Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Info & Discussion Forum

Greetings,
New member here because we are looking at a 2004 26RB and am having trouble determining what and how much I might be able to tow. At most a 6x10 enclosed or a 6x8 single axle open/flat bed. I did see some where that 5000lbs was allowed, but I have my doubts looking at the current design.
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Try asking your questions on this group. We have a 2000 RSB 24 and decided not to tow with ours after watching video from this group and reading past posting:

https://m.facebook.com/groups/304876370 ... ?ref=share

When I purchased my 2005 coach in 2010 I rigged it up to haul my 250cc Kawasaki motorcycle on a ramp. Combined weight of bike and ramp was about 400 lbs. The hitch is rated for 500 lb tongue weight. The framework for the bumper is very robust and this attaches to the truck frame. After checking how the bumper assembly attaches to the truck frame there is no way that I would trust it. I beefed up the spot where the bumper attaches to the frame. Bolts are 1/2" grade 8. I am now towing a 2016 Mini Cooper which weighs about 2800 lbs.

We have a 2008 27 RSB with the E450 chassis and Ford V10. Since this has a long extension on the chassis frame, I had similar concerns. Born Free rated it with Class 3, 500/5000 lb hitch. I was planning to be towing both a loaded Jeep wrangler or 23’ boat at about 5,000 lbs. Pur dealer worked with a lot of racers that towed their car trailers and they were familiar with a frame improvement where they fish plated the frame extension. Basically a steel plate is lap welded over the butt welded frame extension. I reviewed this upgrade with the Born Free factory and they had no issue with it. I basically wanted a setup that was stronger than just 5,000 lb.

We’ve towed the Wrangler loaded with 2 bikes and two kayaks over 18,000 miles over the years, all is well. The 23’ ft boat actually tows even better, though we have only done areal 250 mile trips with it. Assuming your model was rated similarly, I see no issue with towing a 6x10.
We did notice other Class Cs were rated at only 3500 lb towing. This one reason why we contacted Born Free regarding towing a full 5,000 and they had no issue with it.

I’m assuming your trailer may only be about 3,000 lbs, so I doubt the fish plating is necessary, but I felt much more comfortable with it, especially once you see how the extensions are added.

Hope that helps

Hi, trying to determine if my hitch mount has been reworked, how does mine look?

Born_Free_RSB wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 5:07 pm Hi, trying to determine if my hitch mount has been reworked, how does mine look?

It is difficult for me to determine if your frame was reinforced from pictures. The increase in strength that I was referring to was at the end of the factory truck frame, where the frame extension is welded on. On ours (27’) , I think that was about 6’ from end coach) That is where fish plates were welded on to reinforce butt welded extension. Then you need to look at the how the tow hitch is rated and what it is attached to. Mine was rated for 5,000 / 10,000 lbs( w/ equalization hitch). My shop added diagonal reinforcements from hitch to frame as well. I’m not towing 10k and think the intention of hitch reinforcements was less for hitch and more to add rigidity to the end of truck frame extensions.
Some of the pics shown look like bumper frame attachment to frame, but I’m not certain. In my case, my hitch is attached directly to frame extensions. So look closely on what your hitch is attached to ( frame extensions hopefully)

If needed I could get pictures of mine in next few days.