owners site

[JOHN EVANS]

Is anyone else having trouble with the Suites owners site?

[wackum]

Just checked uper right cornerhas this message

The forum is temporarily unavailable. we are sorry for the inconvenience.

[hitchup]

SOITC forum is up and running, but my user name and password no longer work.

[john]

Same here....says my log in info is wrong....seems as if someone really got things screwed up....hope they fix it soon.

[JOHN EVANS]

SAME HERE NAME AND PASS WORD NOT RECONIZED

[Motor31]

I just tried it today and got in. I did have to login two times as I tried to post there.

Heck of a disclosure in stacy's weight column. The numbers were not very good for suites owners and their light duty tow vehicles. Even worse was the high percentage of those who had their trailer tires under inflated. No real excuse for that situation.

[bstark]

I got on as well and the first place I went was Stacey's PDF spreadsheet file;

Man oh man; was that an eye opener! Not only is everyone with a single rear wheel axle but also a full 60% of the dually crowd are towing over the door tag. That's just incredible in this day and age. It's also just the ones that have bothered to be weighed. Can only imagine what those figures would reveal if EVERYONE owning one got weighed.

Scary!

[Beachgirl]

Ok, I invite the weight police who have researched the new 2011 Chevy 3500HD to weigh in. ;)
We are newbies to 5th wheels, and have read the weight info at SOITC, and all about the overweight folks. Don't want to be in that number.
We really want to do things right. OTOH, dh absolutely does not want to drive a Freightliner.

Am I mistaken in thinking that the new 2011 Chevy dually, 6.6 diesel w/ Allison will be just fine for a 2011 38TKSB3? No washer/ dryer; no generator, won't carry water/ gray water around.
It's rated for 21,100 on the 5th wheel towing. I just can't seem to find the GRAW; or the GCWR for the truck; in addition, the pinweight on the gas trucks only goes up to 3500#. It's confusing to a newbie that a truck rated to tow 21000 lbs would only have a pinweight allowance of 3500 #.
Any (kind) advice is welcomed.

[Motor31]

Beachgirl. I have an older 38' MS that has a lighter GVW than the newer ones. My actual pin weight is over 4200 lbs. If the payload of the truck you mentioned is 3500 lbs. you are already out of the load capacity of the truck you mentioned by more than half a ton. My pin weight is also not unusual, on the contrary it is rather common on these units. I don't see where the choice of powerplant (gas vs diesel) has much bearing on the pin weight capacity of the truck.

As Stacy found out weighing a bunch of DRV units, you may be inside the GCVW of the tow vehicle and still overload the weight capacity of the rear axle / tires of the vehicle.

[Beachgirl]

ok, I found the numbers.

Max 5th wheel: 21,700 (my options put it at 21,100)

Max GVWR: 15,000

Max FGAWR: 6,000

Max RGAWR: 9375

Here's the link: http://www.chevrolet.com/assets/pdf/en/overview/Silverado_HD_charts-rev091410.pdf

[hitchup]

The 38TKSB3 tops out at 20,000 lbs. But as you can tell from the Weight tables, many owners go over the max.

Ours with generator, fiberglass roof, w/d, Island ipo TK desk and no personal items came from the factory at 16,195 lbs. We keep changing furniture and items inside, so am not sure what our current weight might be fully loaded.

That's why we have the F450. It gives us a bit of a cushion because we are still 4000 lbs under if we max out the Suite.

[Beachgirl]

Thank you so much for your reply. I know this hijacks the thread, but are you glad you got a fiberglass roof? And how much weight does it add?

We are planning to ditch the desk, and just have an extended entertainment center. We'll also forego the generator.

I thought that unit topped out at 18,500 on the spec sheet at their website. Perhaps I am recalling it incorrectly.

But thank you so much for your reply. Is there a place where I could look at the pictures of your mods? Sounds interesting.

[terry and jo]

ok, I found the numbers.

