Buying 1st Travel Trailer Go Large or Not?

CaLBaR wrote:

Ride S40T wrote:
You're going to hear varying degrees of good advice on RV forums and A LOT of solid recommendations based on years of experience.

After considering any or everything read here, please please go out to one of the reputable sites like Shereline and run all the TV and TT specs. Find a worksheet that uses all the specs all the way down to the wheelbase, do not use a simple "pulling capacity" worksheet produced by TV manufacturers.

"Can" you haul something that big behind a 1500 (any make)? Sure. Will it be unsafe or kill the truck? Possibly. Run the numbers, even those wheelbase specs are important. Let the science behind towing be your first guide. Then decide on a TT within those parameters.

Lastly, please know dry weight & tongue weight issued by TT mfgrs can be a little optimistic on the low side. We used a tongue scale to find out our hitch weight is about 100lbs more than advertised.

Can you supply the links or the websites that you are referencing that take wheelbase and other information into account. I did a search and could not find one and it would be great if people on the forum could look that up for some additional information when trying to decide on TV/trailer combinations.

Thanks,

Just a few tow capacity Links. Google, be our friend.

http://changingears.com/rv-sec-calc-trailer-weight-tt.shtml

https://www.huskytow.com/towing-calculator/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwiSiKGvqrXgAhUO24MKHYk-A70QFjAAegQIChAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.popthetop.com%2Ffiles%2FTowingCapacityWorksheet.xls&usg=AOvVaw2fZsU5Xv3ayY7Zcblc9aui

And pulled from the site we’re on: “Rule of thumb (110” wheelbase for 20’ trailer + 4” additional wheelbase for each additional 1’ of trailer)”

Up and down these sheets, our 1500 Sierra cleared the specs for our 250URS (actual length 27.9 ft) trailer that weighs in just over 6K loaded Allows us the comfort margins we sought (about 30%-40% buffer). Wheelbase for the truck just made it with the rule of thumb, by 1.5” so no buffer there. And it seems everything gets a bit heavier when we hit the scales…just sayin’. Best time to do the math is before buying.

Ahh, I'm still a rookie. But I read a lot. I research for hours just reading about water heaters, towing woes, boon docking, winterization, etc. in an effort to catch up.

Hope the small bit of info helps.