2017 Max Tow and Jayco 28BHBE

mdauwald · March 1, 2017

Our trailer weighs in at 5100lbs dry but our camping weight is 6300lbs. My wife likes to bring EVERYTHING. This also includes firewood and ice chests. Your trailer would be too much for my truck but will be fine with yours.

Nathan79 · March 1, 2017

Been there done that, added all the bandaid to try and improve the capability. Got tired of the stressful towing and feeling exhausted at the end of a long tow. Heavy trailer beating and pushing the 1/2 ton around. Especially out West with the wind, mountains, etc. Upgraded to 3/4 ton and it is night and day experience.

flattop · May 17, 2017

UPDATE: Hi Folks, here is an update on my camper adventures:

Well I did buy a camper, its a 2017 Starcraft Autumn Ridge 28.9 Bunk House. Dry its 6675#'s (dealer said that includes battery and LP?). I picked it up from the dealer mid march and towed it 50 miles to my house. I still had my Blizzack snows on the truck, it was very windy so my first towing impression was not good.Lots of sway.

This past weekend I towed it to Watertown, NY, about a 2.5 hr drive from home. With the factory Goodyear Wrangler SRA tires at around 48psi, the thing towed very good. Good power, the 3.73's did great. I would guess with the camper, all the stuff loaded in the camper and my truck cap my total was about 7800#'s. You really know its back there, This is still over 2500 lbs less than what GM says this Max Tow can handle.

Speed was kept around 68mph and my average was 8.5 mpg. For the 3-4 times a year we tow, it will work fine.

I just had to bring the tires back to 35 psi today as my teeth were shaking out of my mouth!!! This truck rides rough with the heavy rear leafs, but when you jack up the tire pressure, things get really bad.

4 months old, 10,500 miles, I give the truck a 9.5 and the transmission a 4!!!

That's all for my update.

Waaazooo · May 17, 2017

All I can think of as far as the sway is to make sure you have the sway bar pretty tight. It really reduces the sway. I assume you're using a wdh. I would also make sure you're Staying safe with the weight capacity of the truck with your tongue weight. My truck and I have a love hate relationship with weight capacity (not tow capacity)

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flattop · May 17, 2017

All I can think of as far as the sway is to make sure you have the sway bar pretty tight. It really reduces the sway. I assume you're using a wdh. I would also make sure you're Staying safe with the weight capacity of the truck with your tongue weight. My truck and I have a love hate relationship with weight capacity (not tow capacity)

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I do have the 800# Weight Distributing Hitch. Its set up pretty tight. The tongue weight is supposed to be around 13% of the camper or 867#

Waaazooo · May 17, 2017

I do have the 800# Weight Distributing Hitch. Its set up pretty tight. The tongue weight is supposed to be around 13% of the camper or 867#

I'm not telling you how to tow... but I would recalculate with what your probable towing weight is. The yellow sticker on the side plus whatever you put in it. Obviously more weight in the front cubbies causes more tongue weight relative to just the overall weight of the trailer.

My jayco 28' has a max weight of 7500# I usually travel with it near 6800lbs I believe and the tongue weight can fluctuate between 800-1000lbs without knowing it. Btw, the dry weight tongue weight is 645 for my trailer. Just as an illustration how the weight fluctuated with my wife's shit.

Good luck.

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SouthpawHD · May 17, 2017

I do have the 800# Weight Distributing Hitch. Its set up pretty tight. The tongue weight is supposed to be around 13% of the camper or 867#

Yeah, re-check those weights. The number you gave us is 13% of the DRY weight. Your camping weight is higher (gear, food, water, propane, etc.).

So let's assume you are at 7500 pounds loaded and ready to camp, 13% of that is 975 pounds for tongue weight. Let's round that to 1,000 pounds.

Your 800 pound WD hitch is too small, so you should consider upgrading that. But on payload on a MaxTow, you should be just fine. Good luck and enjoy the camping season!

gmckenzie · May 17, 2017

I'd recommend replacing the WD hitch with a better quality one with sway control features. I use an Equal-i-zer 10000 lb hitch and it tows much better than the one I had before. I found mine used and cheap. If I was going new, I'd probably go for the Blue Ox unit for better adjustability. Downside to the one I have is if I load differently, it's a pain to reset the bars.

And yeah, you will be close to 1000 lb for tongue weight.

FreeAmerican · May 18, 2017

Like gmckenzie said, you need to up the bars on your hitch, 800 is not enough in my opinion but I don't think that is the entire problem.

I would look how you have things distributed through the trailer.

