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n2916s · 12-30-2015, 05:08 PM

Don't the Pro-Pride and Hensley hitches add a couple of hundred pounds to your tongue weight? How is using one going to help a guy with limited payload available? Wouldn't a Reese or a Blue Ox transfer just as much weight while weighing half as much?

No question that VPP hitches are great but not exactly svelte...

Mike

dznf0g · 12-30-2015, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by n2916s

Don't the Pro-Pride and Hensley hitches add a couple of hundred pounds to your tongue weight? How is using one going to help a guy with limited payload available? Wouldn't a Reese or a Blue Ox transfer just as much weight while weighing half as much?

No question that VPP hitches are great but not exactly svelte...

Mike

No, they add 150 or so (PP) or 190 (haha) to receiver weight, not tongue weight. Actually, for haha, it's about 23 pounds to tongue weight and 167 to receiver weight. But I know, by experience, that the weight is worth it for the handling improvement for about 90 pounds difference.

Arcticfox · 12-30-2015, 07:19 PM

Yes a ProPride type hitch will add a little more weight than the Reese units would to your payload (either tongue or receiver it's still Payload usage). That said, I would take that additional weight any day in the payoff it gives me while towing.

As a closing comment I'm not sure what the exact weight differential would be between a ProPride Hitch and a Reese setup but it won't be 200 lbs. I'm guessing it might be closer to 50 or 60, but I don't know that for sure.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Doug

dznf0g · 12-30-2015, 07:24 PM

Somewhere in my archives, I have all the weight breakdowns of Eq, Reese DC, and haha. IIRC, it is about 90 pounds difference between Reese and haha.

Tao · 12-31-2015, 04:32 AM

Getting great prices offered on Ford F-150's BUT many are 4x2 instead of 4x4.

I'd like opinions on what is really needed. I've had both and must admit it was rare that I engaged the 4x4. What have others experienced?

Jack

dznf0g · 12-31-2015, 06:24 AM

I toiled a bit over that question...but when you need it, you need it. Wet, grassy site, beach sites, very steep gravel cg roads. Plus, I live north. Solo snow driving is frequent. On the flip, you gain about 200 pounds of payload with 2wd.

khollister · 12-31-2015, 06:36 AM

I would never buy a 4x2 truck - I have had to engage 4WD too many times on steep gravel and not so steep wet grass. The resale of a 4x2 is an issue too. Most of the dealers around here don't have any 2WD 3/4 or 1 ton trucks on the lot at all.

Keith
Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums

tjdonahoe · 12-31-2015, 06:45 AM

After reading all this ,makes me grader I have a dodge with 6.7 come along that ain't scared...

n2916s · 12-31-2015, 08:00 AM

I have never gotten my 4x2 stuck anywhere in 9 years and 65000 miles. I do avoid sand but have done lots of gravel and grassy areas.

I do have Good Sam Towing, just in case...

Mike

Arcticfox · 12-31-2015, 08:25 AM

When I was a young fellow beginning to buy 4x4 trucks. My dad used to say the only difference between a (four wheel drive) and a (two wheel drive) will be about 100Ft. further in the swamp and now you will need a D8-Cat to get out.....

Sorry, could not resist as the advise (when I was younger) might actually have some merit. As I needed a pull out of more than 1-swamp.....lol

crispyboy · 12-31-2015, 08:34 AM

Tao - Do what others above suggested - key into that payload number! My sister has a 2010 F-150 with a 1700 lb payload and it works pretty good with her 25' heavy tongue weight Airstream.
In the future you may want to take more "stuff" with you on your trips such as tools, chairs, grills, fishing equipment, truck cap..... think about what your camping style may be. It may take some time to find but there are decently equipped half ton trucks on the market.
I would also opt for the 4x4 but my truck is used for many tasks other than camping. It has come in handy when our Airstream rally was caught in a rainstorm. We were all boondocking in a big field and overnight it rained 2". Those who had 4x4 got out with mud flyin' high, all others were pulled out.

franklyfrank · 12-31-2015, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcticfox

We have the 3.73 on our current 2014. If I remember right, it becomes your only option when you order the HD Tow and HD Payload Packages. By the time we are ready to order a new one, I'm guessing the 17's will be out and possibly the new 10 speed transmission. I'm thinking that should make an (already) very good Airstream Tow unit even better....

