Featherlite Stacker

[rff105]

Good news the former owner of our coach had a custom painted Featherlite stacker for our coach that he wants to sell. :)

Bad news he wants $87K for it. :(

[jello_jeep]

He is damn proud of that one, isn't he!

My first house was just less than that!

I must say ,, it does look stunning though!

[Toy Box]

Being one who has an incurable trailer fetish, I am on my third featherlite trailer. Bought the current one with the triple axles. It's 24' and 10'6'' tall. Custom cabinets, golf cart door in curb side. No lift. New price two years ago was under 40,000. Main thing we have found is Quality and attention to detail severely lacking on this one compared to the one we bought in 97.

[rff105]

They gave me a quote on a new one just like this for $88K plus about $20K for paint when i was at Featherlite. What is the difference between your $40K trailer and this $88K trailer. I have to admit my jaw dropped when he said the price it was double what I expected a trailer to cost. Were they just trying to take me for a ride?

I would really like to own a stacker some day, but for these prices you could rent any cars and toys you want at your destination, save on fuel, and not have to pack or haul your stuff and still come out ahead.

[Ray Davis]

I wish I were an artist. Sounds like I'd like to get into the trailer painting business!!!

[rff105]

http://www.prevost-stuff.com/1998_30competetivetrailerKevinE.htm

This looks like a good deal in comparison. To bad we got a coach without stainless. This trailer would out class our H3 with all that shiny metal.:)

[Joe Cannarozzi]

105 I think that toybox said his was 10-6 high and no lift.

We used to snowmobile all the time. Had 2 sleds, an enclosed trlr, all the gear.

Ended up doing exactly what your considering, every year. Put a suitcase in the trunk and hammer down. Started renting everything, gear included.

No purchase costs, no maintenance, no insurance, easier on the car and driving, always new sleds, no storage issues and on and on and on.

That black stacker you found is Kevin Erion , he is member in the POG.

Every now and then we will take a short trip with the bus and leave the P-U at home. To me it is a very noticeable difference behind the wheel, a pleasant change of pace. Leaving a 24ft stacker behind every now and then has to be like cutting an anchor loose in a strong current.

[tdelorme]

Here is an older one that was pulled by an matching H3. And, that is the "asking price." Click on each picture for more details.
http://mrolivers.com/website_slot_01_1desc.htm

[rff105]

http://www.philcooper.com/details.php?v_id=330

I guess there are some people out there willing to pay the premium for a used Featherlite stacker. I guess high $80K's is the going rate.

[1carguy]

I have a Featherlite stacker trailer that I pull behind my H. Couple of things I have learned:

A. You really need a scale to measure tongue weight. It is really easy to over load the tongue weight. www.sherline.com I normally haul two corvettes plus a golf cart in the trailer. When I checked the wight only way I could get it in line was to back in the lower car and get the weight in the back.
B. If you are going to tow very much be sure to check the weight capacity of the tires on the trailer. Make sure the combined weight of your load and the trailer is less than the combined capacity of the tires. Then keep the air pressure up at the maximum amount shown on the sidewall of the tire. If you are going to tow a trailer very much investing in a smart tire system would be quite wise.
C. Having a camera inside the trailer is worthless since when the doors on the trailer are closed it is pitch dark inside.
D. Always ask for a driver side door so you can crawl out the door of the car. Pay close attention to the size, location, and the height of the door off the floor.
E. While you do not know that you are towing a car your sure do know it when you have a stacker trailer behind you. It makes a huge difference in performance and fuel consumption. On a trip from Orlando to Park City, UT my normal 5.5 mpg went down to 3.5 towing the stacker with 2 cars and a golf cart in it.
C. Several good alternatives to Featherlite are ATC and Brown Motorsports - Apache Junction, AZ. They are the former Hamlet Trailer manuf. Both build great custom trailers at very competitive prices.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Carguy I have some questions.

What was that tongue weight that prompted you to back the car in and what is it now?

What is the gross (loaded) weight of the trailer as you use it?

What are your tire pressures, 80?

So combined gross vehical weight, loaded bus loaded trlr. is what maybe 65000? 3.5 mpg, even considering the load and terrain, seems a wee bit short?

