Newbie wanting to pull a Toy Hauler with a Tahoe

[afishinado]

In the discovery and due diligence stage. Former boater (I still have one) and now into touring with wife on our Harleys. We decided we are going to give a toy hauler a try next summer. We did a tour in the old Tahoe, rented bikes at different places. I really like the places a full size SUV can take us that a Class A nor a Harley could dream of going. So it seems a toy hauler I can pull with the Tahoe is the way to go. We're retired. Plan on leaving it in a campground on the west coast of Florida for the winter (we live on the east coast) to give us a get away location, I'll leave one of the Harleys in it. In the summer get on the road for 6-10 weeks, I like the west, both south and north, bring both our Harleys and both dogs.. Probably stay in 5 or 6 places for 6 to 10 days each. I have stayed in KOA campgrounds, rented their cabins... I like the camping atmosphere.

My first comment as a newbie is; Damn there are a lot of trailers to choose from.
My first question (I'm sure the most common one) Is with 8000lbs max tow, I will be right there with most of the 21-22' models... Should I worry or just be careful?

[dedmiston]

Glad you got your answer, even if it wasn't from all the helpful people who responded here. :R

[Doughboy12]

afishinado wrote:

...and buying something much larger along with a quad cab 3/4 ton 4x4 and fifth wheel specifically for the task...

Most telling information I read on your posts...
You think a 250 Can pull a "much larger" fifth wheel...WRONG.

[afishinado]

lincster wrote:
So basically you won't listen to anything anyone here says since you "don't know us pretty well".
I for one was saying the same thing as your buddy......

Easy Pal... Don't take it personal.. If one believes everything he reads on forums they are not as smart as I am...

I already knew my Tahoe is marginal or I would have never posted in the first place. I already knew there would be posts from guys with one ton duallys telling me that's what I would have to have to tow a pop up because that's what THEY have.... See it all the time in all kinds of forums, so forgive me, but I read your post before you typed. I was hoping for someone to chime in that HAS towed a toy hauler with a Tahoe/Yukon, then I would PM them and seek some more details. Hard to believe someone hasn't with as popular as they are. I do appreciate your input.

[lincster]

afishinado wrote:
One of my favorite sayings is: LIFE IS ALL ABOUT HOW YOU HANDLE PLAN B

Sunday afternoon the trucker (who also has become a friend) dropped off our bikes after hauling them from Sturgis to Jersey, then detailing them. Showed up in a F250 with a 20' enclosed trailer.. Needless to say where that conversation went.

He has of course a tractor and a couple trailers, one for moving (Mayflower) one enclosed double decker for cars and or motorcycles, and one plain enclosed (that I know of).. Also has a 30' 5th wheel enclosed and a 20' bumper hitch (the one he showed up with here) that he pulls with the F250. Told me he had a toy hauler, about the same size I was looking at, planned on using it to stay at events he towed to... He told me a story of his last tow with it. He ran over something at speed from an accident, thing disintegrated, while hooked to his truck at 50mph (didn't flip or roll it either).. When someone I know pretty well, that's been driving trucks for over 40 years listens to my plan and the very first thing he says is "Forget it Mike" and the last thing he says in his story is "I won't tow one ever again, period"
So: Pull out a fresh sheet of paper... Start looking at 5th wheel trailers and 3/4 ton pick up trucks. I'm a 62 year old motorhead, never had a 5th wheel trailer so his oughta be fun.

So basically you won't listen to anything anyone here says since you "don't know us pretty well".
I for one was saying the same thing as your buddy......

[SolidAxleDurang]

afishinado wrote:
One of my favorite sayings is: LIFE IS ALL ABOUT HOW YOU HANDLE PLAN B

Sunday afternoon the trucker (who also has become a friend) dropped off our bikes after hauling them from Sturgis to Jersey, then detailing them. Showed up in a F250 with a 20' enclosed trailer.. Needless to say where that conversation went.

He has of course a tractor and a couple trailers, one for moving (Mayflower) one enclosed double decker for cars and or motorcycles, and one plain enclosed (that I know of).. Also has a 30' 5th wheel enclosed and a 20' bumper hitch (the one he showed up with here) that he pulls with the F250. Told me he had a toy hauler, about the same size I was looking at, planned on using it to stay at events he towed to... He told me a story of his last tow with it. He ran over something at speed from an accident, thing disintegrated, while hooked to his truck at 50mph (didn't flip or roll it either).. When someone I know pretty well, that's been driving trucks for over 40 years listens to my plan and the very first thing he says is "Forget it Mike" and the last thing he says in his story is "I won't tow one ever again, period"
So: Pull out a fresh sheet of paper... Start looking at 5th wheel trailers and 3/4 ton pick up trucks. I'm a 62 year old motorhead, never had a 5th wheel trailer so his oughta be fun.

You will a lot happier with this plan. 🙂

[afishinado]

One of my favorite sayings is: LIFE IS ALL ABOUT HOW YOU HANDLE PLAN B

Sunday afternoon the trucker (who also has become a friend) dropped off our bikes after hauling them from Sturgis to Jersey, then detailing them. Showed up in a F250 with a 20' enclosed trailer.. Needless to say where that conversation went.

