tow question

plasticmaster wrote:
Thanks for the replies so far. I'll try to fill in the missing info.

The sticker inside my truck door says "Combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed 1638#". My truck is a 2014 Silverado 1500 Crew Cab, 2WD, standard bed, with 5.3L V8 and 3.42 gear ratio. The truck owners manual states a 9700# tow capacity for this setup. The truck is equipped with tow package and factory brake controller. The underside of the receiver tube on the truck states a 1200# max tongue weight.

The specs for the possible new camper says UVW 6935#, GVWR 9500#, and dry hitch weight 855#.

My current camper sticker says UVW 5326# and GVWR 7500#. It doesn't give the dry hitch weight, but 12% of the UVW would be 640#.

Typical trips are me, my wife, and 2 kids with bicycles, firewood, cooler, etc. in bed of truck. Tanks in the camper are always empty. Please let me know if I've left anything out.

That's pretty typical, and a typical load like that will be pushing your truck past its rated payload capacity when all is said and done. That 855lb tongue weight will burgeon to 1000lbs+ when the battery and propane bottles are installed, and you put your stuff in the trailer.

Read what I said before. It is not enjoyable to drive long distances with your truck anywhere near the limits. I don't think you will be happy once the newness wears off, and I'm sure the last thing you want to do is go shopping for a new truck that will have a higher payment and get worse gas mileage.

Believe me, I've seen it too many times. People get these big trailers with shiny new F150/1500 type pickups and a year later they're sporting an F250/2500 type truck. Nobody was killed. Nothing bad happened. They just didn't like driving it, and the choice was between letting it rot in the driveway, or getting a new truck.

If you're okay with the possibility of having to trade trucks a few months down the road, go ahead and get this new trailer.