Max 5th wheel: 21,700 (my options put it at 21,100)

Max GVWR: 15,000

Max FGAWR: 6,000

Max RGAWR: 9375

Here's the link: http://www.chevrolet.com/assets/pdf/en/overview/Silverado_HD_charts-rev091410.pdf

Beachgirl,

According to that brochure, with the 3:73 rear end the 3500 has a GCVW rating of only 29,200 lbs. Since the DRV weighs in at 18,500, that would only allow for your truck to have a maximum weight of truck and additional payload of 10,700 pounds without being overweight. That seems awfully light for a dually 4X4.

It also looked like the Ford had better specs in their comparisons of the diesels. I presume you are looking at diesel.

Terry

[hitchup]

Spec sheet will probably show 18.5k for Mobile Suite and 20k for the Elite. But because they have the larger 17.5 tires standard on 38', if you ask, they can give you the 20k rating. We added it to the Price Sheet as instructed, then they forgot to change it on the labels. We had them send the corrected labels afterwards.

We had a 2006 Elite 36TK3 and decided we wanted another fiberglass roof. Much easier to keep clean. At the time we ordered, they didn't have the 38RSSB3 floorplan. We had them make one special for us with an extended Island.

The 2011's MS will get a 2-pc optional FG roof and the ES will be a 1-pc standard FG. This is because the Elites now have a straight flat roof.

Have a few pictures on Suite Owners Forum. Nothing current on our blog.
Jan 2009 have some older pics with different furniture.

Vickie

[wingnut60]

Latest issue of Trailer Life features a 2011 Dually w/2011 38RSSB3 in tow.
Specs listed showed GVWR of 13000, GCVWR 29200, Tow rating 21100, weight of truck AS TESTED 8380.

Also lists the MS at 3220 pin weight--this has to be on a bare-bones trailer.
Says it had water and propane full, but no cargo--sounds low to me--with the trailer at 16460 itself.

[Beachgirl]

Of further interest for anyone contemplating 2011 Chevy vs Ford TV:

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2010/11/chevy-vs-ford-in-heavy-duty-rumble-in-the-rockies.html

http://blogs.dieselpowermag.com/6729984/diesel-trucks/2011-chevy-silverado-3500-duramax-vs-2011-ford-f-350-power-stroke/index.html

In the first run, he had 3 adult males with a curb weight of 8,220. Just for argument, let's say we throw in 780 pounds more of gear (that's a lot). With a GCWR of 13,000, you still can handle a pin weight of 4,000 lbs. Using his test truck, you could do 4700 lbs. Using his test truck curbside weight, you also could tow a trailer up to 20,980. His actual trailer weight was 18,920- giving a 1 ton leeway.

Thank you all for your input. Since we won't be fulltiming, just taking extended vacations, I think the Chevy should do it for us. Unless I have made an error in these calculations, we should be within legal limits. It's scary since this is all theory till we get actual weights, and then it's too late- we have bought that TV.

[Carny Bill]

That is some real interesting and surprising articles u posted...thanks Bill

[terry and jo]

I agree that the articles are interesting, however, in my experience some magazines (and I know nothing about the ones listed that tested) sometimes have a bias toward some brands.

Also, unless I missed something when reading them, the testing was mostly for short distances. I wonder if anyone has comparison tests where they actually tested each for thousands of miles. I remember seeing a test of a Ford F450 that was something like 150,000 miles cross country and up into Alaska.

Now, that is a test.

Terry

[wingnut60]

It would seem that GM has made a real effort to match/beat Ford in the 3500 series trucks--that test kind of shocked me. The new 3500 is very close now to the F450, since the 450 has been downrated somewhat. Now, if they would put a 450-type turning radius on it, that would be something.
Looks as though all 3 are making good trucks and real pullers.
Joe

[Motor31]

IIRC GM has dropped the MDT line from their trucks. They will be only providing up to the 3500 models anymore. That leaves Ford and Dodge now for 4500 / 450 sized trucks and of course Ford goes up to the 650 range. Unless you want to go to the baby (MDT) semi styled trucks like the Freightliners.