Big Bill

Yesterday Bib Bill and I went down to London to pickup his Mobile Suites fiver, it was in for some warranty work. I call him Big Bill, cause he got one big truck to pull his big trailer. 2001 Volvo 770 with a automatic transmission. Truck was in our shop last year, and we singled out the rear ends, built a custom hitch and platform system. Bill did alot of the work himself and I helped out with the welding and some of the design work, although not that much cause Bill researched the project to the inth degree what needed to be done and how to do it, helps too, that he is a aircraft mechanic and accustomed to working on mechanical items.

I wanted to experience how the Volvo pulled his fiver, which is a heavy unit, somewhere around 3800 pounds on the pin alone.

I was impressed. Truck pulled the trailer effortlessly, flat ground in a headwind or uphills, she was barely working. Truck was converted to motorhome status and is registered that way, plates and insurance are cheap if done this way. Bill used to tow with his Chev Duramax/Allsion combo reworked with anything to make the truck pull and handle the big rig better, but she is one heavy trailer and Bill never did feel comfortable using this combination, especially braking.
His idea with the platform area to to put one of those smart cars on there with a tilting platform to load and unload. Then he can have a set of wheels to go and check out the local scenary where ever he chooses to camp.




Here is the rig hooked up, hitch is behind the rear axle so to unload some weight from the front axle, that area under the rear of the frame, holds about 1000 pounds of ballast weight to also help unload the front axle.

It's a slick unit overall, works very good and setup for a fulltime rving experience which Bill and his wife hope to do one day.