Newbie looking for some assistance

[danv1317]

I'm a travel nurse as well as my girlfriend. We decided we want to buy an RV to live out of for the next year as we travel the country (including alaska) to work. We have a brand new F150 v6 Ecoboost 145" wheelbase, 3.31 electronic lock RR axle, 7200# GWR, and the integrated trailer brake. A lot of the numbers i'm seeing are somewhat confusing to me. All the different payload, towing, tounge and so on...

The other kicker is i have to bring my 450lb motorcycle as i use that to commute and my girlfriend uses the truck.

We are trying to find out how big/heavy of a trailer we can purchase that my truck can handle. Any advice is appreciated. We are looking for used RV since we new to this. Only requirement is that it needs a shower. We are both 6 feet tall so we obviously want big as we can, but we realize that are truck will be the limiting factor.

Please let me know what is within my range. Thanks again for any advice you can offer.
Thanks
Dan

[APT]

Single rear wheel 1-tons are available. A gas powered 3/4 ton will also do in order to carry all the weight you want.

Not all toy haulers have an 8' dedicated garage. In fact, most of the ones in the weight range you want for the F-150 would be a combo garage living space. Something like this maybe:

[danv1317]

She doesn't love the idea of being the full time driver of the truck. And we want to spend time together while driving. I have put quite a few miles on the bike already this year (25K) which included a 12,000 mile round trip ride from San Francisco to the Arctic Ocean.

You can check out my blog: www.DanRidesADucati.com

We are planning to live/work in San Diego until April and then we are going to take our time driving up to Alaska and do some work in either Homer or Anchorage.

I'm headed tomorrow to look at V8 Ford F250 Super Duty with payload of 2506lbs (that's what the yellow sticker on the door stated)

AlmostAnOldGuy wrote:
What does your girlfriend think about driving a truck and trailer? You can ride the bike and you just freed up some payload. By taking your weight and the weight of the bike out of the truck you may have enough for a 5000 lb (wet weight, fully loaded) trailer. Might be cozy, but you get along well, right?

I have driven across Montana and through the Rockies with my motorcycle in a trailer and riding it. Riding it was much more fun.

As mentioned above a used truck may be a good idea given the size of trailers you are looking at. There are some good rigs out there that folks are letting go of due to milage and age, yet they still have a lot of pull left.

Good luck,
Stu

[AlmostAnOldGuy]

What does your girlfriend think about driving a truck and trailer? You can ride the bike and you just freed up some payload. By taking your weight and the weight of the bike out of the truck you may have enough for a 5000 lb (wet weight, fully loaded) trailer. Might be cozy, but you get along well, right?

I have driven across Montana and through the Rockies with my motorcycle in a trailer and riding it. Riding it was much more fun.

As mentioned above a used truck may be a good idea given the size of trailers you are looking at. There are some good rigs out there that folks are letting go of due to milage and age, yet they still have a lot of pull left.

Good luck,
Stu

[rhagfo]

Why not get a single or dual wheel dolly for the back of the trailer? Not considered a trailer as the attach a two points.

[DougE]

I would suggest that you see a toyhauler first hand. Because of the dual function the restroom and the kitchen are usually near the front while there is typically crank down bed and a folding sofa in the space where the MC would be. Once the MC is rolled out you have a relatively large living area compared to most trailers. In pleasant weather you can also lower the rear ramp to really open up the space. Loading the MC into the toyhauler is also much, much easier than getting it up into the pickup bed. A tri-fold bed cover would be great for the pickup and you would be able to safely carry fuel cans and a 3k generator in the bed as well as other miscellaneous stuff that you don't need to clutter up the trailer with.

[agesilaus]

Yes they make single rear wheel one ton trucks you see them called SRW (DRW is dual wheeled). If you are going to buy a 3/4 ton look for one tons first. If you buy new then there is only a small difference in prices and the will handle the same. The only difference between a 3/4 ton and a 1 ton is in the suspension. And that will give you the chance to upgrade to a bigger trailer or fifth wheel sometime down the road.

[danv1317]

Fordlover wrote:

danv1317 wrote:
I'm a travel nurse as well as my girlfriend. We decided we want to buy an RV to live out of for the next year as we travel the country (including alaska) to work. We have a brand new F150 v6 Ecoboost 145" wheelbase, 3.31 electronic lock RR axle, 7200# GWR, and the integrated trailer brake. A lot of the numbers i'm seeing are somewhat confusing to me. All the different payload, towing, tounge and so on...

The other kicker is i have to bring my 450lb motorcycle as i use that to commute and my girlfriend uses the truck.

We are trying to find out how big/heavy of a trailer we can purchase that my truck can handle. Any advice is appreciated. We are looking for used RV since we new to this. Only requirement is that it needs a shower. We are both 6 feet tall so we obviously want big as we can, but we realize that are truck will be the limiting factor.

Please let me know what is within my range. Thanks again for any advice you can offer.
Thanks
Dan

That bike is gonna cause you troubles unless you end up with a toy hauler RV. Your payload is likely somewhere between 1500-1000. If you want to put a bike in the bed 450 lbs, plus ramps, straps, etc. I'd round up to 500. After you subtract your 500 lb. bike, you are now 1,000-500. Subtract the weight of you and your GF, and everything else you load in or add to the truck, and you are likely somewhere around 500-0. Now you have to add your tongue weight of your trailer, and <500 lbs. of tongue weight is very rare in the RV world.

