Tow weight
Im new to the rv trailer world. I am currently in the market for my 1st travel trailer. The idea is to eventually find a full time/seasonal campground that has full amenities. I have small children an...
Forum Discussion
Thanks. Yes, I’m looking to buy something we won’t easily outgrow with a nice floor plan. We would def be open to pulling out for Trips in the future. That’s why I’m looking at trailers in 27 to 30 feet range. There’s a lot of trailers in that range with a gvwr under the towing capacity of my truck which is 7400 lbs. that’s for a fully loaded trailer.
There isn’t ANY reason to continually buy travel trailers. My folks bought but one and kept it thirty years. From when I was in high school until my son graduated college.
The five of us traveled the USA, Canada & Mexico for weeks on end, every year.
In retirement my folks were full-timing six months or more at a stretch. Had two tow vehicles over that entire period. (By choice, not necessity).
The TV spec is Solo duty first. A typical RV’er travels but 5k miles per year. The other two-thirds of miles drives the decision. Towing a TT isn’t difficult.
TT weight has little to do with TV spec. What matters is on-road stability. Steering control, braking & handling. Serious accidents are about driver loss-of-control (over-correction), NOT about “weight”.
The new & 20-year stil new-and-clueless imagine that trailer tongue weight is a payload problem, and it isn’t. TW is a placeholder number as TW is NOT a constant. It’s changes continually once underway. It’s the force exerted by a lever. Which extends forward from the trailer axles to the hitch ball.
TW was a problem solved more than fifty years ago by correct use of a weight-distribution hitch. . Change the name of the device to Lever Force Control Unit for a better description.
The hitch ball location — relative to the road — can’t move UP or DOWN or SIDEWAYS without that force being resisted by tires & springs ALL ACROSS the combined rig.
RV’ers who think they have it right (hitch rigging), don’t. Have only set things to counter that force in maybe one direction.
What is at stake is that the TV rear axle NOT lose contact with the road, AND that it resists side-sway without breaking loose.
A live axle (solid axle) TV — the pickup truck — is LIKELIEST to fail in these. 4WD with even limited off-road tire treads make this worse yet.
Too much spring capacity (unused) only exacerbates the problem.
A WDH spreads over ALL THREE axle [sets] the levers attempts to disengage the rear axle tires from their job versus concentration of force at a single point.
A 1,000-lb TW is EASILY handled by car, SUV or minivan. As the axles on the TV see 350-400/lbs after lash-up. (Axle/Tire Capacity chart is what matters).
What’s best TV spec? Family duty. The short version there is fully independent suspension & shortest rear overhang b (distance from rear axle to hitch ball).
Low center-of-gravity, is the other.
When’s a pickup a good choice? When it’s subject to IRS rules, and not otherwise. It’s a heavily-compromised vehicle. Least-capable when it matters, as it is MORE likely than the trailer to initiate a loss-of-control incident. .
Where when solo it’s weight ratio FF/RR is 48-50% equal AS USED DAILY is when it comes into its own. Not otherwise.
Want to be laughed out of the room, tell us about what a good driver you are. Risk-avoidance is statistically ordered.
The worst pair of vehicles in combination is a 4WD pickup with a box-shape travel trailer (including 5’ers) raised for slide-outs and riding on leaf spring suspension.
The opposite end is a high-end European sedan or SUV pulling a truly-aero TT on fully independent suspension.
“Skill” can’t overcome physics. Mario Andretti couldn’t correct from loss of rear axle tire patch contact. There’s not time enough at highway speed. And there’s not an adequate training regimen to introduce familiarity.
Good habits are second to “best” combination rig. Assembling that rig (on RV forums) tries to use the wrong assumptions to correct problems which don’t exist. Usually makes bad into worse. (Where words like Payload and Tow Rating occur. Which don’t exist in the real world of commercial trucking; thus, liability).
Liability is on the operator. “Too fast for conditions”, if a citation is required.
Were these discussions truly about what is safe, physics would play its role. It’s shut out. The other end we’d expect to see discussed. It isn’t: Torsion-Flex axles on the trailer, and anti-lock disc brakes.
Instead we listen to children happy they can GO FASTER on an upgrade (bigger pickup!!) instead of understanding that worsens everything which actually matters.
OP, your family’s miles SOLO miles demand best stability, steering & braking. Towing a trailer is second place. That’s cart & horse In proper order. The two vehicles go together EASILY with minimal changes to TV spec to enhance vacation travel.
It’s not rocket science. And it’s not in TV ads. It’s especially not in an RV crowd where 95% get it wrong (to be generous).
There are Engineering formulas which predict, and there are tests by which you can verify & confirm. Both are missing without a long search, here.
Second to what’s missing (trailer upgrades needed was first), are the tests. Where Joe Smith dialed in his hitch rigging (after Three Pass Scale Method; also corrected tire pressure) to get best braking. His rig — and yours — should stop SOONER once hitched. (Both vehicles loaded for camping with passengers aboard).
