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Forget the book, this is what the AV tows

G

Gary2kC5

Full Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2003
Messages
75
Location
O'Fallon, MO
2 weeks ago I left for a track event @ Road America in WI, my 1st time towing with the new AV. I spent most of the week trying to get a clutch problem resolved with my car and didn't have time to have my stuff weighed before leaving.

I've done the 1000 mile round trip tow 3 times before with my Ram 4x4 so I wasn't real concerned there would be any issues with the AV.

Even though I was leaving 8 hours later than I had planned I made a stop to get the AV/trailer weighed as I was leaving.

I was shocked when I got the print out. 15,040 GVW with 7,360 on the front scale and 7,680 on the back. This was without me and my 2 kids so add another 570 1lbs to the front.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Things are going to have to go on a serious diet, or i'm back to the 14' open trailer.

How did it tow? It towed better than the Ram (360ci) did. Forget that the ride was 100 times better. The AV had more power and I never had to put the foot to the floor. (the Ram had the foot to the floor a lot between Milwakee and Rockford)

The only down side was that it had a tad more tongue weight than I would have liked and it got 7.64 MPG. (with a completely flat front 8x8 inclosed trailer)

I wouldn't suggest pulling that much weight because of possible strain on the hitch and I'm sure other things, but the AV did quite well and seemed to handle it no problem.

BTW: 3.73
 
yes it's a 1500. I have a load leveling hitch with anti sway control.

I've not weighed the AV but the stats say it weighs 5,678. If that's true the the leveling hitch moved 1,682 lbs to the front.

when it was weighed the AV was on one platform and the tandem axles on the trailer on another. The print out shows 7,360 steer axle, 0 drive axle, 7,680 trailer axle.
 
good to know the AV can handle such a load. not likely to pull that much myself, but i assures me that what i do haul will not strain the truck at all.
 
Craig F, thanks for the welcome, looking forward to meeting some STL/MO AV folks.

7of7, yes I have the OEM tow package, yes load leveling is weight distribution...not sure I phased it properly.

The hitch on the truck side has bars that extend to the trailer tongue and has chain links on the ends. the chain links hook into part of the tongue that draws up and locks in place. depending on how many links you hook into before you draw it up determines the force on the bars and thus the weight transfered from the tongue weight. without them the weight on the tongue would be a lot. with them the tongue weight is spread between about 3-4 feet on each side of the tongue (seat of the pants explaination).
 
We were just in the survival mode. I had a clutch that wouldn't release and wasn't able to fix it after replacing 2 slave units and a M/C 2 seperate times. The last one was the night before we left and that didn't fix the problem so I decided to run without the clutch.

My ABS unit began acting up also, which was disappointing since RA was my 1st event since putting on the big Wilwood SLR6's up front.

Still it was great running RA with all the Fall foliage. It was great blasting down into T5 with the leaves raining down, hitting closed to 160 mph. the weather was great also, in the 60's both days.
 
Gary2kC5 said:
I was shocked when I got the print out. 15,040 GVW with 7,360 on the front scale and 7,680 on the back. This was without me and my 2 kids so add another 570 1lbs to the front.
Click to expand...

So you're saying that your combined rig and passengers was close to 8 tons?? Holy cow! That is amazing. What is the gorss vehicle weight rating for each axle on the Av?

Why was your rig close to 5 tons? What do you pull besides the trailer and the car? Lots of tools and parts?
 
midlifecrisis said:
Why was your rig close to 5 tons? What do you pull besides the trailer and the car? Lots of tools and parts?
Click to expand...

I really need to weigh this trailer by itself. I figure it's most of the weight. The car is 3240 wet. the other stuff...spare wheels, tires, tool box, coolers, spares, etc. can only be about 600-700 lbs.

I do need to verify the scales again. I went back to get the AV scaled by itself and the guy said they just got a new system and they couldn't weigh a passenger vehicle. I told him they weighed my Vette and he just had that puzzled look on his face.
 
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