There a class C or short bus option that can tow an enclosed trailer?

I currently have an 01 Chevy short bus with a 350 TBI. I added a receiver hitch for a hitch hauler, but wouldn't trust it to tow much since it's attached to frame extensions, plus that poor 350 can barely move the unladen bus.

So! If I moved to a slightly newer and thus more powerful van chassis short bus, is there a scenario where it could tow my enclosed trailer with car in it? I test drove a 6.0 Ford diesel bus before settling on my Chevy, and it definitely had more pep. And I could put more effort into my hitch design with an eye towards towing.

If no, what about a Class C? There an option there? We're talking "grassroots" in terms of budget, so no Super C's.

Or, wildcard option, how about a "full-sized" short bus? 

Where you live has a bit to do with your decision. If you lived in FL, it would be easier to tow because it's FLAT. Here in northeast PA, I have over 100' of elevation just to get from the house out to the main road, then mountains no matter which way I travel. That would impact my search and decision.

lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) said:

Where you live has a bit to do with your decision. If you lived in FL, it would be easier to tow because it's FLAT. Here in northeast PA, I have over 100' of elevation just to get from the house out to the main road, then mountains no matter which way I travel. That would impact my search and decision.

Where I live is pancake flat, but there's hills and/or interstates with some grade between me and VIR/Summit Point, which would be two primary towing use cases. 

How about an ambulance?  The box on the back type are usually very sturdy and have diesels, and should have similar room inside to a short bus but with the benefits of all that built in storage.  

Trailer weight?  Goals for tow vehicle? Camping, storage, etc?

I would tow 5-7k pounds behind my shuttle bus. With a hitch rebuild, I'd haul more. I've hauled open trailers several times without issue. It's a 6.0 Ford and gets around 13 mpg towing. 

I'm going to be dragging it out from behind the shop in the next couple of weeks. It'll be available very cheap soon and if you want to come get it before I have to work on it, I'll damn near give it to you. It currently needs batteries for sure, and neither AC system works.

Class C motorhomes have variable towing capacities. I've seen them all over the place from 3k pounds to 5k pounds. Some of them are almost overloaded when they leave the factory. Class As are the same way. My 96 F53 would tow 8k but 5k is more common. My current Class A will tow 10K. Super C motorhomes will tow upwards of 30k pounds. You really need to read the posted capacities. They are usually located on the back wall of a closet or on the wall near the driver's seat. 

Tongue weight may be an issue for a lot of Class Cs since there is usually a lot more over-hang from the rear axle than with a normal truck or van.   

In reply to Toyman! :

I'm intrigued! Email me at my username @ Google mail? 

And to answer the use case: "it's a long story", but short version would be to sometimes haul a bunch of kids/cousins to do fun things, sometimes use as transport and then as a base camp (though not necessarily overnight accomodation) for multi day music festivals, and lastly, if I can work it out, maybe what hauls me and car to the track and I sleep in for a night or 3. 

In reply to Spearfishin :

We did a bunch of family excursions with it to state parks and museums.

One good thing about driving it was being able to park in bus parking at museums and parks. 

It also made a couple of appearances at Lemons races for sleeping at the track.

Email on the way. 

Church bus for the win. 

In reply to Toyman! :

I just stumbled on a v10 truck, since the 350 FX4 is goon be a bit till it's hwy. ready! I'd MUCH rather have the shuttle bus! Keep in in line, for hard core interest!

Don't know how'll get the Financial Manager on board, since me an 'Ol Blue have bonded, and I'd be hard pressed to let the old girl go, but... 

Well - keep me in mind!

Well to update this, never could figure out a way to break away for the adventure of bringing back Toyman's bus, but stumbled on a Duramax powered 4500 chassis bus (2007) locally and think it's coming home tomorrow. Will likely start a separate thread, but I'll be answering my initial questions via first-hand learning. 

Spearfishin said:

Well to update this, never could figure out a way to break away for the adventure of bringing back Toyman's bus, but stumbled on a Duramax powered 4500 chassis bus (2007) locally and think it's coming home tomorrow. Will likely start a separate thread, but I'll be answering my initial questions via first-hand learning. 

Don't these have some odd commercial insurance situation? Or can it be classified as an RV?

OHSCrifle said:

Don't these have some odd commercial insurance situation? Or can it be classified as an RV?

We were able to get RV plates for our mini bus

Mine didn't have a hitch though, so if someone is looking to tow, obvously, make sure it has a hitch reciever and woring.

