New to towing a Travel Trailer

[Desert Racer]

Exactly and a $200-300 bill lol. Happens all the time to me.

[408F150]

I tow a 21' Toy Hauler that weighs 6700# dry, 8800 when I roll out of my driveway with full fluids, toys, etc. With 35" tires, I strongly, strongly recommend getting 4.56 gears. This is usually what it will take to give you your stock final drive ratio back, maybe a little lower which will give you extra torque. I have 35" Coopers on my 07 f150 screw with the 5.4 (efans, exhaust, edge, super springs, CAI), and I can tell you your trailer will work HARD pulling something over 7k up a grade with 3.73s on 35s (I did it once before I got my gears swapped). My trans hit 230* on my way back from pismo beach this last spring, you really will need the extra torque from lower gear. Also, take your truck to a scale, my "dry weight" was supposed to be 6100#, but even with NOTHING in it, it weighed 6700#s on the scale. dry weighs are usually about 10% more than they list. your truck will handle it, but you might have some white-knuckle moments towing that large of a trailer behind a light-duty truck.

[TXWolf]

I am REALLY starting the regret this latest buying decision. I haven't picked it up from the RV dealer yet, and I'm wondering if I really want to now. We've already spent $300 on items that we'll need for our first camping trip next month, and now I have to try to explain to the wife why I need to get the truck regeared. I can just see her reaction now ... LOL

[88Racing]

Did anyone ever ask you what kind of truck you were going to pull the camper with?
Is it to late to cancel the deal and go for smaller size?(To save face with them)
If you haven't picked it up yet you must not did all the paperwork?

That's the way it works in our state, but you may have to pay a prep fee.

Lars

[408F150]

To tow a travel trailer safely with your tire size and gear combination (this is just from my experience), you will want a trailer that weighs around 4,500# "dry weight", when you actually leave the dealership a 4,500# trailer will weigh much closer to 5,000#. Fill it up with food, gear, fluids, etc and you'll be pushing 6,500-7,000#. Most decent sized travel trailers have 80-100 gallon fresh water tanks, which will add almost 1000# on their own. Any higher weight than that will put lots of stress on your transmission. The engine can handle it fine, but for more weight than that (plus all the extra rotating mass from large tires) your transmission needs the leverage from a lower gear. Gears cost about $350 per axle minimum, and the labor is usually around $300 per axle.

Here's a pic of my setup to get you an idea of what I'm towing on a regular basis.



Doesn't look that big but it's a beefy frame, it's cargo capacity weight rating is over 4,000#

[TXWolf]

Yeah, that looks about half the size of the one that we're looking at.

I've always pulled up to the RV dealers in my truck, and everyone says that it will pull it with no problem. I don't know anymore ...

[Jackpine]

I think your truck WILL pull it, but you're sure going to know it's there. (About like when I tried to pull ours with the Nissan Frontier).

But, a trailer is a bit like a second home (in fact, if you finance it, the interest you pay is deductible just like mortgage interest - in case you didn't know this). So, since you're going to live in it, you want to be comfortable while doing so.

If you can't find a lighter one that passes the "live in" test, then I think your best bet is to upgrade the tow vehicle (if you can't stand the way your current truck "pulls"). And, I'm not talking something minor like a gear swap here. Do what I did - start combing the internet and paper for a good, late-model F250, 6.4L diesel that you can buy in a "private" sale. If Texas is like Arizona, you pay no sales tax when you do this. I'm sure there WILL be some for sale that are about 1-2 years old due to the state of the economy. Then, you just have to decide if you want to sell your current truck the same way!

But, find out how your current truck handles the trailer before you make any huge decisions.

- Jack

[408F150]

RV dealers will always try to sell you the biggest trailer your truck legally can tow. They don't seem to care about the fact that it actually weighs much more when you actually put stiff in it. When I was looking at new trailers the guy kept trying to push a 7,400# dry weight 28' Toy Hauler. Technically my truck can tow it, but by the time you put anything in it you're way over your GCVW.

If you are willing to upgrade your tow vehicle, the trailer you picked up isn't heavy at all for a 250/350, and you could tow it very easily with a V10 that will be a whole lot cheaper than a diesel. I've seen 06/07 F250 Crew Cab V10s with under 50k miles going for well under 20k. I love diesels but with your trailer a diesel engine is entirely optional, a V10 will tow it just as well.

[TXWolf]

Unfortunately, spending another $20k isn't an option for me right now. I'm going to pick up the trailer this weekend. I guess I'll find out pretty quick how the rig handles at that time.

[408F150]

There's a few (relatively) cheap things will will help you greatly, if you don't have them already.

First, I'd recommend installing two 5" electric fans on your transmission cooler, you can either set them up to turn on at a certain temp or run a basic +/- wire setup to the cab and flip them on once you hit 180* on your Gryphons ATF temp gauge. May want to swap out your AT fluid for high temp/heavy duty full synthetic. Whole setup will cost around $100 and takes maybe 2 hours to install and wire (if you do fluid its around $7 a quart and I think it takes 14?)

Second, you are going to want either Super Springs or air bags to keep your a$$ from dragging. Super springs run about $375 a set and take about an hour to install (they add 2,000# of spring to help keep your leaf springs from getting over stressed), airbags are I think a tad more.

Third, you will need a NICE weight distribution hitch with dual-cam or a comparable form of anti sway. You're basically towing a 30+ foot sail behind a relatively light truck. It can and will push you around without a nice anti-sway setup.

Lastly, remember that when you're towing a trailer that weighs more than your truck, you need to have the trailer brake harder than your truck does (Prodigys call it a "boost level"). These are usually measured as a +% (+25%, +50%, etc) mode. You will probably want the trailer braking around 50% harder than the truck, but the manual for your brake controller will give you specifics.

PS- MPG-wise, expect around 11 mpg with a tail-wind and 7-9 mpg with a head-wind, cross-wind, or when going even slightly uphill