Some great posts lately carguy. Enjoy yourself out there on the road, be careful.

Based on your post I would think that those 2 leads on quality built trlrs might be worth looking into for a buyer.

How or with what are you measuring tongue weight? I'm thinking I would weigh the bus back 2 axles combined with and without the trlr.

Sorry for the inquisition

[1carguy]

I was told that I should not allow the tongue weight to reach more than 1,000 lbs. by the converter. Using the scale with the trailer loaded as I normally load it I pegged the scale at over 2,000 lbs. This was with both vehicles pointed forward centered over the axles of the trailer plus a golf cart in the front. I blew a front trailer tire which made me think that there could be a possible heat problem due to the weight. I would highly recommend scaling the tongue and adjusting the load accordingly. I have a winch in my trailer and it was no problem to winch the bottom car in backwards.

When I had the blow out I changed all of my tires out to a Michelin that allowed a higher load plus allowed a maximum 110 psi air pressure. Before you do this you need to be sure your rim will accept this much psi. Fortunately, the Alcoa rims on my trailer would accept this.

My mileage on my H has always sucked. It a 2006 model that I had built new. It now has 45,000 lbs. Hopefully, as it gets broken in it will improve. Detroit say they will not look at this until I have at least 70-80,000 miles on it.

Hope this helps

[Joe Cannarozzi]

What is your combined gross weight?

You suggested that we really need a scale to measure tongue weight. Do you have a cool tool or were you refering to a standard truck scale?

[1carguy]

I was referring to the trailer tongue weight scale that can be viewed at: www.sherline.com It will quickly tell you how much tongue weight you have. Perhaps I should, but I have never worried about my combined gross weight same as I spent any time worrying about the combined 77 foot length unless I am trying to go to California.

I much prefer towing 4 wheels down with a Jeep grand cherokee that can be towed without modification. However, I am into collector cars and use the trailer 5-6 times per year to travel to events around the country.

[1carguy]

Link for scale should be: www.sherline.com/lm.htm

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Unless the coach has been built or modified to increase the towing limit our coaches have a 1000 pound tongue weight limitation and a 10,000 pound towing weight limitation.

If I recall Prevost can modify the coach to change the limits to 2000 and 20,000.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Were you at the Corvette show in Kissimmee, Fla. last January. We met one of the vendors in the campground it was right next door. He was in a mid 80'S bluebird that had the same black to silver design we have, very nice bus.

Good show too, weather left a bit to be desired.

Thanks for re posting that link couldn't find it earlier, Cool Tool, Mike has another one to add to the list.

[jack14r]

I had a stacker trailer and it weighed 10200 empty,with a 5000 pounds in it I got 4.1 mpg on a 650 mile trip,flat towing a Chevy PU I get 5.1 now.Prevost increased the trailer weight to 20000 and I think the tongue weight is 1500,I will verify this tomorrow.These EGR DD series 60's are nowhere as good as the previous non EGR motors.They are real thirsty!!!

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Well Jack maybe DD is not all to blame. There is that new ultra low sulfur fuel to deal with too and that ain't helpin none.

If your pulling 15000 your 65 or 70000lbs combined.

I would have expected fuel mileage numbers to be more like 5 to 5+ mpg under those loads?

Does anyone have any fuel mileage data before and after ultra low sulfur showed up. Not statistics but real data.

How much difference is there, on an average day, in MPG going 72mph and going 62mph but just pulling an average toad. I have no computer on ours. I am curious.

Jack what kind of mileage did your previous bus get pulling that same p-u at the same speed?

[Kevin Erion]

I found that with my 99XL DDECIII I get about 7.2 at 68 MPH towing a 6000LB Suburban. When I towed my stacker that weight 17000 full of all the things I thought I had to have but never used the MPG went down to about 5.5 at 62 MPH. I did buy that same scale that carguy has and I found that I was a little heavy so I would back the car in or we use a VW Thing and I would drive in just enough to close the back door, I would end up with about 1300LB on the ball. I also bought and installed the Prevost 20,000LB hitch, comes with a new engine cradle and hitch mount.
The XLII with DDECIV only gets about 6.5 on the trip from Texas home at 68 or 70, I just wonder if thats the difference between DDECIII and DDECIV, I thought the engines are the same.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Kevin great info.