And you might want to slow down just a bit. My experience has been the faster I am going, the more drastic the impact of wind, bumps, passing trucks. The drag alone is exponential.

flattop · May 18, 2017

Thanks for the reply's!

We have calculated the added weight to the camper to be around 500 lbs. No water in the tank, just bedding, food in the fridge, a weeks worth of clothing for two, pots, pans & dishes and a few cases of water, beer & soda. Most of it loaded over the axle's or slightly before them.

My truck cap weighs 225# and the hitch its self is around 90#

That puts my total at 815 + the camper 6675 + two passengers 350=7840 (give or take a few)

I have a Farmer neighbor with a tractor trailer scale that I will use later this year to get an exact figure on the trailer/truck weight.

I did remember asking the dealer that sold the camper/hitch setup if the 800# unit was sufficient and they said yes. I guess I was always under the impression that the WDH assisted in cancelling out some of the tongue weight.

A call to the hitch mfg. is on my to do list.

Thanks,

Nathan79 · May 19, 2017

There should be a yellow sticker on one of the inside doors with as delivered weight. Dry weight in a camper brochure is next to useless.

Blue2500CC · June 4, 2017

Flattop,

Congrats on the tt!!!

Couple questions though, you mentioned the model is the 28.9 bunkhouse. Did you mean the 289BHS? Is so, Starcraft lists the "brochure" dry hitch/tongue weight (tw) as 845lbs on their website. And considering the "brochure" weight doesn't include the weight of the propane tanks or a battery, your wdh bars are way under rated. The propane tanks and a battery add ~120lbs w/ 2-20lb tanks, or ~160lbs w/ 2-30lb tanks. I would suggest talking to your dealer about swapping the system out for a higher rated model. That model is very comparable to the Jayco 28 BHBE and when members on the Jayco Owners forum have asked about it, I always suggest going with a wdh system with 1200lb bars. This is based on owners who have posted their weights, which have ranged up to about 1200lbs for their loaded tw. Even if you ended up being a little under 1000lbs, the 1200lb system will still work very well and have a cushion vs a 1000lb system if you decide to travel with water in the fresh tank, or add a little more weight in the front pass through.

Regarding the sway, was it more so the tt or the trucks rear "wiggling" side to side ever so slightly? It does sound like it was more of a tire "wiggle", but still consider double checking the wdh adjustment once you get the correct rated model. dealers rarely get the system adjusted properly for the tt once it is loaded for a trip. Once in a while they do, but since they are setting the wdh up for an empty rig it makes it difficult due to everyone loads different weight wise.

The wdh doesn't "cancel" some of the tw, just transfers weight as needed. But to do this correctly the proper rated wd bars are needed.

Example of how a wdh works when properly adjusted. All weights listed are the trucks front axle weight only:

Truck only without the tt hooked up- 3000lbs

Truck and trailer hooked up, but without the wd bars installed- 2600lbs. 400lbs was "lost" due to the teeter/totter effect.

Truck and trailer hooked up with wd bars installed- 3000lbs. Once the wdh is adjusted properly, the front axle will again weigh the same (or very close to it) as the truck only front axle weight.

I would still suggest a wdh with integrated sway control, guessing the dealer gave/sold you a basic system without any sway control. As I mentioned before, the Reese Dual Cam, Reese SC, Equal-I-Zer 4 way system, and Recurve R6 are hard to beat for the price. The Husky CenterLine model also seems to have pretty good reviews.

Enjoy the new rig!!!

sdeeter19555 · June 4, 2017

UPDATE: Hi Folks, here is an update on my camper adventures:

Well I did buy a camper, its a 2017 Starcraft Autumn Ridge 28.9 Bunk House. Dry its 6675#'s (dealer said that includes battery and LP?). I picked it up from the dealer mid march and towed it 50 miles to my house. I still had my Blizzack snows on the truck, it was very windy so my first towing impression was not good.Lots of sway.

This past weekend I towed it to Watertown, NY, about a 2.5 hr drive from home. With the factory Goodyear Wrangler SRA tires at around 48psi, the thing towed very good. Good power, the 3.73's did great. I would guess with the camper, all the stuff loaded in the camper and my truck cap my total was about 7800#'s. You really know its back there, This is still over 2500 lbs less than what GM says this Max Tow can handle.

Speed was kept around 68mph and my average was 8.5 mpg. For the 3-4 times a year we tow, it will work fine.

I just had to bring the tires back to 35 psi today as my teeth were shaking out of my mouth!!! This truck rides rough with the heavy rear leafs, but when you jack up the tire pressure, things get really bad.

4 months old, 10,500 miles, I give the truck a 9.5 and the transmission a 4!!!

That's all for my update.