Our First TT, will it be a hobby nightmare?
We are 2 weeks away from buying our first TT and we are not sure if this will be a nightmare or everything we dream about? We have our own business and can work from the office or a cruise ship, so...
Forum Discussion
badercubed wrote:
My personal opinion. If you have to ask questions like...
Do I need a brake controller?
Do I need weight distribution?
..then consider a TT well below your truck's limits (6500lbs sounds reasonable). Towing your first RV at 8,500+ pounds and 30+ feet long in even the most well-equipped half-ton truck will require skill and learned abilities that shouldn't be found from that as a starting point.
I've towed since I could drive and even I am trading up from a legally equipped F-150 to a F-250 for my TT and I don't think my F-150 tows bad at all.
Solid advice right there. My wife likes to have "only the best" and our salesman zeroed right in on that immediately. Even though I told him I had never towed anything heavier than about 500# in my life, he let us do a couple of things that we should not have.
I had a half ton Nissan Titan and (without knowing to check capacities) felt like it would probably tow anything. Salesman agreed with me without even looking at payload capacity, or any other weights.
He also let me buy a trailer that was 7200# dry and approached 9000# loaded. We bought it because it was much nicer and had more amenities than lighter trailers.
First trip, I nearly burned up my transmission. Only the fact that Nissan had an Idiot Sensor was my truck saved. The wife was due for a new vehicle, so we bought an SUV that "could" tow the trailer.
However, it was so heavy, I was never comfortable while towing. After about 8 months, we bit the bullet and gave away about $10,000. We traded the trailer in for a lighter trailer (< 6,000# - almost 7200# loaded). The ultra-light trailer wasn't built as sturdy as the heavy (aluminum studs vs wood) and didn't have the head room of the 7' heavy trailer. But when I hooked up and headed home with it, the anxiety level went from a 10+ to about a 0.5.
Best $10,000 I ever spent (even though I blame the original salesman for most of it).
Second sales person we dealt with asked us first thing to tell them what we were towing with. Then went on the internet and checked all the specifications.
If this is your first towing experience and you are towing with a half ton vehicle, a lighter trailer will make the experience 100% more enjoyable.