The ultra low sulfur fuel? Could it be hurting you by a full 7/10ths?

Another question for you heavy haulin stacker bunch.

What is the tongue weight, empty trlr.?

Seems like individual fuel mileages are all over the place although Jack did not say at what speed he clocked in that 4.1mpg.

Kevin the milages you have noted are more in line to what they should be for pulling that stacker. You should get about the same as your KW does mabye a little less aka automatic trans. and flat nose.

I think a used bus with mileage of 7+ with some sort of decent proof is valuable to potential buyers who will be frequent users. Especially now when it looks like the newer stuff isin't hitting that mark anymore.

Kevin you said your 99 got 7.2 at 68? Do you remember what it got at 62.5.

[Kevin Erion]

Joe, never drove 62 without a trailer. I always drive 68 alone or towing 4 wheels down. I think the tounge weight empty was very heavy, maybe 1500 or something like that. It would help to load heavy to the rear to get the weight off the front. The one thing I found funny was I could not find a ball mount that was rated for more than 15000LBS even though you can buy a 30000LB ball.
Anyway, the trailer is for sale, the suburban works well or I might buy a 4 door pick up with a cab high shell. This will make it easier to have the bus spare tire and everything else that I still don't need but can't leave behind.

[jack14r]

Joe,In response to your question,I only had one trip with the 2001 Marathon pulling the Chevy PU and on that trip I got 5.3 MPG.We were on the same trip from Florida to NC and we ran as much as 10 MPH over the speed limit.If I remember correctly it seems like without towing I always got at least 1 MPG greater.The 2001 would get over 7 MPG at 65-70 MPH without towing the toad.Jerry might be able to chime in here,how bout it Jdub?

[1carguy]

I am really envious of those that get 7 mpg or so. I have owned a 95,99, 01, 03, & 06 H's and have never gotten much over 5.25 mpg. With the stacker trailer my average is 3.5 to 4 mpg. I am running 68-70 mph.

[Coloradobus]

Kevin,

Our former coach, 2002 Marathon 0740, XLII one slide, never did much of 6.5-6.8. running at 68 mph. It had the DDEC IV. It also ran a bit hotter.
Our current coach, Marathon 0586, 2000 "H", does much better no matter what we tow. Going to Quebec in October, with a tailwind, we got 8.1 mpg. Mostly at 68, then came OHIO's interstates ugh, 55mpg.
Coming home we averaged 7.2 with lots of Illinios and Nebraska crosswind. Total triip was 4700 miles. Final average per DDEC INfO Center was 7.7. The better mileage must have been from the 4 days it took me to wax it.:D

[Kevin Erion]

Jim, I need to look into what the difference between DDECIII and IV is. Someone told me it's just got more computer ability but what do they need it for if everything is the same?

[Ray Davis]

The XLII with DDECIV only gets about 6.5 on the trip from Texas home at 68 or 70, I just wonder if thats the difference between DDECIII and DDECIV, I thought the engines are the same.


Kevin, as a comparison when I drove my 2002 XL2-40 back from Texas I had dreams of 8mpg. (I remember someone posting values in excess of that). At one point my overall (reset when leaving TX) was up to about 7.2. But, once we started some uphills through NM, it went down quickly to about 6.5.

Final average when arriving in Southern CA was 6.9. Mine is DDEC4 as well. At least it's better than the 5.5 I was getting in my 8V!

Ray

[Jon Wehrenberg]

There are three things that will destroy the mileage. Going fast, towing, and hilly terrain.

I only reset the Pro Driver with oil changes so the mileage I show doesn't reflect any special circumstance, but my driving under most conditions. We rarely go anywhere without our H2, I set the cruise to show 63 on the Pro Driver which shows 65 on the GPS and the speedometer. Hills are what comes with our trip, with some trips far worse than others.

Here is a photo of my Pro Driver taken about a year ago just prior to an oil change. My current Pro Driver shows about 1/2 MPG less which I attribute to a lot of driving in the mountains, and I can't confirm it, but I think the fuel is affecting my mileage.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Jon so now you are down to 7.6 at 63mph but aren't willing to attribute that to more hills or ultra low sulfur fuel? Still better than most plastic class A pulling toads. 7.6 would be a 33% improvement for us. That would save us 700 bucks on one trip to Key West and back.

