Travel Trailer Towing Experiences?

[RobertN]

Ya, I think that is what will get me. We're going to take a new to us 5th wheel out to visit cousins in Texas in a couple weeks. It is only about 7000lbs 27', no heavy slides. But it is tall and has a lot of frontal area.

I got 11.5 a couple weekends ago towing it to the coast.

I got the Dodge diesel with 4.11's; I take a mileage hit because of the low gears, even empty. It's an '01; could only get 3.55 or 4.10's that year. Some day I would like to swap to 3.73.

Weight is one thing like I said before when it comes to climbing grades, accelerating, and stopping. The bigger issue is wind resistance.

Chris

 

[LBrown59]

Just 3 things I'd be concerned with; Brakes, Sway Control, and Load Distributing Hitch. Is it safe to assume you already have all of those? Of course, I've lived in RVs all over the USA and 4 provinces of Canada. My first conventional travel trailer was a 1972 Holiday Vacationer 24RB, although it actually measured 25' 3" in length. And in July, 1972, I pulled it to Alaska when we still had over a thousand miles of dirt and gravel roads each way. It was quite an adventure. I was pulling it with a 1971 3/4 ton standard cab Chevy, 2WD, 350 cu. in., automatic.

In 1971 I had a new 1971 Ford 3/4 ton pick up with a new 8' slide in cab over camper in it.

 

[LBrown59]

Because, when you hit the brakes on an icy or snowy road, the trailer is going to skid/slide, and probably push the tow vehicle along with it.

If you are chained up on the braking axles, you should maintain better traction and control.

I guess I never considered that because dad and mom parked the trailer for the winter .
VACATION time was over till spring.

 

[LBrown59]

I vote for renting the 4K trailer.

Ask about separate insurance in case of a trailer breakdown such as a tire blowout, axle bearings, brakes, or spring replacement in case they weren't taken care of or were just ready to fail, or that nasty tree branch you didn't see that ripped a gaping hole in the siding.

The reason I say this is because it happened to me. I borrowed a trailer for a short trip to get a pickup truck I had bought. Towed it empty 170 miles to where the truck was. Loaded the truck on the trailer, chained it down and started for home. I got about 1 mile when I heard a loud squealing noise. I looked in the mirror and saw one trailer wheel leaning. I pulled into the nearest parking lot and determined that the wheel bearings had gone. Fortunately I had a jack and tools with me so I took it apart and with pieces in hand I unhooked the trailer and set off for a trailer or auto parts store. I was lucky it was a Saturday and found a trailer store within a few miles. He had the bearings, races, a tub of grease and the seal I needed. After a 2 hour delay for repairs I was hooked up and on my way again. *It was then I vowed never to borrow a trailer again.

You would have still have had the same problem even if you owned the trailer.

 

[npaden]

For what its worth my co worker just got back from the big aviation gathering in Oshkosh Wisconsin. He has a 2005 Yukon Denali and a Light weight 26' travel trailer that is around 4,000# and he only got 8mpg. I think for you trucks age and the hills and wind resistance you will be lucky to average 7mpg. My neighbor has a 8,000# travel trailer that is 28' long and they pull it with a 2006 F-150 4x4 and only travel around Indiana. They also get 8mpg which just goes to prove my point that its not so much the wight as it is the wind resistance.

Weight is one thing like I said before when it comes to climbing grades, accelerating, and stopping. The bigger issue is wind resistance.

Chris

They must have been pulling that trailer at 80mph or something? The Chevy's seem to get about 2 mpg better than the Fords so I was thinking I would at least get the 10mpg that I get when pulling my fully loaded 7,000lb trailer with my tractor on it. I generally pull it closer to 70mph on average. My truck is a 2005 and has gotten 20mpg on the highway before and probably averages about 17mpg at 80mph in the western states. I was planning on pulling at 65mph and really thought I could get close to 12mpg pulling the 4,000lb trailer.

If I'm only going to get 7mpg I might as well pull the 7,000lb trailer if the wind resistance is going to be the issue more than the weight.

 

[George2615]

You would have still have had the same problem even if you owned the trailer.

No, I doubt I would have had the same problem since I service the brakes and bearings on my trailers every year. I would not hesitate taking one of my trailers on a 500 mile trip feeling confident I would not that same problem. At the time I borrowed the trailer I did not own one. The guy I borrowed from had not greased his bearings or checked them since the day he bought 6 years before I borrowed it. One thing I can assure you is that when I borrow something the owner usually gets it back in better shape than when he lent it out.

