Ok, backing up a step.. Looking for advice part 2

[Gsragtop]

I posted the other day about buying a 19 foot TT and towing with my Kia Sedona. Even though the dry weight was 700lbs under the max tow weight of the van, I was advised by many it was too much trailer for the van.. Honestly my wife and I gave up in the camping idea because we have what we have and our family is the size it is..

This weekend talking with friends it got revisited, we want to camp.. So While I still am not sure I agree, about the van being over loaded we are backing up a step.. We need a third vehicle in our family mostly because I'm in sales and make a living in my car and I can't afford to be without a car.. Currently our 3rd car is a 04 Saab convertible, but we are now considering selling that and getting a Truck capable of towing.

A side benefit of this idea is we can get a slightly larger, slightly cheaper used trailer if we follow thrugh with this idea.. We were looking at new because we needed small and light, and it seemed new was the way to go.,

Long story shirt we will have about $10000 to play with after selling the car and a few other things. I'm figuring half on the truck and half on the trailer.. Need some advise on what to look for. Due to driveway size constraints as much as I would like a crew cab, I don't think its in the cards.. An older Tahoe or Trailblazer (v8 would be nice, but at my price point 6cyl has a higher possibility) is far more Likley. What weight trailer would you think is max safe for these two trucks ?? How about an explorer sport track?? What other trucks would be on the list, Durangos I don't feel are reliable, explorers always feel underpowered (at least the 6cyl)..

Thanks again for the advice.

[tragusa3]

Glad to hear you're still thinking this through. Good advice that you can't make a decision without a starting point. However, I'll throw out a blanket statement: Stay under 5k lbs loaded, and any half ton with V8 will suit you for your plans of staying within a few hours of home and in the flat lands. (caveat: watching payload closely) I guarantee you that once you own the rig, you'll be itching to tow up into the Appalachians though. 5k and the smaller half tons will be marginal in the mountains. Been there.

I think a budget of 8-10k for the truck alone opens a whole lot of doors.

[dadmomh]

Agree that you like the 19' you've already found, so go from there. So glad you decided to rethink this....we could see a disaster waiting to happen with the earlier thought. Good move. Suggest you get all the #s for the specific trailer you're looking at and then hit the road in search of a vehicle. Don't recall, but did you find THE trailer at a specific dealer and get pricing, etc?? If you have all that, when you get to the auto dealer you can tell them the vehicle MUST have this capability and you need that documented by the VIN# of what you're looking at. Then you're not faced with another "sure, that'll work fine". Good luck, sounds like you're heading the right direction.

[westend]

Gsragtop wrote:

westend wrote:
I'd suggest to get a trailer size nailed down and then pick a vehicle that will tow it safely and comfortably. It seems like you want a small vehicle and then are trying to stretch the trailer size to be just barely within the capabilities of the vehicle. IMO, that's not the right way to get a good match.

That's not at all what I'm doing... Like at all... I'm asking that based on the size vehicles I'm talking about what size/weight trailer should I look for?? If I can find what I want in a 19 foot, I'm sure I can find it in a larger trailer as well.. Question is how large??

You posted this,"What weight trailer would you think is max safe for these two trucks ??"
If you've already found what you want in a 19" trailer, why not stick with that?

[MitchF150]

There really is no answer for you until you decide on a vehicle or a trailer IMO... 😉

$10k budget for both vehicle/TT is not much in today's dollars.. Heck, I put $10k as a down payment on my new truck! 🙂

I'm towing a #5000 TT that's 12 years old that I bought brand new in 2002 for $14k out the door. Towed it with a 97 F150 with a 5.4 and it was a very comfortable tow, but I wouldn't have wanted to tow much more (since it was over it's payload as it was!)

Anyway, you can crunch numbers all day long and still, it's only numbers that aren't really real...

I'm not intending to bust any bubbles here, but camping with an RV is not really a 'budget' thing and it's like any hobby out there... It's gonna cost some $$ to enjoy..

