Looking at buying a used 3950 2010

[mxbadboys]

I am looking at purchasing the TH described above. I have a family of 6 and we are beginning to get into dirt bike racing. In ontario we have a short season to use a TH for camping and riding so I am trying to make an educated decision. I have some questions if you don't mind helping with.

1. I do not have a TV yet for this and am a Ford guy. Looking at a F350 diesel SRW 4x4. Don't want to get a dually as with the 4 kids and hockey we travel so much the rest of the year I do not want to have to drive a dually around for nothing.
2. We have a cap in Ontario of 24,265 lbs total weight with a "g" class license. I figure the TV and people are close to 8800lbs in the truck which leaves the rest for the trailer. The 3950 says 13,395 lbs which leaves me around 15,500 total weight of the TH. I think I can keep under that as the kids are 10 and under and the bikes are only around 100lbs each. The question here is does the rules for weight go by the 18,000 lbs on the sticker of the trailer or is it the actual weight for everything going down the road?
Thank you in advanced for your help!

Ian

 

[danemayer]

Hi mxbadboys,

On the tow vehicle, you'll want to consider both 5th wheel towing capacity (horizontal load), and also payload (vertical load). I'd suggest visiting Fifth Wheel Safe Towing to input the truck and trailer specifications and get a feel for whether it's a good match.

As for the weight used to determine license requirements, perhaps someone in Canada will know for sure. My guess would be that since law enforcement probably doesn't carry scales in their cars, they would likely go by the labels on truck and trailer. That would be the GVWR of each vehicle added together.

 

[blong]

Hi mxbadboys

We have a owned a 2011 3950 for the last two years now, so I speak from experience. We weighed our unit on our first trip out at a truck stop and it tipped the scales at 18,300lbs inc 4000lbs in pin weight. My truck weight over 9k and the Total Gross weight was 27,300lbs.....Back axle weight was 7780 lbs and I had air bags pumped up to 80 lbs, so that pushes some weight onto the front axle and the back still weighted that much.....way above what any single rear wheel truck should handle. The truck will pull it for sure but your way over the rear axle weight limit.

Now the caveats are that our rig has a generator, and dual pane windows so that adds a weight to the trailer you might not have. We also had half a tank of fresh water (approx. 600lbs) and were carrying our electric golf cart in the back (max 1200lbs). Plus of course our luggage, only a family of three with a daughter under 12.
So loose the water (which we did right away to get us under the 18k limit) and the golf cart and your still at 16k+. I would recommend the dually for safety and to be legal. Some MTO guys do carry portable scales and they can force you to drive to the nearest scale if they don't... again I speak from direct experience. But will they check you, that I cant say. I was stopped and asked to drive to scales but I was towing a bobcat, not towing my 3950 at the time.
All that being said I do know folks who tow them with a SRW, and have not been bothered at all.

I love driving my dually with or without the trailer, and we too drive a lot the rest of the year including my daily drive to the office. Not sure I will go back to SRW even when I no longer need it....

You will love the 3950, it is a fantastic unit.

 

[gpshemi]

The 3612 and 3950 were close when I was looking to buy.
I scaled in between 26 & 28k depending on what we have loaded in the garage, but the camper itself came in at 13.6k, and the truck is just short of 9k. You aren't going to make it under 24,265 lbs...

 

[blong]

Over 24,200 lbs means in Ontario, you don't qualify for the Recreational towing exception rule for a G licence, so you will need to get a Class 'A' Restricted or 'AR' licence, which I, and a number of my friends with large F'vrs had to get as well.
Not hard to do but does require a written and driving test (with a trailer). I did mine with my 16 foot flatbed trailer(14K capacity), not my 43 foot fiver, and they were just fine with that. There is a good AR training course you can take from a company in Hamilton its about 3-4 hours, I think it was ~ $300 and well worth it.