 

[Diamondpilot]

In 1971 I had a new 1971 Ford 3/4 ton pick up with a new 8' slide in cab over camper in it.

Ok.

Chris

 

[CurlyDave]

I put a set of air bags on my 2000 F-150 and it has made a world of difference in towing.

I frequently tow very close to the max rated capacity and even with a load distribution hitch, there would be a lot of tail sag in the truck. The air bags cured that, and everything feels much better.

The set I got were $200 on the internet and I installed them myself in about 6 hours. A local tire shop wanted $400 installed.

Even with the light trailer, I would highly recommend them.

Check with the trailer rental place before you solidify your plans too much. Hunting is a very powerfully dirty activity. You do not want to get hit with a clean-up fee after you get back.

 

[Diamondpilot]

They must have been pulling that trailer at 80mph or something? The Chevy's seem to get about 2 mpg better than the Fords so I was thinking I would at least get the 10mpg that I get when pulling my fully loaded 7,000lb trailer with my tractor on it. I generally pull it closer to 70mph on average. My truck is a 2005 and has gotten 20mpg on the highway before and probably averages about 17mpg at 80mph in the western states. I was planning on pulling at 65mph and really thought I could get close to 12mpg pulling the 4,000lb trailer.

If I'm only going to get 7mpg I might as well pull the 7,000lb trailer if the wind resistance is going to be the issue more than the weight.

Actually, no. My co worker is 66 and about as conservative as they come. He gripes at me for going to fast all the time. My neighbors are around 75 or so and I have never rode with them pulling the camper but have been with them to the lumber yard and places like that and I thought we were never going to get there.

What gear do you have in your truck? GM builds a lot of them with short gears like 3.42 to get the mpg claims. Anything less than 3.73 and you are going to hate life in the mountains.

At the end of the day towing one load versus another can be totally different. I tow day in and day out and sometimes a 4,000# load can be tougher than a 12,000# load depending on what it is. For example, towing a boat that weighs 7,000# is much easier than towing a camper of the same weight.


Chris

 

[npaden]

Yep. 3.42. I just double checked my owners manual and max tow rating is 7,400lbs with the 3.42 rear end. We actually do have a few hills around here and the 3.42 isn't that bad. You can't run with the cruise on though, or it tries to shift you down into 2nd gear in a heart beat.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Yep. 3.42. I just double checked my owners manual and max tow rating is 7,400lbs with the 3.42 rear end. We actually do have a few hills around here and the 3.42 isn't that bad. You can't run with the cruise on though, or it tries to shift you down into 2nd gear in a heart beat.

Yea, 3.42 gears are not the most desirable for towing. GM loves them for the MPG claims. My cousin had a 2005 GM truck with a 5.3 and the 3.42 gears and towing a 5,000# boat to Georgia a few years ago my F-150 with a 5.4 and 3.73 gears would flat run away from it while merging on the highway and passing semis even though the boat I was towing was 7,000#. It did fine once up and running but the hills in Kentucky and Tennessee through the Smokey Mountains made him hate life. He traded it the week after we got home from that trip.

Not knocking GM here so all you bow tie guys keep your panites out of a knot. It does not matter who makes the truck, 3.42 or 3.55 gears are not meant for towing. Especially real loads in tough terrain. 3.73 or 4.10 gears are what you need in a truck. No matter where you get the trailer you are going to struggle with it even if its just for 100 miles. Sounds like the last 100 miles are the toughest part of your trip and not having the proper gearing is a big problem no matter what type of truck or how much HP you have. Trust me, been there done that with a 10,000# boat and a F-150 in the Smokey Mountains on a 105 deg day. The truck would not make it up a paved road without the use of 4 wheel low. In 2 wheel drive and 4 high I stepped on the gas and it would not move. Only other time I have seen this is with my buddies 2500HD GMC with the 6.0 gas engine on a boat ramp and the boat in my avatar.

