| Wood Spacer block assembly for towing [message #306161] |
Tue, 30 August 2016 14:19  |
pzerkel
Messages: 212
Registered: September 2007
Location: Salisbury, IL
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OK, So I know that it is 2016 and I could just find someone with a flatbed or a wheel lift that can reach far enough back and still lift a 4500 front axle. But has anyone here built the "wood spacer block assembly" shown on page 0-5 of X-7525?
A few weeks ago I had a close call, and was concerned I may have needed a tow (I ultimately did not, as we were able to start the coach).
Anyway, the whole experience led to a very interesting discussion with the tow truck driver at a local shop. This shop mainly caters to the rural farming community here and often works on medium duty farm trucks, They do have a 4-post lift that is capable of lifting the GMC. I have had them replace the exhaust on my coach in the past.
They own/operate one tow truck, a medium duty. While it does have a wheel lift, the wheel lift has a max capacity of 4000 lbs (and probably not enough reach to get to the front axle of the motorhome.) This tow truck also has an old-fashioned "sling lift" (much like the one shown on page 0-5 of X-7525.) The driver told me that they use this truck with the sling lift when towing 2-ton grain trucks. He also told me what the total weight that that truck could tow, while I do not remember the exact number, I know it was well in excess of the 12,000 lbs of a GMC motorhome.
So the tow driver had a chance to peek under my motorhome. He opined that as things were he would not have been able to tow the coach. But I had access to the towing pages of the manual which he was very willing to look at (at this point I think he was just intrigued by the GMC).
So all that to get to this, he strongly encouraged me to build this "wood spacer block assembly". He was confident that if we had that available, he could of safely towed the coach with their truck.
The manual is a little vague on some aspects of construction of the assembly. It says the assembly "should be bolted together with 3 thru-bolts", but does not specify sizes for these bolts; I am guessing they need to be about 9" long, Is 1/2" good enough? Is grade 5 good enough? Hex or are carriage bolts ok?
Also, when it comes to the short 10" pieces near the ends, I also have some questions. The photo shows that the "groove" these pieces fit into is 1 1/2" deep, but it does not show how far from each outside end the 10" 4x4 needs to be.
This is something that I really hope never to have to use, but all things considered I think it would be a good thing for me to have, just in case. So if anyone else has built one I would like to hear from you.
Thanks,
Paul Zerkel
'78 Eleganza II
Salisbury IL (near Springfield)
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