Brand New - TT Weight question
Hello everyone, brand new here and to RVing in general. Here is my story and I hope some of you can provide some insight: I just recently purchased a 2017 Ford Explorer 4wd V6 with the class 3 tow...
Forum Discussion
News headline in the Puyallup Herald: "Pileup in Puyallup." "Travel trailer careens out of control leaving RV dealer's lot." (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
I don't blame newbies to towing a travel trailer at all. I blame the RV industry, dealers and manufacturers and I also blame the automakers for flogging tow capacities instead of payload capacity. I would also blame the government for not having regulations to prevent this sort of thing from happening and maybe also RVIA and the insurance industry. If a person is new to RVs and out shopping for one, nobody talks about max. weights that can be towed by their tow vehicle. Happens way too often.
Dry weights should never be used for choosing a TT and if you don't know what you are doing, should use the GVWR figures and 12-13 percent (or even up to 15 percent) for tongue weight that the tow vehicle needs to be able to carry in payload capacity. Actual (not dry) tongue weight of that 21FQBE with 7K GVWR will be around 900 lbs or so, way above what the Explorer can handle and that's not including payload you'd have in it like passengers, groceries, camping stuff, etc. If the Explorer is the ecoboost with a 3.16 diff. ratio, I think you will find that is not good for all the hills and steep grades in and around Wa.
Anyway, I think by now the message is clear - the 21FQWE is way too big, not a little too big, TT for that Explorer. I would say even the 178LHS could be pushing the Explorer to it's limit, maybe even above as the actual TW would be around 500 lbs. I think a good idea would be to load the Explorer with passengers, kids, pets, a load of groceries, camping stuff and anything else you'd take on a camping trip. Then drive across a scale and subtract that weight from the GVWR figure on the door pillar sticker. That will give you the actual remaining payload capacity you have for a TT and then decide on a TT from there.
I would also say that you should pause on buying a new TT until you have done more research. You could find that compromising and downsizing to a smaller trailer is the wrong thing to do after you have used it for a while. Our first TT was about the same size as the 178LHS and it lasted just one season and we found it simply too small and cramped and upgrade to one longer with a slideout, sofa and more overall space. If you did find after a season the 178LHS is too small, you will lose many thousands of $$ in depreciated value if you wanted to upgrade. Go to an RV show or some dealer's lots. You might even decide you want a more capable tow vehicle to accomodate what you really want.
I don't blame newbies to towing a travel trailer at all. I blame the RV industry, dealers and manufacturers and I also blame the automakers for flogging tow capacities instead of payload capacity. I would also blame the government for not having regulations to prevent this sort of thing from happening and maybe also RVIA and the insurance industry. If a person is new to RVs and out shopping for one, nobody talks about max. weights that can be towed by their tow vehicle. Happens way too often.
Dry weights should never be used for choosing a TT and if you don't know what you are doing, should use the GVWR figures and 12-13 percent (or even up to 15 percent) for tongue weight that the tow vehicle needs to be able to carry in payload capacity. Actual (not dry) tongue weight of that 21FQBE with 7K GVWR will be around 900 lbs or so, way above what the Explorer can handle and that's not including payload you'd have in it like passengers, groceries, camping stuff, etc. If the Explorer is the ecoboost with a 3.16 diff. ratio, I think you will find that is not good for all the hills and steep grades in and around Wa.
Anyway, I think by now the message is clear - the 21FQWE is way too big, not a little too big, TT for that Explorer. I would say even the 178LHS could be pushing the Explorer to it's limit, maybe even above as the actual TW would be around 500 lbs. I think a good idea would be to load the Explorer with passengers, kids, pets, a load of groceries, camping stuff and anything else you'd take on a camping trip. Then drive across a scale and subtract that weight from the GVWR figure on the door pillar sticker. That will give you the actual remaining payload capacity you have for a TT and then decide on a TT from there.
I would also say that you should pause on buying a new TT until you have done more research. You could find that compromising and downsizing to a smaller trailer is the wrong thing to do after you have used it for a while. Our first TT was about the same size as the 178LHS and it lasted just one season and we found it simply too small and cramped and upgrade to one longer with a slideout, sofa and more overall space. If you did find after a season the 178LHS is too small, you will lose many thousands of $$ in depreciated value if you wanted to upgrade. Go to an RV show or some dealer's lots. You might even decide you want a more capable tow vehicle to accomodate what you really want.
