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Post edited 4:27 am – December 28, 2011 by Mike Magee

I think your turbodiesel will have enough torque to do the job nicely, but your tongue weight could very easily exceed 350 lbs. once you add propane (in front), fresh water and cargo.  If I were you I would find a dealer and get them to weigh an actual 19BH tongue with a battery and LP tank on it.  Then look at where the fresh water tank is located, and ponder whether you can load most of your heavier items midship or in the rear.  If you can satisfy yourself about the tongue weight being ok, then I would say you'll be all right.  don't those 320s have the 3L 6 cylinder diesel?  Those things are also put into the Sprinter vans and they will tow about 5K lbs with the right tranny, hitch, and suspension.

There haven't been enough 19BH's sold yet (only about 3 model years?) to make used ones plentiful… I think you would be very fortunate to find any.  But the new ones are pretty affordable anyway.

I get about 12 mpg towing my 14RB, and the frontal area is the same as the 19BH… wind resistance is the biggest factor… so I would tend to think your diesel would get 13 or 14 mpg.

I appreciate your feedback. Thanks, but I respectfully disagree with one thing. IMHO I will not be exceeding the limits of my vehicle’s frame. The 19BH’s GVWR – Gross weight [dry plus my stuff] is not supposed to exceed 3500lbs. My Mercedes R320 is rated for 3500lbs in USA. The exact same vehicle is rated for 5500lbs in Europe. I suspect the regulations are the issue not the mechanicals.

Another example I can give is …my 2003 VW Eurovan MV Weekender. It was rated for 2000lbs unbraked trailer weight and 5500lbs braked! And that was on a 1 ¼" ball mount! Can it do it???….we would say NO way! But apparently the European regulations say yes.

The incident you mention seems to me a classic case of a trailer brake controller not working or not adjusted properly. OR, maybe that trailer did not have brakes. A trailer with a less than 3000lbs GVWR is not really required to have brakes in most states.

kayaknut said:

Remember to include passengers and cargo (inside your tow vehicle) into your total weight.  While moving a couple items may take weight off your hitch, its still weight.  Clothing, food and supplies for four people adds up in a hurry, even if you do run with holding tanks empty. 

Your engine may be used in other vehicles with a higher tow rating, but they have frames and suspensions to make up for it.  Unfortunately, it sounds like your vehicle's frame is not designed for what you want to do with it. 

I personally know some folks who pushed the tow limits of their vehicle in this manner…  On their very first outting, and coming up to their very first stop light, even at a reasonable speed and use of a brake control –  Their entire rig was PUSHED through the intersection.  By some miracle, they weren't hit by any of the cross traffic, and didn't plow into anyone.  One can only imagine what the outcome would have been had they hit other cars, had been going faster, or what would happen in the event of an emergency need to stop.  Multiply the "what ifs" had the road been wet or icy….  Worse yet, what if this had happened with children in the vehicles?  So they were VERY fortunate, and learned a very hard lesson.  They kept their new camper, but promptly traded in their van for an appropriate tow vehicle.

It is critically important to remain within SAFE limits of your vehicle's towing capabilities.  Fudging this or that here and there just isn't worth putting yourselves or others at risk.

Best of luck.

Post edited 3:33 pm – December 29, 2011 by rajdude

Thanks for the info. This is very helpful. What this means to me that as I add fresh water to the tank the tongue weight will actually get LIGHTER! This is what I want to achieve anyway.

Sweet.

reeljuals said:

The fresh water tank is located beneath the bottom bunk bed. 

I will just state that I have the 16BH that I tow with a 4.6L  V8 F150 Super Crew.  As a previous poster stated, it doesn't matter whether you are towing a 19BH or a 14RB – they have the same frontal area.  That's going to increase the drag dramatically and suck up power and also gas.

I live in an area that is relatively flat but have towed through the low hills of the southeast.  Even with the overdrive turned off, I have to be careful on some of the inclines that I don't rev up too high.  I haven't red lined, but I have gotten well over 4000 RPM.  Yes, the truck can handle it, but it suffers especially in the gas mileage.

Oh and the 16BH weighs less than the 19BH.

Rajdude,

Dont bail out on this fourm yet. I noticed you have not posted recently. I too am new and have read allmost all post here already. Great info and most people are very friendly from what I can see. Lets hope it gets more active though.

