Family of 7......

[perigaut]

We are on the hunt for a vehicle that will tow our TT and be an everyday vehicle for my wife and kids. Our TT is a Jayco 27BHS with a a GVWR of 8,250.

Kids ages are 7,6,5,2 and a baby. While they are small now, they are only getting bigger and fitting into our Odyssey is getting tedious. Currently we are using our pickup to tow and driving two cars to camp which is incredibly inconvenient.

That aside, we are also not sitting on a huge pile of cash. We are on the hunt for something in the 20,000-$25,000 range that will haul all of us and the trailer. Our trailer is new and we are planning on hanging on to it for quite a while.

Any suggestions?

[Dadoffourgirls]

The Curt XD hitch has a 2400 lb tongue weight rating. I have a 1600lb rated receiver and ball, so I can move my trailer with my Express without spending time with the WD bars.

I am not sure what the prices are on a Nissan, but you can get 2016 Express 3500 in white that were rentals for under $27k. Some have less than 12k miles, and end up with another 3 years of full coverage warranty and 36k miles.

[demiles]

My Nissan receiver is class IV with a max rating of 1200 lbs. His trailer could possibly exceed that number loaded. The RAWR is close to 5900lbs on the NV3500 which is fairly high. Check for a after market class V hitch.

[IdaD]

theoldwizard1 wrote:

donn0128 wrote:
Look for a E350 Ford passanger van. The right combination of engine and rear end can make for a good tow vehicle.

They have been out of production for a couple of years now.

My daughter's family is close in size to yours (only 4 kids under 8). Get a Ford Expedition EL with the optional HD tow package and 3.73 rear axle. Third row will accommodate 3 people, assuming they are <150 lbs a piece !

The EL model is important so that you have some real cargo space. Not as much as a van, but more that the standard version.

I think he'd overload an Expedition pretty badly with his family and trailer. My sister has a 3.5 Eco EL and it's a nice SUV, but the ratings on it are very limited. With two adults, five kids and the amount of stuff required for five kids these days he'd probably be close to the max rating without the trailer.

[theoldwizard1]

donn0128 wrote:
Look for a E350 Ford passanger van. The right combination of engine and rear end can make for a good tow vehicle.

They have been out of production for a couple of years now.

My daughter's family is close in size to yours (only 4 kids under 8). Get a Ford Expedition EL with the optional HD tow package and 3.73 rear axle. Third row will accommodate 3 people, assuming they are <150 lbs a piece !

The EL model is important so that you have some real cargo space. Not as much as a van, but more that the standard version.

[ktosv]

If considering a Nissan, make sure you double check the receiver capabilities. I believe I have seen discussions that there isn't anything on the hitch, but that the owners manual limits tongue weight to something like 1000# or less.

With a trailer that size, you will need over 1000#. Our last trailer had a GVWR of 7200# and the last time I scaled it I was pushing 1200# tongue weight. Nice thing about the Express (and I would assume the Econoline) is that you can get hitches with tongue weight ratings of 1500# or more.

[carringb]

The GCWR of the NV3500 is 16,000 which is the same as the express 3500 6.0. That may be marginal, especially since the NV weighs so much. Also, I think the NV carries over the same 950 max tinge weight restriction from the Titan.

[rickeoni]

We also have 5 kids, they are now 32, 32, 29, 29 & 26. We have always gone camping and our TV which doubled as DW daily driver was a 2500 Suburban. The 4wd was nice three rows of seats and loads of storage in the back.

I remember camping with the fam when they were young, it was a blast!

[perigaut]

Does anyone have experience towing with the heavier Nissan Vans? They seem a bit more attractive for day to day driving (also higher cost) but not sure that they would be okay hauling a trailer our size with our whole family. I know we can remove extra seats and save some weight that way.

[carringb]

The Transit is a super nice van, with lots of power, but talking with an aftermarket up fitter, it's just not built for towing. Problem 1 is the guibo rubber driveline joint. Towing heavy trashes this joint. This particular up fitter replaces that joist with a proper u-joint. The other probablem is brakes. The Transit brakes and tires are so small it cannot stop any more weight (apparently stopping in case of trailer brake failure is part of Fords GCWR criteria).

Even though many users are pulling way overweight with their transits, the risk of trailer brake failure is a real one, and I decided to stick with Econolines for this reason. I've had my brakes fail several times. Twice because the connector came unplugged, but I've also had crummy trailer wiring too.

My E350 has served me great, with no power train failures so far at almost 430,000 miles. I've decided my replacement will be a 2018 econoline, either with an aftermarket van body (SportsMobile or TurtleTop) or I'll graft a wrecking yard van body onto the new cutaway cab.

[rjstractor]

coolmom42 wrote:
Don't underestimate the Ford Transit 350. Payloads run around 4500 lb, tow ratings around 7000. Look for an off-lease fleet vehicle.

A Transit Wagon with 7 people on board can only tow around 4000 pounds, if even that. The OP's trailer is twice that. GCWR is just 11,200 pounds, to tow that trailer and carry a family you'd need a GCWR in the 16K range or more.

[rowekmr]

I briefly had a E350 van with the V10 (forgot which year) and it had plenty of room for my family of 5 and pulled my trailer in signature fine. Plenty of room for the kids to have their own space and I like the upright seating of the van and rear heat/ac. It had a 2.73 gear IIRC so if I was cruising legal at 60 mph it would bog in OD when trying to accelerate on hills. I either cruised faster or forced it out of OD. Only sold it because I needed 4wd and couldn't afford the Quigley conversion.

[sparechange]

There are a lot of ford excursions around with the 7.3 diesel. Probably be hard to do much better than that for that many people and cost.

[coolmom42]

Don't underestimate the Ford Transit 350. Payloads run around 4500 lb, tow ratings around 7000. Look for an off-lease fleet vehicle.

[rjstractor]

IdaD wrote:
The heavier Nissan vans may be an option too.

I keep forgetting about them. They are a little odd looking, but have great towing and GVWR specs that are fairly comparable with GM and the discontinued E series Ford.