Well, why not just go for a Motor home?  We had a smallish one, it would fit parked backwards overhanging the sidewalk in a normal parking spot.

it did have a hitch and a wiring harness for towing, it even had a "towing" mode on the dash you could select.

OHSCrifle said:

Don't these have some odd commercial insurance situation? Or can it be classified as an RV?

Added to my account with Farm Bureau without any hassle. Just gave VIN and said it was a GMC C4500. (Granted, I've already got a different C3500 short bus insured, and an F550 with them, so maybe I can add whatever at this point, haha.)

Adventures have already begun though! Made it 2 hours into a 3 hour ride home and the belt shredded. Got to closest auto parts store before they closed, bought all three lengths the computer said were options, tried the longest one and after 15 minutes of belt routing on the side of the interstate, realized that the label I was using for routing diagram (from the bus upfit, added second AC compressor, so changed routing) also called out a belt length. Which was 3.5" longer than the one I'd just wrestled on there. 

By then everything was closed, so left it on side of interstate, called State Police non emergency number where I was told "thanks for letting us know, but we may tow it if a trooper thinks it's location is a hazard in any way." Which I get, but still not a good feeling. So, hopefully it's there in the AM, and hopefully I can find a six rib belt that's 139.58", per the diagram!

In reply to Spearfishin :

Too late to help this time, but in the future keep heavy truck repair shops in mind for parts. They often service box trucks and the ones I've dealt with always keep their own inventory because they wrote late or 24h. 

1SlowVW said:

In reply to Spearfishin :

Too late to help this time, but in the future keep heavy truck repair shops in mind for parts. They often service box trucks and the ones I've dealt with always keep their own inventory because they wrote late or 24h. 

Thanks. I spent the morning calling all manner of shops and supply houses, including a local bus only sales and service place. No one had a belt in stock. A friend's Dad has a heavy wrecker service and he's pulling it to my job site (15 minutes away) this afternoon and I'm honestly having a little bit of a hard time finding the belt [reliably] even on the Internet. I was informed that my length has me more in the territory of 8 rib belts by one of the truck/fleet shops I hit this morning. 

The part number on the A/C upfit diagram seems to be firmly discontinued and the Goodyear exchange shows as both 139.5in AND 39.5 inches, even on Goodyear's website. 

In reply to Spearfishin :

You might try the Gates website. https://www.gates.com/us/en/power-transmission/micro-v-belts/automotive-micro-v-belts.html

I had to find one for mine and was able to look it up by size. 

Buy an 8 rib and slice 2 off?   Just to get you back home I mean, obviously not a long term solution...

I've used these guys for custom belting before too, for machine tools, but same same... You'd just need to figure out the belt pitch and they'll cut/splice one for you in a couple days.

https://www.mibelting.com/v-belts.html?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAudG5BhAREiwAWMlSjN9sxKqSa41Z8I7lsPCXgXQTCyrVm0iuxaaNazbPrKjhuvd2VURHwhoCPeoQAvD_BwE

golfduke said:

Buy an 8 rib and slice 2 off?   Just to get you back home I mean, obviously not a long term solution...

Almost bought an 8 rib to rip 2 ribs off of this morning to get it off the highway, but cost of that belt (which I wouldn't have trusted long-term) was only $100 less than what I gave my buddy's dad to pull it to my job, and it can stay there while I figure it out without any real concerns. 

I'm going to order something tonight after the kids go to bed and I can try a little harder to find one. If that runs dry, I'll try your source below (above), but I'm hoping to find an off-the-shelf belt and verify fit/function and then immediately buy a spare.

As far as the towing part, most buses, ambulances, and class-C campers are basically the same cutaway chassis in different wheelbases/overhangs.  I would think your towing limits would be mostly affected by the overhang and how much weight is already on the rear.  500 lbs of tongue weight puts a lot more poundage on a rear axle if you have a longer overhang.  You also would need to consider "tail-wagging-the-dog" with longer overhangs, but most of those are a heavy enough vehicle (and with duallys) that I wouldn't overthink it.

When I drove for a bus company, we took one of our full size buses and turned it into a ramp truck for a dirt stock car, and it towed a 32' enclosed trailer with his son's mini sprints and all the race equipment.  The massive overhang of the bus meant that little steering inputs had a bigger effect on the trailer, but it wasn't terrible.