Travel Trailer Towing Recommendations
We just purchased our first travel trailer. We are looking at purchasing a new tow vehicle. Would like recommendations on what tow vehicle is best what to avoid. We will be towing a bunkhouse GVWR is ...
Forum Discussion
mkirsch wrote:
Also, WORK is different than towing a camper.
You don't put 3000lbs in the back of a 1/2 ton truck and set out on a 500 mile trip. You drive across town. You don't hitch up to a flatbed trailer loaded with a mini excavator that weighs 12,000lbs and set out on a 500 mile trip. You drive across town.
Half ton trucks will do a LOT of WORK when you don't need to go faster than 35MPH. You'll be smashing your head into the steering wheel after about 2 hours trying to go on a camping trip of any distance limited to 35MPH.
When I see pickups with 3000lb loads or pulling 12k lb trailers, they are almost always 3/4 or 1 ton trucks. The up front cost difference is negligible and most companies are smart enough to know that if they will get regular heavy duty use, it pays to upgrade the truck.
Vast majority of 1/2 ton trucks are grocery getters. Even the company 1/2 ton trucks are rarely used for much more than a landscaping utility trailer or a few hundred pounds in the bed.
Of course, someone is likely going to come back and claim they see 4000lb payloads and 15k lb trailers pulled cross country all the time with 1/2 ton trucks...and claim it's fine because of a belief that the engineers have nothing to do with truck ratings.