I am really surprised and disappointed to here these sub-5mpg numbers from the stacker trlr group? I guess Kevin is getting it though. I wonder what he is doing differently?

[jack14r]

Jon,I did check the XLII Prevost owners manual today and the 2004 shell that I have has a trailer hitch rated for 20000 pounds and a tongue weight at 6.5 inches aft of the hitch of 1500 pounds.Prevost does not discuss any other dimension other than 6.5 inches nor is there any way to do a caculation.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Joe, I do attribute some of my loss of mileage to the fuel we get today. Three years ago when we first got this bus it was not uncommon to see 8.3, but I have not been over 8 recently. I think Roger is seeing lower MPG numbers also, and he has also had good mileage in the past.

Because of the hills around Branson I could see my Pro Driver go down to 7.3, but since our return leaving the hilly area it crept back up but at the high end of miles traveled it takes a very high average MPG to pull up a low number.

I use that display rather than the calculated MPG because i have no way to pull the Webasto and the generator fuel consumption out of the numbers.

Jack, my assumption on the hitch rating is that the center of the ball has to be 6.5 inches or less from the bumper to have the 1500 # toungue weight rating. Any distance greater and the tongue weight is reduced proportional to the increase in distance.

[phorner]

If I remember my physics basics and the lever formula correctly, the calculation is force times distance.

So, if I'm right, 6.5 x 1500 = 9750. So, if the distance was adjusted to 10 inches, the load would be reduced to 975 pounds.

[Petervs]

phorner
yes, your formula is right but the bumper is not the fulcrum, the design uses some point behind the bumper as the center point of the load on the hitch, we do not know what point the designers chose.

[Ray Davis]

phorner
yes, your formula is right but the bumper is not the fulcrum, the design uses some point behind the bumper as the center point of the load on the hitch, we do not know what point the designers chose.


But, doesn't that sort of work in our favor? For example. Let's say the real fulcrum point was 10 inches beyond the bumper. Then the torque would be 16.5x1500 inch pounds (don't know abbreviation) = 24750. But, if extended now to 10 inches past the bumper (as per Paul's example), then the corresponding tounge weight would be 24750/20 = 1237.5.

So it seems that by using the bumper point for calculation, you get a safer computed load (i.e. 975 vs 1237.5). It would seem that 975 would be a good safe number to work with, and depending upon how far back the actual fulcrum was, there would be actually more safety margin?

Or, are my calculations totally screwed up? :eek:

Ray

[rff105]

My stacker is up on RVTrader.com now. I still really want that trailer even though i have gone the way of the toad now. :mad:
I emailed them, they are still looking for 85K for it. :(
http://www.rvtrader.com/rvdetail2108548.htm

[garyde]

Richard. Have you seen Kevins Trailer. Its on the POG site. I think those folks will soon realise a Trailer with such specific graphics has very little resale value.

[rff105]

In October you could buy a brand new unpainted Featherlite stacker for 85K, they say prices have gone up because of Aluminum but i have not priced one lately. Granted this one does have a lot of options and a very expensive paint job but most people buying a 85K trailer will go with the new one. I am in no hurry i will see where this trailer is in a year or two. They have my email address and they know we have the matching coach and are interested.

[blacklab]

I need info on buying and the installation of a 20,000# hitch on my XL 40'
Any ideas?

[Kevin Erion]

Give me call, I did one on mine. 714-342-8588

[bonhall41]

We bought a 24' stacker trailer (2006) from Featherlite when we bought our coach several weeks ago. They said $28K - $30K to paint it to match the coach. I think we're going to like the plain black paint job really well.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

I bet a local body shop would do it for less.

[jonnie]

I have a friend who has a 26 FT Pace American Stacker for sale. It is a 2006and he is asking 19,500. If anyone is interested please send me a private email or call me at 440-639-8505

[jonnie]

Here is a picture of the trailer I mentioned previously.

[jonnie]

Sorry wrong picture. Let's try that again