Frontal area for travel trailers

[Lakama]

I have a 2016 Nissan Frontier 4 cyl 2WD and want to tow a Jayco that weighs 2300 # with a frontal area of 63 square ft. Any ideas about the feasibility of this? The owner's manual states a limit of 30 square ft frontal area. Only a pop up would meet this criteria. Any advice?

[BenK]

Maybe this will help understand this laws of physics...

Take a 4'x3'x3/8" thick plywood (32 sq/ft) and hold it 90* to the wind of, say 10 MPH

Betcha you won't be able to hold it without being pushed around...heck even knocked down

Then do that in a 25 MPH wind and if we tied a rope to the plywood center...we could fly you like t kite...of course given that you do not weigh in at 400 lbs...

Now transfer that thought to your TV pulling a trailer with double that frontal area at 60 MPH...

[rjstractor]

I would think that transmission temps would be your only issue. A long time ago I towed a trailer of similar weight and frontal area with a small pickup with much less power than yours and had no problems or issues with handling, stopping, or overheating. Part of towing with a marginal setup is managing your expectations. It's not going to blast up grades at 70 mph and you need to keep an eye on temperatures, but I did it with 100 hp so you should be able to do it with 150.

[1492]

Moved from Forum Technical Support

[llr]

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[1320Fastback]

Since you're double the rated specification for the truck I would definitely take it easy on the highway. The sail area of the trailer is like a giant parachute and can easily overheat your transmission.

One drive through the farm lands will show you how much the truck blocks and how much it doesnt by the dead bug pattern.

Another area of drag is the square back of the trailer. Big rigs nowadays run air doors on the back to help alleviate the vacuum and they wouldn't spend the money on it unless it helped.

[WNYBob]

There is an engineering reason the mfg lists this number! I would stay close to that number or you might run in to over heating issues of engine and/or trany.
Also check the sticker weights on the drivers door pillar. You are also limited in total payload, hitch load and trailet wt.

A light popup seems reasonable.

[sgip2000]

The area blocked by your truck doesn't count.