Of course all the above are ASSumed numbers, but you can see how the stated payload of your truck starts to disappear quickly when you start loading up.

It kills me to have to buy a toy trailer that has an 8 foot storage section for one mid sized motorcycle. So much living space wasted. But i guess if that's my only option.... I'd almost rather just have somebody help me lift the motorcycle into the travel trailer and somehow tie it down every 3 months just to get it from work assignment to work assignment. shucks

[TomG2]

My "plain Jane" Silverado 2500HD has a payload of over 3,000 pounds. Adding things like diesel and 4 wheel drive will reduce that number considerably.

[Fordlover]

danv1317 wrote:
I'm a travel nurse as well as my girlfriend. We decided we want to buy an RV to live out of for the next year as we travel the country (including alaska) to work. We have a brand new F150 v6 Ecoboost 145" wheelbase, 3.31 electronic lock RR axle, 7200# GWR, and the integrated trailer brake. A lot of the numbers i'm seeing are somewhat confusing to me. All the different payload, towing, tounge and so on...

The other kicker is i have to bring my 450lb motorcycle as i use that to commute and my girlfriend uses the truck.

We are trying to find out how big/heavy of a trailer we can purchase that my truck can handle. Any advice is appreciated. We are looking for used RV since we new to this. Only requirement is that it needs a shower. We are both 6 feet tall so we obviously want big as we can, but we realize that are truck will be the limiting factor.

Please let me know what is within my range. Thanks again for any advice you can offer.
Thanks
Dan

That bike is gonna cause you troubles unless you end up with a toy hauler RV. Your payload is likely somewhere between 1500-1000. If you want to put a bike in the bed 450 lbs, plus ramps, straps, etc. I'd round up to 500. After you subtract your 500 lb. bike, you are now 1,000-500. Subtract the weight of you and your GF, and everything else you load in or add to the truck, and you are likely somewhere around 500-0. Now you have to add your tongue weight of your trailer, and <500 lbs. of tongue weight is very rare in the RV world.

Of course all the above are ASSumed numbers, but you can see how the stated payload of your truck starts to disappear quickly when you start loading up.

[danv1317]

what do you guys think of these two trucks? These are local trucks

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/4806516632.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/cto/4805042569.html

It seems like most of the trailer i'm looking at have a dry weight of about 5000-6000lbs. I think you guys were adding 1500lbs worth of extras in the trailer for storage?

Puts me at like 7500lbs, x 13% for tongue weight = 975lbs tongue weight

+ 950 for myself, my girlfriend, my dog, my motorcycle and a few small things in the truck. that means i need a payload of 1,925lb.

Here is a local travel trailer in San Francisco also that i am going to inquire about:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/rvd/4782026888.html

Can i do this with an F250??? or do i need to go duely in the back of a 1 ton truck?

[danv1317]

APT wrote:
I think you will find a better small toy hauler for your needs with the F-150. The payload is a killer for towing an RV, let alone taking a motorcycle and full timing.

If you decide to replace the truck, then find any 1-ton you like.

Are there any 1 ton trucks that aren't duel wheels in the back? My girlfriend will be using this as her daily commuter to work when we are on contract, and i will be using my motorcycle. We are just going to do a 27ish foot travel trailer i think with the motorcycle in the bed.

[APT]

I think you will find a better small toy hauler for your needs with the F-150. The payload is a killer for towing an RV, let alone taking a motorcycle and full timing.

If you decide to replace the truck, then find any 1-ton you like.

[danv1317]

I think what i'm going to do is buy a used truck with higher miles to use for 1 year to tow this trailer. Do you guys have a reccomendation on a used vehicle that i should look for that will be good to pull this 25-30ft trailer? Like to stay under 12K for the truck.

What type of payload should I look for in the vehicle i buy?

We are doing this for the adventure. So I know i am not totally doing this for the $ aspect. But how many 30 year olds get to travel the country living in an RV?! I'm excited for the journey. Reading all the info about my current truck not being able to handle it was really a downer for my girlfriend and I but we really want to make this happen. Any more advice would be great! Thanks guys!

[Old-Biscuit]

From your other post:

It says that cargo and passengers should never exceed 1352lbs

My girlfriend and i together weigh 400lbs (i account for more lbs of those than her!). My motorcycle weights 450lbs. and my dog weighs 50lbs. So that puts the total weight we add to the truck at 900.

And your other comment:

This sure was a fast learning experience. We plan to only do this for 1 year and we literally just bought this F150 like 2 weeks ago. But i just didn't plan on using it to tow a trailer at that time.

Both of these were in response to what which F150 you had.

And as one of the poster pointed out......after subtracting the 900# from your sticker payload of 1352# you would only have 452# of payload left.
Then you would also need to subtract anything you have inside truck with you..yes that means backpacks, coats, all that little stuff in console, truck door pockets, doggie stuff PLUS the weight of hitch and anything else you have in truck bed with motorcycle.

What's left over....not a whole heck of anything for trailer tongue weight.

Nice truck......enjoy it!

But hauling a motorcycle, towing a trailer and it being one 2 adults and dog live in...........not unless you completely ignore all weight/tow ratings.

And living in an RV FT is not cheaper than renting apt. etc. It is different lifestyle but not really cheaper.


Asking the same question in a different way will not get you the answer you were hoping for.
Same issues exists as pointed out in your other post on same subject.