First Timer with Some Questions

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by AtexInTx

You say 9K fully loaded ... then you say there's only 400# for occupants AND GEAR. Didn't you figure on the gear already when you say it's fully loaded?

babock is saying that after you load up the TRAILER to 9K, the loaded trailer's tongue weight on the tow vehicle will only leave you 400 lbs of tow vehicle PAYLOAD (i.e., the occupants and gear you put in the truck).

Tow vehicle payload is what you'll exceed before you exceed it's "towing capacity."

[mharrel]

This may have been said before, but you probably don't need as much trailer as you think. We bought a used 20ft Grey Wolf as our first TT. We planned to keep it a year or so, gain some experience, and then upgrade to what we really wanted. What we discovered was that really, that was all the trailer we needed. We still have the GW. I've towed trailers all my life and I want to tow as small a trailer as I can get away with. A small trailer is easier to pull, easier to stop, easier to park, easier to back, etc. I've been in several places where I've said "man, I'm glad we're not pulling anything longer". Of course, if you and your significant other don't get along too well, no trailer is big enough.

[jenandrand]

Hello Eddie,

We have a 2017 FR Wildwood Heritage Glen 299RE and love it! We also had a Chevy 1500 just like the one you have, same specs and all and used an Equalizer 4 point WDH with sway control. We towed the 299RE, which in reality is over 34' long, with the 1500 on a few 500 mile trips and what we found was that while the 1500 got us there and back, we could tell that the trailer had a tendency to push the truck when braking and in windy conditions, even when semi's would pass us. We didn't like the feeling of being "so close to the edge" when traveling as it made us really tired and stressed. So since we love our 299RE and haven't had a single issue with it, we decided to upgrade trucks so we could have a more enjoyable towing experience and we even have a lot more truck now so when we retire for good we have the ability to get a bigger trailer in the future if we'd like. The bottom line for us was feeling less tired, stressed and anxious when we get to our destination. It is so much more enjoyable now that we drove straight through from Custer, SD to Leavenworth, KS only stopping for fuel and personal relief.

Hope this helps.

[babock]

Originally Posted by mharrel

I've towed trailers all my life and I want to tow as small a trailer as I can get away with. A small trailer is easier to pull, easier to stop, easier to park, easier to back, etc. I've been in several places where I've said "man, I'm glad we're not pulling anything longer". Of course, if you and your significant other don't get along too well, no trailer is big enough.

We made sure we bought a trailer 25' or less...ours is 24' 11". Our very first camping trip with it was in the last spot available in a National Park and it was 25'. It definitely would not accommodate anything bigger. Since that time we have fit into camping spots that would have been hard to do with a longer trailer. We found the 25' was a sweet spot for trailer length.

[JRogers984]

33' or the coachman 34' is a long trailer!
My trailer is 34'6". To me, It is long. Lots of learning mistakes that cost money, since this is my first tt.
Manufacturer says tongue wgt 1210lbs, actual tongue weight is 2000lbs. Definitely take manufacturers #'s with large grain of salt.
My 150 with all towing stuff sucked a towing my jeep on trailer. 3000lbs jeep 1200lbs trailer 4500lbs total. It would pull it no problem, and did not sway, but going up and down small hills made the engine work, and could not get into over drive.

Did all the figuring when we decided we wanted a 5th wheeler. Max could be exceeded a little, close to max could work ...It's just numbers..... Then blew a tire hauling flooring, $5000 repair. Saw truck with 5th wheel blow rear tire. All worldly possessions spread across highway and median. Talked to father in law and his friends, and some memories of my own and decided safety is more important than could work and went with a diesel daully. Big tractors pulling big trailers past me or driving next to me and my truck and trailer give not indication, and I mean none at all that they are there. Hills no problem. Seems to get better mpg in hill areas?

The only thing I would mention that I observed from the trailers you listed, and they are very nice trailers is 1. get as big a black tank as you can find, gray and fresh are important too. 2. The lighter the trailer, the lighter the material used to construct the trailer, which could mean more maintenance.

PS. When we bought our new tt, We stored the trail close to where we bought the trailer, and there were some very nice campground close by. So we would go camp, find a problem, drop off at the dealer, go camp, find a problem...... All problems, bugs got repaired, and we really enjoyed finding the bugs..

Of course there will always be something coming loose.

Best of luck, and happy trails!

