Anyone pulling 37 Foot "Travel Trailer" TH?

Not a Toy Hauler, but my Outback bumper pull is 35 and 1/2 feet long. Pretty close to your length. I use an Equal-i-zer 4 point WD hitch system. It's easy to hitch and unhitch after it's set up. Never had any problems.

About the length, I went from an 18 foot, to a 31 foot, to 35 1/2 foot bumper pull trailer. Except for watching turns a little closer, and making slightly wider swings, and being a bit more patient in town stop-and-go traffic, the towing experience is really no different from the 18 footer to the 35 1/2 footer. Baking is MUCH easier with the longer trailer than the short one.

If your truck is capable of handling the weight of the trailer and all contents, after about the 2nd trip with the new trailer, you'll be very comfortable with it and wonder why you ever had concerns at all.

If memory serves me, the wheel base of a Toy Hauler is usually longer than a TT of the same length. The axles are set back a little farther to accommodate the weight which can be added in the garage. If a TT and a TH of the same length were side by side, the axles would be in a different spot. The distance of the axle will cause the trailer to track different than a conventional trailer. BUT, there again, after the second trip, it will be "old hat" to you. You'll have the feel for it down pat!

Your choice of WD hitch may be more challenging for you than for me however. If you tow your TH empty (no toys), you've now removed a considerable amount of weight off the back and just make the front heavier, and the opposite is true. You may have to use a WD system that will allow you to change the tension when the trailer is loaded and empty. This is the only thing you'll need to figure out. Having never owned a TH with toys, I'm not sure of the impact toys in the garage has on the hitch, especially a bumper pull. But it is something you need to figure out. Better now than later.

Good luck! We've been considering TH's for years, but just can't seem to get away from the tradition trailer.

Part of the equation will be your TW, I used to have a 28 desert fox BP TH and had something like 1280 lbs. I had to upgrade to a class five hitch and used Reese dual cam with 1400 lb. bars. Since then I sold it and went with fiver TH.

I'm wondering what kind of hitch set up I'll need to safely and smoothly pull it.

Toyhaulers are built with axle placement that allows for the weight in the toy section to not make the tongue too light. However, when the toyhauler is empty the tongue weight typically would be greater than a comparable travel trailer. You might need to upgrade to an aftermarket reciever for the truck that can handle 1500 or more pounds. I would look into a Hensley or ProPride hitch or at a minimum the AirSafe system plus a weight distribution hitch.

jmtandem wrote:

I'm wondering what kind of hitch set up I'll need to safely and smoothly pull it.

Toyhaulers are built with axle placement that allows for the weight in the toy section to not make the tongue too light. However, when the toyhauler is empty the tongue weight typically would be greater than a comparable travel trailer. You might need to upgrade to an aftermarket reciever for the truck that can handle 1500 or more pounds. I would look into a Hensley or ProPride hitch or at a minimum the AirSafe system plus a weight distribution hitch.

I have a class 5 hitch now, wouldn't I be ok with a WD system?

We have a 33'7" Jayco Octane toyhauler. Loaded for travel, nothing in the rear, the tongue weight is 2080# by scale. With 2 Harley dressers in the rear, the tongue weight is 1840#. Our 2015 GMC 3500 diesels' factory hitch was not rated enough for the tongue wt. Upgraded to a Curt 20,000#, 2,700 TW hitch. With 2 adults, 2 dogs, a cap on the truck and misc in rear of truck, we are at 10,900 on the truck. Toyhaulers are notorious for high tongue weight. I would expect you to exceed the trucks rear axle and or payload with a trailer that size. Just my experience for what it's worth.

Labman7 wrote:
We have a 33'7" Jayco Octane toyhauler. Loaded for travel, nothing in the rear, the tongue weight is 2080# by scale. With 2 Harley dressers in the rear, the tongue weight is 1840#. Our 2015 GMC 3500 diesels' factory hitch was not rated enough for the tongue wt. Upgraded to a Curt 20,000#, 2,700 TW hitch. With 2 adults, 2 dogs, a cap on the truck and misc in rear of truck, we are at 10,900 on the truck. Toyhaulers are notorious for high tongue weight. I would expect you to exceed the trucks rear axle and or payload with a trailer that size. Just my experience for what it's worth.