He has of course a tractor and a couple trailers, one for moving (Mayflower) one enclosed double decker for cars and or motorcycles, and one plain enclosed (that I know of).. Also has a 30' 5th wheel enclosed and a 20' bumper hitch (the one he showed up with here) that he pulls with the F250. Told me he had a toy hauler, about the same size I was looking at, planned on using it to stay at events he towed to... He told me a story of his last tow with it. He ran over something at speed from an accident, thing disintegrated, while hooked to his truck at 50mph (didn't flip or roll it either).. When someone I know pretty well, that's been driving trucks for over 40 years listens to my plan and the very first thing he says is "Forget it Mike" and the last thing he says in his story is "I won't tow one ever again, period"
So: Pull out a fresh sheet of paper... Start looking at 5th wheel trailers and 3/4 ton pick up trucks. I'm a 62 year old motorhead, never had a 5th wheel trailer so his oughta be fun.

[stsmark]

A long time neighbor bought a new 27 ft Airstream in Feb and pulls it with a 01 Tahoe. We had a chat the other day about towing with the combo. With his Dual Cam setup properly he was really happy with both stance and stability specifically saying passing trucks were much less an issue than he expected. He puts about 400 lbs of people and pups in the Tahoe.
They have been out about 6 times around Northern Ca and the Sierras. He's going to start looking for a 3/4 ton for longer trips in the mountains. FWIW talking about boats I used to tow my 76 Ski Tique with no brakes on the trailer behind my CJ-5, in another lifetime of course.

[SolidAxleDurang]

Weight for weight, boats are the easiest things to pull.

Bumper pull toy haulers are the WORST towable out there when it comes to balance.

Your Tahoe is not suited for one regardless of TH size.

Please feel free to ignore this post 🙂

[afishinado]

Thanks for the comments guys, I am listening.
I have also posted this elsewhere ie: Tahoe/Yukon forum

1. I plan on pulling it loaded to keep the tongue weight down...
2. If I discover my Tahoe just doesn't have what it takes to do the job, I'll go on line and find something that will, do my trip and dump it when the trip is over. Again I only plan on using it as intended for 2 months a year.

64thunderbolt wrote:
He's gonna need it. Wait till he's tooling down the interstate @ 60 And a semi passes him doing 80. The wash from that big rig is gonna kick his butt.

I'll wear my Depends on the first couple pulls:). No biggy

[64thunderbolt]

He's gonna need it. Wait till he's tooling down the interstate @ 60 And a semi passes him doing 80. The wash from that big rig is gonna kick his butt.

[lincster]

afishinado wrote:

lincster wrote:

64thunderbolt wrote:
I think the wheelbase of the Tahoe is so short the trailer will wag it all over the road. I wouldn't do it. But that's just my opinion.

Ditto this.
I have tried towing just a travel trailer with a Tahoe I owned. Anything over 55mph and the trailer was pushing me all over the place. Sounds like the OP has made up his mind and is going to do it anyway.

Can't imagine how it's going to be any different than 7000lbs of boat and trailer.

Its cause you have never done it. Boats are easy to tow. Toy haulers have lots of tongue weight and will push you around.

But, you have 1 guy telling you that it will work, and it sounds like that is all you needed to hear. Sooooo..... good luck!!!!!

[afishinado]

cbigham wrote:
Buddy did that for years with a weight dist. Hitch. Sierra 26 ft toyhauler . I had a decent sized trailer on an older k5 blazer. Towed everywhere I wanted. Slow down if it gets tuff. Watch your weight and tongue weight. His issues were transmission and heat. We ride mountains out west. Another friend has a Carson lite trailer. Does OK. Yup, trucks r better but that's not what u got.

Yup... That's my thinking exactly. I'm adding a big trans cooler and a B&M cast aluminum pan with cooling fins for the trans..... I also will take advantage of the manual selector and use the six speeds the tranny has when necessary.

This is kinda an experiment for us, see if we really enjoy the method of touring, I can see me selling the 22' toy hauler and buying something much larger along with a quad cab 3/4 ton 4x4 and fifth wheel specifically for the task. Just going to do it this way for the first year (or maybe forever), testing the waters so to speak... I like simple, but momma may require more and we know how that goes. It's 8 weeks a year, 7-8000 miles max, we already live in paradise.

[cbigham]

Buddy did that for years with a weight dist. Hitch. Sierra 26 ft toyhauler . I had a decent sized trailer on an older k5 blazer. Towed everywhere I wanted. Slow down if it gets tuff. Watch your weight and tongue weight. His issues were transmission and heat. We ride mountains out west. Another friend has a Carson lite trailer. Does OK. Yup, trucks r better but that's not what u got.

[Lowsuv]

Come On, afishinado .........
I think you know better .
Trailer boats are the easiest to tow at expressway speeds.
I will argue that toy haulers are the most difficult to tow at expressway speeds .
In between are equipment trailers , fifth wheels , and travel trailers in that order .
This assumes equal weight .
Part of this has to do with that the boat trailer axles are further aft than toy hauler axles .
Think about this : A booat trailer with its axles all the way to the rear will track perfectly at a very high speed .
Now move the axles forward about 15 feet . Now how does it handle ?
I make this extreme example to make the dynamics more clear .
I moved my boat trailer axles aft about a foot .
You cannot imagine the improvement .