Tow Vehicle

[JWHybrid2B]

I just got back from my maiden voyage with my new Shamrock 23IKSS. I am pulling it with a 2004 Toyota 4Runner and have a 4pt equal i zer wdh. I had the wdh installed at the dealer when I purchased it. I did some research before I purchased the camper and the 4Runner was good to go to tow the trailer. I had it weighed at a CAT Scale and was 2,000lbs under the max rating. I felt my tow vehicle was not quite enough to pull this trailer 200 miles. It was really working hard especially going up hills. It's has The V8 4.7 liter. I got about 5 miles/gallon. I spent a fortune in gas. I am considering upsizing to anotherTV. Can anyone recommend a TV for the 23IKSS? The dry weight is about 4,925.

[JWHybrid2B]

Here is my set up.

[Roocrew1]

If you have family to consider...suburban/yukon or expedition.
If you can purchase new, I believe all the newer 1500 trucks (all makes) are decent, and Ram has done something pretty cool with their new Eco diesel in the ram 1500. If you going to be doing long trips into mountain areas...a 3/4 ton vehicle would fit the ticket. I.e.---get out of mid size SUVs and get into at least 1/2 ton vehicle. Mpg will change too.

[donanddona]

Several factors go into the "my gas mileage sucks". No you should not automatically tow with cruise control on, and yes the 5.7 (if available) would do better up hills. Head winds play a big part in gas mileage, additionally, carrying extra water (fresh, grey, black) add to the "OMG" on gas mileage. I have found that using cruse is not all ways the best. Keeping the RPM at or below 2400 is the more important issue. Feathering the gas peddle and paying attention to the road upgrades and down grades pays bigger dividends. Yes it makes the right leg sore on those long hauls, but you know its better on the drive train. One more thought is speed. With all previous understood, keeping the speed closer to the minimum posted speed limits rather than the maximum is a good thing, well, at least for gas mileage...

[Cajun Po-Boy]

If you need an SUV...with that camper weight you're looking at full size SUV's with tow package that'll get you between 8500-9500lb tow capacity

Your tow experience will be much easier going AND your gas tickets cheaper!

[ladun6]

We gave an f250 for our roo 23 ikss. Love fords!!


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[HONDAMAN174]

When you took it to the scales, was the truck and trailer loaded like you were headed out?

I figure loaded about 6000 lbs. Headwinds, climbing grades, driving over 60 mph will kill mileage.

How did it feel when towing? Were you all over the place? Did you feel "in the way"?

We get around 8 pulling our 7500lb TT - 30 mph headwinds pulled it down to 6 on last trip. But remember, will you be towing every week/weekend or once a month?


2014 Stealth Evo 2850 "Woodstock"
2011 Toyota Tundra Rock Crawler TRD 5.7 "Clifford"

[The_Rhino]

Unfortunately the V8 & tranny combos from the 2004 era are not that great on gas mileage when towing... And, although the new light-duty Ram V6 3.0 diesels & Ford V6 Ecoboost (gas) get great gas mileage, these 1/2 ton trucks' lower load capacities limit how much people & stuff you can haul when towing... In our case, I could not find a 1/2 ton that could haul our family of 5 and our 6,500 (empty) TT especially when loaded with approx. 1,000 lbs. of bikes, firewood, chairs, and other camping essentials...

To keep my truck/TT payments under what most pay for just a new truck payment I opted to go with a used 2011 Ram 2500 CC ST with 5.7 Hemi which gets about 17 mpg on my daily commute and 10 mpg towing a 34' TT that provides a GCVW (TV & TT) of close to 15,000 lbs. For my daily commute, my truck costs $1,000/year extra in gas vs. my aging V4 Accord and I know there is no way the new "Eco" trucks would get better mileage than an Accord in real world scenarios...

IMO the new 3.0L "EcoDiesel" is too small for a 2500 & I don't want a 6.7L Cummins for my daily driver. If RAM were to produce a 4.0L "EcoDiesel" paired with the 2500 frame & a heavy-duty 8 speed tranny the annual fuel savings could justify a trade-in for me. We are going to see more & more thrifty engine/tranny combos in the near future as manufacturers respond to pressure from government regulations.

[The_Rhino]

Before we chose the Ram 2500 crew cab, we looked closely at V8 4Runners, Sequoias & Armadas in addition to the 3/4 ton Expedition XL & Suburban. The Toyotas didn't have the tow capacity & the 3/4 ton SUVs were too pricey for us... IMO the Armada is a good SUV to tow with as long as you watch your weights. In our case we would have had to leave the bikes at home, but it was still a viable option with a tow capacity of around 9,000 lbs. depending on the year & tow package...

[DaGrinch]

Not all people want a p/u as a tow vehicle. Such was the case for us. We have 3 Shelties that go camping with us and a SUV was in order when we bought our '14 Flagstaff 27BESS... and it had to be a pretty good sized one at that! Hence, our decision to go with the Nissan Armada. 5.6 liter getting 10mpg towing the TT, it's comfortable and it was in our price range for the years we were looking at. Couldn't touch the Yukons/Suburbans, etc. Fortunately, it had the factory heavy-duty tow package - and it's a tank! 4x4 and it performed wonders in our snow this past winter.

Good luck in your quest to find the right vehicle, JWHybrid2B. I know what it's like towing a trailer with a vehicle that SHOULD handle the job. Did that with my '04 Jeep GC and '08 Roo 23SS. The Armada towing the 27BESS is a WORLD of difference!