Post edited 4:21 pm – January 17, 2012 by rajdude

Thanks for your supportive response, Mike. I was actually afraid to click on the e-mails I was getting from the forum [telling me that someone had posted something on this thread]. I was suspecting it was more of the same… and by reading it I would end up ruining my weekend J HA HA.  So I did not click on it until today…………and I am rather glad that I never saw more of those posts [have been deleted]……..maybe the poster has had a change of heart.

And no….I won't hold it against others here. I  have plenty of experience with onliine forums…….and I have learnt that 1. usually take advice with a grain of salt since YMMV….and….. 2. stay away from a thread if it gets nasty. Just unsubscribe from notifications and be done with it.

Mike Magee said:

Rajdude, I for one do not feel that you have in any way responded "like a spoiled child."  I feel badly that the thread took such a turn and hope you won't hold it against the other forum members.

I doubt that anyone here has experience with AmeriLite or Sunset trailers.  My local KZ dealer also handled AmeriLites and I looked at them.  The dealer seemed to feel they were of equivalent quality, and it looked so to my untrained eye.  The only quibble I had was that, on my 14RB floorplan, the arm of the awning went right over a jalousie window and prevented the window from being opened unless the awning were deployed.  Otherwise it looked fine, and I agree that holding tank size can be important for boondocking.  Traveling alone, my fresh tank only lasted me about 3 days, so I'm thinking of carrying a couple of collapsible containers full of water in the tub.

Good luck with your shopping.

Update from my side:

We have been doing a lot of research over this whole weight limitation and vehicle capacity issue. I have called lots of dealers locally and no one is able to give me a straight answer. No one is able to actually weigh the tongue weight on a KZ 19BH TT. One actually did weigh a similar TT from another brand and sure enough…….even the dry weight was about 90lbs higher than what was in the brochure. He had not even put the battery and the 2 LP tanks!

Looking at other threads…..it seems to me this is the norm in RVing……..manufacturers just simply lie or use the fine print to print out rather optimistic weights [especially tongue weights] in their brochures and make people believe that they can tow with small vehicles.

Also, a new development happened over the last weekend. We visited a RV show locally [Washington DC Camping RV Expo]. I took the whole family there. After looking at the stuff there we had a change of opinion on RVs. I think we would rather want to go with a motorhome instead of a travel trailer.

Towing a small travel trailer with our existing vehicle is a compromise on a lot of fronts.

We feel that a motorhome would serve us better. We would be able to utilize the travel time as ‘play time’ with our kids……a time which we always run short of. There is a lot more space in a motorhome than the smallish TTs we have been looking at anyway. The water tanks are much larger too – a very important thing for my wife.

Sure, the gas mileage will suck big time….but then again the difference is not that huge…. 8-9 with a small motorhome towing a toad or 12-13 for a SUV towing a TT. Wife says that it is worth it considering the fact that [in just a few more years] the kids probably won’t want to spend any time with us at all. Make most of what we have now!

Purchase cost probably will increase but a 19BH is already costing $8000 [and possibly will have more depreciation] at least whereas I see used motorhomes listings starting for around $10-15000 [At that price they probably need some work; which I am not afraid of……I repair all my cars and motorcycles myself anyway]

So my friends, I bid adieu to you all. Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts and experiences here with me. I hope to see some of you on the road someday.

Over and out!

-Raj

I couldn't agree more….  Be careful on here!

I had the misfortune of recently receiving PMs, as well as off forum e-mails, that were quite unpleasant.  I don't know how my personal e-mail was accessed, as I've never posted my address publicly.  But the e-mails I received contained foul language, name calling, and gender bashing.  Subject matter and member user names all related directly to the forum, but I don't know if it was the result of a trouble maker(s), or if the comments were genuine.  Either way, it was upsetting. 

I've been a contributing member of this forum for a couple of years.  (Its the only forum I have ever joined or participated in.)  I never experienced any trouble on here until now.  This has always been a great resource for KZ classic fans and future consumers. 

As a result of the recent unpleasantness I encountered, I pulled as much of my own content and information as I could from the forum.  I only post this as a heads up….(at this point, I guess it can't get any worse!)

Sadly, a trouble maker (or trouble makers), can really ruin a good thing for everyone else.