Small travel trailer advice for my 2014 Silverado needed

[BigBadSierra]

Txjose,

 

You work in the oil field industry it looks like based on your avatar? When traveling from job site to site, what do you haul in the bed of the truck, any amount of tools or heavy items?

 

Asking because another limiting factor of what size tt you can haul besides the gearing is the payload for your truck. There is a yellow sticker in the drivers door jamb that states "All passengers and cargo not to exceed XXXXlbs". That is for your truck as it was built. That amount includes as stated, all passengers (not a lot obviously), any accessories added since the truck left the factory, all cargo in the bed (is this much?), the wdh, and the tt tw (travel trailer tongue weight).

 

Know that the trailer manufactures "brochure" weights may not even include options, even this options that are "mandatory". And the "dry" tongue/hitch weight does not include the weight of the propane tanks or a battery on the tongue.

 

Verify that you do have the hd cooling on your truck. It seems that the new '14 models had the extra cooling even if they didn't have the tow package.

 

For pride if you can get about 30% off the msrp of the trailer (before tax, title, delivery charge, etc) you are doing pretty good. More is great!!! Lol Jayco is one of the few manufactures that lists prices, including prices for options on their website as far as I know.

 

Another thing to look at on the trailers is check all the specs!!!! We were looking at one model from Coachmen that had two 4400lb axles, but somehow the gvwr was about 9500lbs.... What some manufactures are doing is adding the "brochure" dry tw to the axle rating for a higher gvwr. I would rather have the rating of the two axles equal the gvwr. To me the suspension will have more "reserve" capacity instead of running very close to max. Yes, some weight is carried on the hitch, but to me this is a false way to have a higher gvwr. For comparison, our Jayco has two 5000lb axles, with a 9975lb (something like that) gvwr. It is the same floor plan as the Coachmen we were looking at.

 

Considering how much you may travel in one trip (then sit for a while), check the tires weight capacity as well. Since you will be full timing in the rig, you may be packed a little heavier, and some manufactures put tires on that barely have enough weight rating for the trailer minus the weight placed on your truck (tw) when hooked up. Another place I like to have a little more reserve cushion for the weight rating. One reason I plan on getting new tires this year, going one load range higher than stock for more "cushion".

 

Get a good wdh with integrated sway control. The Reese Dual Cam Reese SC, and the Equal-I-Zer 4 way system are all very good models. The Dual Cam is a little more finicky to set up, or if you change how the trailer is loaded changing the tw a fair amount (will probably need re-adjusting), but a great system. The SC and 4 way system are very similar. The Reese hitch head (same for both the SC and DC) does allow a little more fine tuning adjustment than the Eaual-I-Zer model, but all three are very good and you won't go wrong choosing one of them.

 

Get a good brake controller. The Pridigy P3 and P2 models have very good I was planning on buying a P2, but we ended up buying a new truck with the factory controller instead.

 

Good luck!!!

 

The one person I know doing a similar job has a toy hauler as he take an ATV with him as well but it is rated for more cargo so it good to go.

[runsdeep]

^^ I agree most trailer makers are on the light side when they print the dry weight labels on the trailer & the dealer will tell you oh, your truck will pull it fine, been down that road...most times its best to figure the loaded trailer weight & go from there. My 32' Keystone Laredo states 7,800 dry but loaded ready for camping we have almost 10k on the trailer axles with more on the rear truck. They get heavy in a hurry.