Towing Aliner with Forester?

Oh, Livinlite makes one you can tow. And pay and pay for. Although I have seen some used ones at decent prices AND they are indestructible being made from ALL aluminum. I used to have Rav4, Honda owners ask me about mine and I'd steer them toward the livinlite. And now that Foresters have the same tow ratings, that's where I'd look. Or, Fleetwood used to make one for a few years that had a single double bed in it that was pretty nice.

My 2004 Aliner DL weighs 1000 lbs unloaded and about 1400 lbs loaded. The newer Aliners are heavier due to a beefier frame and fiberglass exterior instead of aluminum. My 2011 Forester towed the unit pretty well thru the hills of the PA Laurel Highlands but mostly were relatively short trips. Fortunately I also have a V8 Ford Explorer and always used it for longer trips. The tow vehicle is rarely too large and a larger TV reduces the stress imposed on it. So when it comes to tow vehicles, in my opinion, bigger is always better.

thank you all for your great comments! Since the car is new, I think I'll have to think of a different trailer--probably the Scamp which friends really like (I was hoping for a lower profile as driving with a trailer scares me a bit!)

appreciate you all!

xteacher is right on the different units. The lightest ones with a 2011 or earlier you could do. The weakness is the tongue weight. I was right at 200 lbs which technically over the, I believe, 175 max listed. I kept my gas low and was able to get weight on the back of the pup. Of interest, the 2004 rode pretty level, the 2007 squatted and wallowed, so I ended up putting STi pinks on the 07 and it was great. Subaru had done something to the suspension between 04 and 07. It softened the ride raised them about an inch but sucked for towing. The 04's were perfectly engineered and then they got a marketing dude as the CEO and started messing with things like the suspension, power steering (less feel and longer wheel to wheel turns) and changed the power torque ratio. Wish I had still bought the 04 manual Turbo I had a chance at for less than 20 bucks a month more. I'd still have it as it was a classic. The 04 Turbos had a detuned STi engine whereas after that year, they went to uptuned regular engines. My significant other has a 10 Forester and to tell you the truth, even though rated at 2400 lbs, I don't think I would tow the pop up with it. It (gen 4)just doesn't seem as robust overall as the gen 3s.

No, don't do it, especially a 15 footer (Aliner Ranger 15 or Expedition). The hitch weight will exceed your capability, even on the older models. You don't want the tail wagging the dog. You need a minimum of 3500 lb. tow capacity to tow a 12 footer, and 4500 to comfortably tow an Aliner Ranger 15 or Expedition. Remember, it's not just the weight of the camper, but the weight of the battery, propane, water (if carried in fresh water tank), the hitch, all your stuff, and the weight of the passengers, too, that you have to take into consideration.

Please look at something like the Toyota Highlander, Ford Explorer, any 6 cylinder truck (Tacoma, Frontier), Chevy Traverse, Honda Pilot 4WD, GMC Acadia, etc. Make sure any of these vehicles has a tow package, or else they aren't up to the task either.

New ones no. Old ones yes. Per post above on years. I used to tow 1900 lbs no problem with an 04 and 07. Then the marketing people took over from the engineers...

Hiker_01 wrote:
Not having any more details than what you gave, looks like it's not going to be workable. Subaru website specs say max towing for Forester is 1500 lbs. Aliner website specs their trailers 1200-1300 lbs empty. If you add any weight (food, clothes, water, etc) you will max out your tow capacity.

The tow rating depends on the model year. For example, I think the 2011 Forester had a 2400 lb tow rating.

I haven't owned a Subie, but I know of some people on another forum who've towed little Scamps and Casitas with them. An Aliner shouldn't be a problem. It won't set any speed records when climbing mountains, of course. Be aware, though, of the 200 lb hitch weight limit on almost all Subarus; this means you are better off with the smaller Aliner so you can still have 10% of the trailer's weight on the hitch for safe towing (avoiding sway). I had a Ranger 12 for a year and the hitch weight (ready for camping) was 190 lbs with one LP bottle aboard.

(edit:}
I just remembered, I never quit my membership in the Yahoo A-frames group. I looked there and saw several happy Subaru owners. One man named George posted this:
I've seen a number of questions about using the Outback as a tow vehicle for an Aliner. I would like to share my experience.

I have a 2014 Outback with the CVT (continuously variable transmission) and towed an Aliner Classic for 11k miles across the country (Boston-SF-New Orleans and back with lots of mountains in between) and had no problems. Had the car checked out at the dealer and they said there was no strain.

The 4 cylinder Subaru averaged about 21 mpg over the trip; without the trailer it gets about 32 mpg, so the trailer cost about 11 mpg. Cruising on the flat at 62 mph is no problem. When I hit a grade and the tach touched 3500 I would drop out of cruise control and hold the tach to under that amount. Then I would watch the temp gauge and back off further when it went over 205F. Sure, it got slow, down to 40 mph on the long climbs, but no worries...

The Classic is probably at the limits of the Subaru, grossing 2200# and a tongue weight of 200#. I had to take care that I loaded all the heavy stuff (eg stove) well aft and make sure the water tanks were full to keep the tongue weight within spec.

I'm pretty happy with this combination. And what a great trip!

Not having any more details than what you gave, looks like it's not going to be workable. Subaru website specs say max towing for Forester is 1500 lbs. Aliner website specs their trailers 1200-1300 lbs empty. If you add any weight (food, clothes, water, etc) you will max out your tow capacity.