Forum Discussion

Grateful_Camper's avatar
Aug 08, 2017

This site caused and saved me some stress..Thanks!

1st post. To sum it up. I did all the wrong research and listened to all the wrong people. Family and I have been pop up campers for years. We decided to make the jump to a travel trailer, and quite the jump we made. Shopped for the better part of a year, and a local dealer gave us an incredible deal on a 2018 forest river vibe 285bhs. I was assured it was well within the specs for my 2010 tahoe LTZ, from the dealer (I know), but as well from some friends, and a chevy dealer. it is a 33' trailer, with a dry weight of 6500. I know all about dry weights, but we pack light. With a towing capacity of 8,200 lbs. my calculations had me at about 7,800. After towing home with a newly installed equalizer hitch, I felt it was fine for in town tows, but our intent is to vacation in it (600 mile one way trips). I did not feel safe with 116" wheelbase, and the "shimmy" it got at 60 mph.

To make a long story short, I spent all weekend reading threads on here, and losing sleep from the fear I made a huge mistake based on the knowledge here. I traded the tahoe in today (got 20,000) on trade, and bought a 2010 F250 power stroke king ranch 4x4 for 25,000. So basically I paid 5,000 more to feel comfortable and to rest easy knowing my family is a little safer on the road. Also love driving my first diesel. BTW, I'm an experienced tower of bass boats and pop ups, but this is first travel trailer.

Basically, Thanks to you all for posting such useful info on this site. Look forward to learning more from you all.
  • Now enjoy your new camper, but as you do that, do some research on the 6.4 diesel that's in your truck, especially the emission system. Just a little heads up.
  • Sounds good. Did you setup the trailer properly with the new truck? Lots of people go out and buy a new truck and say it tows so much better, when in reality the first combo was never set up right to begin with! It sounds like the tongue weight is low on the trailer. Have you weighed the trailer loaded for a trip? that will give you its loaded tongue weight and let you know if you are at the proper 12%. If you haven't setup everything properly all the new truck is doing is masking the improperly set up trailer hitch and trailer.

    Just to be sure, you should weigh the trailer loaded for a trip and adjust contents inside to get your proper 12% tongue weight.

    other than that enjoy the new truck.
  • Wonderful!. I was where you are about 14 years ago and found this site. Dealers will sell anything to anyone. Glad you saw the light and did research here. Guaranteed someone here has made the mistake or effected a repair that will save you lots of hassles. It has saved me, and I have passed my wisdom onto others. Now as its your turn, pay it forward with what you learn.

    Happy Trails
  • Glad you figured it out so early in your time with the TT. You didn't wait for white knuckle trips to teach you.
  • Sounds good. Do you have an actual Equal-i-zer brand hitch, or some other? Reason I ask is, the Equal-i-zer has built-in sway control (a very good thing when you have a 33' TT), but most weight-distributing hitches do not. Lack of (or improperly set up) sway control could explain why your Tahoe felt unstable. Just wondering....

    I'm sure others will be along soon to tell you everything you need to know about your Powerstroke.