Question regarding Towing

[Lewisra]

I'm a complete rookie at towing, but the wife & I are considering a travel trailer. We went to an RV show, talked a guy from an RV place that I'm pretty sure told me to have about 1000 lbs of headroom between my gross trailer weight & Explorer rated towing limit.

So, I've been looking at travel trailers with a GVWR between 3500 and 4000 lbs.

But, then I remembered about this site and thought I'd come see what everyone else is towing and how.

Be careful getting towing advice from salesmen, they are salesmen. Look into getting good sway control along with your weight distributing hitch. Another good resource is http://www.rv.net/forum/

 

[chicagoslick]

Thanks Lewisra, I completely missed that....

I think that is one thing I hate about the merging of threads...

 

[MizzouMan_2000]

Be careful getting towing advice from salesmen, they are salesmen. Look into getting good sway control along with your weight distributing hitch. Another good resource is http://www.rv.net/forum/

I think in this case he was erring on the side of caution because he doesn't want to be in a situation where he's accused of selling too much trailer. And if he was really just in it for the money he would have tried to sale me a larger, more expensive one.

I found a trailer last night with a gvwr of 4400 lbs. I think this is right in the sweet spot of where I'd like to be. It looks just big enough for the 4 of us. We live in central Illinois. I'm not planning to haul this thing across the country and through mountains. If we ever get to that point, maybe I'll upgrade my vehicle.

 

[Lewisra]

I found a trailer last night with a gvwr of 4400 lbs.

Was that the GVWR of the trailer or the actual weight of the trailer?

 

[peterk9]

Thanks Lewisra, I completely missed that....

I think that is one thing I hate about the merging of threads...

There was no merging done in this thread. MizzouMan_2000 just added a post to the existing thread it after it had been dormant for a year or so. That is how it is supposed to work. I'm guessing he must have used the 'Search' function to find it.

Peter

 

[wifes2011xlt]

Be careful getting towing advice from salesmen, they are salesmen. Look into getting good sway control along with your weight distributing hitch. Another good resource is http://www.rv.net/forum/

True but in this instance the salesman is actually saying to go lighter! There is a first for everything. LOL

 

[chicagoslick]

There was no merging done in this thread. MizzouMan_2000 just added a post to the existing thread it after it had been dormant for a year or so. That is how it is supposed to work. I'm guessing he must have used the 'Search' function to find it.

Peter

Well, my bad....Still hate merging

 

[MizzouMan_2000]

Was that the GVWR of the trailer or the actual weight of the trailer?

4440 gvwr
3265 dry
http://www.usadventurerv.com/product/new-2016-starcraft-ar-one-maxx-19bh-le-459371-29

 

[MizzouMan_2000]

http://www.starcraftrv.com/travel-trailers/ar-one-maxx/floorplans/19bh-le/#floorplan-main

 

[Lewisra]

4440 gvwr
3265 dry
http://www.usadventurerv.com/product/new-2016-starcraft-ar-one-maxx-19bh-le-459371-29

Nice choice. Be sure to get a good brake controller, I'd suggest a Prodigy. As well as a quality WDH and sway control, many good choices out there. Dual Cam, Andersen, BlueOx, I'd stay away from a friction sway controller,

 

[MizzouMan_2000]

Nice choice. Be sure to get a good brake controller, I'd suggest a Prodigy. As well as a quality WDH and sway control, many good choices out there. Dual Cam, Andersen, BlueOx, I'd stay away from a friction sway controller,

I happened across a camper a few blocks from me this morning, but I think it's going to be too heavy.

It's a 2007 19' Rockwood Roo from Forest River. It's GVWR is 4590 lb. If I understand the math, that doesn't leave much margin, if any, when you add the weight of passengers & cargo in the Ex. Between my family & I, we would weigh in at around 450+ pounds, and my boys are only going to get heavier. Hopefully the wife & I won't. I also think they're asking too much. They're the original owners and they're asking $8,000. But that basically includes everything they ever used in it (i.e. kitchen utensils, etc) and a massive WDH with sway control. The guy told me it was a $500 hitch. They don't need it all because they don't have time to go camping right now. Once their son is out of high school, they'll buy a new one.

The one thing I really like about this camper, though, is that it has the larger fridge and separate freezer. I haven't seen many campers under 20 ft with anything more than a 6cu. ft. fridge.

The current owners pulled it with a 2004 Ex. I'm not sure if the towing capacity on those was higher given the differences in chassis & engine choices.

I did learn that apparently there's a scale just on the edge of my town. The guy said something about weighing in fully loaded right at 5000 lbs... which seems odd as that would mean he's 400 lbs over the limit of his trailer - which raises all sorts of red flags in my head.

Enough of my rambling.

 

[MizzouMan_2000]

This is the one I found locally, only it's a 2007.

http://www.rvtrader.com/dealers/Mid...g/2005-Forest-River-Rockwood-Roo-19-117826280

 

[Lewisra]

You really should check out rv.net/forums, you'll get ask many opinions on there as you do here when you talk about when you should change your oil.

 

[washbob]

Towing Question

I have a 2016 Ford Explorer Platinum and need to haul some items about 2,200 miles. Looking at renting a 6 x 12 cargo trailer from Uhaul. The specs on the trailer are as follows: gross vehicle weight 4,400 lbs., empty weight 1,920 lbs. & max load 2,480 lbs. I'm not going to be at the max load weight, I'm figuring I will probably be in the 3,000-3,500 lbs total weight (trailer 1,920 and probably around 1,500 lbs in cargo)

My vehicle GVWR is 6,300 lbs according to door sticker. From looking at the Ford towing guide it shows with 3.5L V6 EcoBoost my GCWR is 10,400 lbs. I will be under the max GCWR. I'm thinking I may need to purchase a weight distributing hitch as my tongue load would be over 200 lbs.

Looking for some feedback. I've searched the forum and I'm unable to come up with a good answer. Thanks in advance.

 

[peterk9]

I have a 2016 Ford Explorer Platinum and need to haul some items about 2,200 miles. Looking at renting a 6 x 12 cargo trailer from Uhaul. The specs on the trailer are as follows: gross vehicle weight 4,400 lbs., empty weight 1,920 lbs. & max load 2,480 lbs. I'm not going to be at the max load weight, I'm figuring I will probably be in the 3,000-3,500 lbs total weight (trailer 1,920 and probably around 1,500 lbs in cargo)

My vehicle GVWR is 6,300 lbs according to door sticker. From looking at the Ford towing guide it shows with 3.5L V6 EcoBoost my GCWR is 10,400 lbs. I will be under the max GCWR. I'm thinking I may need to purchase a weight distributing hitch as my tongue load would be over 200 lbs.

Looking for some feedback. I've searched the forum and I'm unable to come up with a good answer. Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the Forum. :wavey:

Peter