This is good info, thanks.

Looks like the trailer that you have and what I'm looking at are similar in size, the website for the Cherokee shows the dry weight as 8721 lbs and the dry hitch weight of 1173. Your 2080# TW is a lot more than I was thinking it would be. Is that just your families gear, or does that include water in the tank?

My tow vehicle is a 2500HD Duramax, so I know I've got the truck to pull it,

What is the payload of your 2500? Adding 1800+ pounds tongue weight not counting the hitch is quite a bite out of most three quarter ton truck's payload. Torklift makes an aftermarket receiver that can go up to 30,000 pounds towing and 3000 pounds hitch weight. They also have a weight distribution system for that receiver. Curt and others also make aftermarket receivers.

A few tight, old, campgrounds might have limited space for the truck and toyhauler but some campground planning ahead should alleviate that issue. Of course, how well you are at backing and maneuvering the trailer is also important.

Another option is to acquire a cabover camper and tow a 16-18 foot enclosed trailer for the toys. Just something to think about.

jmtandem wrote:

My tow vehicle is a 2500HD Duramax, so I know I've got the truck to pull it,

What is the payload of your 2500? Adding 1800+ pounds tongue weight not counting the hitch is quite a bite out of most three quarter ton truck's payload. Torklift makes an aftermarket receiver that can go up to 30,000 pounds towing and 3000 pounds hitch weight. They also have a weight distribution system for that receiver. Curt and others also make aftermarket receivers.

A few tight, old, campgrounds might have limited space for the truck and toyhauler but some campground planning ahead should alleviate that issue. Of course, how well you are at backing and maneuvering the trailer is also important.

Another option is to acquire a cabover camper and tow a 16-18 foot enclosed trailer for the toys. Just something to think about.

The payload is listed as 2706#. I need to weigh the vehicle with a tank of gas to see where I'm at. I will mainly be using this trailer for just me, my wife and daughter to camp. Bringing along kayaks, bicycle etc. The other time it will be used for my BBQ team. With all of our cookers, food and beer for a weekend competition, I can't see us putting more than a 1,000 lbs in the trailer, so would I really be over 1,800 lbs of tongue weight?

The payload is listed as 2706#. I need to weigh the vehicle with a tank of gas to see where I'm at. I will mainly be using this trailer for just me, my wife and daughter to camp. Bringing along kayaks, bicycle etc. The other time it will be used for my BBQ team. With all of our cookers, food and beer for a weekend competition, I can't see us putting more than a 1,000 lbs in the trailer, so would I really be over 1,800 lbs of tongue weight?

The average travel trailer or fifth wheel typically with water in the fresh tank and living stuff adds over 1000 pounds to the coach. If you also add 1000 pounds of bbq and toy stuff you will be adding that to the basic living things that typically are found in a coach. I certainly would look at a 2000 pound receiver as a minimum as the weight of the hitch needs to also be considered (1800 pounds tongue, 100 +/- weight of the hitch). What you want to do is certainly doable, you just need to upgrade the tow aspects of the receiver. You probably will want to add some suspension stuff to the truck's rear axle, have the best higest rated tires, and use a sway mitigation/control feature.

polishdon wrote:
With all of our cookers, food and beer for a weekend competition, I can't see us putting more than a 1,000 lbs in the trailer, so would I really be over 1,800 lbs of tongue weight?

Very likely, yes! The problems with Toy Haulers is they have to built to maintain enough tongue weight with a full garage cargo load, that empty tongue weight is very high. 1,000 pounds in the trailer, even if you put it ALL in the garage, it would still be much less than the max garage capacity. I do think that 1,800 pounds would not be out of the question.

My weekend warrior FSW3200+2 was more like 2,400 pounds of tongue weight with no vehicles in the garage but otherwise packed and loaded.