. cant wait until the end of the month to get the new trailer. JUST HOPE IT WASENT MADE ON A MONDAY OR FRIDAY, and i dont have to many problems with it at the start. thank you for all your help. joe

Hello Joe, You do not say what hitch brand and model you have. As for weight, your new Montana is probably larger and will have more storage room. Please, Trust Me. From experience, if you have room for something, you WILL haul it along. Figure your new Montana will weigh it's GVWR weight and figure about 22% for pin weight.

Your 16K hitch will carry the load, but all hitches are not created equal, so you might want to upgrade either in brand, model or capacity.

Also might want to consider visiting the Montana Owners Forum. Most of the guys there are experienced RV'ers. http://montanaadministrator.forumco.com/default.asp

Jim