Motorhome, 5th Wheel or Pull Trailer

[SGTJOE]

Which RV handles best in windy weather and 18 wheelers passing you and then pulling over in front of you Motorhome, Pull Trailer or 5th Wheel???

[ol_Bombero-JC]

SGTJOE wrote:
Which RV handles best in windy weather and 18 wheelers passing you and then pulling over in front of you Motorhome, Pull Trailer or 5th Wheel???

My Class A Motor Home (gas) experiences are a bit limited. Owned two over the years - no complaints - althouh I didn't keep either one very long.

Also two TTs (what you call "pull trailers"- are there push trailers..:@).
In spite of sway control, always had my hand on the brake controller lever when an 18 wheeler was passing ("drag" on the trailer -if needed- to counteract sway).........and yeah - you knew when you were being passed! You learn to live (deal with) it.

Towed the TTs with 2 different 3/4 ton vans, and a 1T SRW long bed crew cab, Ferd diesel pickup. All had a few 'white knuckle' events due to the passing big rigs.

34' fifth wheel, towed by a 1T SRW, short bed, QC, CTD. Night and day compared to the TTs..:C

You can almost forget it's back there!..:W
No "afterthoughts" as to whether a long bed *could* be any better!
(Wow factor prevails when towing -and parking- with my short bed)

BTW - *if* I ever feel the need for a dually -or another long bed-
it will be a singled (not tandem) HDT "dually".
Will tow whatever you can put behind it, with all the whistles and bells, with a std DL, registered as a MH in most states.
(Suggest visiting the Escapees HDT forum)

Roll on...:W

.

[larry_barnhart]

sorry I messed up Veebyes post. chevman

[larry_barnhart]

Veebyes wrote:
Not many arguments against it, the 5ers are very good in wind.

You can be going along very nicely & not even notice the warning signs that you are reaching a critical point in wind effects. Then the tripping point occurs. That one big gust comes along that is not survivable & over she goes. If you are lucky, we were, the king pin will break out of the 5th wheel & leave you upright in the truck. Ours stretched the 5th wheel hitch jaws open before breaking out. An 18,000 lb hitch holding a 13,000 lb max trail


I have told your story many times how the dually probably saved you folks from injury to SWR guys and it really does not sink in.
chevman
No matter what you are driving, pay attention. Look at wind effects on trees, grass, ponds, other vehicles & flags. If in doubt it is far cheaper & less inconvenient to get off the highway & wait it out somewhere sheltered than have to deal with a blowover.

[Cummins12V98]

"Well as stater before 32" 5er, 13' tall towed by a 2001 Ram 2500 rock solid in the wind and passing semis.
I don't want small, but want solid, and our combo is now the same 5er towed by a 2016 Ram 3500 DRW."

I had basically the same setup as your 01. My 98 and 32.5' Avion Platinum at 20,500# combined handled VERY well. BUT I sure could tell when the wind was blowing or passing a Semi. Current DRW RV combo at 65% more combined weight ya don't feel Semi's or the wind unless it's blowing HARD.

[Jayco-noslide]

No the "Gale" in Galesburg was the name of a founder. I would second the handling concerns of a MH, with or without wind. We just spent a fortune on a "suspension upgrade". No doubt it helps some but wind will still toss it around. It's a tall 12000 lb. box on wheels.

[Veebyes]

Not many arguments against it, the 5ers are very good in wind.

You can be going along very nicely & not even notice the warning signs that you are reaching a critical point in wind effects. Then the tripping point occurs. That one big gust comes along that is not survivable & over she goes. If you are lucky, we were, the king pin will break out of the 5th wheel & leave you upright in the truck. Ours stretched the 5th wheel hitch jaws open before breaking out. An 18,000 lb hitch holding a 13,000 lb max trailer.

Moral of story, don't be so confident with that 5er. You have no idea how many times that you have been close to going over. It is quite the ride.

No matter what you are driving, pay attention. Look at wind effects on trees, grass, ponds, other vehicles & flags. If in doubt it is far cheaper & less inconvenient to get off the highway & wait it out somewhere sheltered than have to deal with a blowover.

[rhagfo]

pnichols wrote:

SGTJOE wrote:
Which RV handles best in windy weather and 18 wheelers passing you and then pulling over in front of you Motorhome, Pull Trailer or 5th Wheel???

For "handles best in windy weather" - the physics of boxes traveling down the road dictate that you travel in as small of a one-piece RV, on as heavy duty a chassis, as you can tolerate and afford.

This means that you rule out towed RVs, and instead go for a short and not too tall Class A or Class B or Class C motorhome on the highest rated chassis it can be had on.

I didn't realize the above when we bought our new RV, but luckily - from a handling and stability viewpoint - wound up with a 24 foot Class C on a Ford E450 chassis. This chassis happened to be stock rated and built to handle consideraly more weight than the coach portion requires (hence stiff springs), came stock with a front hydraulic steering stabiliizer (hence no hassle to keep it going strait down the road), came stock with a full box delivery truck type rear dually stance (hence a wide side-to-side footprint where coach weight is the heaviest) and most importantly, came stock with both front and rear torsion bars to reduce coach sway relative to the chassis frame.

