How much can I tow?

[tmsnyder]

You know all those times on this forum when someone talked about towing something heavier than what the manufacturer said was the capacity of the hitch?  And someone with some experience, like Rick, would warn them " Hey, those things are barely welded onto the coach, don't overload that hitch "   but then the guy would go ahead and do it anyway?   Here's why it's good advice to believe those low ratings on those RV hitches: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwR6JpCgyn4&ab_channel=SopwithCameltoe

[Elandan2]

Wow, that guard rail sure came in handy!!

[wayhilc2]

Living in Florida, I see a lot of RVers  that look like trains,  a 30 or 40 foot rig with a 20 foot  box trailer, and a flat bed or tow dolly with a vehicle.  I have even seen them weave in and out of traffic. I  give them as much room as I possibly can, really don't want to play " bumper-cars" with them.

[tmsnyder]

And perfectly timed!!  Just a few hundred yards before, there was a bank the trailer could have dropped right over.

[eXodus]

Diesel pushers have fairly massive frames in the back and huge tow capacities.
Since they are built on Bus chassis - and comparable light. They can tow large loads.

Yes frame extensions and what people put on them is a interesting topic.

My pretty substantial (6000/600lbs) hitch was held up by 4 rusty grade 5 bolts. When I unmounted the hitch two of those bolts had been already fairly loose.

So I replaced them with 8x  8 grade bolts (drilled a few more holes in the hitch and C-frame)

When you look at E-Trailer a Class II hitch has 4 bolts and is rated to 3500/350 - the highest 4 bolts go are up to 5000/500
A 6 bolt assembly might go to 10,000/1000
While 8 bolts go to 20,000/2500

So the RV-Maker are taking a high rated hitch on bolting it on with hardware not designed for the job...   - I know there are more parts to the story.
They are probably trying to protect their poorly done frame extension with a brake away part