Dummy bought RV to big for truck - Page 4

uncle46 · 03-31-2013, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caper

If they are the dealership between Fredericton and Gagetown I can see why the salesman told you that your truck was up to the task. This dealership is what I call a hard sell dealership. I do believe they are affiliated with the same group from Ontario.

That is the Dealership.

caper · 03-31-2013, 08:39 PM

We stopped there a few years ago to purchase a door for a hot water heater and the salesman tried to sell be a trailer before I made it into the parts department.

caper · 03-31-2013, 08:41 PM

If you are going to be doing a lot to towing a Propride hitch would be the best to get. They do cost a lot of $$$ but you get what you pay for.

uncle46 · 03-31-2013, 10:40 PM

Ok guys and gals here is my take on all of this. Curb weight of my truck is 5615-5687 I can remove about 60lbs by taking the spare and putting it in the trailer. My GVWR is 7200 if I use the high number of 5687 take it off the 7200 that leave me 1513 now I weigh 185 the lady weighs 135 and Dry tongue weight is 920 That leaves me 273 lbs of tongue weight. This trailer weighs 6395 lbs dry and can carry 2348 lbs at max load I cannot see the tongue weight going up 273Lbs. My trucks loaded trailer weight cannot exceed 9600 lb so the trailer I bought fully loaded is only 8743 lbs. the GCWR of the truck is 15,500 LBS so it looks like I should be ok if I only load the trailer with about 1500-1600 lbs. The way the axles are spread apart on that trailer I think I should be ok.

**huntr70** · 04-01-2013, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarryD0706

I wish I had stopped to take pictures of that RV that had rolled and was destroyed all over the side of the road back in Arizona some years ago. I don't know much about it except that they were coming down a long steep grade.

Which has absolutely nothing to do with this thread.

Way too many factors involved that you have no idea of.....

**huntr70** · 04-01-2013, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle46

Ok guys and gals here is my take on all of this. Curb weight of my truck is 5615-5687 I can remove about 60lbs by taking the spare and putting it in the trailer. My GVWR is 7200 if I use the high number of 5687 take it off the 7200 that leave me 1513 now I weigh 185 the lady weighs 135 and Dry tongue weight is 920 That leaves me 273 lbs of tongue weight. This trailer weighs 6395 lbs dry and can carry 2348 lbs at max load I cannot see the tongue weight going up 273Lbs. My trucks loaded trailer weight cannot exceed 9600 lb so the trailer I bought fully loaded is only 8743 lbs. the GCWR of the truck is 15,500 LBS so it looks like I should be ok if I only load the trailer with about 1500-1600 lbs. The way the axles are spread apart on that trailer I think I should be ok.

By those figures, you are good......

Get yourself a good brand name wdh and sway such as an Equalizer, Reese Straitline, or ProPride/Hensley and call it a day.

People can speculate all they want, but you need to be the one comfortable with the combo.

There are many more people on the road with a lot worse combo's than you will have.

caper · 04-01-2013, 06:28 AM

You should be fine with the TV and TT with the weights you have stated. You are almost the same at my setup. I have pulled the TT across Canada and have not had a problem. I do not break any speed records but who needs to hurry when you are on vacation? Enjoy your trailer and have many happy memories. There are a lot of nice CG in NB. Our favorite is at ST. Andrews.

