Mountain Towing Experiences with 1/2 ton & TT
Hey all,
My wife and I have a 2001 Ford F150 with the 7700# option for better towing. We purchased it from the only owner it has ever had who used it occasionally to pull a 27-foot 5th wheel.
We plan to use the truck to pull a travel trailer, which we have not bought yet. We will be full timing and moving about 1-2 times per month. We only plan to travel around 150 miles each time we move, at most....some of this will depend on where our next campground is and there may be an overnight in between if we have to go further to get to our next campground.
My questions and concerns come with mountain towing. We have discussed the possibility of going out west, which, from my understanding means we cannot avoid towing through the mountains to get to California, Oregon, Washington and will also deal with some mountains/hills in many states out west.
We have also discussed avoiding mountains alltogether with an east coast trip or a trip from Florida to Wisconsin/Michigan and back.
The travel trailers we are looking at are all under 4,500 pounds try (many closer to 3500) and will be between 21 and 24 feet long. The truck is supposed to have a maximum towing capacity of 8,900 pounds, which we don't want to push close to at all.
IN my rough estimations, with a full tank of gas in the truck, full tank of water in the TT, our stuff, us and our dogs, we will still be well under the 80% mark of our towing capacity.
Does anybody have experience with a similar type of set up and mountain towing?
Does anybody know which routes are the best/worst for towing in the mountains throughout the west and the east?
I know somebody is going to chime in and tell us to upgrade our truck. That isn't an option and won't happen, so please keep that in mind.
Thank you for all your help!
My wife and I have a 2001 Ford F150 with the 7700# option for better towing. We purchased it from the only owner it has ever had who used it occasionally to pull a 27-foot 5th wheel.
We plan to use the truck to pull a travel trailer, which we have not bought yet. We will be full timing and moving about 1-2 times per month. We only plan to travel around 150 miles each time we move, at most....some of this will depend on where our next campground is and there may be an overnight in between if we have to go further to get to our next campground.
My questions and concerns come with mountain towing. We have discussed the possibility of going out west, which, from my understanding means we cannot avoid towing through the mountains to get to California, Oregon, Washington and will also deal with some mountains/hills in many states out west.
We have also discussed avoiding mountains alltogether with an east coast trip or a trip from Florida to Wisconsin/Michigan and back.
The travel trailers we are looking at are all under 4,500 pounds try (many closer to 3500) and will be between 21 and 24 feet long. The truck is supposed to have a maximum towing capacity of 8,900 pounds, which we don't want to push close to at all.
IN my rough estimations, with a full tank of gas in the truck, full tank of water in the TT, our stuff, us and our dogs, we will still be well under the 80% mark of our towing capacity.
Does anybody have experience with a similar type of set up and mountain towing?
Does anybody know which routes are the best/worst for towing in the mountains throughout the west and the east?
I know somebody is going to chime in and tell us to upgrade our truck. That isn't an option and won't happen, so please keep that in mind.
Thank you for all your help!
