Travel trailer towing capacity?

TXGREEK · January 12, 2019

I get a truck 100 years ago is very different than a truck today. Same as an airplane, car, home, etc. I live 3 minutes from a waterway where it is all water sports and fishing; 22' limit, jet ski's and tubes are banned...the fishing guys stay in the no wake and everyone else is doing water sports. I've never, ever seen an old jet boat, Chris Craft, etc. For ski boats, it's Malibu and Mastercraft inboards with a Ski Natique 2001 thrown in. Then you get a couple of I/O's thrown in usually knee boarding, a pair of skis or doing some weird and inappropriate things with a surf board. Even the Yamaha Jet Boat guys don't come out much.
In the last 30 years, direct drive inboard is a ski boat. Period. Hell, I don't even ski a direct drive - my boat is one of the best Vdrive boats to ski behind (SV23 diamond hull Malibu), and to be honest I only slalom a couple times a year behind it - the rest is surfing with a bit of wakeboarding thrown in (and perhaps wake foiling this year if my wife wants to go even bigger on this year's Father's Day present, as last year was a $1000 surf board).

I'm also pretty sure the OP was referencing a freaking I/O runabout as a ski boat. I/O's are for Wally's, not folks that are into water sports. Now a proper footing boat with an outboard, like a Malibu Flightcraft, that's a whole other animal, but even lighter than an inboard ski boat.

The OP brought up towing Travel Trailers and his truck. If you’re talking about me, I’ve never owned a boat with an outboard. My most recent was an SS Monterrey and prior to that was an older one that I just couldn’t part with until someone resembling a drug dealer offered me much more than it was worth. Oh, that’s sweet, your kids got you a surfboard, brings back memories, had mine custom made by The Surf House in the heights Houston Tx in the late eighties and early 90’s. You got off easy with just a 1K board, my boards were much more than that. It’s sorta like AR’s, you get what you pay for. Speaking of AR’s, just gave my little one one of my Barrett Rec7Gen 2’s which you know what that means, daddy’s looking at the new Rec 10 coming out, yeah Baby!

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Grjfer · January 12, 2019

Back on topic.

TXGREEK · January 12, 2019

Back on topic.

Looks great! What’s your setup?

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Grjfer · January 12, 2019

This was my 2015 Sierra 1500 5.3. I had 1"over blocks in the rear and bilstein 5100's. Trailer is a 13 Keystone Bullet. 24 foot, 4500# dry weight.

BoilerUP · January 12, 2019

As the guy that talked about towing my travel trailer at the 70mph speed limit...

My trailer came with Castle Rock 205/75R14 tires, which show a 75mph maximum speed.

Nitrousbird · January 12, 2019

11 hours ago, TXGREEK said:

If you’re talking about me, I’ve never owned a boat with an outboard. My most recent was an SS Monterrey and prior to that was an older one that I just couldn’t part with until someone resembling a drug dealer offered me much more than it was worth. Oh, that’s sweet, your kids got you a surfboard, brings back memories, had mine custom made by The Surf House in the heights Houston Tx in the late eighties and early 90’s. You got off easy with just a 1K board, my boards were much more than that.

I was referencing you. Monterey doesn't sell a ski boat. Plenty of runabout's and are now trying to get into the wakesurfing scene with their forward drive boats, but those boats are a joke in terms of making a surf wave while charging what the real wakeboats cost. Fortunately, wake surf boards tend to not go much about $1500, so I'm good there.

TXGREEK · January 12, 2019

I was referencing you. Monterey doesn't sell a ski boat. Plenty of runabout's and are now trying to get into the wakesurfing scene with their forward drive boats, but those boats are a joke in terms of making a surf wave while charging what the real wakeboats cost. Fortunately, wake surf boards tend to not go much about $1500, so I'm good there.

I think you’ll need to start a water sports forum lol

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newdude · January 12, 2019

On ‎1‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 9:41 PM, silverado_colatown said:

Looking to purchase a travel trailer and I'm trying to determine my towing capacity. All the numbers make my head hurt! I read the owners manual and it looks like I can tow 9100 lbs, I go to camping world website enter my vehicle VIN and it says I can only tow 5500 lbs. Really confused and hoping someone can help me determine my tow capacity. Here are my truck build sheet specs:

Model: CC15543-2018 SILVERADO 1500 2WD CREW CAB

L83 - ENGINE, 5.3L V8 ECOTEC3

MYC - TRANSMISSION, 6 SPD AUTOMATIC

GU6 - REAR AXLE 3.42 RATIO

Q5U - WHEELS, 17" BRIGHT - MACHINED ALUMINUM

PDU - ALL STAR EDITION * TRAILERING EQUIPMENT PKG INCL AUTO
LOCKING REAR DIFFERENTIAL *

Z85 - SUSPENSION PACKAGE

Thanks!

9,400 lbs per the owners manual for a 2WD crew short box.

TXGREEK · January 12, 2019

9,400 lbs per the owners manual for a 2WD crew short box.