What I have found that effects mileage is the Tow mode.( I have the 3.73 axle 5.5' box Platinum 36 gl tank)
I use it judicially because I noticed engaging it full time lowers the mpg. Pulling our 30' at 65 I can get 10.5 consistently. Pushing at 70 or 72 it is 9.5 to 10. No trailer I get 19 at 70mph. At 80 it drops down to 17.5

Bob662 · 12-31-2015, 09:54 AM

A tonneau cover will improve gas mileage by a couple of MPG, if that set-up works with what you carry in the bed.

jcl · 12-31-2015, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcticfox

When I was a young fellow beginning to buy 4x4 trucks. My dad used to say the only difference between a (four wheel drive) and a (two wheel drive) will be about 100Ft. further in the swamp and now you will need a D8-Cat to get out.....

Sorry, could not resist as the advise (when I was younger) might actually have some merit. As I needed a pull out of more than 1-swamp.....lol

Very familiar phrase. My family had a garage, and a tow truck, and we were in a rural area. We did a fair bit of off-road recovery, usually lifted 4x4s who, as my dad used to say, just got 100 feet further down a road or trail that they shouldn't have been on in the first place. We got a lot more of them out with a winch and a snatch block than with the 4x4 on the tow truck.

Jeff

Chuck · 12-31-2015, 02:51 PM

This sounds very strange, coming from a couple of Canadians.

Are you in some previously unknown-to-me- section of Canada where it doesn't snow??

That extra "100 feet" gets me up the driveway to my house, which you can not do in any 2-wheel drive pickup if there is even a slight coating of snow or ice on the ground. The last 100' to the house is on a 13% grade. As soon as you pitch up (and I've tried in many different trucks), forward motion ceases. faghettabout it.

In 4x4, no-problem. And I can push a fair amount of heavy snow UP that hill with the plow, as well.

But the 4x4 does FAR more than that...mainly, it prevents the UNINTENDED off-road excursion whilst out and about in crappy weather.

It has many times been the difference between getting home at all, and winding up in a ditch somewhere.

Also, being rather under-powered, my old pick-em-up doesn't like backing the Airstream up that same hill in my driveway...but in 4x4 low, it rolls it right up at idle throttle, like it isn't even there.

dznf0g · 12-31-2015, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dznf0g

Somewhere in my archives, I have all the weight breakdowns of Eq, Reese DC, and haha. IIRC, it is about 90 pounds difference between Reese and haha.

Here's the weighed numbers for my HAHA.

Hitch weight Calculation:
Hensley total: 166.5#
Hensley head: 99#
Remainder: 67.5# (Use 23# as TV load and 45# as tongue weight)

This did not include the stinger though, as I was just trying to determine actual AS tongue weight while weighing with a Sherline scale.

Tao · 12-31-2015, 08:12 PM

Well, Life is an Adventure. On my way to Ford dealership this morning. Stopped in to visit a very good friend who is the GM at a Lexus dealership. He showed me a GMC Sierra crew cab, 2015, 4x4, SLT Z71 with 1,563 miles on it he took in trade late last night from an old customer of his. Vehicle was brand new in every way. 5.3 V8 Ecotek engine, 3.42 axel, GVW of 7,200#'s, trailer package, Nav, 20" wheels, brake controller and too many other options to list. Offered me too sweet of a deal to leave behind. Test drove it and ride was much quite and smoother than the XLT I drove at Ford dealer on Tuesday! Bought it and it's now in the garage. Thus, decision is made and it has the towing capacity to pull a 25 or 27' AS when finances allow.

Thank you for your help here and I'm open to any pearls os wisdom on the GMC that owners of such would like to share.

streamer_a · 12-31-2015, 10:14 PM

Odd. I have a 2013 Ecoboost. 4x4, max tow. 82K miles total. 26K towing a 2013 28' International.

Max MPG not towing is 13.2. Iowa - all flat. Friends report similar here.

20.6? Not buying it. 15.5 towing a car trailer? No way.

Great truck to be sure - fantastic in fact. But 20+ MPG is a reporting error.

**DKB_SATX** · 12-31-2015, 11:57 PM

Fuelly shows 2013 3.5L FX4 (4WD and Ecoboost therefore, the NA V6 that year was 3.7l) has an average of 15.1 mpg across 14 trucks for a total of 298k miles. Obtaining that average would require quite a few fill-ups at more than 15.1 mpg because they do drink it when towing (just like the V8s requiring more RPM to produce less power) so if any of those 742 fill-ups was a ~10 mpg towing tank, some of them were well over 15.1 mpg. If your best, non-towing tank ever is 13.2 mpg and you calculate MPG every tank, I wonder how/where you do most of your driving, what kind of tires you run, etc.

franklyfrank · 01-01-2016, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dznf0g

I toiled a bit over that question...but when you need it, you need it. Wet, grassy site, beach sites, very steep gravel cg roads. Plus, I live north. Solo snow driving is frequent. On the flip, you gain about 200 pounds of payload with 2wd.

4 wheel drive comes in real handy descending steep grades as well.