V- nose towing

[Kennyg]

Does anyone know how easy or hard to tow a v-nose travel trailer, our local dealer has tried to talk me out of one on the bases that the tongue is to heavy and a bear to pull. Looking at the rockwood windjammer 3008w or the coachman freedom express 302fkv. The tongue weight on the rockwood is around 980 lbs and the coachman is 789 lbs. the travel trailer he is tiring to sell us is 1105 tongue weight. I am pulling with a 2008 Nissan Titan 5.8 liter, 4x4 crew cab, with tow package with a 5.5 bed . Any thoughts??

[Whiteknight]

We have had our V-Light for a year now and love it. It tows just as good if not better than the "flat nosed" trailers I've towed. We had a larger trailer before the V-light so I am towing it with a 1 ton dually diesel pickup (probably overkill for this trailer). As long as you are within your weight limits on your truck, a V-nose shouldn't make any difference and be just fine.

[wyo700]

Those are all dry weights for the tongue weights. I have a toy hauler with a dry tongue weight of 850 and when loaded was probably closer to 1000. I also pulled it with a Nissan Titan and now have a tundra. I was over the gvw of the Titan every time I hooked up. Mine was an 05 and the gvw was 6500 you have an 08 I thinks yours is 7100. So you may be ok depending on how much more you put in truck. Including people and all other misc gear. So you are gonna be really close to maxing out your gvw of your truck. My tundras gvw is 7200 when fully loaded with everything I will carry in the truck I will be right around 6400 pounds. I will have much more room for tongue weight. I was always right around 7000 with my Titan when loaded. I am gonna load my camper differently this year so I will never go over my gvw with my tundra. With my Titan I was almost always at gvw before I even hooked up to my camper.

[acadianbob]

I really like the usable space and layouts of the V-nose trailers. BUT, those tongue weights are really up there on most of them. I think that your limitation is going to be your payload capacity. You should weight your truck and subtract that weight from your GVW to get your actual payload capacity. Remember that a lot of other things come out of that too; like your family, pets, hitch, generator, bikes, coolers, etc that might be in the bed of your truck. As noted above, the weights they are giving you are DRY weights that often do not include the weight of fluids, options, propane, battery, food, clothing, etc that are in your trailer. My honest opinion is that a V-nose of any size is likely to cause you to substantially exceed your payload capacity. That becomes a safety issue as well. That payload capacity also takes into account the rear axle capacity, size of brakes, etc. I'm not knocking V-nose trailers because I really like them. But I know that my truck won't handle them. (1/2 ton). If you really want a V-nose, you should probably consider a 3/4 or 1 ton truck. Good luck. Think it through.

P.S. You might also be exceeding these other capacities: weight capacity of your hitch; Gross Combined Vehicle weight; Gross trailer weight. Make sure to check them all. And use "wet" (loaded) weights.

[acadianbob]

Maybe this will help you figure things out with payload.

My truck is 7,700 GVW with 2,000 payload. But I have added side steps and a bed cover that weigh 300 pounds. Now I'm down to an actual 1,700 pounds payload. When we are camping, here are some typical things that also come out of payload.

Wife and 2 dogs 200 pounds
Tool Box 70 pounds (yeah, i know . . . )
Generator 65 pounds
Kayak 50 pounds
Bike 20 pounds
Ladder 15 pounds
Gas Can 10 pounds
Air Compressor 5 pounds
Reese Hitch 50 pounds

Total 485 pounds

Now my remaining payload is down to about 1,200 pounds. Most "1/2 tons" start out with 1,300 to 1,600 of payload and you go down from there. You can see how quickly it all adds up and how quickly your payload disappears.

I hope this is helpful.

[acadianbob]

Sorry, more thoughts.

You really don't want to be towing at 100% of capacity either. Then you have no margin if "something happens". Blown tire, deer crosses the road, meet a semi on a 2-lane road, etc.

You also have to consider how far you are towing, tow speed, terrain (mountainous?), outside temperatures, etc. If you are going a long way, on a hot day, it's hilly, and your truck is struggling, you are not going to be happy. A good rule of thumb is 60 to 80% capacity, depending on the factors mentioned above.

I'll go away now.

[caper]

We have a 3001w and love it our tongue weight is not as high. Most TT with a front Kitchen will have a higher tongue weight. The V nose does reduce the amount of wind drag. It cuts through the air like a bow of a boat cuts through the water. MY DW just loves it. We travel over 6000 miles per year. We do travel through the mountains of BC. The truck does not have a lot of speed when driving through the mountain passes but we usually follow a transport truck up and travel the same speed as they are.

[garbonz]

Originally Posted by acadianbob

Sorry, more thoughts.

You really don't want to be towing at 100% of capacity either. Then you have no margin if "something happens". Blown tire, deer crosses the road, meet a semi on a 2-lane road, etc.

You also have to consider how far you are towing, tow speed, terrain (mountainous?), outside temperatures, etc. If you are going a long way, on a hot day, it's hilly, and your truck is struggling, you are not going to be happy. A good rule of thumb is 60 to 80% capacity, depending on the factors mentioned above.

I'll go away now.

While I don' disagree with being safe, the mfg already have built a substantial safety factor into the TV's IMO, it is not unreasonable to expect to tow right at payload capacity. I also suspect that the safety factor's have been going down a bit as the mfg's compete for our $$.

My issue is with the apparent looseness that the TT mfg are playing with their construction std on our rigs. The Lippert frame issues come to mind.

ALSO, I agree that without weighing your entire rig as loaded for travel you don't want to even be close.

Bob

[wbdvt]

Originally Posted by acadianbob

Remember that a lot of other things come out of that too; like your family, pets, hitch, generator, bikes, coolers, etc that might be in the bed of your truck.

Wow..putting family in bed of truck would make for a quieter ride! Thanks for the idea...

[acadianbob]

Originally Posted by wbdvt

Wow..putting family in bed of truck would make for a quieter ride! Thanks for the idea...

Well, when the kids start fighting . . . .

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by acadianbob

Well, when the kids start fighting . . . .

When we would start fighting in the bed of the truck and dad could tell, he'd tap the breaks a time or two. Once we picked ourselves back up, the fight was over and the war stories of how we almost died would begin!

[garbonz]

Can' do that nowadays. You'd be arrestered.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by garbonz

Can' do that nowadays. You'd be arrestered.

Which doesn't make sense because in some states including mine people can ride in your towed tt or 5er as long as they have 2 way radios in camper and truck to communicate.

Turbs

[cheatham09]

We have a 3008w windjammer and pull it with a 07 Toyota Tundra, we have never had a problem towing this trailer.

[garbonz]

Originally Posted by cheatham09

We have a 3008w windjammer and pull it with a 07 Toyota Tundra, we have never had a problem towing this trailer.

They don't want people falling out and bleeding all over the highway. Hazardous waste, ya know. In a trailer, the blood is confined to the unit and is the owners problem.