HappyGuy · 04-01-2013, 07:59 AM

Mt brother in law pulls a 28 foot TT near the max weight of his Ford Explorer Sport Track. He uses a WDH, stays out of the mountains and takes it slow. Having seen his adventures I would say that you'll be fine for a time. Just plan on some added repair bills and some irritated passing motorists. An ecoboost F150 should be upgradeable to hit that 11,500 lb towing capacity with a gear swap or full differential, additional engine oil and transmission coolers, and an update to the ECM. If you're handy you might consider combing the wrecking yards for a rolled / totaled F150 ecoboost that you can pull the differentials, radiators and ECM to install into your rig. No special tools required except for time, a manual, jacks, hand tools, and beer / pizza for the guys you con into helping. For good measure you would probably want to at least measure the driveshaft and universal joints to make sure they match your current rig or you may find yourself returning to buy the originals or ordering some new ones if the originals are munged. Ordering new ones requires some careful measurements so checking before hand and grabbing the donor vehicles shafts if needed can be a life saver. Pickings may be slim in the wrecking yards for such a new vehicle so the critical parts to find are the differentials. The remaining parts can be added on using the after market or sourced new from the dealer. The ECM isn't critical. It can be flashed to accept the gear change. Grabbing the donor vehicles ECM just allows you to bolt in a working ECM instead of looking for an aftermarket update tool or convincing the dealership to flash your existing ECM.

Wrecking yards will sometimes give you a good core value if you offer to return your good parts in exchange for the ones you need. Lets them make more $$$ off of the same transaction.

If a wrecking yard run is a bit ambitious then the gear swap etc could probably be handled for 1200 - 2500 assuming that your crew cab uses the same differential and carrier as units setup to tow 11,500 lbs. Or you could trade up to a heavier and longer 3/4 diesel. Eco boost F150's are in greater demand than 3/4 ton diesels so my bet is you'll get a good trade and a good price on the diesel to boot. The weight difference between a 1/2 ton crew cab 4x4 and a 2wd 3/4 ton diesel will likely be ~1000 lbs or so but the added length will help fight the trailer and the torque... Well you just can't have enough of that when towing ;-)

RetirededTX · 04-01-2013, 09:26 AM

Like you I found after I purchased the 2001 trailer that the truck while "technically" able to haul it, reality showed that it wasn't quite up to the task. As I stated in my first post, a small headwind and uphill slope meant going down to 3rd gear and lower speed, not to mention the gas mileage. I should state here that I typically buy a vehicle and keep it until it's ready for the junkyard, and I have a serious "I can make that work" complex.
Being the hard headed DIY type I proceeded to upgrade the truck, as the attached file (my add for selling the TV) shows, over the years I did a bunch (read that as way too much). In the end the "F250" I created was able to do a very admirable job of hauling the Flagstaff TT and my Harley Dyna LowRider in the bed, with one caveat, fuel mileage. With all the improvements I could get around 8-9 mpg on freeway driving. That was until I hit a hill and it'd go down to 5-6. Handling was never a problem, 60-75 on the freeways was quite comfortable.
That all changed when we got the "want more" trailer bug. I liked the ultralight approach of FR and so we found the 8280SS that you can see in my sig and on the add. The trailer dealership had no problems installing the hitch, and not a word was said about putting it in an F150

. That dealership disappeared a year after we traded up to the 5er. Needless to say the weight police on this forum were all over my case, and that was the days when I was doing the HTML for the FR forum pages before it moved here.
While handling with the 5er was never a problem, and I could maintain highway speeds and passing where required, the fuel mileage and strain on the TV was not good. I averaged around 5-6 mpg on the few trips we took with this rig combination. Steep grades I got between 2.5 and 3 mpg (I had a fuel computer along with the larger fuel tank). If I was on the factory 18 gallon tank I could actually see the needle moving down. It was costing me as much as $250 to fill up

because I HAD to use supreme due to the supercharger.
Lessons learned: Yes, you can improve the TV and rig to make it work, and for a few $'s IMO you're in that category. Before you decide to make a step up in RV (and most of us do) get as much TV as you can afford and make sure it'll handle what ever you plan on getting (research and shopping). In the end I could have almost paid for the diesel for the cost of my upgrades, and I got nothing back out of my investment in the TV, I had to use it to trade for a new Grand Marquis for my very patient and understanding better half.
IMHO if you use the appropriate things mentioned in these posts: correct tires and pressure on the TV and TT, correct receiver, a WDH, correct tongue wt, keep the heavy stuff in the middle of the TT, and anti-sway protection you'll minimize the white knuckle driving to rare moments. Spend the few extra $'s, and go enjoy your rig.

