Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 11-24-2010, 01:12 PM   #1
JOHN EVANS
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 114
owners site

Is anyone else having trouble with the Suites owners site?
__________________

JOHN EVANS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-24-2010, 01:52 PM   #2
wackum
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Montana
Posts: 15
Just checked uper right cornerhas this message

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

__________________
Steve & Carol
2013 F450 DRW King Ranch
2013 MS 36 RSSB3 # 6310
wackum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-26-2010, 07:29 AM   #3
hitchup
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Currently: working on the road
Posts: 770
SOITC forum is up and running, but my user name and password no longer work.
__________________
2014 Mobile Suite Estates 38RSB - custom home
2014 F450 KR CC 4x4 ...... his office
2015 Lance 1172 - traveling Motel (solar and generator)
Working Fulltimers since 3/2005
hitchup is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-26-2010, 07:55 AM   #4
john
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Fort Worth,TX
Posts: 162
drv

Same here....says my log in info is wrong....seems as if someone really got things screwed up....hope they fix it soon.
__________________
Wilma & John
2006 Mobile Suite 36TK3
john is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-26-2010, 07:59 AM   #5
JOHN EVANS
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 114
SAME HERE NAME AND PASS WORD NOT RECONIZED
JOHN EVANS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-28-2010, 03:14 PM   #6
Motor31
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 2,130
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.
__________________
Mike Nancy and the fuzzies
Fulltiming since June 2004
Volvo 660 MH tow vehicle
2005 MS 38RL
2007 Saturn Ion "toad"
2010 Gold Wing "piggyback"
Motor31 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-28-2010, 07:28 PM   #7
bstark
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Fergus, Ontario, CANADA
Posts: 1,000
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!
__________________
Sandra, Bruce
bstark is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2010, 10:06 AM   #8
Beachgirl
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 57
weights, TV, MS38TKSB3

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.
Beachgirl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2010, 10:18 AM   #9
Motor31
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 2,130
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.
__________________
Mike Nancy and the fuzzies
Fulltiming since June 2004
Volvo 660 MH tow vehicle
2005 MS 38RL
2007 Saturn Ion "toad"
2010 Gold Wing "piggyback"
Motor31 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2010, 10:54 AM   #10
Beachgirl
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 57
2011 Chevy pulling 38TKSB3

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/...-rev091410.pdf
Beachgirl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2010, 12:00 PM   #11
hitchup
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Currently: working on the road
Posts: 770
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.
__________________
2014 Mobile Suite Estates 38RSB - custom home
2014 F450 KR CC 4x4 ...... his office
2015 Lance 1172 - traveling Motel (solar and generator)
Working Fulltimers since 3/2005
hitchup is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2010, 12:14 PM   #12
Beachgirl
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 57
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.
Beachgirl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2010, 06:04 PM   #13
terry and jo
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Retired Okie now in Colorado
Posts: 531
Re: 2011 Chevy pulling 38TKSB3

Quote:
Originally Posted by 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/...-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
__________________
Terry and Jo
2010 Mobile Suites 38TKSB3 #5332 - 2008 Ford F450
Terry's Smugmug Site
terry and jo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2010, 06:23 PM   #14
hitchup
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Currently: working on the road
Posts: 770
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
__________________
2014 Mobile Suite Estates 38RSB - custom home
2014 F450 KR CC 4x4 ...... his office
2015 Lance 1172 - traveling Motel (solar and generator)
Working Fulltimers since 3/2005
hitchup is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2010, 08:13 PM   #15
wingnut60
Site Team
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Where we park it
Posts: 2,838
chevy tow ratings

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.
__________________
2016 Tiffin 40 QBH
2015 38RSSA, traded
2005 TK3 #1869, 10 yrs of memories,
2017 F450 KR--one more Ford is it
2009 F450 4x4-died; 2010 F450-retired
wingnut60 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2010, 01:16 AM   #16
Beachgirl
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 57
Of further interest for anyone contemplating 2011 Chevy vs Ford TV:

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2010/11...e-rockies.html

http://blogs.dieselpowermag.com/6729...oke/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.
Beachgirl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-01-2010, 05:02 PM   #17
Carny Bill
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Illinois-summer,winter-some where else
Posts: 336
beachgril

That is some real interesting and surprising articles u posted...thanks Bill
__________________
12 Blue Elite #6296 38RS3
08 chevy C3500
09 yel spyder toad
Carny Bill is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-01-2010, 08:19 PM   #18
terry and jo
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Retired Okie now in Colorado
Posts: 531
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
__________________
Terry and Jo
2010 Mobile Suites 38TKSB3 #5332 - 2008 Ford F450
Terry's Smugmug Site
terry and jo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-01-2010, 08:35 PM   #19
wingnut60
Site Team
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Where we park it
Posts: 2,838
Chevy vs Ford

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
__________________
2016 Tiffin 40 QBH
2015 38RSSA, traded
2005 TK3 #1869, 10 yrs of memories,
2017 F450 KR--one more Ford is it
2009 F450 4x4-died; 2010 F450-retired
wingnut60 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-02-2010, 08:44 AM   #20
Motor31
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 2,130
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.
__________________

__________________
Mike Nancy and the fuzzies
Fulltiming since June 2004
Volvo 660 MH tow vehicle
2005 MS 38RL
2007 Saturn Ion "toad"
2010 Gold Wing "piggyback"
Motor31 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:22 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
×