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by JRogers984

The only thing I would mention that I observed from the trailers you listed, and they are very nice trailers is 1. get as big a black tank as you can find, gray and fresh are important too.

Actually the vast majority of RV owners would disagree. Larger gray and FW tank are more important than a larger black tank. We have never come close to filling our two TTs smaller black tanks, even after 2 weeks on the road and not dumping. But have filled the gray tank and run out of water, in just 3 days.

[EddieK]

I think I'm going to wait until the Atlantic City RV convention to see what I want to buy. I have looked up and down and left and right but there's just too much to take in. I have learned an amazing amount of new information thanks to everyone on here. You guys, and girls, are the best. Now it seams like it's time to go take a hard look at these trailers in person.

I did have a walk through in the 27RE and the x-lite 273QBXL both by Wildwood, and they were really nice. If it was up to me, which it's not (Unless I kick and scream, lol) I'd go with the 22RBS. It seams the hitch weight is not far off from the bigger ones, but it's much small and should be easier to tow. She is more worried about having room if people want to visit us, and I'm really not because I don't care if anyone visits or not. lol.

I have been looking at 2500 HD and maybe I can find someone to swap me trucks from my 1500 LTZ. From what I've seen, my truck and the 2500HD for the 2015 and 2016 model year are only 4K apart. I dread having to go to a dealer again and go through all that hastle and paperwork, but it looks like I may have to.

[JRogers984]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Actually the vast majority of RV owners would disagree. Larger gray and FW tank are more important than a larger black tank. We have never come close to filling our two TTs smaller black tanks, even after 2 weeks on the road and not dumping. But have filled the gray tank and run out of water, in just 3 days.

OMG
Excuse me for expressing my opinion.
I will stick with my opinion, which is from experience!

[CurtPutnam]

Originally Posted by EddieK

I think I'm going to wait until the Atlantic City RV convention to see what I want to buy. I have looked up and down and left and right but there's just too much to take in. I have learned an amazing amount of new information thanks to everyone on here. You guys, and girls, are the best. Now it seams like it's time to go take a hard look at these trailers in person.

I did have a walk through in the 27RE and the x-lite 273QBXL both by Wildwood, and they were really nice. If it was up to me, which it's not (Unless I kick and scream, lol) I'd go with the 22RBS. It seams the hitch weight is not far off from the bigger ones, but it's much small and should be easier to tow. She is more worried about having room if people want to visit us, and I'm really not because I don't care if anyone visits or not. lol.

I have been looking at 2500 HD and maybe I can find someone to swap me trucks from my 1500 LTZ. From what I've seen, my truck and the 2500HD for the 2015 and 2016 model year are only 4K apart. I dread having to go to a dealer again and go through all that hastle and paperwork, but it looks like I may have to.

We came to our 34' TT from a 29' Class C. The MH gave us a firm idea of what we wanted in an RV and it turned out that what we bought is still ideal after 4 years.

She wanted the kitchen isolated from other traffic. In the MH, every time someone wanted to use the head or grab a beer, the cook had to step out of the way. We wanted recliners. We needed a slide so we had a place to be - out of the way. We meaning me and our GSD. The shower had to be tall enough - it now accommodates a shower stool which I need for my missing leg.

It's only a 30 amp version so a little short on electrical power but I'm not yet trying too run a major computer for Lightroom, Photoshop, et. al. My wife has not had the time (not yet retired) to learn how to back it up so she is unhappy with the size from that aspect. The unit mostly will not fit in state and national park campsites, so we stay nearby. Given my health issues, boondocking is not a realistic possibility so the size is OK from that perspective.

We, too, had a ½ ton truck (Tundra) which did not have enough payload. We took a bath on the trade for our current Chevy 2500. With the Andersen hitch, my wife can handle the hitching and unhitching. We've only spent 12 at one time in the TT, but we are confident that will extrapolate into several months without issue.

Know what you want to see before you go to the show so you do not get distracted by stuff that will not fit your needs or budget. Good luck!

[BandJCarm]

Remember one "obvious" thing. Every trailer you look at is NOT moving when you look at it.


Moving it is where most issues begin to occur.

[rockfordroo]

When I go to the RV show, the first thing I look at is the sticker on the front street side (drivers side) to see what the GVWR is. If it's too high, I keep walking.

Sometimes you have to jump over stuff the dealers put in the way to get to the sticker. They want you to focus on that stupid dry weight number they put out by the entry door. They don't want you looking at the GVWR sticker.

