Food For Thought

[Rob C]

Food for thought that I wish an RV manufacturer would pick up the idea and run with! On our Arizona vacation this year I saw my first “Newmar” 5th wheel with tandem axles and dual wheels. (8 tires on the ground!) I'm thinking, great idea!
I know I am pushing 18,000 lbs. when I load up my 3905 with a RZR toy, tool box, water, food clothing, etc.….. That works out to about 2,500 lbs. load per tire on 3 axles (single wheel), considering the 5th wheel hitch is sharing the load equally.
With 8 tires sharing the same load that individual tire load would drop to 2,000 lbs. Eliminate the rear axle drag and lose one set of brakes that don’t do a lot of good anyway unless the load happens to be perfectly balanced across all three axles.
Getting the load reduced to a reasonable amount would accommodate running a more moderate price range of tire without fear of blowing out every time you hit a bump and get many more miles out of them as well.
Again, just food for thought. I would look very hard at changing up if somebody would just build it!

 

[wahoonc]

Food for thought that I wish an RV manufacturer would pick up the idea and run with! On our Arizona vacation this year I saw my first “Newmar” 5th wheel with tandem axles and dual wheels. (8 tires on the ground!) I'm thinking, great idea!
I know I am pushing 18,000 lbs. when I load up my 3905 with a RZR toy, tool box, water, food clothing, etc.….. That works out to about 2,500 lbs. load per tire on 3 axles (single wheel), considering the 5th wheel hitch is sharing the load equally.
With 8 tires sharing the same load that individual tire load would drop to 2,000 lbs. Eliminate the rear axle drag and lose one set of brakes that don’t do a lot of good anyway unless the load happens to be perfectly balanced across all three axles.
Getting the load reduced to a reasonable amount would accommodate running a more moderate price range of tire without fear of blowing out every time you hit a bump and get many more miles out of them as well.
Again, just food for thought. I would look very hard at changing up if somebody would just build it!

Profits baby. profits! Redwood/Newmar dropped the fifth wheel line back in 2012 because it wasn't as profitable as their $800k motorhomes.

Redwood also hired real engineers, they didn't just buy stuff out of a catalog and slap it together.

Unfortunately the American public in general doesn't support quality products, they have a tendency to shop price first.

I hate to think what it would cost to custom build something like that today, you would probably be looking at a $250,000-$300,000 trailer. I don't know too many people that would be willing to pay that kind of price. Motorhomes, yes, trailers no.

Then there is always the redneck route...

Aaron

 

[wahoonc]

Also, didn't think about it at the time I was posting... but you have a slightly lower overall per tire load limit with a dual wheel compared to a single wheel. I do agree however that 2 dual wheel set up is advantageous over a 3 axle single set up any time. I use BigTex heavy equipment trailers and they are rock solid compared to some older tri-axle equipment trailers we have. One of my trailers is rated to 60,000 GVW. The one we use the most is 48k# GVW.

Aaron

 

[hddecker]

Unfortunately the American public in general doesn't support quality products, they have a tendency to shop price first.

Aaron

Then go out and do it all over again when the first POS dies.

The Redneck has the right idea, get your moneys worth out of it.

 

[wahoonc]

Then go out and do it all over again when the first POS dies.

The Redneck has the right idea, get your moneys worth out of it.[/COLOR]

Which is why places like Walmart make a killing

Aaron

 

[chily3]

Which is why places like Walmart make a killing

Aaron

Not from me do not set foot in there

 

[wildwest450]

Which is why places like Walmart make a killing

Aaron

And Dutchman

 

[MTK1946]

That's why I went to 17.5's I also noticed 17.5's on Momentum toyhaulers as OEM tires & wheels.

 

[Rob C]

Exactly!

Also, didn't think about it at the time I was posting... but you have a slightly lower overall per tire load limit with a dual wheel compared to a single wheel. I do agree however that 2 dual wheel set up is advantageous over a 3 axle single set up any time. I use BigTex heavy equipment trailers and they are rock solid compared to some older tri-axle equipment trailers we have. One of my trailers is rated to 60,000 GVW. The one we use the most is 48k# GVW.

Aaron

Why not just do a build up from an already proven product! The redneck or "modified redneck" idea is definitely worth investigating before I ever buy another new "off the shelf", mass produced", "cookie cutter", "built to die" product. Our last RV was a 1991 Country Coach. It had some issues because of age but the "rebuildability" (my own word!) of every component on the coach was amazing! Everything was built to last and built to repair instead of replace. I get so tired of today's disposable society. I know the chassis will fail early on my toy hauler because it is built to just barely carry the anticipated load. So sad......