Towing the 370c

[10Ring]

With our Cyclone 3010 being recently stolen -- we are looking for a replacement. We have an 2011 GMC 2500HD Diesel SWR SB. We've got the 18K pullrite hitch and firestone bags. The truck didn't even notice the 3010. Is anybody towing a 370c a 3/4 ton short-bed? Any one looked at pin to bumper compared to a 3010.

I appreciate any advice.

Thx

 

[ziggy]

Stolen! Who would dare! The Heartland Family will track them down.

Seriously, I'm sorry your coach was stolen. Someone will be here to answer your questions before too long.

Kristy

 

[BarneyFife]

In all honesty, you'll be waaaay overweight with the 370C. When we bought ours, I had an '09 F350 SRW with air bags. With the bags pumped up, it sat beautifully and pulled really well. Seemed OK, right?

But I was about 1000 lbs. overweight on the rear axle. That just didn't give me comfort. My F350 had a RAWR of 6900 lbs. We were anywhere between 7500 and 8000 lbs. on the rear axle when loaded up. That's a lot over time.

Here's the way it was when we brought it home. Beautiful but deadly in my opinion.

 

[BarneyFife]

Also, you can see I had the long bed so I can't help you on clearances.

As for the weights, would a 300C work for you or were you looking something bigger?

 

[Zoomzoommo]

Also, you can see I had the long bed so I can't help you on clearances.

As for the weights, would a 300C work for you or were you looking something bigger?

I'm looking at a 300c and pondering Ford and GMC diesel SRW versus DRW one ton trucks. The 300c weights 12,000 pounds dry. Add 1,500 in the garage, plus another 1,500 in gear, and it's up to 15,000 lbs, less about 2,300 on the truck's rear axle. This is well within the towing capacities of the SRW one ton trucks. My concern is GCVW. The SRW crew cab one ton 4x4's weight about 7,500 pounds unloaded. Add potentially 1,000 pounds for passengers, and it's at 8,500 pounds. Add the 300c at 15,000 pounds, and combined it's at 23,500. That is right at the GCVW limit for a one ton SRW.

Am I missing anything? Seems like a DRW is a necessity even for a 300c.

 

[danemayer]

Hi Zoomzoommo,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. You'll find a lot of useful information here, along with lots of friendly people willing to share their knowledge and experience.

I'm sure you'll get a lot of responses over the next couple of days. You might also want to visit this website created by a Heartland Owner to help with questions like yours.

 

[boatto5er]

Don't look just at the towing capacity. The payload/pinweight is also extremely important. You can overload a single rear wheel 1 ton pretty quickly with a trailer with a high pin weight.

 

[BarneyFife]

On the specs sheet, the 300C is about 400 lbs. lighter on the pin. That would have still been pushing it with us but maybe the newer trucks can handle more weight on the rear axle. I don't know.

Like boatto5er said, focus on payload/pinweight. That SRW 350 in the pic pulled and stopped the entire rig very, very well. It was just so heavy in the bed of the truck that made me switch up.

 

[Zoomzoommo]

Don't look just at the towing capacity. The payload/pinweight is also extremely important. You can overload a single rear wheel 1 ton pretty quickly with a trailer with a high pin weight.

Ford F350 SRW GAWR for the front and rear is 6,000 & 7,280 respectively. The DRW jumps to 9,750 on the rear.

Correction
Here is the door label from the SRW F350, rear axle is 7,000 lbs.

Here is the door label from the F350 DRW. The rear GAWR is 9,000 lbs.

I believe the DRW is the safer bet, as suggested. The SRW would probably work fine, but I dislike being at the limit.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[10Ring]

How does pin weight differ from hitch weight? I see hitch weight listed on manufacturer websites but not pin. Is their a calculation?

Thanks

 

[jnbhobe]

How does pin weight differ from hitch weight? I see hitch weight listed on manufacturer websites but not pin. Is their a calculation?

Thanks

Look for the towing specs for 5th wheel towing, its on a seperate page.

 

[danemayer]

How does pin weight differ from hitch weight? I see hitch weight listed on manufacturer websites but not pin. Is their a calculation?

Thanks

Hitch weight is a more generic term that could apply to either conventional trailer hitch or to a 5th wheel hitch. Pin weight refers to the weight at the pinbox on a 5th wheel. As Jon mentioned, truck sites show different towing specs for conventional and also for 5th wheel towing. They usually show the horizontal pulling capability. Look for the payload spec to understand how much vertical pin weight can be supported.

 

[Urban350]

When completely loaded with my 300C I am 200lbs under my rear axle rating on my F350. I can not see a 3/4T not being way over the limit.

 

[Zoomzoommo]

When completely loaded with my 300C I am 200lbs under my rear axle rating on my F350. I can not see a 3/4T not being way over the limit.

Is your F350 a SRW or DRW?

 

[10Ring]

I am still having trouble with the pin weight... Per the GMC website my diesel has a max 5th wheel towing weight of 17,400lbs with a max rear payload of 7050lbs. If hitch weight does not equate to pin weight...what am I looking for to figure this out? My Cyclone 3010 had a 2300lb hitch weight which we hauled with no problems. With it being stolen -- we want a bigger 5th wheel. How do you calculate a 1000lb increase of hitch weight into the equation? I did the airbags and pull right super glide hitch.

Sorry if I am missing something here. I appreciate all of your inputs.

R/

 

[danemayer]

Hi 10Ring,

Found your earlier post that you have a 2500 SB SRW Diesel. Your payload is around 3000#. 7000# shown on the GMC site is the curb weight, or empty weight of the truck before hitch or anything else is put on it. The 370C hitch (pin) weight of 3300 overloads you by 300# before you add the weight of the hitch, tools, you and your family, and before you load up the trailer, which usually increases the pin weight. You could easily be more than 1000# overweight on the truck.

 

[CrazyCooter]

Sorry to read about your missing Cyclone! We would be absolutely heartbroken if that were to happen to us......

Like Barney stated above, the 370C would be way much. Even the 300C would put right at max RAWR even if you carried nothing in the bed. I can't imagine pulling my 300C with a SRW truck.

Get on the scale and do the numbers for your truck.

Pin to bumper should be about the same as the 3010. Since you can't trust Heartland's published specs, I suggest you physically measure...ours is over 3' longer than published spec.

 

[Urban350]

Is your F350 a SRW or DRW?

My F350 is a srw.