I wish you the best and we all started camping out of our CARS with TENTS and when I was a kid and that's all my folks could afford, it was some of the best times I always recall growing up! 🙂

Mitch

[rbpru]

We rented a 5000 lb. TT to see what RV towing was all about.

I had an F-150 with a 200 hp. V6. The towing was okay but my top speed on the flat was 62 mph. In the Ozarks we were doing good to get 52 mph. on the grades.

We found a nice 2011 Ecoboost F-150 (356 hp.) and now tow a similar trailer.

The suggestion to chose the TT with an eye on weight, then the TV is a good one.

[Gsragtop]

westend wrote:
I'd suggest to get a trailer size nailed down and then pick a vehicle that will tow it safely and comfortably. It seems like you want a small vehicle and then are trying to stretch the trailer size to be just barely within the capabilities of the vehicle. IMO, that's not the right way to get a good match.

That's not at all what I'm doing... Like at all... I'm asking that based on the size vehicles I'm talking about what size/weight trailer should I look for?? If I can find what I want in a 19 foot, I'm sure I can find it in a larger trailer as well.. Question is how large??

[westend]

I'd suggest to get a trailer size nailed down and then pick a vehicle that will tow it safely and comfortably. It seems like you want a small vehicle and then are trying to stretch the trailer size to be just barely within the capabilities of the vehicle. IMO, that's not the right way to get a good match.

[GaryWT]

If you go with a six you are looking at a smaller, lighter trailer. If you go with an 8 you are looking at a little bigger but payload will be the concern with tongue weight. Look at a vehicle and check both tow load and payload and then look at trailers. Do not calculate it on dry weight or dry tongue weight. You might not load totally to the max but you will be higher, maybe a 1000 pounds, over dry weight. Guess you will find that a trailer at 26 feet, 5-5,500 pound range might work with those TV.

[Gsragtop]

Suburban was on the list but too long, never liked the expedition or that 3 valve Titan with the impossible to change spark plugs. I'm a Chevy guy at the end of the day I guess, I would love a first year Tahoe with the L05 350 because I know that's a built proof motor, the later vortecs have head gasket issues..
I like jeeps as well, is a grand Cherokee a good tow vehicle ??

What size trailers am I looking at with these type of two vehicles??

[TX77705]

I tow with a 14 year old V8 Durango and have not had any reliability problems at all. It's been a real workhorse for us.

[Golden_HVAC]

Hi,

I was also thinking Expedition, it is based on the F-150 truck, while the Excursion is a heavy duty 6-9 passenger based on the much higher rated F-250 chassis. The Expedition only comes with a 5.4L now, around 300 HP, I think. The Excursion came with both the 5.4L V8 and 6.8L V10, as well as the unreliable 6.0L diesel, later models came with the 6.4L with some more reliability. If you can find a decent 7.3L diesel, get that one, it will provide the best mileage, and more power.

$5,000 will not buy much of a truck, sorry to say, but you might find something. A short bed crewcab F-150 might fit in your driveway, it is pretty short, and can handle a travel trailer.

Suburbans have become unpopular due to the higher fuel costs. It will not get nearly the MPG as the Saab.

Fred.

[Wagonqueen_Truc]

My Suburban (2500) is an awesome tow vehicle. Even after 200,000 miles and 4 teenage drivers (including a half a dozen accidents) the darn thing just keep chuggin along. We pulled a 30 footer Terry that weighed about 4500 lbs. It was a "light" model and eventually rotted out due to "light weight" construction materials, but non the less we had a great time over the 10 years we had it. Just be careful about what kind of camper you buy. Do your research. Light isn't necessarily "right".

[SprinklerMan]

You may also want to look at vans , I am partial to the fords , with the 5.4 . I have one as a work van and never had a major problem in 10 years

[Francesca_Knowl]

The budget will be $10,000.00 to cover both tug AND tow? Is that total, or are you willing to take on some debt, too?

[ChooChooMan74]

Good choice my friend. A "half ton" SUV like a Tahoe or Expedition is a better choice than a KIA. If this is used more for towing, one thing is to look for a rear gear ratio of at least 3.73:1. I bet others can give better advice on looking for a used vehicle.