grayfox · 04-01-2013, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle46

Ok guys and gals here is my take on all of this. Curb weight of my truck is 5615-5687 I can remove about 60lbs by taking the spare and putting it in the trailer. My GVWR is 7200 if I use the high number of 5687 take it off the 7200 that leave me 1513 now I weigh 185 the lady weighs 135 and Dry tongue weight is 920 That leaves me 273 lbs of tongue weight. This trailer weighs 6395 lbs dry and can carry 2348 lbs at max load I cannot see the tongue weight going up 273Lbs. My trucks loaded trailer weight cannot exceed 9600 lb so the trailer I bought fully loaded is only 8743 lbs. the GCWR of the truck is 15,500 LBS so it looks like I should be ok if I only load the trailer with about 1500-1600 lbs. The way the axles are spread apart on that trailer I think I should be ok.

Consider doing all the math on your own. Check the link below.

Tow Vehicle Sizing

BigBaron · 04-01-2013, 10:10 AM

Wow. And I'm worried about going over 250 lbs.!

"This trailer weighs 6395 lbs dry and can carry 2348 lbs at max load I cannot see the tongue weight going up 273 lbs."

15% of 2,348 lbs. is 352 lbs., and if you happen to put the majority of that weight closer to the tongue, it could be over 15%...

I'm not an expert, but my little trailer is real easy to over/under load the tongue. I can only imagine that it is even easier with a big TT.

What do you guys that have these beasts think? My wife is already talking about a TT in our future! LOL

Dalroo · 04-02-2013, 11:21 AM

Like many of these posts, and I did it too, we all want the most we can handle, and take positive advice, while discounting the negatives. I think there should be a STICKY that says, "what motivates the salesman?" Or maybe, "What you won't learn from the guy on commission."

When I went in looking for a TH that would be an appropriate tow for my 1/2 ton, the dealer immediately steered me toward the 25ULA. Even the FR brochures and website advertised them as 1/2 ton towable. BTW, I think FR has removed this from current advertising, or at least it is not as prominent. Again, technically, the are correct, but practically, this was not a good match.

I even stopped by my Dodge dealer to ask their advice. The service manager looked up my invoice to find the exact specs on my pickup - 3.92, tow package, etc. and said I was well within limit. Another service tech even went so far as to tell me, with the weight of the ULA, not to even bother with tow haul mode, and that OD would help with fuel mileage. Trust me, I don't think I would have ever gotten to OD long enough to benefit, and used Tow Haul for every trip while pulling.

So armed with that "valuable" advice, I pulled the trigger, added the WD hitch, and even went so far as having a generator mounted to the tongue rack. Not once during this process did anyone at the dealership ever mention weight, tongue weight, loading, or WD set up. I back in, watched them hook me up, did the walk around, signed, and drove away. If you know the W&P, with the WD hitch AND the gen on front, my tongue weight was probably about 1300# as delivered.

I was about halfway home when I realized I had too much camper for the TV. On my first outing the next week, my truck looked like it was ready to launch. It felt like my seat was reclined. On that trip, traveling alone with my tools, I stopped several times to make adjustments and got it closer to level.

Very early on I removed the generator from the rack. I worked hard to get the WD just right, and learned how to load the camper to get the weight distributed evenly. And as I've said elsewhere, the W&P actually tows much better with a "toy" loaded, or freshwater as ballast. But the big items I could not fix were fuel mileage, DTE, incovenience of stopping every 100 miles to fill up an empty tank, and the IRRITATING downshifting combined with high revs. Like RetiredTX, on long uphill climbs I could actually see the needle move. My last trip was just over 200 miles and I used 40 gallons of gas.

The good news, I liked the W&P more than the 1/2 ton, so I traded for a new TV that is more capable. We're planning a trip to central Colorado this summer and I can't wait. I would never have attempted this in the 1/2 ton.

uncle46 · 04-02-2013, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigBaron

Wow. And I'm worried about going over 250 lbs.!

