New GD Imagine 2970RL Owners!

[Steven@147]

Hey Smitty - My Daughter lives near Middletown Ohio and we plan on eventually towing our 2950RL up there for an extended stay with the kids and grand kids. But at 10 miles per gallon it will take a lot of diesel to get it up there. For my tow vehicle info see my signature line and I bought it a way long time ago, way before we ever thought of purchasing an RV.

Smitty - TyeeMan - I like the changes that GD did to the 2950RL and renamed it the 2970RL. The bathroom is different and a little more spacious, bigger shower, slightly less cabinet space though, and the addition of the hanging closet in the bedroom. You will enjoy the changes. Also the coach is just slightly longer by a few inches. Everything else is pretty much the same.

I too am close to my towing limits. We have to watch our tongue weight, running right now @ 1100 pounds, fresh water holding tank empty. The fresh water tank is right under the front of the coach and will add to the tongue weight. We don't do dry camping around our local area so its not a real problem for us. But when we go long distance, like up to Ohio, we will carry a few gallons of fresh water in the tank.

Our unit tows great and is well mannered with hitch properly adjusted and load weights balanced.
Hope all owners of a GD coach will have happy times ahead. We love ours and have had no problems with it since purchase in May of 2017.

[TyeeMan]

when we were looking at the 2970 at the Minneapolis RV show (where we signed the papers) we were essentially sold on the coach. Then my wife come out of the bedroom after seeing the hanging closet in there and says "yep, this is a done deal!"
I'd love to have a diesel in my next truck but man they are expensive to buy! And then hope it doesn't go down on you. If I was regularly towing our camper in hilly terrain I would be thinking differently.
My personal best worst gas mileage towing in my GMC was 5.5 mpg. I never knew a fuel gage could move so fast!! Don't worry about bathroom breaks, we'll be fueling up before anyone has to go again. That was pulling a steel framed enclosed 8' X 26' deck over snowmobile trailer out to Togwottee Mtn. Lodge in Wyoming. 4 touring sleds, 4 people in the truck and the back of the truck loaded top to bottom, front to back, , with a topper.

[Steven@147]

Im with you TyeeMan. Potty breaks are not a problem.

Yup diesel trucks are expensive and more so expensive (parts) to maintain / fix / drive than a gaser. Diesel fuel costs alone can be the same or above regular gas prices. More of it has to do with refining the impurities out of the diesel fuel like sulfur. My diesel fuel injection pump would be near $2000 + labor to replace. However it doesn't require DEF emissions fluid additive and there is a whole lot less computer controlled crap in it than the new diesels.

A lot of people have to balance out the majority of intended use of their vehicle. Weekenders, workday commuters example without going over their tow limits when that need arises.

Back in the day (2002)I towed a 20 foot enclosed car trailer with my 66 Dodge Charger inside to the drag races. Thats why I initially bought my diesel. It did an outstanding job towing that combination but it didn't weigh close to what I'm towing now.

Those with "big" rigs, majority of 5ers, more than just weekenders, have no choice, its a 1 ton diesel requirement. Eventually we would like to go fulltime and step up to more like a Solitude 344GK 5er but that is 1 ton territory.

[svanarts]

Middletown Ohio, that's where my first airplane was born! Aeronca Champ!

[New Tamper]

Thanks for all your comments everybody, I appreciate it! Sorry for the delayed response, I wasn't getting notices of replies from any of the threads on the GD forum, then I noticed they were all getting dumped into my spam file. I changed that.

New Tamper - My intent is/was to install a slide cover on the curb side slide, never even occurred to me that it might not be possible because the awning is there already. That said, being the camper will largely live in the woods, I'd really like to have a cover on both of my slides. Any pictures, instructions, etc would be greatly appreciated!

Smitty - as to what will we pull our 2970 with? Currently I have GMC 1500 HD, 4X4 CC, 6.0L gas Auto. The Chevy/GMC 1500HD is really a 2500. Back in the day, Ford had a CC truck, GM did not. So they rebadged the 2500 as a 1500Hd so GM could say they had a CC half ton, , or heavy half ton.
That being said, the 2970 is getting to my max tow rating, I'm inside the 20% safety margin. I'm not really concerned about it as A) the camper will serve mainly as a cabin for us. And B) the few times we will tow it to a state park, probably along the north shore, it's only going to be a couple hundred miles round trip. The "plan" is that I get a new (er) truck in the next year or two as my truck only has 220,000 miles on it. Still tows like a champ!! I plan on bumping up to a 2500HD, 4X4, CC, gasser.
Oddly enough when we were sitting in the 2970 at the Minneapolis camper show we had a conversation with a couple that towed their 2970 to Yellowstone with a 2500 HD 6.0L gas, said it wasn't too much of a problem at all. They stayed outside of the park.