We have no problems driving in healthy side-winds, and big rig push when they pass is at a minimum. Another subtle benefit is that we don't need stablizer jacks when camped because walking inside the RV doesn't cause any rocking to speak of.

However towables outsell motorhomes by a wide margin, so IMHO the next best stable setup is as small and non-tall 5'er as one can tolerate being pulled by a one-ton dually pickup.

Well as stater before 32" 5er, 13' tall towed by a 2001 Ram 2500 rock solid in the wind and passing semis.
I don't want small, but want solid, and our combo is now the same 5er towed by a 2016 Ram 3500 DRW.

[pnichols]

SGTJOE wrote:
Which RV handles best in windy weather and 18 wheelers passing you and then pulling over in front of you Motorhome, Pull Trailer or 5th Wheel???

For "handles best in windy weather" - the physics of boxes traveling down the road dictate that you travel in as small of a one-piece RV, on as heavy duty a chassis, as you can tolerate and afford.

This means that you rule out towed RVs, and instead go for a short and not too tall Class A or Class B or Class C motorhome on the highest rated chassis it can be had on.

I didn't realize the above when we bought our new RV, but luckily - from a handling and stability viewpoint - wound up with a 24 foot Class C on a Ford E450 chassis. This chassis happened to be stock rated and built to handle consideraly more weight than the coach portion requires (hence stiff springs), came stock with a front hydraulic steering stabiliizer (hence no hassle to keep it going strait down the road), came stock with a full box delivery truck type rear dually stance (hence a wide side-to-side footprint where coach weight is the heaviest) and most importantly, came stock with both front and rear torsion bars to reduce coach sway relative to the chassis frame.

We have no problems driving in healthy side-winds, and big rig push when they pass is at a minimum. Another subtle benefit is that we don't need stablizer jacks when camped because walking inside the RV doesn't cause any rocking to speak of.

However towables outsell motorhomes by a wide margin, so IMHO the next best stable setup is as small and non-tall 5'er as one can tolerate being pulled by a one-ton dually pickup.

[the_bear_II]

I have found if the trailer (5th Wheel or TT) is raised up, known as axles flipped, to provide more clearance you will experience less push or pull by semis. I had my TT raised for better clearance off road and our 5th wheel raised to prevent the tail from dragging. I noticed both of them were more stable in wind and when semis passed than before the axles were flipped.

[Durb]

Jayco-noslide wrote:
Having had a small pull behind, then a small 5th wheel and now a 30 ft. Class C, I'm going to say the 5er wins this one. But, consider that you won't be traveling in high wind very much so its not a priority to me.

You live in Galesburg, does that refer to gale force winds? 🙂

Have to agree with the fifth wheel. I've owned tent trailers, travel trailers, and now a fifth wheel behind a dually. We travel the Columbia River Gorge frequently with the fifth wheel and have virtually no wind movement with the rig. I will say the wind is usually in your face or on your tail. Probably makes a difference.

I have friends with motorhomes that complain about wandering with no wind at all.

[Jayco-noslide]

Having had a small pull behind, then a small 5th wheel and now a 30 ft. Class C, I'm going to say the 5er wins this one. But, consider that you won't be traveling in high wind very much so its not a priority to me.

[azdryheat]

I've driven/pulled them all and the 5th wheel is the most stable.

[DutchmenSport]

The worse I experienced with windy weather was when we traveled with a Chevy Lumina Mini-Van towing a Starcraft Venture pop-up. That combination in wind and semi-trucks blew us all over the road.

The bigger we got, the less we were pushed around.

Next combination was an 24 foot travel trailer we pulled with a Chevy 1500 Suburban. Wind and semi's were not as problematic and the pop-up, but we still knew we were not the biggest rig on the road either.

Move forward to a 3500 dually (which we've had 3 now), towing that same 24 foot trailer and all of a sudden, wind and semi's were no longer such an issue.

Moved to a 31 foot, then a 35 foot TT, and now a 41.5 foot fifth wheel.

So, from my experiences, the bigger you get, the less you feel the wind.

However, I think the bigger factor is NOT how big or small the trailer is, the BIGGER factor is how sturdy is the tow vehicle. Dually's are very stable. It takes a lot to shake them around, even when pulling a large trailer.

Simple law of physics. It take more energy to move a 14,000 pound hunk of metal than it does a 4,000 pound chunk. The heavier the vehicle, the less the wind is felt. But there is also a point where too-much-is-still-too-much ... for even Semi-trucks can get flipped over in high wind.

Now, I have no experience with a Motor Home. But I would imagine, they handle pretty well against the opposing wind forces and semi-truck's suck and pull vacuum effects, simply because of their sheer weight.

[Cummins12V98]

I have towed my 34k combo in some BAD AZZ winds at 75mph and never felt unsafe. Towed behind friends on Hwy 10 to Phoenix. They had a 40' MH, we had 40mph winds hitting us at a 45 from the front. When we arrived he got out and looked VERY frazzled. He had a time keeping it in the lane. He asked how mine was, I said I did not notice the wind. Later that night over some adult beverages he started asking lot's of 5er/RAM DRW questions. At that time I was towing my previous DRV at 29k combined.