Prospective Gateway 3200 Owner

CoffeeCup

Member
After much discussion over Class A or 5th wheel, and a multitude of trips to RV sales lots, my wife and I are leaning toward purchasing the Gateway 3200 RS next spring and I have joined this forum to learn about Heartland RVs from current owners. We also have to upgrade our current travel trailer tow vehicle which is a Tahoe. We plan on purchasing a Ford F350 SRW and I am currently a bit overwhelmed by the range of opinions and interpretations of data specs concerning towing capabilities. This forum seems to be the most civilized and helpful forum that I have come across. I look forward to future discussions and welcome any advice on which threads are best suited for my topics. To provide additional context, my wife and I, along with our two Chihuahuas, plan to live full time in our 5th wheel for at least 1 year while our TN home sells and we look for our new NC homestead to purchase.

Thanks in advance!
 

jimtoo

Moderator
Hi CoffeeCup,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and hopefully to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

You should be fine with a single wheel F350 (even thou it is a Ford) :). You will get more opinions soon from our other family members.

We do try to keep this forum civilized. Once in a while we get a little heated discussion, but it don't last long. We do have a lot of very well informed and educated members, both with experience and common sense. So you can usually depend on good, correct answers from our members.

Enjoy the forum and ask your questions.

Jim M
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi coffeecup,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. There's lots of useful information here along with a great bunch of friendly and helpful people.

To clear up some of the mystery on towing capabilities, you may want to visit Fifth Wheel Safe Towing, a site started by a Heartland owner to help get to the bottom of towing issues.

And of course you can create a thread in one of the Tow Vehicles sub-forums to discuss specific questions. Click on the FORUM button at the top of page and scroll down to find the Tow Vehicles sub-forums.

Scroll down the forum list a bit further and you'll find the Gateway discussion area where specific questions may already have been answered, or new ones can be posted.

Look forward to hearing from you.
 

Eddhuy

Well-known member
Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. danemayer gave you a very good link. I have the Gateway 3200 with and a 2013 F350 CC SRW. The truck maintains a positive squat, lower in the front, and I don't blind anyone at night. I don't plan on getting a heavier FW so the SRW truck is no problem for me. The 6.7L engine accelerates up a 6 percent grade with ease and I require very little to no brake going down the same grade.

My wife and I are extremely happy with the Gateway, it fits what we were looking for and is very comfortable. Only 3 bad things that we've come across: Be careful when sitting on the rear couch, those recliner levers can bite if you try to sit on them, the 2 inch casters I replaced with 2.5 inch casters on the island, much stronger plates to hold it to the island and if the island rolls onto a heater vent, it will bend it in pretty bad. I bought new heater vents and will try covering them with plywood while traveling.
 

CoffeeCup

Member
Thanks for the personal feedback on the Gateway. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for the couch and island issues. It's good to hear from someone who has the same truck/FW combo that we are looking at. Having chosen not to go the route of a DRW, I've been trying to support the theory of the 350 CC SRW diesel and Gateway with actual data and owner experiences. We are going out to look at a 350 tomorrow night and a Gateway this weekend. I'll be recording the capacities on the door stickers and plugging them into spreadsheet recommended on the Fifth Wheel Safe Towing sight mentioned in the early post.
 

Theresau

Well-known member
We don't have the Gateway but our BC is a similar design and we have the moveable island. We just love the design and the moveable island. Provides a great deal of flexibility and counterspace. (We just always have to remember to unhook it before we open up the slides!!! So far so good.).

Ours tows great.
 

DMAN302

Member
My 2012 F350 FX4 SRW pulled my 2008 Quantum 355SAQS (14,000 dry) without issue. Infact my dealer delivered my 3650BH some 30 miles to my site by towing with a 2013 F350FX4 SRW....there will be no problem. I did enjoy the security and rock solid towing of my 2008 F3050 king ranch dually but to be completely honest, a truck of that size is really limiting and often problematic in and around town. It can certainly be done...I did it...but it does become a chore after a while
 

CoffeeCup

Member
Honestly, the biggest factor in the SRW over the DRW is the style factor, followed by the size. The DW does not care for the dually. That being said, I tend to be a numbers geek and overly cautious when it comes to what we CAN do vs. what we SHOULD do. We have found a 2013 F-350 Lariat that is built out like we want it, minus the "from the factory" Ford 5th wheel prep. It has the 11,500 GVWR and a 7,000 GAWR. The price is right, so we may end up having a Reese of some variety installed via another vendor. I'd like to think we can avoid a sliding hitch due to the 88 degree cap design. Would a 16k Reese be sufficient with the Gateway's 14,000 GVWR?
 
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