New to towing a Travel Trailer

[TXWolf]

Originally Posted by Desert Racer

Just wait untill you hit the road and realize you forgot things. Than it gets more and mroe expensive! In the end as long as everybody is having a good time than that is all that matters. After all it is only money.

There's always a WalMart around every corner!

[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 ...