Hello everyone My Wife and I are New members :)

[lbriant]

Looked at prevost for about 5 years and bought one last year 2000 vantare XL 17ft slide
I see allot of good info on here, I just ran into my first challenge, well not my first but a big surprise, went to buy a stacker the other day have a 10,000lb hitch on now and need a 20,000lb hitch no problem right :( wrong Wow did I get schooled ??
anyone else run into this? My bus came with three receivers across the back for a motorcycle lift? Which I wont need anymore, But I live in Iowa and wanted to get this done to get yo Yuma AZ, for the winter at the palms resort?
Prevost was talking over $6,500 !!! Ouch plus I would have to drive 12 hrs to get it done? any other ideas on someone else to go to?

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Looked at prevost for about 5 years and bought one last year 2000 vantare XL 17ft slide
I see allot of good info on here, I just ran into my first challenge, well not my first but a big surprise, went to buy a stacker the other day have a 10,000lb hitch on now and need a 20,000lb hitch no problem right :( wrong Wow did I get schooled ??
anyone else run into this? My bus came with three receivers across the back for a motorcycle lift? Which I wont need anymore, But I live in Iowa and wanted to get this done to get yo Yuma AZ, for the winter at the palms resort?
Prevost was talking over $6,500 !!! Ouch plus I would have to drive 12 hrs to get it done? any other ideas on someone else to go to?

Welcome lbriant, there are no other options if you want a Prevost 20,000# hitch. They will only sell it to you if they install it. Kevin E. installed it on his own, but they now will not sell parts and pieces only, probably a liability issue.

JIM

[truk4u]

Welcome aboard, it will be the best 25 bucks you ever spent.

[Mark3101]

Welcome aboard, it will be the best 25 bucks you ever spent.

I thought it was only $15.00 I paid too much...<G>.....

[Don]

My 2 cents worth of info is, You are not alone I am a newbie also as of August 2010 and you are exactly right there is A lot of good info on here. I purchased A matching coach and Stacker last December with A 10,000 lb hitch on the Coach that had been cut welded patched Etc Etc. as some of my previous post will confirm I had A 20,000 pound Hitch installed by prevost Jacksonville in January that has served me well. In my opinion it is well worth the money for several reasons # 1 being the safety issue # 2 Piece of mind knowing you will not lose the trailer, which really falls back to safety. (Make sure that your ball and mount is rated for 20,000 pounds also, mine was not and it was bent and ready to brake at any time.) I retained all old parts with the cracks cut welded patched bends Etc Etc to back up my statements. Good luck and keep me informed of your progress.

[Coloradobus]

Ibriant, Welcome to the group.,
I believe, and someone can correct me, Kevin??? one reason the hitch upgrade is costly, is it tied into the engine cradle. I think you need to replace th whole thing. Extreme weighted trailers can cause all sorts of trouble. More on a coach can be stressed than just the hitch attachment point. Other components such as drive and tag axle bearings will be stressed with added weight which causes more heat, possible premature failure.. Unless you use some sort of load-leveling weight distribution hitch to transfer some of the trailer's tongue weight to all three axles,( the bus suspension will compensate for bus leveling), it doesn't change the fact that weight will be removed from your steer axle, possibly jeopardizing total bus handling. I would ask this one question, do you really need such a stout trailer. We cringe when we see huge trailers attached to coaches, especially ones we know were originally designed for 10,000 lbs. Even the Overbuilt motorcycle carriers with a bike loaded, makes for enormous amounts of strain on the coach chassis as a whole. What are you planning on loading a trailer, not to be nosey, but curious.

[AmeriStar]

Go for it. The kit that Prevost sells is around 3800.00. There is quite a bit of detail work that has to be done to install their hitch, but there is alot of info included and a good bus shop or metal fabricator will have no problem. The most important thing affecting the installation will be the shops ability to to work under the coach. This is not a grease pit or ramp installation. 2 people need to be under the coach. You will need to remove and replace several structural components and this is best done by raising the entire coach.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Welcome to the asylum Ibriant. As you can see you will always get answers to your questions and if the planets all line up in a specific sequence there is a slight chance we will give you the correct answer.

Since your question is of a serious nature I guess we will try to offer serious advice.

If you intend to pull a 20,000 pound stacker get that hitch installed. The cost regardless of how or where it is done is chump change compared to what it will cost if you don't.