Chris

 

[npaden]

Yea, 3.42 gears are not the most desirable for towing. GM loves them for the MPG claims. My cousin had a 2005 GM truck with a 5.3 and the 3.42 gears and towing a 5,000# boat to Georgia a few years ago my F-150 with a 5.4 and 3.73 gears would flat run away from it while merging on the highway and passing semis even though the boat I was towing was 7,000#. It did fine once up and running but the hills in Kentucky and Tennessee through the Smokey Mountains made him hate life. He traded it the week after we got home from that trip.

Not knocking GM here so all you bow tie guys keep your panites out of a knot. It does not matter who makes the truck, 3.42 or 3.55 gears are not meant for towing. Especially real loads in tough terrain. 3.73 or 4.10 gears are what you need in a truck. No matter where you get the trailer you are going to struggle with it even if its just for 100 miles. Sounds like the last 100 miles are the toughest part of your trip and not having the proper gearing is a big problem no matter what type of truck or how much HP you have. Trust me, been there done that with a 10,000# boat and a F-150 in the Smokey Mountains on a 105 deg day. The truck would not make it up a paved road without the use of 4 wheel low. In 2 wheel drive and 4 high I stepped on the gas and it would not move. Only other time I have seen this is with my buddies 2500HD GMC with the 6.0 gas engine on a boat ramp and the boat in my avatar.

Chris

Sounds like you might have been over the rated towing capacity of that truck. I know Chevy rates the towing capacity of the taller rear ends lower than if they have the lower rear ends. My truck would be rated for 1,000lb more towing capacity if it had the 3.73 rear end.

Our 2005 truck that we bought new has 120,000+ miles on it, and has been back and forth to Montana and Wyoming about a dozen times pulling a trailer on a couple of those trips (although it was a light trailer with only a couple ATV's on it). I'll take the 3.42 rear end for the true mpg that I get with it. If I buy a vehicle strictly for towing, it will have the rear end geared for towing, but when 90%+ of the mileage was without a trailer, I'll take the 3.42.

I pull a loaded to the max 7,000lb trailer (with my tractor and a bunch of other stuff on it) and it does okay. The 200 mile round trip that I make about 6 times each year pulling the tractor has one good hill where you go up and down the caprock and I sure never had to put it in 4wd to pull it and that hill is about as steep of a grade as any major highway is going to have although it is only for about a mile. I've driven the highway I'll be on at least a dozen times so I actually know what the hills are like. I'll be going west at Laramie and that will cut out some of the big rolling hills between Cheyenne and Casper. I'm also going to go through Lamar instead of Raton so that will cut out that pass as well as some of those big rolling hills between Trinidad and Pueblo. The pass over the divide between Dubois and Moran Junction isn't going to be exactly fun, but I think I should be okay, even if I end up going 50mph for a few miles.

I know how my truck pulls the weight, I've done it dozens of times, I just don't know how the wind resistance of the trailer is going to affect long haul towing. That's what I'm trying to figure out, how much difference will there be between pulling a 4,000lb 24' trailer and a 7,000lb 26' trailer?

 

[npaden]

Just 3 things I'd be concerned with; Brakes, Sway Control, and Load Distributing Hitch. Is it safe to assume you already have all of those?

Yes, I have brakes and all of the trailers I'm looking at have sway control and load distributing hitches.

Be sure to find out how much they may charge you for all the inevitable little dings in the front of the trailer. Especially bad if you have any hills to climb with a little wheel spin.

Sure glad they paved the road up the mountain to my hideaway in the NC mountains, did a number on the front of my trailers I took up there

BTW my wife is originally from Lubbock. She didn't recognize you in the pic but thought the elk looked familiar

I'll check on the dings. There are a couple hills on the gravel but nothing horrible as long as it is dry. Your wife might not recognize Lubbock if she hasn't been here in a while. It has had some pretty steady growth over the last couple decades.

I put a set of air bags on my 2000 F-150 and it has made a world of difference in towing.

I frequently tow very close to the max rated capacity and even with a load distribution hitch, there would be a lot of tail sag in the truck. The air bags cured that, and everything feels much better.

The set I got were $200 on the internet and I installed them myself in about 6 hours. A local tire shop wanted $400 installed.

Even with the light trailer, I would highly recommend them.

Check with the trailer rental place before you solidify your plans too much. Hunting is a very powerfully dirty activity. You do not want to get hit with a clean-up fee after you get back.

