Towing travel trailer with an Xterra
Hi (new member here), I got here by searching around on google about towing a travel trailer with my xterra. Got here, read the one post I found about someone towing with an xterra but, it seemed t...
Forum Discussion
I test drove an Xterra last year. Reminded me a lot of my 2000 Mountaineer.
For a 15' (overall length) trailer, you don't necessarily need sway control, but it's still nice to have it just in case. However, if by 15' you mean the box length, that would mean about a 19' trailer overall, and that's getting into the area where sway control is a good idea anyway. Always be sure to have 10-15% of your trailer's weight on the hitch for safety.
As for ease of towing with your drive train, trailer weight is not as important as trailer frontal area. Wind resistance is the big factor. A 2500 lb (loaded) TT is likely to result in 10-12 mpg, but a 2500 lb popup will be more like 16-17 mpg. So you know the TT is pulling a lot harder! And the places where a TT will give you the most difficulty is when towing up long grades at higher altitudes. If you're in CA, mountains are sort of hard to avoid when going camping, unless you want to stay on the coast all the time, right? If you don't mind going 35 mph up the big hills in 2nd gear, you'll be fine with the TT; if you want to go a little faster (maybe 45!), get the tent trailer.
For a 15' (overall length) trailer, you don't necessarily need sway control, but it's still nice to have it just in case. However, if by 15' you mean the box length, that would mean about a 19' trailer overall, and that's getting into the area where sway control is a good idea anyway. Always be sure to have 10-15% of your trailer's weight on the hitch for safety.
As for ease of towing with your drive train, trailer weight is not as important as trailer frontal area. Wind resistance is the big factor. A 2500 lb (loaded) TT is likely to result in 10-12 mpg, but a 2500 lb popup will be more like 16-17 mpg. So you know the TT is pulling a lot harder! And the places where a TT will give you the most difficulty is when towing up long grades at higher altitudes. If you're in CA, mountains are sort of hard to avoid when going camping, unless you want to stay on the coast all the time, right? If you don't mind going 35 mph up the big hills in 2nd gear, you'll be fine with the TT; if you want to go a little faster (maybe 45!), get the tent trailer.
