SOB weight

[Rog0525]

An acquaintance of mine just bought a very nice 1968 19' Yellowstone TT (against my advice, of course, but she only paid $450 for it). It's complete with solid wood cabinetry, bunk beds, toilet, and dinette.
Here's the rub: The weight on the title is only 1800# and she plans on towing it with her Pontiac Aztec. The Pontiac dealer told her the Aztec is fine for towing up to 3400#.
I had my 18' Caravel weighed at a grain mill a couple weeks ago and it came in at 3040#. Is it realistic that a SOB can be so much lighter than a similar sized AS or is something badly amiss?
TIA for any input.

Rog

[drboyd]

I don't know about "strong enough," but the Aztec is certainly "ugly enough." I believe there's a state law in Arizona that says you can't pull an Airstream with something as ugly as an Aztec.

Lucky for her it's an SOB!

...and now we return you to your regularly scheduled useful comments, apparently by others...

[Pahaska]

Originally posted by Rog0525
An acquaintance of mine just bought a very nice 1968 19' Yellowstone TT (against my advice, of course, but she only paid $450 for it). It's complete with solid wood cabinetry, bunk beds, toilet, and dinette.

The title for my old Scamp read 1800# and they advertised it at 2000#. I weighed the trailer packed ready for a short trip at 3240# (tanks empty except 5 gallons of fresh water). Since I didn't have a lot in the trailer, the advertised weight was off by at least 50%.

I would suggest she have the trailer weighed. I think most empty weights are fictional.

To paraphrase Tom hanks, "Ugly is as ugly does".

[74Argosy24MH]

In 1968 I worked for Apache trailers and we pushed them from station to station as they were built. I bet the frame and axles weighed nearly 800 lbs, they were 1/8" wall tube. I know by the time they were complete they were way over 1800 lbs., it took everyone at a station to move them on a concrete floor.

John

[Rog0525]

I would suggest she have the trailer weighed. I think most empty weights are fictional.

I even offered to pay the $5 scale fee but she shrugged it off.
She's already had a Reese receiver installed on the Aztec.
Oh well, I guess someone has to keep the local tranny shops in business.

Rog

[garry]

Hmmmmmm .............
Hope they have good brakes since you would not normally have brakes on an 1800lb TT. Best guess on what goes first tranny or brakes.

Garry(