The echo chamber of bad advice is king in RV forums. Any site or brand.
It’s subject to a numerical baseline of performance testing. This is always missing. Numbers, not anecdote. Those who don’t understand what’s possible aren’t reliable.
What actually works an eighth grader can parse.
Take your time. (Read).
Good luck!
.
There isn’t ANY reason to continually buy travel trailers. My folks bought but one and kept it thirty years. From when I was in high school until my son graduated college.
The five of us traveled the USA, Canada & Mexico for weeks on end, every year.
In retirement my folks were full-timing six months or more at a stretch. Had two tow vehicles over that entire period. (By choice, not necessity).
The TV spec is Solo duty first. A typical RV’er travels but 5k miles per year. The other two-thirds of miles drives the decision. Towing a TT isn’t difficult.
TT weight has little to do with TV spec. What matters is on-road stability. Steering control, braking & handling. Serious accidents are about driver loss-of-control (over-correction), NOT about “weight”.
The new & 20-year stil new-and-clueless imagine that trailer tongue weight is a payload problem, and it isn’t. TW is a placeholder number as TW is NOT a constant. It’s changes continually once underway. It’s the force exerted by a lever. Which extends forward from the trailer axles to the hitch ball.
TW was a problem solved more than fifty years ago by correct use of a weight-distribution hitch. . Change the name of the device to Lever Force Control Unit for a better description.
The hitch ball location — relative to the road — can’t move UP or DOWN or SIDEWAYS without that force being resisted by tires & springs ALL ACROSS the combined rig.
RV’ers who think they have it right (hitch rigging), don’t. Have only set things to counter that force in maybe one direction.
What is at stake is that the TV rear axle NOT lose contact with the road, AND that it resists side-sway without breaking loose.
A live axle (solid axle) TV — the pickup truck — is LIKELIEST to fail in these. 4WD with even limited off-road tire treads make this worse yet.
Too much spring capacity (unused) only exacerbates the problem.
A WDH spreads over ALL THREE axle [sets] the levers attempts to disengage the rear axle tires from their job versus concentration of force at a single point.
A 1,000-lb TW is EASILY handled by car, SUV or minivan. As the axles on the TV see 350-400/lbs after lash-up. (Axle/Tire Capacity chart is what matters).
What’s best TV spec? Family duty. The short version there is fully independent suspension & shortest rear overhang b (distance from rear axle to hitch ball).
Low center-of-gravity, is the other.
When’s a pickup a good choice? When it’s subject to IRS rules, and not otherwise. It’s a heavily-compromised vehicle. Least-capable when it matters, as it is MORE likely than the trailer to initiate a loss-of-control incident. .
Where when solo it’s weight ratio FF/RR is 48-50% equal AS USED DAILY is when it comes into its own. Not otherwise.
Want to be laughed out of the room, tell us about what a good driver you are. Risk-avoidance is statistically ordered.
The worst pair of vehicles in combination is a 4WD pickup with a box-shape travel trailer (including 5’ers) raised for slide-outs and riding on leaf spring suspension.
The opposite end is a high-end European sedan or SUV pulling a truly-aero TT on fully independent suspension.
“Skill” can’t overcome physics. Mario Andretti couldn’t correct from loss of rear axle tire patch contact. There’s not time enough at highway speed. And there’s not an adequate training regimen to introduce familiarity.
Good habits are second to “best” combination rig. Assembling that rig (on RV forums) tries to use the wrong assumptions to correct problems which don’t exist. Usually makes bad into worse. (Where words like Payload and Tow Rating occur. Which don’t exist in the real world of commercial trucking; thus, liability).
Liability is on the operator. “Too fast for conditions”, if a citation is required.
Were these discussions truly about what is safe, physics would play its role. It’s shut out. The other end we’d expect to see discussed. It isn’t: Torsion-Flex axles on the trailer, and anti-lock disc brakes.
Instead we listen to children happy they can GO FASTER on an upgrade (bigger pickup!!) instead of understanding that worsens everything which actually matters.
OP, your family’s miles SOLO miles demand best stability, steering & braking. Towing a trailer is second place. That’s cart & horse In proper order. The two vehicles go together EASILY with minimal changes to TV spec to enhance vacation travel.
It’s not rocket science. And it’s not in TV ads. It’s especially not in an RV crowd where 95% get it wrong (to be generous).
There are Engineering formulas which predict, and there are tests by which you can verify & confirm. Both are missing without a long search, here.
Second to what’s missing (trailer upgrades needed was first), are the tests. Where Joe Smith dialed in his hitch rigging (after Three Pass Scale Method; also corrected tire pressure) to get best braking. His rig — and yours — should stop SOONER once hitched. (Both vehicles loaded for camping with passengers aboard).
The echo chamber of bad advice is king in RV forums. Any site or brand.
It’s subject to a numerical baseline of performance testing. This is always missing. Numbers, not anecdote. Those who don’t understand what’s possible aren’t reliable.
What actually works an eighth grader can parse.
Take your time. (Read).
Good luck!
.
