Travel Trailer - When is it too long ??

I towed a pup, an 18 foot Dutchmen, a 31 foot Springdale, and now a 35 and 1/2 foot Outback (tip of tongue to end of bumper. I will say, the longer they are really makes no difference when driving straight forward. And I find backing in on the passenger side is actually easier on the 35 footer than the 18 or the 31 footer. I don't know what the difference is, but it just seems easier.

I never noticed the difference in the 'sail' size with cross winds. Maybe I'm not towing in high enough winds to really tell. The thing to watch with the longer trailer is turning corners. Two things to watch for, is the trailer tracking, you can cut too short. And the swing of the rear of the trailer (you could potentially hit something with the swing if you turn too soon. BUT after a few hours behind the wheel, this gets figured out pretty quick. I find backing the longest one the easiest (on either side).

More important than the length of the trailer is the tow vehicle itself. I towed our 18 foot Dutchmen with a 1500 Suburban with weight distribution and ha no problems (until I destroyed the transmission). Then I learned how to tow correctly with the next truck. But going from a mini-van to a suburban, to a 1 ton dually gas, to a 1 ton dually diesel, and then a new 1 ton dually diesel, each step-up with the tow vehicles got better and better.

Our current rig configuration tows absolutely sweet. You don't even know the trailer is there until you turn a corner and look in your mirrors.

Campgrounds? Never had an issue with campgrounds. Although some of those state parks in Wisconsin we visited with the 18 foot Dutchmen, there is absolutely no way we'd ever get in with a 35 foot Outback with 3 slides! So when reserving our campsites, we always specify 30 feet and we've never had any problems getting into any campsite. The days of the more "primitive" camping in the thick of the trees is pretty much over for us, especially when surrounded by trees we can't get satellite television reception! So we don't mind bypassing those tight campsites now anyway!

On tongue weight, please help me understand this.

I know the tongue weight has to be added to vehicle weight and my owners manual states this. Then it says that, when using a full weight distributing hitch, the tongue weight should be 12% of the loaded trailer weight. So, if I use our 8k lbs max as a fully loaded target, then our tongue weight comes to 960 lbs max. Now, if we change gears in our 3/4 ton 7.4L burb, same chassis, then max tow weight is 10k lbs and max tongue weight goes to 1200 per owners manual. What I don't quite understand is how tongue weight could be 240 lbs different for the same chassis/engine/suspension when pulling with the same weight distributing hitch. Thanks for opening my eyes on this...

Many thanks for the replies.

Up to now all I've had is an anti-sway bar (1" ball attached to ball mount), so the enlarged sail area is a large concern. But I've never pulled with a full weight distributing hitch, so hopefully that will ease the sail effect?

We're looking for a 60x80 bed and they're hard to find in the smaller units, and so far it looks like around the 33' length is where the floor plans seem to hit a sweet spot with us.

I pulled a 31' Airstream with a 1/2T Burb for many years and it only had a 5.7L engine. I would not worry about the 3.73 axles as you should have a low range in the 4X4 if you ever had to pull slow and very steep. I alway say " buy more RV than you think your need... ONE TIME so 34' or longer if light weight..

We went from 26' to about 33' and it didn't make much difference. It's still the same width. Our excursion is good for 10,000 but with an 8,??? Lb trailer the tongue weight is over 1,000 so that's enough for my X.
The length is nothing just watch out for the tongue weight.

Ours is 34' including the spare and I haven't had any issues. It's our first trailer and I hadn't towed anything since a hay wagon 30 years ago. Length has been a non-issue. In fact, I can't imagine being happy with a smaller one at this point. I'd go to 36' without hesitation.

All in all length doesn't matter all that much. In many ways it can pull better (longer hitch to axle length) but they can be blown around more in heavy crosswinds, simply due to more sail area. If all your other constraints are in check (including tongue weight) I wouldn't worry about it. You'll get used to parking the beast pretty quick.

PS - My Weekend Warrior was 41'. It towed great.

I towed a 35 TT 7800# loaded with my 3/4 ton gas 6.0 truck ( a little over 19'). I went from 26' to 35', it took a few trips to get it all figured out after that it was just as easy as the 26' trailer. we never had any problems getting sites or driving through towns.
I will let someone else answer about the weight and your suburban but as far as length I was very comfortable with towing it. JMHO