What buses can tow 7,000 pounds?

[belfert]

I am thinking about starting over with a different bus that has better parts availability.  What buses can tow at least 7,000 pounds?  I know MCI has the engine cradle that limits, or prevents towing.

Prevost has towing capacity, but Clifford doesn't recommend the H3-45 for off-road, plus he says tires are very expensive.

I also found a low miles Dina Viaggio with 12.7 that could probably be in my driveway for $15,000.  The only thing I don't like is it appears to have a Telma retarder instead of a Jake brake.  I remember reading about Telma retarders sometimes burning up buses.

[luvrbus]

Any bus will tow 7000 lbs it is the tongue weight you need to watch, I saw 2 Vanhools entrainers buses with 28 ft 3 axle trailers behind them going down I 40 at 75 mph,a 3 axle trailer are rated from 18 to 20k,the H-45 I would not get off the pavement and they are tall,plus the air system is a overdesign with all the Norgren valves in the system,one wouldn't do good off road     

[belfert]

Prevost seems to be one of the few buses that have a factory tow rating.

A 7,000 pound trailer is going to have at least a 700 pound tongue weight.

[luvrbus]

It was in 2000's era before Prevost installed a factory hitch,MCI had a 10,000 hitch for years I have one of the factory hitches from MCI in the shop,That 10% rating of tongue weight doesn't always apply it depends on the axle placement single axle trailers are hard to balance, I have a scale on my 8000 lb Harley trailer you load the tongue with 800 pounds the trailer is over the road 450 lbs works best for it ,I never have sways at 450 lbs     

[belfert]

I didn't realize MCI has a factory tow hitch.  I remember reading very often that MCI buses were not rated for towing due to the engine cradle.  If I were to buy a Prevost I would get something in the 2000s that has a tow rating.

Are the other Prevost models from the 2000s a good candidate for going offroad?  The Black Rock Desert is not really that bad, but I could see something that is too heavy on an axle getting stuck.  It was so soft a few years I almost got the Dina stuck.  I couldn't not go forward, but I managed to go backwards.  I was smart enough to not just spin the wheels and bury them even worse.

[Dreadnought]

I flat tow a 7300 lb dodge Ram 2500. I've been doing this for over 2 years now with my 1964 mc5. The tow receiver is a Reece one that seems to be off of a ford E 250 or 350. Like cliff says, there's no tongue weight as it's being flat towed. I check the structure regularly for cracks and/or fractures and haven't seen any. The real issue is that it's really really slow and out west it really takes its toll up even modest gradients.

The Cummins in the ram is modified , which means the detroit 8v71 realistically makes less power and torque than the ISB 5.9 in the ram!

[belfert]

I tow a 24 foot enclosed trailer so I have tongue weight.

[luvrbus]

24 ft should be a tandem axle they can be easy balanced without much tongue weight, I can load 8k lbs on my 18ft equipment trailer with a ton weight of 500 lbs ,that is what I like about the adjustable hitches for the receivers on the tandem axles, My Harley trailer has 1 torsion axle and it can be a pain without a scale,only benefit I find with a torsion axle trailer is you can pull it 70 mph empty and they don't bounce other than that I don't care for one     

[DoubleEagle]

The Cummins in the ram is modified , which means the detroit 8v71 realistically makes less power and torque than the ISB 5.9 in the ram!

There would have to be some serious modifications to the 5.9 to do that, I am under the impression that the usual maximum torque for the 5.9 is 610 ft. lbs., while the 8V71 ranges from 863 to 1125 ft. lbs. Torque is more important than horsepower.

[Dreadnought]

With the puny c60 injectors on my 8v71 its torque is around 740 lb ft.

My 5.9 uses 60% over exergy injectors , a 12 mm stroke cp3 pump, upgraded head studs, upgraded pushrods and valve springs, a firepunk  FP2 upgraded trans (triple disc torque converter, billet input , intermediate and output shaft.

I also found that cummins retarded the inj timing to moderate torque on their map (this allows reducing NOx without resorting to EGR). When this was rectified, the torque numbers went up (the 48RE no longer a bottle neck).

Any other questions?

[luvrbus]

Walter they are getting those little engine over a 1000 ft lbs of torque, I see those in 40ft motor homes now ( not the old 5.9),I looked at a motor home with the Ford 6.7 diesel was listed at over 1100 ft lbs of torque I have no idea how they do it, but I bet they last don't long producing those torque numbers

[freds]

When I started towing my car hauler with the Tesla inside I went from passing semi-trucks on the big hills to just falling inline...