Good luck in your search.

[babock]

Originally Posted by JRogers984

OMG
Excuse me for expressing my opinion.
I will stick with my opinion, which is from experience!

I agree with Bikendan as well. If my grey tank was twice the size of my black tank, it would be perfect.

BTW, that's his opinion, this is my opinion and you have yours. No problem with anyone expressing any of them.

[EddieK]

I called and talked to Chevrolet's Technical Team. They said "As long as all your weight is under 15,000lbs your truck can tow whatever you want, no problem. (taking hitch weight and all that into account.)"

I'm looking at the Wildwood 27RE, Alpha Wolf 26RL-L, the Coachmen 293RLDS and the Salem Hemisphere 273RL.

Aside from weight, which one of these would be the most durable to live in for a full year?

[babock]

Originally Posted by EddieK

I called and talked to Chevrolet's Technical Team. They said "As long as all your weight is under 15,000lbs your truck can tow whatever you want, no problem. (taking hitch weight and all that into account.)"

I'm looking at the Wildwood 27RE, Alpha Wolf 26RL-L, the Coachmen 293RLDS and the Salem Hemisphere 273RL.

Aside from weight, which one of these would be the most durable to live in for a full year?

SO...did they say anything about payload?

These trailers should be considered 3/4T only. Is that your plan? Get a 3/4T?

[EddieK]

Originally Posted by babock

SO...did they say anything about payload?

These trailers should be considered 3/4T only. Is that your plan? Get a 3/4T?

I get the payload part, they said that I can tow what the truck says it can tow. I don't plan on boondocking, so I'll probably put 3-4 gallons of water in the TT for emergencies on the road. We will be under the weight.

Do you recommend one trailer or the other? I'm thinking the Ultra-Lite because it's lighter but I'm not sure it will hold up to yearly living.

[babock]

Originally Posted by EddieK

I get the payload part, they said that I can tow what the truck says it can tow. I don't plan on boondocking, so I'll probably put 3-4 gallons of water in the TT for emergencies on the road. We will be under the weight.

Do you recommend one trailer or the other? I'm thinking the Ultra-Lite because it's lighter but I'm not sure it will hold up to yearly living.

I don't know those trailers. All I know is I would tow none of these with my 1/2T Ford and I have more payload, torque and HP than you do and its only the two of us as well. My towed weight is 6000# and I would buy a 3/4T if I was towing much more than that. I have been towing trailers for over 40 years.

You seem hell bent on doing it so just buy what you want and see how it tows. You aren't going to heed any of our advice anyway. Not really sure why you bother to ask.

[dbledan]

Originally Posted by EddieK

I called and talked to Chevrolet's Technical Team. They said "As long as all your weight is under 15,000lbs your truck can tow whatever you want, no problem. (taking hitch weight and all that into account.)"

I'm looking at the Wildwood 27RE, Alpha Wolf 26RL-L, the Coachmen 293RLDS and the Salem Hemisphere 273RL.

Aside from weight, which one of these would be the most durable to live in for a full year?

Man those are all really nice trailers. The lightest of those is the 293RLDS and it is still heavier than my TT. I am still not sure how they get to 7+k dry weight with 2+k cargo and still keep a gross weight at 8300 as that math makes me scratch my head. All the others were close to 10k gross weight.

I would think their technical team would get into frontal area, tongue weight, max tongue weight with and without a WDH, and at least axle weights of the truck. If they didnt then you got some pretty poor advice from them.

You are miles ahead of me by asking and researching before you buy so dont make the same mistake I did...I found a trailer I liked and thought I had a truck big enough to handle it (note it pulled and stopped it just fine). The reality was it did not handle it well at all. While I was under gross combined weight my rear axle was over and it was a very unstable setup. I reduced weight significantly to be close on the rear axle. My gross weight is 7700 and I load it at about 7k. I spent lots of money to make it better and made it work for a little over a year but you felt it when driving. My truck could pull 12000lbs...so I had "plenty of room". Every setup is different so you never know until you tow.

I spent a lot to upgrade to a truck that could pull my trailer that we really love. It was a very expensive mistake. We looked at lighter trailers but didnt like them as much so I finally got the truck to exceed what we have after trying many different options to make what we had work.

In the end get what you want but know that you may end up over extended (at least with the specs I read) and it will cost a bundle to fix it either by trading the trailer or the truck like I did and you will likely end up taking a bath.