Here are a couple of pictures of the slide topper. My slide is 147" from flange to flange so we got the 150" Dometic A&E topper. We did get the high brackets to make sure we cleared the slide awning arms. I think the slide box is only 141" so this more than covers it. Only took about an hour to install. The only trick was we had to pull way back on the rear gutter extension so the fabric could be slid into the gutter rail which is made for this. Everything else was pretty much straight forward. I thought I knew how to insert a picture, but it looks like I do not. If you want to send me your email address I have 4 I can send, or maybe just tell me how to attach to these threads I should be able to do that also.

[TyeeMan]

A lot of people have to balance out the majority of intended use of their vehicle. Weekenders, workday commuters example without going over their tow limits when that need arises.

That's why I have to have 3 vehicles. The wife has her Suburban, my 02 GMC is basically my garage queen until he's called upon to tow something, and then the car I drive to work. Work is 96 miles round trip so I need something with a little better fuel economy than my truck.

At least you live down south where your truck body will last, , , a loong time. My GMC still looks really nice, but I'm afraid one of these days it's going to go poof, and all that will be left is a frame and drive line. Need to get my hands on one of those southern trucks.

[TyeeMan]

New Tamper, I don't know how to post pictures on this site yet, I sent you a PM with my email address.

Thanks!!

[Tsmeds]

I bought a 2800BH at the same show (Minneapolis)! We decided on two immediate upgrades. I'm having the dealer throw on (2) Torklift Glowstep Revolution steps, and I'm having a ProPride 3P-1000 hitch sent to the dealer for install. Right now I've got a 2016 RAM 2500 4x4 6.4L Gas with 3.73 gears, but honestly ... the truck is a hay wagon (wife's description) when not towing anything. She dislikes the ride in it to the point we never take it anywhere on road trips. I'm leasing (always like a new truck every 3 years), so in March 2019 when it's time to look again I'm thinking of going back to a 1/2 ton. The 2019 RAM 1500 4x4 Crew Cab with 3.92 gears (Max Tow Package) is supposed to have right around 1,700 payload, 17,000 GCWR and 11,190 towing capacities ... should be more than sufficient.

The ProPride is pricey, but I'm thinking ahead to the 1/2 ton ... and eliminating all chances of sway. We rarely go anywhere over 400 miles round trip, but maybe that'll change with a worry-free haul. We have a Fastway e2 hitch right now. Last year in a thunderstorm I think I sucked 1/2 the upholstery off the seat with the cheek clenching! Looking forwards to that lessening, or being gone altogether.

Now we just need to get rid of all this snow and ice, and I'll set up a delivery date. Good tip earlier of a PDI list, I'll search for one here.

[New Tamper]

Before you ditch the 3/4 ton take a look at this product : http://www.sulastic.com/truck-shackle-suspension-sa-01. I follow a guy on youtube called Big Truck Big RV and he put these on his F450 and talked about how it made the truck ride 90% better. 3/4 ton and up trucks ride so bad with out the load because of the ability to ride well with a load. These are supposed to really help the ride when there is no load on the truck. Pricey, but so is the ProPride. I've had to do so much to my Titan so that I feel confident with it being able to tow safely, I'm always 2nd guessing weather I should have bought a smaller camper, but mama really loved the layout or the 2950, so you know how that turned out!

[TyeeMan]

Tsmeds - look on the 2nd page of the Reference Library thread, there are 3 versions of predelivery check lists there. The 2nd and 3rd I think pertain more to travel trailers, , as apposed to 5rs.

The other thing with your 3/4 ton is you probably have a little longer wheel base which is always nice for towing, , not to mention the suspension to handle the load. We pick up our 2970 March 16th, so obviously I haven't pulled it yet. But there's no way I'd want to pull that with a 1/2 ton.