Towing with a minivan
Hello, I am very new to all of this so I do not know the lingo. We have a 2014 Chrysler town and country towing max is 3600 pounds.We are a family of 5 all of out children are 6 and under. We are l...
Forum Discussion
mindymd wrote:
I just got my owners manual out and the frontal is 40 sq ft and max tongue wt is 335 lbs. And GCWR is 8,750 lbs. and GTW with 3 to 5 people is 3,350 lbs. So is it still a no?:(
You would be well over on frontal area for the trailer, quite possibly over on the tongue weight, and near the other limits (if not over).
Undoubtedly the minivan would be capable of moving the trailer from one location to another. At low (non-highway) speeds, the frontal area is less of a concern, since air resistance goes up exponentially with speed. Attempting to pull the trailer for long distances at highway speeds would be quite hard on the minivan and likely also the driver. (If you were pulling a similarly specified trailer just to take trash to the dump or pick up appliances from the local big box store, it would be somewhat more practicable, though still likely overloading the minivan somewhat.)
Either choose a smaller trailer—the pop-up suggestion is good, or something like an A-liner—or a different tow vehicle. In the latter category, you might be able to find a used (full-size) conversion van for not too much money that would be much better able to pull the trailer and still be comfortable for vacation travel. Fuel milage and driving ease would, of course, suffer when compared with the minivan.