I'll check into the air bags. The last point you made is one of the reasons I'm leaning toward renting here vs. renting in Wyoming. It will be alot easier to get the trailer cleaned up at the house once we get it home and unloaded before we return it than it would be to try to clean it up and unload it in the RV dealers parking lot.

Diamondpilot has me a little scared on that though, I never really thought my truck would struggle with a 4,000lb trailer but it is a long way to be pulling one. Maybe the wind resistance is more than I'm giving it credit for.

 

[tommu56]

I guess I never considered that because dad and mom parked the trailer for the winter .
VACATION time was over till spring.

Ok they parked the wagon but what did they do with the horses for the winter?

tom

 

[Diamondpilot]

Yes, I have brakes and all of the trailers I'm looking at have sway control and load distributing hitches.



I'll check on the dings. There are a couple hills on the gravel but nothing horrible as long as it is dry. Your wife might not recognize Lubbock if she hasn't been here in a while. It has had some pretty steady growth over the last couple decades.



I'll check into the air bags. The last point you made is one of the reasons I'm leaning toward renting here vs. renting in Wyoming. It will be alot easier to get the trailer cleaned up at the house once we get it home and unloaded before we return it than it would be to try to clean it up and unload it in the RV dealers parking lot.

Diamondpilot has me a little scared on that though, I never really thought my truck would struggle with a 4,000lb trailer but it is a long way to be pulling one. Maybe the wind resistance is more than I'm giving it credit for.

Not trying to scare you but just telling you the facts. I would get your buddies 7K trailer and take it out for a 50 mile trip one Saturday morning. This will give you a good idea how it does. Fill the truck up first then fill it back up upon returning it and do the math. I can tell you my experience last weekend with the horse trailer was 1/3 the weight of my boat yielded about the same MPG. I tow quite a lot and have seen it over and over. Its not so much the blunt front end of the travel trailer because the truck cuts the air. Its the rear end of the trailer that causes tons of drag.

Chris

 

[npaden]

Okay, I've done some more checking around and actually found a place in Jackson that rents 26' ultralight travel trailers (4,500lbs) that would be about a 80 mile one way pull for me to where I want to go (and pretty much flat the entire way and about 30 miles of that would be gravel so I would only be pulling it at 30 or 40 mph). They are only a tiny bit more than the cost of renting one here and for sure the extra fuel cost would make the difference. This place seemed more flexible and I could rent it Friday early afternoon and have it in camp before it got dark. I think I'm going to go ahead and pull the trigger on it.

The one I'm looking at renting here is $720 to pick up Thursday afternoon the 17th and return Sunday afternoon the 27th. I'm guessing it would take an extra $250 in gas to haul it up there and back (10mpg vs. 17mpg and $2.50 per gallon gas) for a total cost of just under $1,000.

The one in Wyoming would be a $850 rental to pick it up Friday afternoon the 18th and return it Saturday afternoon the 26th. For just 80 miles we could leave the pickup loaded with gear instead of moving things back and forth between the trailer to balance the load out. When it was time to return it we would load the pickup up and clean the trailer out at camp and then haul it back to the rental place clean and empty.

It still kills me to rent one instead of buying one, but since I would only be using it once a year I can rent one many, many times for the cost of buying one. The ultralite trailers in the 20 to 24 foot range seem to be demanding a premium since they can be pulled by a 1/2 ton truck. You can actually buy a 28 - 33 footer for less than the smaller ones even though they cost more than double when new. Maybe a great deal might come up soon on a smaller unit since summer is almost over.

 

[Bird]

I'll check on the dings. There are a couple hills on the gravel but nothing horrible as long as it is dry.

Talk of the dings from gravel on the front end of a travel trailer reminded me of the attached picture. It's of my rig about to pull into a coin car wash in Anchorage in July '72. Fortunately, I had family who had driven that road before so I knew to put the bullet shaped plastic covers over the headlights, and a full sheet of plywood on the front of the trailer behind the propane bottles. You can see that it got chewed a bit. The truck was less than 14 months old and the trailer was about 3 months old. There in Anchorage, I met a guy with a brand new sheet of plywood on the front of his trailer and asked him why he'd put new plywood on in Anchorage. He said no one told him to put plywood on before he started north, so rocks and gravel went all the way through the front of his trailer and into it. And of course, I had the busted windshield replaced on the truck as soon as we got back to Dallas.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Okay, I've done some more checking around and actually found a place in Jackson that rents 26' ultralight travel trailers (4,500lbs) that would be about a 80 mile one way pull for me to where I want to go (and pretty much flat the entire way and about 30 miles of that would be gravel so I would only be pulling it at 30 or 40 mph). They are only a tiny bit more than the cost of renting one here and for sure the extra fuel cost would make the difference. This place seemed more flexible and I could rent it Friday early afternoon and have it in camp before it got dark. I think I'm going to go ahead and pull the trigger on it.