Oh Boy [emoji17]

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CrazyZ01 · February 18, 2019

To help the OP, I tow a 25 ft TT, 28 ft w/ tounge, weights about 7200lbs. I have ‘17 6.2 8 speed and love it! A few point to keep in mind:

1) As already pointed out payload is key. It includes a driver and not much else. What has not been mentioned is payload is either/or you have it in the hitch or you put it in the truck/bed. Can’t have both, especially for larger TT.

2) pack you trailer not your truck. Pack wisely, put heavy item over the TT axels, try and balance it out front to back. You want 10-15% tounge weight but not to much, see 1) about payload

3) Depending on the type of camping you do the TT onboard fresh water, propane and battery will likely be in front of the TT axels. Never made sense to me to burn gas to haul water to a location that has in ample supply. As already noted MPGs are 8-10 depending on terrain.

4) TT are not aerodynamic, but that does not limit what you can tow. If it did the owners manual would say so, y limiting your tow weight by ‘frontal square footage’. Owned a Jeep Liberty and the owners manual specifically said not to trailers that had a certain frontal sq. Footage, like a TT.

5) Get a good WD hitch with sway control, take the t8mevtomset it up correctly and understand how it works. Do not trust a RV or dealer technician.

6) Speed kills, but so does going more than 5 MPH slower than flow of traffic. Try and go to the posted speed sign up to 70. I have had more issues from stupid people passing me. The slower you go relative to traffic, the more people are passing you, the more problems you will have.

Lastly, you can do this, your truck can do this!

alb2tpa · February 18, 2019

Just another here is what I have towed report.

2018 GMC Sierra 2wd, crew cab, SLT, 5.3 V8, 3.42 axle, 1948 lb. payload with Max tow pkg. Pulled my 8170# total weight 35' toyhauler about 75 miles on it's maiden voyage. It was a somewhat windy day, 15-20 mph, with my 950# motorcycle in the garage to move the hitch weight below the 1200 lb mark. Had a Husky Centerline HD 14,000 lb / 1400 lb tongue weight dist and anti sway hitch setup. It towed as smooth as my cargo trailer at half the weight. Truck was not struggling on my level Florida roads, at all.

The truck and trailer were level with only an inch of sag, until I released the WD setup to back into the storage spot (not required but ground was not as level as road) and spot was soft. Then she dropped several inches to the eye. Just another example of what a real good heavy duty weight distribution system can do for your tow vehicle. I have Firestone air bags sitting in a box in the garage and I just might be returning them as they are not needed.

Edited February 18, 2019 by alb2tpa
added payload

Darmichar · February 18, 2019

On 1/12/2019 at 9:25 AM, Nitrousbird said:

I was referencing you. Monterey doesn't sell a ski boat. Plenty of runabout's and are now trying to get into the wakesurfing scene with their forward drive boats, but those boats are a joke in terms of making a surf wave while charging what the real wakeboats cost. Fortunately, wake surf boards tend to not go much about $1500, so I'm good there.

I'll have to remind my family of that next time we're skiing with our 218SS

rjpoog1989 · February 18, 2019

On 1/10/2019 at 9:27 PM, Bikemobile said:

I tow a Forest River 201bhxl with my 17 crewcab 5.3 8 speed 4x4. Dry weight is 4233 pounds and loaded is around 5k.

It tows great but you can definitely feel it behind the truck. I use a WD hitch and no sway control. I get 10-12 mpg towing.

If i ever upgraded campers I would definitely want to upgrade the rear suspension or get a 6.2.

We have a blast with the kids in this camper. Here we are setup at the Seven Peaks Festival last year.

I’m looking into floor plans exlike this. I also like the 230bhxl with the slide. My truck is a 14 CC St Bed 6.2 with around 1500lbs payload. I wish I had the max tow package, but I do have an extra leaf spring in the rear. My truck goes my 5k lbs dump trailer fine, but that’s usually just me in it and nothing else. I’ll be traveling with my wife, daughter, and 2 dogs.

Have you ever had it on scales to know what your hitch weight is loaded? I’m concerned about running out of payload.

Can you fold up the Murphy bed without taking all the fixings off? I’d like to be able to fold it up easy if it’s raining and we’re stuck inside.

Any reasons you went with Forest River vs other brands?

I’m going to an event show this weekend to check some things out. I can’t buy until later this year when my car is paid off. I’m really looking forward to getting out camping! I don’t want to upgrade truck for a few more years, so I want a trailer that this truck will handle comfortably for many miles.

Edited February 19, 2019 by rjpoog1989

Cpl_Punishment · February 19, 2019

5 hours ago, alb2tpa said:

3.42 axle

Max tow pkg.

Shouldn't you have the 3.73 axle?

alb2tpa · February 19, 2019

No sir. For 2018, even with max tow a 3.42 is the top gearing. Most likely due to the 8 speed auto that shifts earlier and more often than my 6 speed did.