2703SS towing issues?

[burber]

We have just made the deal the this great floorplan, but I am concerned about the low tongue weight at 474 (according to the brochure) and sticker weight (on trailer) of about 6000. We are pulling with a 2004 3/4 Suburban using an early (2007) Reese sway control WD hitch. Think of it as a simpler Equal-i-zer hitch.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by burber

We have just made the deal the this great floorplan, but I am concerned about the low tongue weight at 474 (according to the brochure) and sticker weight (on trailer) of about 6000. We are pulling with a 2004 3/4 Suburban using an early (2007) Reese sway control WD hitch. Think of it as a simpler Equal-i-zer hitch.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

Welcome to the forum
The wdh experts will be around to help soon.


Turbs

[crasher]

That tongue weight does not include propane in the tanks, battery(s) or your stuff. I'd say you are probably at 625 before you even get your hardware loaded. That is definately enough load to need the WDH. I suspect you'll be around 750-800 when all is loaded up. Make sure your WDH setup is good for this much weight.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

That tongue weight does not include propane in the tanks, battery(s) or your stuff. I'd say you are probably at 625 before you even get your hardware loaded. That is definately enough load to need the WDH. I suspect you'll be around 750-800 when all is loaded up. Make sure your WDH setup is good for this much weight.

I agree completely. The sticker weight is just a starting point and you will need to discover your actual total loaded for camping weight to find your safe towing tongue load.

You must load your camper so that the weight on the tongue without the WD bars hooked up falls between 10% and 15% of the total camper weight. For "optimum" handling it should be about 12.5% of total camper weight.

So if your "sticker" is 6000 pounds and your camping gear, food, water, beer, clothes, and shaving kit weighs about 1000 pounds, your optimum tongue weight should be about 875 pounds.

[MtnGuy]

The listed tongue weight on the website of 550 lbs, with a 6048 lb. overall weight. Like others have stated, by the time you add propane tanks and a battery, you will be should be over 600 lbs. The listed empty weight will also "grow" by the time you add options.....probably in the 6500 lb. range. Those 2 "speculative" weights still show less than a 10% tongue weight. Load up the front pass through, wardrobes, and under the bed storage should bring you up to a decent tongue weight.

[VacaBill]

Check my page, you will see I moved the spare tire off the rear bumper. I also only tow the trailer with the fresh water full, grey and black tanks empty.
I weighed my trailer and the actual tongue weight was only 385# from the factory empty before I moved the spare tire forward. We love the trailer, but have had to put some effort into towing it. Biggest addition was the purchase of a Hensley hitch. We live in northern California and with the mountains this hitch works great. We also had an alignment problem with the trailer from the factory. They paid the bill and made everything right, might want to check if your trailer tows poorly. We are very careful about how we load our trailer, everything goes from the rear axel forward. Currently only have a kite under the dinette storage.

Feel free to contact me if you want more information,

Enjoy, we really like our unit and have been having a great time.

[burber]

Thanks VacaBill,

Now I'm even more concerned! Ours has the spare and the ladder, which I'm sure wasn't on the brochure's test unit so it could be the same as yours. We haven't picked up the trailer yet.....the first hitching and test drive are Monday. Since I don't have a TW scale (and neither does the dealer), I may get a couple of people to stand on my hitch (without the trailer) and measure the drop. Then attach the trailer WITHOUT the WD and measure how much the TV drops. I should get a close feel as to the TW of the trailer.

I couldn't find a link to your page; maybe I'm too new to this forum.

Thanks again,
Steve

[VacaBill]

First if you scroll over my name, Vaca Bill, you will see a link to my public profile, click on it and it will take you to my page with my photographs, including moving the spare tire.

Any travel trailer needs to be loaded properly or it will handle poorly.

This is basically a 32 foot trailer. It will need sway control. The type of hitch you choose and sway control offered will make a big difference. Then proper adjustment is a must and can take some fiddling. I chose to go to a Hensley Hitch, expensive but well worth the investment, it does a truly amazing job.

Much of my original towing issue was because the left side front axle was set 5/16 of an inch too far to the rear. Axle miss alignment is 1/8 MAX before it effects handling. As I said Forest River took care of us. Camping world ddid the alignment and repairs for us, we where completely satisfied.

We really love our trailer, 5 trips since June1 and over 3500 miles towing,
Chicken, steaks and hamburgers enjoyed along the journey.

Bill

[burber]

Thanks for all the help!

I measured the ball drop when 400lbs was on the 'burb hitch at 1.5 inches. With the trailer on the ball, it dropped over 3 inches. So it may not be too bad. On the way home, I seemed to get a lot more bounce that with the old trailer, which was very TW heavy. I didn't feel any side-to-side sway.

After I unhooked the trailer at home, I found that the dealer didn't have the WD adjusted the way I think it should be. My Suburban's front end was about an inch higher when connected.

Maybe the TW isn't too far off. I'm gonna get my stuff in the TT and adjust the WD hitch and see how it feels. I may even do the TW measuring with a bathroom scale.

[MtnGuy]

Originally Posted by burber

After I unhooked the trailer at home, I found that the dealer didn't have the WD adjusted the way I think it should be. My Suburban's front end was about an inch higher when connected.

My dealer put only 60 lbs. back on the front axle from the 300 lbs. lost when the trailer was hooked up. They told me the setup "looked about right". Geez !!

That is why it is important for new trailer owners to do their own measurements and setup.

[Road-King]

Originally Posted by mtnguy

My dealer put only 60 lbs. back on the front axle from the 300 lbs. lost when the trailer was hooked up. They told me the setup "looked about right". Geez !!

That is why it is important for new trailer owners to do their own measurements and setup.

X2... The dealer had my set up all wrong. You would think, working at an RV dealership they would know how to set a WDH up. I wonder what, if any training some of the service techs get...

[unyalli]

Find your self a local CAT scale CAT Scale Locator | CAT Scale and fill out this form. Conventional Towing Weight Safety Report

You will know the real deal.

Jeff

(I need more truck)