Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum - View Single Post

Dean A Van Peursem · 07-18-2006, 04:24 PM

David:

I think what the weight shows is that the pin weight shown in the brochures is dry weight with nothing in the tanks and nothing in the garages. The garages are so big on a 3400RL that the temptation is to fill them up with all kinds of goodies. We have two big lounge chairs, two director chairs, a Weber baby Q BBQ, a BBQ stand, a step ladder, tools, wheel blocks and levelers, satellite dish, 25' coax cable and two 20' water hoses plus all the cords in the front garage. The 50 AMP cable is quite heavy plus all the adapters to 30 AMP and 15 Amp plus I had a 25' 30 AMP cord as well. I would not consider adding another 200 lb generator in the front garage. If I had my druthers I would like to see more outside storage in the back to balance things out a bit.

When one looks at weighed axle weights for my truck compared to Ford factory Gross Axle Weight Ratings for the front and rear axles.

Front Axle GAWR = 5200 lbs vs actual in use is 4730 lbs
Rear Axle GAWR = 6030 lbs vs actual in use is 5400 lbs

Therefore, I'm well within the guidlines on each axle with quite similar weights on each axle for both the truck and 3400RL axles. Seems to me to be quite balanced. The truck handles it very nicely and on our last trip we averaged 12.8 MPG which I thought was quite acceptable. The 7.3L Diesel engine hasn't had to work very hard yet but we haven't gone over any 6% grades at 7,000 feet either. :-) I did have to add the Firestone airbags to level out the bed but I am finding out I don't need much air in the bags to do so. At this point in time I don't feel the need to go to a F350 dually. If I did in the future I might go with a 350 but with single rear wheels. Not sure I want to park or manuever a dually. I have enough difficulty with this one. I have not experienced any real side sway at all even in fairly windy conditions. I do have very HD Factory tires on the truck and have them inflated well.

According to 2003 factory F250 I'm slightly over on the GCVW but that wasn't different than the F350 dually at the time. The real difference between a F250 and F350 is in pin weight capability. As long as I am running under the axle and tire ratings on the F250 I'm not concerned about the Pin weight being over. Time will tell.

07-18-2006, 04:24 PM	#56
Dean A Van Peursem Montana Master Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Snohomish Posts: 579 M.O.C. #5583	David: I think what the weight shows is that the pin weight shown in the brochures is dry weight with nothing in the tanks and nothing in the garages. The garages are so big on a 3400RL that the temptation is to fill them up with all kinds of goodies. We have two big lounge chairs, two director chairs, a Weber baby Q BBQ, a BBQ stand, a step ladder, tools, wheel blocks and levelers, satellite dish, 25' coax cable and two 20' water hoses plus all the cords in the front garage. The 50 AMP cable is quite heavy plus all the adapters to 30 AMP and 15 Amp plus I had a 25' 30 AMP cord as well. I would not consider adding another 200 lb generator in the front garage. If I had my druthers I would like to see more outside storage in the back to balance things out a bit. When one looks at weighed axle weights for my truck compared to Ford factory Gross Axle Weight Ratings for the front and rear axles. Front Axle GAWR = 5200 lbs vs actual in use is 4730 lbs Rear Axle GAWR = 6030 lbs vs actual in use is 5400 lbs Therefore, I'm well within the guidlines on each axle with quite similar weights on each axle for both the truck and 3400RL axles. Seems to me to be quite balanced. The truck handles it very nicely and on our last trip we averaged 12.8 MPG which I thought was quite acceptable. The 7.3L Diesel engine hasn't had to work very hard yet but we haven't gone over any 6% grades at 7,000 feet either. :-) I did have to add the Firestone airbags to level out the bed but I am finding out I don't need much air in the bags to do so. At this point in time I don't feel the need to go to a F350 dually. If I did in the future I might go with a 350 but with single rear wheels. Not sure I want to park or manuever a dually. I have enough difficulty with this one. I have not experienced any real side sway at all even in fairly windy conditions. I do have very HD Factory tires on the truck and have them inflated well. According to 2003 factory F250 I'm slightly over on the GCVW but that wasn't different than the F350 dually at the time. The real difference between a F250 and F350 is in pin weight capability. As long as I am running under the axle and tire ratings on the F250 I'm not concerned about the Pin weight being over. Time will tell.