Where to start but to say Hi to all, I've been reading the forums for 2 days now (waiting for authorization to post) and I just noticed I can post. I am going to keep this as short as possible but we all know how that goes.
First, My tow vehicle is a 2007 GMC Sierra 2500hd crew cab with a 6.6' bed (they refer to it as standard bed). I have the gas 6.0l engine, and have the heavy duty tow package installed on the truck (we use it to pull our horse trailer occationally). I know, I should have got the deisel, but, I didn't and I can't change that now (my truck has only 3300 miles on it)... acccording to Gmc the GCWR is a max of 16,000 lbs
We want to stay small, so we are thinking about the CF26ULX because we like the big dinnet option but it seems to stick out a bit.
The length of 27'11" is a nice comfortable size for us (our 1st 5er) from a weight side, our truck curb weight is about 5600 and the cf26ulx is about 7,000 so I'm looking at about 12,600 dry combined weight. With 26 gallons of gas and 2 adults I'm adding about another 500lbs so I'm up to 13,100 leaving me about 2900 lbs .. does this sound like a safe and sound set up for our truck?
I"d like to hear from folks expecially with a similar set up, I know the desiel would be a much better tow vehicle but like I said, I'm stuck with what we have.
I was surprised to see that there is a requirement for yearly inspecitons that have to be with a dealer (the one we know of locally is still a 200 mile round trip for us). And I can't beleive that a fixed price has not been established for the inspection... I realize that repairs and touch ups would be addtional but if the unit has to go back to an authorized dealer then set up a fixed fee for the coach and be done with it.. That just chafes my hide!
It seems like most of the folks here love their unit, and from looking at their manufacturing brochure it looks like they have a good strong design .. But, I can't take the unit back to the factory everytime I havea issue that the dealer can't handle and that is the only dealer with in a day's drive for us. Heck, its a tank of gas round trip :-)
What else are we looking at you ask, here ya go. Laredo 245 rl, Copper Canyon-Sprinter 252fwrls, and the cougar 276rls (a little bigger) or the Rockwood 8260ws we choose these for the R-values and heated and enclosed tanks.
We will probably install a manual slide hitch in our truck, we may not need it but from what I see, a little extra length could come in handy at times, the way I look at it it's a $500 insurance policy .
I know I'll have lots of other questions, I see others have purchaed via the internet to save money and I may check it out.. I"d like to use a local dealer but how close is close.. and in the end if I have to go back to the factory for work what difference does it make. Have you found that the factory supports buying from the internet dealers?
Thats about it and we look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions (were just 20 miles east of Nashville FYI)...