Here's the play by play for the tow on the way home. Extremely pleased that I ponied up and bought the diesel. It did great on power on the interstate, towed the camper without effort. We towed it 115 miles all interstate to the house over rolling terrain, nothing steep but continuous rolling hills. Weather was cold and windy. It was 39 degrees with a sustained 20 mph and gusts to 35 mph-all of it a crosswind on us.
We went with the equalizer hitch (14k) and the only time that we got a little sway was when a big wind gust hit. It was really more of a push than a sway and it was never more than a split second and was immediately stopped. I'm assuming that is something I should expect with a 35mph or so crosswind gust pulling this big of a camper.
We got 9.6 mpg over the 115 miles. I was hoping for better and maybe it will get a little better without the wind. Average speed was around 65, occasionally a little higher.
There was a set of Cat scales about 25 miles from the camper dealer so we stopped and weighed empty on the way and loaded on the way back at the same scales. Here are the weights:
Empty:
Front axle: 4660
Rear axle: 2880
Total 7540
Loaded:
Front axle: 4280
Rear axle: 4420
Camper axles: 7940
Total 16640
Tongue weight - 1160
Total camper weight - 9100
So I see the tongue weight at 1160 pounds. This is with both of the 30 pound propane tanks full and with a battery on the tongue. Also there was a little water in the holding tanks(from trying it out at the dealer-but not much-fresh tank was empty) and the water heater was full (in the rear). Total weight of the camper was 9100 pounds which is right on what the yellow sticker said-actually a little less than the yellow sticker which said 9160.
I'll get our stuff in it and weigh it again, but I may be looking at upgrading the rear hitch since I'll for sure be over 1200 pounds tongue weight after it's loaded.
