Towing a larger Travel Trailer

buffaloKev wrote:


I talked to a dealership and they told me I was fine with my WD set up and sway bars...

Dog Trainer wrote:
This year we decided to sell our MH that we have put 80,000 miles on.
I have a love affair with my 2010 F150 max tow pkg. I really like the Flagstaff classic superlite series of TT. Here is where my fun began.
Our first impression was that we could tow any of the superlite trailer configurations, then I started studying the advertised weights. There was a variation of weights but I noticed the greater variation was in the tongue weights as advertised (DRY Weight ).
I know all the ford factory weights on my F150 so It became very clear v that with most of these classics we would have enough tongue weight to be over our GVW, long before we came to our cgvw or trailer tow rating.
We have camped long enough to know a couple of things.
1. we have been out west about all we want we have seen the parks no need to trapse up and down too many mtns.


2. we now have a lot of time to to take our time and not be rushed into traveling on bad road days. We can get there when we do.

3. I have a lot of hours both in the MH and with towing fairly heavy loads although many of those hours were in Diesel.

4.) We are not going to spend much more than a month on the road at a time we have lovely family and friends that we enjoy at the S&B location in the future we plan to stay put and not travel a lot other than to the destination.

5.) We have learned to be light in our packing and needs we do not carry a lot of dishes, silverware and heavy pots and pans. We tend to buy light weight disposable storage containers 9 In lieu of glass bowls ) and throw them out after a few uses. We use paper and plastic dishes and cups most of the time. we have learned to take a few canned goods and staples and then stop at the store as needed. We keep the refrig to a few days supply at a time and a few things like condiments.

6. my best educated guess is that for the 2 of us we will have about 700 extra pounds to be distributed in the Trailer

In all the thinking and research I decided to add a couple of mods to my F150 I Did not add these mods to go beyond any payload or other factory specs. I did them to add a margin of safety and stability.
I replaced the factory tires (P rated) with Michelin Lt LX/MS E rated tires I did this to stiffen the sidewalls and to help that squishy side to side movement in the P tire.
I installed Timbren SES (rear only) again to help the stability and the inadvertent bouncing from rough roads.
I have a 5star tow tune on an SCT programer that deals with shifts and locks out 6th gear in the tow/haul mode. I know the 5.4 makes HP and torque in the 4000 rpm range that is where the benefit of the tuner is at its peak.
Now getting back to our selection we chose the 831RESS because it is a front living set up and has the least amount of tongue weight. It also has a center kitchen so much of the heavier kitchen items will end up amid ship. I hope that with proper packing we can keep the tounge weight to about 950 lbs. There is very little outside storage so less tempting to start hording. When we sat down and looked at all those past years on the road we realized how much junk we hauled on the what if or that would be nice to have. We have weeded those items down.
I agree that too many put fate into the hands of Ill informed sales people that want to sell a truck or RV. I cringe when I read some of posts and the questions. I believe some people would not be safe towing a pop up with a one ton. Why people do not carefully consider all the aspects before a purchase before they are in over their head is unclear. It seems common sense and due diligence is not on the plate of many.
I hope our own choice will work out we will try it for a bit and if not we will change TV if we feel unsafe or overloaded. Point is we have not drank the kool aid from a sales person. If you find me upside down along the road it will not be because someone talked me into something other than my self.

jaycocreek wrote:

The only time I was told my half ton was too small, was when I asked two different dealers what I had to do to it to tow a Fiver. Both dealers said you will not be happy with anything less than a ¾ ton

And the 3/4 ton in the fifth wheel market is mostly overloaded as well as in the pickup camper market,I would venture to guess more so than so called 1/2 tons in the travel trailer market.

TSeck wrote:
Had the same thing happen to me. Salesman said "Sure, that'll pull it". Yeah to the house. After its loaded, kids and dogs are in the car and you take off down the interstate, get ready for the "white knuckles" effect.
Just one experience of trailer sway will do it.

See signature for the fix.... :-)

SprinklerMan wrote:

buffaloKev wrote:
Thanks for the replies guys, very helpful. I talked to a dealership and they told me I was fine with my WD set up and sway bars... but after reading these replies, I may need to down size to a smaller trailer.

Thats how you sell a trailer .