have a fellow interested in towing capacity of my Barth Breakaway that is for sale. Only info on data tag is front 8100 rear 17200 GAWR and I have never weighed mh. any ideas what to tell him?

I looked here, but did not see '94
https://www.barthmobile.com/eve...=145102933#145102933

The manual for my '92 breakaway says 20,000 towing capacity .... Seems like a lot but that a what the manual says .... I'd post a picture of the data but I don't know how to do that...yet...

I would very seriously doubt Breakaway towing capacity of 20,000 lbs. On most 30' Breakaways the GVW is 18,000 lbs. Beeoh's is a bit higher because he has a Gillig chassis which is much better than Spartan. Longer Breakaways have higher GVW but still towing capacity would not be that high.

My manual says

GVWR-18,000 lbs. with towing capacity to 20,000 lbs-30 foot...
Does that mean only 2,000 lbs towing capacity ?...

I have never seen a GCVW (gross combined vehicle weight) for our '92 Breakaway. That being said 20K sounds about right. Ours weights in at a little over 16k and we have a 3500 lb toad (with brakes), This puts us at about 20K GCVW.

quote:

Originally posted by dr. bart:
My manual says

GVWR-18,000 lbs. with towing capacity to 20,000 lbs-30 foot...
Does that mean only 2,000 lbs towing capacity ?...

Again you would need to weigh your Breakaway to find out what you are loaded to. And yes, if you ae loaded to 18,000 GVWR, fully loaded you would only have 2000 lbs tow capacity.

So if I am at 20000 pounds, I can't tow anything?

I tried to find the GCWR of my Breakaway or any of the Barth Models out there. Has anyone ever seen the GCVR for any of the Barth's? I'm going to pull my Jeep Wrangler with a toe bar and was curious of what the rating might be. I know pulling my Wrangler won't be a problem but who knows what I might want to pull some day.

Someone mentioned 20,000lb GCWR, I'm thinking it should be quite a bit higher. For instance if I loaded my Barth to 18,000lbs GVWR that would only leave 2,000lbs available for a toad. I have a Chevy 2500 work truck that has a GCWR of 22,000lbs. The chassis and drivetrain on the Barth is much larger than my work truck.

Has anyone ever pulled a trailer or toad and thought it was too much weight? I know there's a lot of different engine, transmission and axle configurations out there but that seems to be based on the size of the coach.

Mine is a 5.9 Cummins rated at 160HP with a 4 speed Allison transmission and a Dana 80 axle. A new Dodge Ram with dually has a max towing rating of 30,000lbs, a GCWR of 37,900.

I can't recall any Barths with a GCVR listed. Plenty of folks tow anyhow.

Tom & Loraine,

We have a 1993 Breakaway and tow a 2005 Jeep Liberty wheels down using a Roadmaster tow bar set up. The jeep weighs in at around 4400 lbs, I think.

It tows great on basically level ground but recently we towed to Heron Lake in Northern NM and the road from the Santa Fe area to Chama is a tough pull for sure going from about 6500' to over 8,000' in some areas and some of the hill streaches were really long.

Our Cummins 5.9 was originally 230 hp and the PO had it kicked to about 260 hp. The Allison 6 speed is a great transmission and once you learn to anticipate the hills, etc. you can pretty well maintain a decent speed. I try to keep the rpms between 1800 and 2300 where the engine is happy.

Having said all of that I was wishing that I had a Geo Tracker type of TOAD by the time we made this trip. I think those weigh about 1/2 of what the Jeep weighs. When I drop the TOAD you can really tell the difference in power and braking.

BTW, I do use a Brake Buddy which really helps with the braking of the entire rig.

quote:

Our Cummins 5.9 was originally 230 hp and the PO had it kicked to about 260 hp.

I've seen the HP rating all over the map on the Cummins 5.9. I feel cheated to only have 160HP unless we're talking 160 Clydesdales.

I plan on seeing how the Barth does on basically flat land. I'll watch the engine and trans temperature and see how it goes, check fuel mileage without the toad I'm getting around 12 mpg. I only cruse at 62 on the highway, seems to be the Cummins comfort zone. We have some hills over here in Michigan but for the most part fairly flat. Nothing like the mountains out west and the hills of Tennessee. I'm thinking I would have issues driving through the hills or mountains pulling the toad.

We just spent a 4 day weekend at Silver Lake in Michigan. Silver Lake is a sportsman's paradise with the dunes on Lake Michigan for four wheeling and dune buggies, Silver Lake for pleasure boating and fishing. So just about Everyone is pulling something. I've seen trucks pulling 5th wheels with trailers behind the 5th wheel. You see a lot of gasser motorhomes pulling some pretty huge trailers loaded with ATV's.

I just purchased a Blue Ox tow bar to pull my Jeep Wrangler. We were pretty much the only campers without a toy at Silver Lake. Not next time anyway.

The breakaway is a super-economy pusher. in all reality power wise it is beyond it's capacity with two people and normal gear with the 4spd. When I bought mine I towed my 96 f150 4wd home from Boise Id to Ticaboo, ut, slower on hills due to temperature rise in both water and transmission. A good cleaning of the radiators helped that greatly. Then when I started moving to golden Valley, AZ I made one trip with household in barth and about 14k behind, promptly bought a 1 ton dually diesel to move with. The chassis handles weight quite well and if you have the 6spd it is easy to jack up the power on the 12 valve. but with the 4spd you are limited even with the stock 190hp. My solution is to relax,travel light, tow light (miata works), and watch your temps real close while enjoying the 10mpg that most do not get. I love the Breakaway for part time and maneuverability, but if on the road a lot would look for a gillig or bus chassis.

quote:

My solution is to relax,travel light, tow light (miata works), and watch your temps real close while enjoying the 10mpg that most do not get.

That is going to have to be my plan. Loraine and I have never traveled out west and that is on our bucket list. I'll have to study the route real well but more than likely just leave the toad home.

Tom,

Does your vehicle data tag sticker indicate your engine rating at 160 HP?

When I have checked the mileage I do get around 10 mpg when towing the toad.