[jrfops]

We tow our 23IKSS with a 12 pass chevy express 3500 6.0 liter. It has plenty of pep towing, and room for kids. You don't have to climb over seats like the Suburban. It does excellent in the snow with the traction control and T/A tires. The eight passenger has all wheel drive option.

[JWHybrid2B]

I weighed both TV and TT fully loaded, but was by myself. It weighed10,700lbs. The trailer actually pulled very well with no sway. It just felt like the 4Runner was under power especially when going 60+mph. I also think there is quite a bit of drag resistance, due to the TT not being very aerodynamic. Debating btwn a SUV or a P/U truck. I just need to pay attention to vehicle payloads if going with an SUV. Would a V8 5.7 liter Sequoia be enough to tow this?

[HONDAMAN174]

Personally, I try not to be over 60 mph due to the fact that your mileage drops considerably the higher you go AND the fact that most other drivers still jump in front of you taking up the extra braking space that is needed to slow down the big box behind you.

The sequioa shouldn't have a problem pulling it- you will just have to do the math of people+gear= cargo weight and see if you are still in line.


2014 Stealth Evo 2850 "Woodstock"
2011 Toyota Tundra Rock Crawler TRD 5.7 "Clifford"

[KMP44]

Originally Posted by JWHybrid2B

I weighed both TV and TT fully loaded, but was by myself. It weighed10,700lbs. The trailer actually pulled very well with no sway. It just felt like the 4Runner was under power especially when going 60+mph. I also think there is quite a bit of drag resistance, due to the TT not being very aerodynamic. Debating btwn a SUV or a P/U truck. I just need to pay attention to vehicle payloads if going with an SUV. Would a V8 5.7 liter Sequoia be enough to tow this?

We pull our 23IKSS with an F-150 and are very happy with how it tows. Fully loaded, our trailer weighed in at just about 6,000 lbs. And the tongue was 800 lbs - so payload capacity of the tow vehicle is something to watch.

I had a V-6 Explorer that we used to pull our 3,000 lb popup with, and it was fine, but no way I would have wanted to pull a full height trailer with it. The mid-size SUV's are built more lilke cars, so even if they do have a large enough engine, the transmission, suspension, etc just aren't designed for heavy towing.

If you want the best setup for towing, I would go with a 1/2 ton pickup. Crew cabs give you a full back seat. The gas mileage of the eco-boost is pretty attractive. If that doesn't work for the other 300 plus days a year when not towing, a full size SUV is probably the only other option - Tahoe, Suburban, Expedition, Armada, Sequoia.

Either way, I think you'll be much happier with a bigger tv. We love the trailer, and I typically can cruise along 60-65 no problem and can keep a reasonable speed on the hills. But more importantly, the trailer doesn't push the truck around even if its windy and it stops in a reasonable distance.

[Talonman]

Just got back from the lake pulling our 21RS loaded so about 6000lbs, got about 12 MPG cruise set at about 68 MPH.

Loving the GL, it tows like a dream and has awesome range.

[B and B]

Originally Posted by donanddona

Several factors go into the "my gas mileage sucks". No you should not automatically tow with cruise control on, and yes the 5.7 (if available) would do better up hills. Head winds play a big part in gas mileage, additionally, carrying extra water (fresh, grey, black) add to the "OMG" on gas mileage. I have found that using cruse is not all ways the best. Keeping the RPM at or below 2400 is the more important issue. Feathering the gas peddle and paying attention to the road upgrades and down grades pays bigger dividends. Yes it makes the right leg sore on those long hauls, but you know its better on the drive train. One more thought is speed. With all previous understood, keeping the speed closer to the minimum posted speed limits rather than the maximum is a good thing, well, at least for gas mileage...

Hi, I use my cruise on the ecoboost all of the time on flat and smaller hills. It does a better job at keeping the transmission in 6th than I can. Mileage is better as well. Going downhill the assisted braking of the engine is welcome and hardly do i need to touch the brakes. A good combination with my 5TH and TV.

[BMFLYFISH]

Originally Posted by JWHybrid2B

I weighed both TV and TT fully loaded, but was by myself. It weighed10,700lbs. The trailer actually pulled very well with no sway. It just felt like the 4Runner was under power especially when going 60+mph. I also think there is quite a bit of drag resistance, due to the TT not being very aerodynamic. Debating btwn a SUV or a P/U truck. I just need to pay attention to vehicle payloads if going with an SUV. Would a V8 5.7 liter Sequoia be enough to tow this?

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Just like you, my camper is so much taller than my truck that you feel a lot of wind resistance. Without the camper I usually get 17mpg on the interstate, but on the way home I got 9 mpg with the camper attached. In the 8+ hours it took me to drive back to Birmingham, Alabama from Orlando with my 23IKSS, one of the things I noticed was that my 2004 GMC Sierra was the happiest at 60ish mph. Anything over 65mph you could really feel the wind resistance.

[John4th]

SUVs: Expedition, Sequoia, Suburban (check gear ratio on anything GM), Armada. Any of those would do well with a tow package.


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[MagnoliaTom]

Get the king of SUVs--ford excursion. 3/4 ton SUV with a diesel.


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[Cajun Po-Boy]

Originally Posted by MagnoliaTom

Get the king of SUVs--ford excursion. 3/4 ton SUV with a diesel.


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....and/or a DuraBurb (GM Tahoe/Suburban conversion with Duramax & Allison transmission)


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