towing with a 1500 silverado
Before the weight police shoot me my disclaimer is that I can't sleep and am just up doing some research for a buddy. I don't really even have enough info to do much. Just killing some time until I ca...
Forum Discussion
0rion wrote:
got the camper specs.....2011 Coachman 280RLS. I looked it up and it has a dry weight of 5201 which would give him about 780 on the tongue dry. He does have WDH and a brake controller although I'm not sure what brand. I'm confident that 5.3L would tow it.....just might labor the hills quite a bit and he'd probably feel every pound of the trailer back there. Wouldn't have to carry water so just clothes and odds and ends. I carry most of the camping stuff in mine like chairs, wood, grills, and what not.
Forget dry weight. For a paper exercise if you don't have scale weights then use GVWR which in this case is 7600 # and with 12-15% on the tongue you are looking at 912 - 1140 #. Payload becomes a big problem fully loaded.
My trailer has similar weights to the trailer in questionand based on my scale weights I estimate the camping weight to be about 7100# presently. Recently came back from camping in the Austin area in Texas where there are rolling hills and the trailer towed very well. Have not gone into the hills like they have in the Smoky Montain area but expect that it will manage fine.
As with all setups, a lot depends on proper setup of a good WDH and sway control system. The brakes on the trailer has to be in good working order and a good brake controller must be part of the system, and the whole truck has to be working right and trustworthy. For me the towed maximum should be no more than 80% of the truck's rating. If all of the above are not done we come here and read about it. Day late and dollar short.
