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maxpare's avatar
maxpare
Explorer
Mar 12, 2014

Santa Fe 2013 (3500lbs) and 2800lbs TT

Hi,

Last weekend was Montreal National RV show, me and my wife decided to go take a look. I just bought a brand new Hyundai Santa Fe 2013 2.0TSE with a towing capability of 3500lbs, never towed anything in my life since it's my first SUV and decided to go take a look at what kind of RV we could get...

We are really interested in a Coachmen Clipper 17BH

Clipper 17BH

The base weight is 2818lbs and the tongue weight is 400lbs...can I tow this? All the salesman at the show were saying that those kind of TT were made for my type of SUV, but I am not sure...

I have no clue how the 3500lbs of the Santa Fe is calculated... I asked around and some people tell me that you need to substract the weight of the people in the car, others tell me that no, the 3500lbs already takes into account 4x 150lbs passenger and just calculate the extra weight...
The tongue weight limit of the santa fe is kind of all over the place on the web I found 500lbs but my manual says 350lbs...

Anyway I am new to all of this and any help would be appreciated, I don't want to spend 14k$ and find out that those we shady salesmen...

If I can't and you have similar TT suggestion with lower weight feel free to share :-) My family consist of me and my wife, a 5yo and a 3yo

Thx
Max
Tow Vehicles
  • DavinD's avatar
    DavinD
    Explorer
    Mar 12, 2014
    The GVWR is 3,626 lbs. If you load it up, you will be over your tow rating. Nobody tows empty and any options you get will add to the base weight. I would go with the manual on the tongue weight and it looks like you'll be over there as well.

    The salesman will always tell you it's ok. They're trying to sell you a trailer.
  • wmoses's avatar
    wmoses
    Explorer
    Mar 12, 2014
    maxpare wrote:
    I just bought a brand new Hyundai Santa Fe 2013 2.0TSE with a towing capability of 3500lbs, never towed anything in my life since it's my first SUV and decided to go take a look at what kind of RV we could get...

    We are really interested in a Coachmen Clipper 17BH

    Clipper 17BH

    The base weight is 2818lbs and the tongue weight is 400lbs...can I tow this? All the salesman at the show were saying that those kind of TT were made for my type of SUV, but I am not sure...

    Max,

    Take it from me as one who has been there, done that and have the T-shirt ... it is not capable enough. I had a 3.3L V6 Santa Fe with the same specs and then bought a Jayco 17Z hybrid with 350# unladen tongue load and 3500# GVWR. Lets put it this way ... pulling the trailer home from the dealer I realized it would be too much trailer for the CUV, and ended up getting the truck.

    On the scales the trailer ended up weighing 3800# with a 600# tongue. The truck handled that with ease but I shudder to think what the Santa Fe would have done. Tail wagging the dog especially in the wind, that's for sure.

    Payload of the tow vehicle is what the weight of the passengers, cargo, gasoline etc. needs to be subtracted from, not the towing capacity.

    As for the beautiful Santa Fe you have - you need to be thinking smaller popup. My Snta Fe pulled my old 8' popup (weighted approx.1400#) to Canada and back with ease. No frontal area to push the wind (and cause a heck of a lot more "apparent weight" for the trailer. I believe that the tow capacities of vehicles don't account for the effect of wind.
  • rexlion's avatar
    rexlion
    Explorer
    Mar 12, 2014
    That trailer has a 400 lb dry tongue weight. By the time you load water, LP, etc it could easily be 500 to 550 lb. Way too much.

    The Coleman that DavidD linked to has too much tongue weight also. 347 lb + your stuff = too heavy.

    For a vehicle with 3500/350 rating, you want to find a trailer that is under 2500 lb dry wt AND under 250 lb dry tongue weight. Some good ones to consider:
    Safari Condo's "Alto" trailer
    Escape trailers of Chilliwack BC: their 15' and 17' models
    Scamp trailers of Backus MN USA

    In addition to being light overall and light on the tongue, all of these trailers are rounded and lower profile units to make things easy on your Santa Fe. The Alto even lowers the roofline for travel.

    You might also look at the Taylor Coach units. They are more conventional construction, but built very lightweight for smaller vehicles.

    My own KZ trailer is only 16' and 2700 lbs loaded, but the loaded tongue is about 370-380 lb (with a full water tank, which is near the front). Otherwise I would have suggested it as a possibility.
  • ChooChooMan74's avatar
    ChooChooMan74
    Explorer
    Mar 12, 2014
    I think you would be pushing it or exceeding it. One thing you didn't mention is maximum frontal area. More than likely, you will be over what the manufacturer recommends for maximum frontal area. I laugh when I am going by a runaway truck ramp pulling because if I let off the throttle, I slow down due to the lack of aerodynamics.

    Here is a good place to start. www.learntorv.com
  • Oasisbob's avatar
    Oasisbob
    Explorer
    Mar 12, 2014
    Our basic dry HTT weight is around 2,900. With full tanks, food, clothing and everything else we need for camping we tip the scales at 3,490. We have been towing this for more trips than I can count through several states. It tows great. Have we exceeded our CVWR? Probley. We did add rear air suspension assist bags, electric brakes and load leveler bars. Our tow rating is same as yours 3500. This is our experience and others will have their opinions. I am just sharing our experience.Best of luck
  • rexlion's avatar
    rexlion
    Explorer
    Mar 12, 2014
    Oasisbob wrote:
    Our basic dry HTT weight is around 2,900. With full tanks, food, clothing and everything else we need for camping we tip the scales at 3,490. We have been towing this for more trips than I can count through several states. It tows great. Have we exceeded our CVWR? Probley. We did add rear air suspension assist bags, electric brakes and load leveler bars. Our tow rating is same as yours 3500. This is our experience and others will have their opinions. I am just sharing our experience.Best of luck

    Excessive weight on the hitch can't be corrected by air bags. They are a band-aid solution. The problem is, how strong are the attachment points of the hitch and the hitch itself? I've towed for over 125,000 miles with a Toyota Highlander, rated for 5000/500 lb. My trailers don't exceed 430 lb tongue weight. Yet I have had two receivers break (I blame the brand), and I sometimes hear the sheet metal flexing under the HL when traveling at higher speeds. Wind resistance and weight put a lot of stress on the back end. Putting 400-500 lbs on a hitch and attachments rated for 350 lbs, what if the hitch tears loose and your trailer bounds off on its own and strikes an oncoming car head-on? That's why I prefer to leave a margin for safety.

    What one can do, and what one should do, are two different things.
  • jerem0621's avatar
    jerem0621
    Explorer II
    Mar 12, 2014
    Please do not exceed the receiver hitch rating.

    I can debate tow ratings as I feel they are subjective, however, the receiver ratings are not something to exceed.

    Thanks

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