New to towing a Travel Trailer

[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

[Jackpine]

Originally Posted by 408F150

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.

I agree with everything in your excellent post except this one statement.

The whole point of a weight distributing/load leveling hitch is to transfer the trailer tongue weight to the four wheels of the tow vehicle, without overloading either of the axles. Putting heavy duty suspension components on the rear of the truck will keep if from sagging, so much so that the load leveling hitch will make the truck look fine, even though the rear axle is supporting way too much load. You CAN overstress the rear axle of the Tow Vehicle (TV) this way.

If you look at the instructions for any of the load leveling hitches, they say, "Do not use airbags, springs, etc to compensate for the hitch load".

The hitch itself transfers the load toward the front of the TV so that the weight on both axles is almost equal.

The weight distributing hitch will keep the rear springs of the TV from being overloaded.

And, as you mentioned, I think anti-sway control is good to have too, even if you do make sure the hitch load is 12-15% of the trailer weight (a must).

- Jack

[Sburn]

Originally Posted by 408F150

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.

Agreed, trans cooler fans would be a good choice.

FYI, there's two different sizes of factory trans coolers:

The smaller of the two came with the lighter duty towing package and has about 4 or 5 rows of cooling fins. Factory light duty towing packages have a flat-4 only trailer connector on the rear bumper.

The heavier duty option has a cooler with 8-10 rows of cooling fins and is matched with the dual 7-pin + flat-4 combo trailer connector on the rear bumper.

The heavy-duty (AKA "Super Cooling") was an option on most trim levels and may have been standard on the higher (Lariat/KR) levles.

Upgrading to the larger cooler, if you have the small one, is a simple bolt-on change and the part is about $100 from Tasca Ford Parts or the like.

[TXWolf]

We picked up the travel trailer from the dealer last night, and WHOA!, is it big! LOL I have a few hesitations about it, though.

First off ... my back end of the truck sagged big time. This was expected to some degree, but it makes the truck look really weird. I'm thinking about adding Superleaf Springs to help with the aesthetics.

Second ... I'm new to using an electronic brake, and I'm having a heck of a time adjusting them. They'll act fine one minute, but then the next time that I go to slow down or stop, they feel totally different. As I drove into the neighborhood, my wife says that the tires and axles "bounced" really bad as I was braking. That has me a bit worried about the long-haul effects to the trailer.

Lastly (for now) .... Keeping an eye on the Gryphon gauges .... CHT never went above 220 .... CFT never went about 210 .... but the TFT hit around 219 a couple of times (pulling up a couple of inclines). With the towing package, I have a transmission cooler on my truck, but I'm guessing I might need more of a heavy-duty one?

Except for my worries with the TFT, the truck pulled the trailer just fine. I definitely knows it's back there, though! I'm going to take it to one of our high school parking lots today, and practice backing up with it, and getting the electronic brakes adjust better. And then I'll take it to the RV storage, until it's time to take it to the coast.