[BoaterAl]

Ibriant, welcome to the forum and ownership of the most comfortable ride down the highway.

Jon, were you the member that wrote about another concern....... stress applied to the rear cap on the bus ? Was that with trailer pulling or motorcycle lifts ?

[lbriant]

I will have my Harley up top around 700lbs and a golf cart, For those park nights when My inner ear infection flares up .) maybe an atv at some time, and my jeep sahara on bottom 4,500 lbs trailor weighs about 10,000lbs with lift and generator etc included,

[lbriant]

Thanks Jon, and everyone else !!
I priced the 20,000lb hitch kit, (it is called) it was like $3.200 which I have no problem with and I could have ordered it right then, it gets shipped from canada and put together partially down here,
I also reciveved about 10 pages of instructions in detail, and yes you must remove the cradle and replace it the instruction sheet says to support motor with detroit diesel tool Etc Etc and lower the coach untill off the cradle cut transmission bar and slide old cradle out, Well when you put it back together there is some drilling and welding involved and we all know how much our coaches like welding :(
I build harley motors and have pulled and worked on car motors front and rear wheel drive my whole life but I would rather have this work done by somone else, But prevost work is limited they were at around $6,500 to put the hitch on !!!
Wow they said they had to pull the whole motor and tranny I said I thought they could just lift it a bit and slide it out? then they said oh maybe? I am not a Rock star or a Nascar driver so I need to pinch my pennys but still get it done right, we are just getting ready to go full time so a stacker trailor seemed nice to have room to work on my stuff and haul some extra shoes for the wife .)
PS I wish I knew how to put my Coach pic by my name like you guy's :)

[lbriant]

Would you mind telling me what it cost you total? for the change from 10 to 20,000lb

[lbriant]

Thinking of trying Featherlight in Minnisota? They should know how to make the coach ready to pull a few thousand extra pounds?

[Coloradobus]

OK, that's not bad. We ran into a bus a few years ago puffing up I-17 towards Flagstaff that had an Escalade and 2 harleys on the bottom deck, and a golf cart and a boat on a trailer above the Caddy. He said he was weighing over 20,000lbs for the trailer and occupant toys and got 3.5-4 mpg in an H3-45 Thats alot, we said!!

[lbriant]

Wow the trailer weighs about 10,500 and has a max of 21,000 loaded we would not put more than around 6,000lbs in it normally?
Hope I get more than that per gallon? Course Flagstaff is a pretty good hill, sometimes when we go to Phoenix I get tired of holding the foot pedal to the floor seems like an hour up hill??? or back the other way from phoenix to presscot valley,
Any one else pulling any stackers with any advice?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I don't pull a stacker. I pull a 6700 pound H2 Hummer.

If I was in charge of buying a car to tow it would weigh as little as possible and if I could it would be 3500 pounds or less.

Pulling 10,000 pounds is beyond my ability to comprehend. Pulling a 20,000 pound trailer is something so significant I would want it equipped with air brakes and a 20,000 pound hitch. If you need to pull a stacker you have to accept stress on your drive train, brakes, and your nerves. You will go slow up hills, and if you are not planning way ahead of the coach you will go fast down hills. Driving will shift from enjoyable to a real job. Your fuel mileage will suck.

Detroit Diesel once taught that service intervals are suggestions and the real criteria for how often to service should be based on fuel consumption because that is the measure of how hard the engine and its oil is working. I just don't know where to find a link to that. If the engine is working hard that means your transmission fluids are working harder. Your differential is working hard and getting hot. Your radiator has to be in tip-top shape.

My point is if you absolutely have to pull a stacker make sure you and the coach are fully prepared for all that that entails. Leaving home without the Hummer hitched to the rear makes a significant difference in how my coach performs and my ease of driving. Something 2 or 3 times the weight to me would be a nightmare.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Prevost has as on option a gauge to measure differential temperature.

JIM

[lbriant]

Wow all good info I have pulled my toyota camery, then my jeep itis 4,500lbs or my bike trailor and two harleys, around 3,500lbs
I hooked up to the stacker empty and pulled it 10 0r twenty miles pretty flat at 10,000lbs didnt really notice it was back there, But I am always nevous in the moutains even with my old motorhome with a v 10 in it I always try try to downshift and stay off the brakes, After a few hours of moutain driving and we shut the rig off I am ready for relaxation drink .)
My smaller v nose trailor dropped my milage 1 mpg from 7.3 to 6.3