Towing Advice - 31' Travel Trailer

phenrichs wrote:
My suggestion is if you have the ability, load the rig as it would be for a trip and take it to a scale and weigh it all. This will tell you for sure that things are setup correctly.

Good advice here. Once you know your weights, read this thread on hitch setup and be sure all is correct. I know you said you had your hitch "professionally" installed to save the hassle of the details, but I will tell you two things:

1) Over 10 years on this forum and I have yet to see anybody who has had their hitch installed correctly by a "professional". In fairness, the dealer sets up the hitch when you buy the trailer, but the trailer is empty! The hitch needs to be re-adjusted to compensate for the additional weight after the trailer is loaded for camping. The average family with a couple of kids will add about 1500 lbs of stuff to a trailer that size. The floorplan of the unit dictates whether heavy stuff is ahead of or behind the axle, and the trailer needs to tow as level as possible when it's loaded.

2) There is no way to shortcut the details on understanding what the weights and measurements mean, they are essential to getting the hitch set up properly.

phenrichs wrote:
When properly adjusted, meaning hitch and load inside TV and TT are balanced, you will barely notice anything is behind you unless you are braking.

Once you have the rig dialed in, you will the confidence to cruise at any speed you like without worry.

I would also suggest that you have a GOOD set of towing mirrors if you don't already have them on the 350. Adjust them so that you can see all the way down both sides of the trailer. This does a lot for confidence in traffic.

It appears that you have a well thought out towing combo that if properly set-up should deliver comfortable towing results. We tow a 32' rig and have no issues with traveling at posted highway speeds, I often have to remind DW to slowdown as she tends to forget we are towing a nearly 10K pound rig. Take it out on the highway and get it up to speed, properly set-up you should not be experiencing any issues even when passing commercial diesel trucks. If experiencing sway or other issues, WD/SC hitch needs to be dialed in. Many have had their hitches "professionally installed" only to find that their set-up was delivering less than acceptable towing results.

My suggestion is if you have the ability, load the rig as it would be for a trip and take it to a scale and weigh it all. This will tell you for sure that things are setup correctly. When properly adjusted, meaning hitch and load inside TV and TT are balanced, you will barely notice anything is behind you unless you are braking.
Another great thing you can do is just hook up and go practice. Find a big parking lot that is near empty and go practice maneuvering the trailer forward and back. Setup some cones or some soft obstacle to practice avoiding. As far as hills and speed you should just go drive. The more you tow the more comfortable you will get. On hills it is important to remember DO NOT ride the brakes or brake gently. If you find that your speed is increasing too far, apply firm brakes to get below your target speed. Then release and let the rig increase on its own to your upper limit. Then brake again. Riding the brakes or braking gently to try and maintain one speed will burn them up and can cause brake failure. I travel SD interstates where limit is 75mph. I always tow 65-70. I will let her get all the way to 75ish on some good straight downhills and on some long uphills I will drop all the way down 55-60 before pushing harder up.

62 mph is the magic number. You're fast enough that you don't impede traffic unnecessarily, you make good distance in a day and you're mpg doesn't suffer excessively. When in traffic take a lesson from the big rig drivers and drive about 5 mph slower than the general traffic so you maintain a cushion in front of you. There are some nuts that will dart in front of you and slam on their brakes regardless of how little room there is. In fact, following a big rig is the best way to navigate traffic.