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........

[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,