Frontal Area

Wrong forum for this question, but it will likely be moved to an appropriate one at some point..

Anyway, I tow a #5000 GVWR TT with a 13 F150 and I know it's back there... It can handle a bit more of course, but I would never tow a TT that comes close to what it's "tow rating" says... Which is #11,000... ha, ha...

I've been towing stuff since I was a teenager and that was back in the mid 70's, so I know what I like and what I don't like to tow. ;)

I can tell you that towing anything at the tow vehicles "max limit" is not going to be that much fun, but people do it all the time, so there you go..

Ultimately comes down to what YOU feel comfortable with and how much you want to go by the brochure numbers or what works for you in the end..

Good luck!

Mitch

What usually happens with smaller tow vehicles from reading this for years is the TV exceeds it's carrying capacity. Two adults, a decent hitch, and the 600 pounds pressing down on the back end can often do it. So then you start to think about the canopy, and what's in there, and the kids in the crew cab, the dog, the bbq and bikes.... About then you look at where you live and the hills and traffic and the family in the truck.

The wise ones stay at about 80% towing capacity for the first few years, there is a lot to learn.

Your limitin factor will probably be your payload capacity (tongue wt + things in the bed and passengers), you'll find this number on the door post.

A TT needs 12 to 15% of the trailer wt on the tongue, this should be a weighted wt loaded ready to camp.

Your frontal area is the same as figuring square footage. In this case it would be width x height. My mini van book says frontal of 40 square feet. This will let you figure out the drag of the trailer.drag

Thank you all for the replies. I plan to stay well under the Max Towing capacity, I have found a couple of hybrids that meet that criteria. My concern is the Frontal Area. "Maximum trailer frontal area 30sq feet" The expandables I am interested in fall 1000lbs below the max towing capacity the frontal area calculates out to be 84sq ft. What would be the effects of towing this with my Nissan Frontier? Does the decrease weight compensate for the increased area? How would this effect safety? Or, would it just effect how I should drive i.e. slower, mpg. etc.?

Moved from Dingy Towing to the Towing forum.

JVFLDF wrote:
Thank you all for the replies. I plan to stay well under the Max Towing capacity, I have found a couple of hybrids that meet that criteria. My concern is the Frontal Area. "Maximum trailer frontal area 30sq feet" The expandables I am interested in fall 1000lbs below the max towing capacity the frontal area calculates out to be 84sq ft. What would be the effects of towing this with my Nissan Frontier? Does the decrease weight compensate for the increased area? How would this effect safety? Or, would it just effect how I should drive i.e. slower, mpg. etc.?

Once up to speed, weight isn't a big factor except on hills. The fact that you will be towing a "parachute" will keep you deep into the throttle almost all of the time. Your vehicles cooling system and other mechanical systems may not be up to that work load. You can compensate somewhat by driving much slower, which will save fuel, but it sounds like you have a very small dog with a very large tail.

30# is a really small trailer, IE a tent trailer! Or is that additional sq ft vs base truck frontal area? But with this said, yes frontal area adds to HP needed to pull at a given speed. Some figures I did a number of years ago to compare some trailers I pull and GCW I was running down the road

15k lbs, 70# is 105HP at 60
15K 90# 135HP
18K at 70# 115hp
25K at 70# is 135hp

Gives you some rough numbers idea as to what is more important from a how much HP you need at a given wt and frontal area.

Another to add into the equation, at 15K lbs, 40HP per 1% grade additional from level ground.

Marty

So, with that frontal area "limit" you have, you can tow a flat bed car hauler or a boat to that 'tow rating' limit... I think what the manufacture is trying to say is that towing a full size travel trailer that has a HUGE frontal area with that rig is not really not recommended..

What kind of travel trailer can you haul with that rig? Dunno.. Really depends on what your towing performance expectations are.

Good luck!

Mitch

I`ve never seen it posted anywhere or explained. But I believe "frontal area" is defined as the area that is above the roofline and possibly what is wider than the vehicle.