The one I'm looking at renting here is $720 to pick up Thursday afternoon the 17th and return Sunday afternoon the 27th. I'm guessing it would take an extra $250 in gas to haul it up there and back (10mpg vs. 17mpg and $2.50 per gallon gas) for a total cost of just under $1,000.

The one in Wyoming would be a $850 rental to pick it up Friday afternoon the 18th and return it Saturday afternoon the 26th. For just 80 miles we could leave the pickup loaded with gear instead of moving things back and forth between the trailer to balance the load out. When it was time to return it we would load the pickup up and clean the trailer out at camp and then haul it back to the rental place clean and empty.

It still kills me to rent one instead of buying one, but since I would only be using it once a year I can rent one many, many times for the cost of buying one. The ultralite trailers in the 20 to 24 foot range seem to be demanding a premium since they can be pulled by a 1/2 ton truck. You can actually buy a 28 - 33 footer for less than the smaller ones even though they cost more than double when new. Maybe a great deal might come up soon on a smaller unit since summer is almost over.

I think you are making a wise choice, especially since you are renting. If you owned one it would be a no brainier. You should be just fine even with the 3.42 gears since it will only be a 2 hour drive or so each way.

I understand why you bought a 3.42 geared truck. I did the same with the 3.55 geared F-150 but will never do so again. I bought a little Saturn to give me good MPG. I want my 2 Ford Diesels and my Nissan Titan to pull so I opt for low gear ratios.



Chris

 

[taborekle]

I own a 5500 lb RV travel trailer with a RVWR of 7000. Use to own a 3500 lb RV trailer with a GVWR of 6000. I've RV'd now for 6 years.

Couple of things here to talk about.

First off, towing a RV can be very stressfull and tiring. You can't tow a RV and plan on doing the same distance traveling in a day as you would if the RV was not attached. Most people that I have talked to that RV plan on a 6 hour day towing. I've recently taken 7 hours towing on a trip and was very tired towards the end of it.

While you can tow a RV and 65mph, I would not plan on it. That is towards the upper end of what a lot of RV tires are rated for. Some people do and they get away with it. I would plan on towing a unknown RV with a inexperenced driver at about 5mph under the speed limit (or less).

Next, towing a trailer with trailer brakes means that you're going to need a brake controller and that the brake controller probably needs to have a wiring harness pigtail to adapt it to you're trucks wiring harness. Does you truck have a factory installed tow package? Does it have a hitch receiver? Does it have a electrical plug? I recently helped some friends who were on the cusp of purchasing a RV only to discover that they didn't have any of this.

Towing once you get above 4000 lbs usually means you should have a weight distribution hitch. WDH's typically are tuned for the matchup between the tow vehicle and the trailer. Without a WDH, you could either have not enough weight on the hitch (which gives a squirley tow) or to much, which tends to push the front end of the tow vehicle up and gives less traction over the front wheels.

How about tow mirrors? Typically RV'ers have mirror extensions that allow them to get a better idea of the tow and the lanes around them.

The best bet that I see you have, is to try to pick it up in Jackson. Call them and ask them about these things and see what the rental place has to say about it. Understand that probably from their point of view, you're going to sign a damage agreement and give a deposit, and at that point, their covered so they probably won't care much.

Do you plan on camping at a full service campground? Will it supply water, Septic and electrical hookups? Are you're RV tanks heated?

Larry

 

[Bird]

towing a RV can be very stressfull and tiring

I found that to be very true the first couple of short trips, but after that, it wss neither more stressful nor more tiring for me. But of course, we've had one 10.5' slide-in pickup camper, a 25' and 18' conventional travel trailer, a 32' fifth-wheel travel trailer, an 18' and a 40' motorhome and towed a small car behind each of the motorhomes. And we were full time RVers, living in the RV for 6 years, so like anything else, once you get accustomed to it, it's just second nature.