"This trailer weighs 6395 lbs dry and can carry 2348 lbs at max load I cannot see the tongue weight going up 273 lbs."

15% of 2,348 lbs. is 352 lbs., and if you happen to put the majority of that weight closer to the tongue, it could be over 15%...

I'm not an expert, but my little trailer is real easy to over/under load the tongue. I can only imagine that it is even easier with a big TT.

What do you guys that have these beasts think? My wife is already talking about a TT in our future! LOL

You are right but doing somemore checking water tanks are behind axles Kitchen and storage are on axles and most storage area is behind axles so it could be that once loaded tongue weight may not change much we will see.

BigBaron · 04-04-2013, 12:55 AM

I hope it's ok. Keep us posted!

Pipeman · 04-04-2013, 06:57 AM

One thing I haven't read, or I missed it, in all these posts. What about braking? A very important part of towing any trailer, IMHO. If the TV is over loaded to begin with, what danger are the people in the truck in, let alone the people driving down the same road with you? You can move things in the TT to try and improve the weight distribution but it's still overloaded when you get right down to it. I was in your shoes with a 3/4 ton pulling a 36 ft TH. Just over the GVWR but would pull that 5er forever. Now the TH is gone but we have a 35ft 5er pulled with a 1 ton, diesel, DRW crew cab, long box. Pulls great but the main thing is, it can handle the weight from the king pin and the braking power is one heck of a lot better. I, like you tried to convince myself that it was all good by having rear air springs put on and watching the distribution of weight but in reality it wasn't good and I took a chance on my family's well being when on the highway and other people's as well. You're going to do what you're going to do but there are other things to think about. It's just a big pain in the rear when the mistake has been made and being able to correct it may not be easy to do or maybe it can be. You are the judge. Stay safe.

EXGMTech · 04-04-2013, 07:04 AM

the trailer has it's own brakes & if adjusted properly shouldn't affect tv brakes too much

uncle46 · 04-04-2013, 07:29 AM

My F-150 has the Ford brake controller and from what I read it is one of the better ones out there. It works with the on board computer to Brake the TT and help with sway control. By the way I ordered the Anderson Hitch, I will not have it when I leave the Dealer I will be using a Huskey with Anti sway so I will be able to compare them both.

Scratch · 04-04-2013, 09:03 AM

Been there; done that. You have more than enough engine to handle the load and you'll be within the GCWR. Keep an eye on the GVWR/GAWR and make sure to check your rear end gearing. Unfortunately after I purchased my F-150 Eco, I discovered that I had a 3.15 rear which got me great gas mileage unhooked, but even with the tow package, the gears were not up to handling my TT which weighed about 7K loaded. I had to stay off the interstate highways because the big rigs gave me fits (didn't have a Hensley).

You've done the right thing upgrading the tires and you are purchasing a very nice hitch. A 3.73 rear would be a better match, but if you have 3.55 gears, you'll be OK for level tows. You'll definitely notice hills and headwinds which will affect your MPG.

As previously mentioned here, get the truck & trailer properly weighed, pack conservatively, keep an eye on the GVWR/GAWR, and drive safely. You'll have such fun that ready or not, next thing you know you'll have an entirely different, and no-doubt bigger TV & TT rig.

Good luck Uncle. Be safe out there and have some fun...

uncle46 · 04-04-2013, 12:34 PM

Got my starting weight of truck. 3280 front 2520 rear 5800 gross. That was with full tank of fuel, me and the spouse in the truck, no other luggage.

**ependydad** · 04-04-2013, 01:06 PM

Ok, given a 5,800 gross weight. Your gross vehicle weight rating is 7,200 pounds. That means that you have 1,400 pounds of payload remaining.

The second concern is keeping within your rear gross axle weight rating. Your truck is 3850 and your weight was 2,520 leaving you with 1,330.

Keep in mind you'll lose some pounds to your hitch hardware and luggage and traveling comforters.

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