Found it! But CCC looks awful low?

[PopUpTom]

The little woman and I have been thinking about a new RV for a couple years now, since the pop-up left. We found a Jayco X17Z on the local RV lot that seems perfect for the two of us, and dog.

The Jayco brochures list an unloaded vehicle wt. of 2900lbs and a GVW of 3500lbs. I noticed a yellow sticker on the actual camper, and it lists an as-delivered weight of 3165 leaving only 335 remaining CCC.

Link to yellow stickers

Is this typical? Are there really 265lbs of options and propane on the "coach"? (Apparently they call them coaches nowadays)
Am I going to get by with only 335lbs of capacity? (I think 2 bikes and a bike carrier are 100lbs)
Am I going to run into the same issue if I find a 17' Roo?

[PAThwacker]

haha look what just got traded in at our family dealership.
1995 k2500 ext long bed 454 big block!

[PAThwacker]

The tb engine was fine. The gear ratio 3.42, frontal area. I would tow a 3000lb pup on some of those 15% grades at 15mph, and have the chevy screamimg.
NEPA is not southeast, PA or similar to any terrain south of 78.

[Francesca_Knowl]

Jayco25E wrote:
To the OP I would recommend getting a better TV. One with a V8 that has more towing power. Then like others have said you have more choices in HTT's or TT's

In my opinion, bigger isn't automatically "better"....
I think the above advice depends on whether one's a "cart first" or "horse first" tower.

Some folks prefer to match the tow to a daily driver they're already happy with. Others will upsize the tug just to gain towing capacity, perhaps thereby losing efficiency in other areas.

Either way, compromises are required. Only the O.P. knows which approach suits his own situation.

[Jayco25E]

Santa Fe wrote:

PAThwacker wrote:
i have towed our 21ft bh with 5.3v8 trailblazer. It could not do 60mph downhill highway grade 4%.
the tongue weight is 650lbs.......fully loaded (5000lbs)

There was either something wrong with your TrailBlazer or you had extremely unrealistic expectations...

I agree. Although a TrailBlazer is not a full size TV but with the 5.3V8 it should pull a 21' HTT with out any issues. I have the same enigine in my Avalanche and I can pull my 26' HTT 60mph uphill at a 4% grade. Unless it has really high rear end gears. Which could be the case.


Sorry got off topic. To the OP I would recommend getting a better TV. One with a V8 that has more towing power. Then like others have said you have more choices in HTT's or TT's

[Santa_Fe]

PAThwacker wrote:
i have towed our 21ft bh with 5.3v8 trailblazer. It could not do 60mph downhill highway grade 4%.
the tongue weight is 650lbs.......fully loaded (5000lbs)

There was either something wrong with your TrailBlazer or you had extremely unrealistic expectations...

[Francesca_Knowl]

PopUpTom wrote:

Am I going to run into the same issue if I find a 17' Roo?

Got so caught up talkin' about the Jayco that this question got overlooked!

The answer is "no".

The Rockwood Roo17, while at a curb weight almost the same as the Jayco, has a stated CCW of over 800 pounds. Link to current specs.

[go_wild]

I've had a 17Z for 4 years with no problems. Load it with the normal stuff, fill the fresh tank to about 1/2 and go. No issues with the axle and tires still look like new. I bring it to my Jayco dealer every other year for axle maintenance (bearings repacked, brakes adjusted, etc. Maybe Im lucky, I don't know..but Jayco sold a ton of these 17Z's (and sister 17C) so I'd think there would be more complaints, especially on the Jayco forum. Now with that said, I'd prefer the 19H, which is the same floorplan, just a bit bigger with a tandem axle.

[Francesca_Knowl]

PAThwacker wrote:
Ours actually weighs 3400 with options. Only a fool would attempt to tow it with a 3500lb tow rating.

I'd bet the Jayco will come in heavier "dry", too.

In my opinion it's a scandal that they're putting this out there as appropriate for the 3500-and-under market. Any/everyone is going to load it beyond that number, and get nothing but trouble as a result. "Amish built" or not!

[PAThwacker]

i have towed our 21ft bh with 5.3v8 trailblazer. It could not do 60mph downhill highway grade 4%.
the tongue weight is 650lbs.......fully loaded (5000lbs)

[PAThwacker]

Ours actually weighs 3400 with options. Only a fool would attempt to tow it with a 3500lb tow rating.

[Francesca_Knowl]

PAThwacker wrote:
we have 1600lbs of ccc in our htt, and 2951lbs ccc in the sub.

cuv bwahhah....wagon

And yet...dry weight of your hybrid is only 200 pounds more than the Jayco the O.P. is looking at! link to specs.

Yours is spec'd and equipped much more realistically, though I suppose some smart salesman could even sell THAT one to an under-3500-pound-capacity-tug owner using the same logic Jayco's used with stating payload for the unit the O.P.mentions.

Just keep the payload below 300 pounds and they'd be good to go, right? :S

[PAThwacker]

we have 1600lbs of ccc in our htt, and 2951lbs ccc in the sub.

cuv bwahhah....wagon

[rock077]

Ponder that larger TV a bit more. That would give you a much larger range of trailers to choose from.

[Padlin]

Our CCC is about the same as the OP, we've gotten by just fine for 8 years (2 adults, no kids). Bikes and genny go in the truck bed so that helps. Mostly we travel light as storage is pretty limited anyway. We rarely travel with more then 1/3 tank of fresh water filling when we arrive at the first CG and dump the grey and black tanks as needed. I'm sure at times it's overloaded to some extent but again, we've had no problems. The only real weight in the trailer is water/waste, the batteries and the propane. I'd be surprised if the rest adds up to a couple hundred pounds. Again, we have the truck bed we use.

Something to keep in mind... the tongue weight on ours is stated as somewhere around 300 lbs, in actuality it's close to 600. 60 lbs of propane, 100 lbs of batteries, and the fresh water is in front of the axle.

While I certainly wouldn't suggest someone buy a trailer with a low CCC I've never lost any sleep over it. The trucks I've had handle the little trailer just fine. Of course I knew nothing of GVWR's or CCC's when I bought it.

[Cotay]

When we purchased our Aerolite 174es, we owned a Volkswagen Routan. We now have an Expedition EL.:)

The weight of the trailer with all options was 3,164 pounds (not including batteries) with a tongue weight of 264. The axle load capacity was 3,500 pounds. The GVWR was 3,800. The kicker was that the thing had a 50 gallon fresh water tank which if full weighed 415 pounds. Therefore, if we wanted to dry camp, our weight was immediately at 3,579 pounds, leaving us 221 pounds for gear for 2 adults and 4 small children. Needless to say, dry camping was out of the question for us. We simply were not comfortable with the lack of capacity. Minivan towable for an HTT is generally a big fat lie.