Side note, I am in the minority on the black tank size I guess because we fill ours in 3-4 days and its 30 gallons...I guess that means my whole family and I are full of S#!t...[emoji1] so consider that with my advice. Grey tank will only fill that fast when using the shower. We dont ever stay places longer than 4 days without hookups and I use campground facilities when available so everyone is different and you have to buy for your usage and camping habits and your comfort level.

Best of luck!

[EddieK]

Originally Posted by dbledan

Man those are all really nice trailers. The lightest of those is the 293RLDS and it is still heavier than my TT. I am still not sure how they get to 7+k dry weight with 2+k cargo and still keep a gross weight at 8300 as that math makes me scratch my head. All the others were close to 10k gross weight.

I would think their technical team would get into frontal area, tongue weight, max tongue weight with and without a WDH, and at least axle weights of the truck. If they didnt then you got some pretty poor advice from them.

You are miles ahead of me by asking and researching before you buy so dont make the same mistake I did...I found a trailer I liked and thought I had a truck big enough to handle it (note it pulled and stopped it just fine). The reality was it did not handle it well at all. While I was under gross combined weight my rear axle was over and it was a very unstable setup. I reduced weight significantly to be close on the rear axle. My gross weight is 7700 and I load it at about 7k. I spent lots of money to make it better and made it work for a little over a year but you felt it when driving. My truck could pull 12000lbs...so I had "plenty of room". Every setup is different so you never know until you tow.

I spent a lot to upgrade to a truck that could pull my trailer that we really love. It was a very expensive mistake. We looked at lighter trailers but didnt like them as much so I finally got the truck to exceed what we have after trying many different options to make what we had work.

In the end get what you want but know that you may end up over extended (at least with the specs I read) and it will cost a bundle to fix it either by trading the trailer or the truck like I did and you will likely end up taking a bath.

Side note, I am in the minority on the black tank size I guess because we fill ours in 3-4 days and its 30 gallons...I guess that means my whole family and I are full of S#!t...[emoji1] so consider that with my advice. Grey tank will only fill that fast when using the shower. We dont ever stay places longer than 4 days without hookups and I use campground facilities when available so everyone is different and you have to buy for your usage and camping habits and your comfort level.

Best of luck!

I'm going to ask them if I can tow the 27RE and take it to a weigh station down I95 and see how my truck feels. The place is in West Chester, Pa, so there's some hills over there too.

[dbledan]

Originally Posted by EddieK

I'm going to ask them if I can tow the 27RE and take it to a weigh station down I95 and see how my truck feels. The place is in West Chester, Pa, so there's some hills over there too.

I have never asked to do that at a dealer but if it makes the deal work they could do it. They allow test drives 9n class CD and class As. That's a pretty reasonable idea as you can see what it weighs. You would need your WDH installed to do it right and determine what axle weights would be. Maybe you can negotiate that as part of the sale. Know it would never be that light ever again...

I am pretty sure Chevy only supports 500lb tongue without a WDH. I know ford does 500 without and 1200 with on their half tons.

If not you could weigh the truck first and have a shirlene scale with you ($150) to get the tongue weight then you will know weights but not handling.

At least that way you would know if you need to upgrade the truck to a 3/4ton or not to get the trailer.

Now that I have my bigger truck I am eyeing a few of those nice floor plans....[emoji57]. I would not have considered them before.

[EddieK]

Originally Posted by dbledan

I have never asked to do that at a dealer but if it makes the deal work they could do it. They allow test drives 9n class CD and class As. That's a pretty reasonable idea as you can see what it weighs. You would need your WDH installed to do it right and determine what axle weights would be. Maybe you can negotiate that as part of the sale. Know it would never be that light ever again...

I am pretty sure Chevy only supports 500lb tongue without a WDH. I know ford does 500 without and 1200 with on their half tons.

If not you could weigh the truck first and have a shirlene scale with you ($150) to get the tongue weight then you will know weights but not handling.

At least that way you would know if you need to upgrade the truck to a 3/4ton or not to get the trailer.

Now that I have my bigger truck I am eyeing a few of those nice floor plans....[emoji57]. I would not have considered them before.

I crawled under the hitch to see what it can support and the hitch is rated at 1,200lbs and 12,000lbs. The guy before me built the truck for towing something it seams like. It's an updated hitch package with a reese hitch on it.