I need your help again fellas.
Some of you know we are in the midst of buying a new camper, and I want to make sure I don't bite off more than I can chew.

We put an offer in yesterday for a 2004 Trail-Cruiser by a company called R-Vision.

The saleman says our truck can tow this trailer without any problems, but I also know there's a difference between what's on paper, and real world applications.

Here's the specs of the trailer:

TC30QBSS

Length: 31'7''
Width: 96''
Height: 9'8''
Load Cap: 1588
Hitch Dry Weight: 277
Axle Dry Weight: 4012
Total Dry Weight: 4289
GVWR: 5877

Here's the link to the floor plan, it's the one at the bottom of the page.
http://216.26.167.97/rvision/product.asp?page_id=134

The salesman guy says if I put on these equalizer bars and sway bars, I can pull this trailer like a dream.

I just wanna checkj with you guys since I value most of your opinions (except for MOTI) haha

Thanks

Oh ya, my truck specs again:
02 F150 supercab, 4x4, 5.4 shortbox styleside.

 

Well, I don't think you'd have a lot of problems towing something like that. If you don't have the upgraded towing package on your f-150 you might be pushing toward the upper recommended limits on it. I'm mainly thinking the transmision and weather or not it has the trans cooler and whatnot. I can't remember all the details on the towing packages. My wife's truck has the #6600 and it has the trans cooler but not the bigger transmisison.

I'm gonna guess the wet weight on that trailer will be about 4800 pounds. Once you get all your crap in it to go camping you'll be a little over 5K. The GVWR rating is what they recommend you not go over with it loaded down.

Another issue will be what gears you have in your truck. If you have the 3.55 gears you will have a hard time towing up steep grades. This isn't the end of the world, but you may be reduced to 35mph up the hills in 2nd gear.

Check out the towing forums if you haven't already.
https://www.f150online.com/forums/fo...?s=&forumid=72
You might find some good info there. There's lots of things you can do to help towing a heavier trailer.

Overall it's feesable. There's a lot of people out there that are probably towing more than that with an F-150. I've personally had over the suggested limit with one. It was an 83 f-150 with a straight 6 in it. My dad and I had a load of pine on the back and a two horse trailer fully loaded behind it. My dad put overload springs on it, so it did ok. It pulled my parent's old 5th wheel (23') for a long time. It just did 30mph up cabbage hill (I84).

One other thing to consider is where you are going to take this trailer. Up in the Northwest US a lot of parks will only allow a 27 footer. You might want to check into your favorite areas and see what they allow. I believe you can find info on most US national parks on the web. I would imagine Canada has the same thing.

I can't think of much else right now. Hopefully somebody that has more experience towing a trailer like that will chime in. I know there's a few around. I think a couple are in the Expedition forums with similar sized trailers.

 

The man is trying to make a sale for crying out loud.
What did you want him to say?
"Without these equalzer and stabilzer bars you'll crap your pants but, with them I predict no more than a small wet spot in the front."

You will probably be around 6k when it's all said and done.
2K less would be a dream.
1k more would be a nightmare.

 

Thanks Viper, very informative post.

My truck came with the factory towing package, so hopefully this will help somewhat.
We still don't know if they accepted our offer yet, waiting for the call any minute.

I found a very useful forum at www.rv.net
Lots of reading there if anyone is in the same boat as me.

Habibi

 

I know that when we were looking for an enclosed trailer for the Lightning we had our eye on one. after talking with some guys who had towed similar trailers with similar vehicles the consensus was the thr truck could pull the larger trailer just fine but stopping it was going to be a maor issue.

We went with a slightly smaller trailer in the end.

 

I found this link over at www.rv.net and it pretty much covers it all.
This guy did an excellent job of putting this info together and I thought I would share it with everyone here who might be interested in towing.

http://www.geocities.com/dgrvweb/index.html

 

When going to different rv web sites, I found sone good info and alot of people that think if you don't have a 2 ton truck and a V10 you shouldn't pull anything larger than a garden cart. Your weight doesn't sound like it is too much, but that is a long mother! Hard to believe thats all it weighs. If you use the weight distribution bars, some kinda sway control, good brake controller and a larger than oem tranny cooler you'll do fine. Be sure you load the trailer with approx. 15% of the weight on the tongue, helps prevent sway.

 

I trailered my wifes explorer home 250 miles with my truck and it was not the best but it handled it fairly well with the 5 speed and 3.08 gears. Now going up hill was another story in and out of 2nd and 3rd gear and 40 miles an hour. No overheating no problems at all. Now this is not something i do often but i do pull a all aluminum trailer for all the toys and have no problem pulling them~2500lbs. Oh yea can i go camping with you guys?? i'll be good i promise!!!

 

I concur.