Towing a 30+ foot travel trailer?

[KARNUT]

Reminds me of my grandfather in-law and his camper purchase. He was a self employed house painter. Many years he drove a large panel van. He promised his wife when he retired they would travel the country with a camper. He bought the top of the line truck and bumper pull camper. Had all the anti sway load leveling eq you could buy. All smiles they left from NJ to visit his daughter in Texas. When he returned home he park the camper at a yogi bear campsite. Sold the truck. That’s where it stayed until he sold it. When I asked. He said I’ll go back to painting houses before I do that again. They would go to the park most weekends. He would sell vegetables out of his garden. That made grandma happy enough.

 

 

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[Rodek]

I pull a 30ft, 7000 lbs loaded travel trailer with my  2020 Silverado 1500 High Country Crew Cab 5.3 10 speed, 3.23 gears.  No trouble towing through hills or flat terrain.  

 

I use a Recure R3 Weight distribution hitch with sway control. 

 

I suggest deciding on the travel trailer first before deciding on the truck to pull it with. 

[AlaskaErik]

Anyone who thinks their truck can pull right up to the max tow rating doesn't know anything about towing.  First of all, you're going to run out of payload capacity on a half ton long before you ever reach your alleged max tow rating weight.  That max tow rating is the most useless, meaningless and irrelevant number in the towing world.  And it's always accompanied by an asterisk or footnote number that most people don't bother reading.  It's a bragging rights number for manufacturers, and nothing more.  GM bases their max hitch weight on 10 percent of max tow weight.  The 2019 trailering guide has my max tow rating speced out at 12,000 lbs and max hitch weight at 1200 lbs.  But anyone with any towing experience knows that tongue weight is almost always closer to 13 or 14 percent on a travel trailer.  Mine is over 14 percent when the fresh water tank is filled.  So you're either going exceed your max hitch weight or you're going to have to settle for a much lighter load.  A 1200 lb hitch weight limit at 14 percent tongue weight means I can only pull a 8571 lb trailer before exceeding the max hitch weight limit.  And most of you have a  much lower hitch weight limit.  A 960 lb hitch weight limit at 14 percent tongue weight means you can tow up to 6857 lbs.  But most people only look at the so-called max tow rating and ignore payload capacity, hitch weight limit and rear axle weight limit.  And this is the reason a 3/4 ton or one ton truck is more appropriate when you start getting into the 7000 lb  and 8000 lb range when it comes to towing travel trailers.

[the wanderer]

2 hours ago, AlaskaErik said:

Anyone who thinks their truck can pull right up to the max tow rating doesn't know anything about towing.  First of all, you're going to run out of payload capacity on a half ton long before you ever reach your alleged max tow rating weight.  That max tow rating is the most useless, meaningless and irrelevant number in the towing world.  And it's always accompanied by an asterisk or footnote number that most people don't bother reading.  It's a bragging rights number for manufacturers, and nothing more.  GM bases their max hitch weight on 10 percent of max tow weight.  The 2019 trailering guide has my max tow rating speced out at 12,000 lbs and max hitch weight at 1200 lbs.  But anyone with any towing experience knows that tongue weight is almost always closer to 13 or 14 percent on a travel trailer.  Mine is over 14 percent when the fresh water tank is filled.  So you're either going exceed your max hitch weight or you're going to have to settle for a much lighter load.  A 1200 lb hitch weight limit at 14 percent tongue weight means I can only pull a 8571 lb trailer before exceeding the max hitch weight limit.  And most of you have a  much lower hitch weight limit.  A 960 lb hitch weight limit at 14 percent tongue weight means you can tow up to 6857 lbs.  But most people only look at the so-called max tow rating and ignore payload capacity, hitch weight limit and rear axle weight limit.  And this is the reason a 3/4 ton or one ton truck is more appropriate when you start getting into the 7000 lb  and 8000 lb range when it comes to towing travel trailers.

 

I suspect many people just don't have the mental capacity to understand this issue. I had this discussion on a different forum with a guy who was pulling a 10,000 pound 5w with a halfton and 1200 pounds payload. "So you're telling me that the manufacturer is lying to me". No, the manufacturer doesn't know what trailer you're pulling. You can possibly pull a boat at 10,000 pounds but not a 5th wheel, because there is more than one limit to worry about, and the limit that almost always ocurrs first, is payload.

Edited December 3, 2020 by the wanderer

[AlaskaErik]

2 hours ago, the wanderer said:

 

I suspect many people just don't have the mental capacity to understand this issue. I had this discussion on a different forum with a guy who was pulling a 10,000 pound 5w with a halfton and 1200 pounds payload. "So you're telling me that the manufacturer is lying to me". No, the manufacturer doesn't know what trailer you're pulling. You can possibly pull a boat at 10,000 pounds but not a 5th wheel, because there is more than one limit to worry about, and the limit that almost always ocurrs first, is payload.

And the pin weight on a 5er is in the 20 to 25 percent range, so he's way over payload capacity before he even puts one thing in the truck itself.  But hey, the factory says I can pull 10,000 lbs.  SMH.

 

[Moend]

I won't call the max tow a bragging right. Most construction equipment hauler can be dialed to have 10% tongue weight. That being said 10% is really the lowest you want to be at. I think the sweet spot is 12~13%. And I know it might sounds like splitting hair but it is critical.

 

So yeah if you are hauling a skidsteer with one or two guys in the truck you might be able to creap up to your max tow.  Without hitting your max payload

 

 

Travel trailer is a different animal, you are going to bring more gear with and possibly family members and some of these articles can't be stowed in the camper. Ex: bikes, gas cans, tools, wife, and children