Towing Airstream with Tundra

[stargirl96]

We have a 2008 Toyota Tundra double cab V8 with 5.7L. It's rated to pull 10,100 lbs. I know you have to look beyond this tow rating when picking a trailer. We are looking at a 1995 28' Airstream. Dry weight is 8,500 lbs. & tongue weight 650 lbs. Will this work, and how do you figure what you can safely tow in a travel trailer? There will be only 2 medium-sized adult in truck, and we tend to pack light.

[aftermath]

Stargirl,

I am towing a 25FB with my 08 5.7L Tundra. My Airstream has a GVWR of 7300 so we are close. The 5.7 is a towing beast, you won't have any trouble getting it down the road and over the mountains. As someone has pointed out, the issue with ANY half ton truck will be your capacity. Get a good WD set up and pack light. Mine sits level and with only my wife and I we don't take much along. Typically we carry a generator, some wood and that is about all in the truck. The rest, including the bikes go on the back or inside the trailer.

I would give it a go before you look into adding extra springs and/or air bags.

[stargirl96]

Thank you all so much for the information. Lynn, the weight tables you provided are exactly what we needed. The folks in the Travel Trailer forum are the best!:)

[kknowlton]

Towed our 7600-lb (loaded) 34' TT with our Tundra over the Rockies several times. No sweat. I wouldn't go any higher than about 8000' loaded weight for a trailer with it, no matter what the tow rating is, though.

[Ron3rd]

eubank wrote:
Ah, the data I have from Airstream indicate the following:

1995
EXCELLA 28
Dry weight: 6100
Hitch weight: 620
GVWR: 8200

I have the historical data from Airstream as a PDF file on a server:

http://www.monteverderv.com/weights.pdf

Lynn

stargirl96 wrote:
We have a 2008 Toyota Tundra double cab V8 with 5.7L. It's rated to pull 10,100 lbs. I know you have to look beyond this tow rating when picking a trailer. We are looking at a 1995 28' Airstream. Dry weight is 8,500 lbs. & tongue weight 650 lbs. Will this work, and how do you figure what you can safely tow in a travel trailer? There will be only 2 medium-sized adult in truck, and we tend to pack light.

Tundra owner here. If that's the true spec on the Airstream then the Tundra will handle it. The 8,500 dry was what had me worried. My new Windjammer is 6,800 dry and longer than the Airstream the OP is looking at.

[eubank]

Ah, the data I have from Airstream indicate the following:

1995
EXCELLA 28
Dry weight: 6100
Hitch weight: 620
GVWR: 8200

I have the historical data from Airstream as a PDF file on a server:

http://www.monteverderv.com/weights.pdf

Lynn

stargirl96 wrote:
We have a 2008 Toyota Tundra double cab V8 with 5.7L. It's rated to pull 10,100 lbs. I know you have to look beyond this tow rating when picking a trailer. We are looking at a 1995 28' Airstream. Dry weight is 8,500 lbs. & tongue weight 650 lbs. Will this work, and how do you figure what you can safely tow in a travel trailer? There will be only 2 medium-sized adult in truck, and we tend to pack light.

[scbwr]

Yes, the Tundra would pull it, but I wouldn't donit unless you are only going to pull it for short distances. My fully loaded weight (2201DS) is under 6,500 lbs and the Tundra is great! I pulled our old Sunline around 8500 lbs. And it was OK....but I wouldn't want to tow it for very long distances or over the Rockies!

[Gillkid]

I have a 2004 Tundra double cab with the 4.7L. I bought a TT with a max weight of 6900 lbs (doubt I'll ever get there, we travel on the light side as well.). My truck is rated for 7000#s. I had a bunch if people telling me not to do it. I ended talking to my Toyota mechanic and said he has no issue towing 7000+#s with the same engine. Ultimately it comes down to what you prefer. When I hit a steep hill, the TT will slow me down. I carry my wife and kids and at no point do any of them feel unsafe and I don't feel like I'm putting them in any harm. Couple things to keep in mind...I baby the hell out of my truck. Maintain/change the fluids. Maintain tire pressures. Don't go 1 mile over the speed limit. Also, we don't camp any further than a 3-4 hour drive. And I'm driving mostly flat. If I had to deal with hills regularly, I wouldn't do it. Hope this helps.

[fla-gypsy]

Doubtful the dry weight is 8500. More like 6500 but we need to know for sure to help

[stargirl96]

Thanks for the information. We haven't seen anything in writing about the weights yet, just relied on what owners said. I've looked on the Internet to find out something official but haven't had any luck. I wonder if the 8,500 weight they told us is maximum loaded weight. It seems rather heavy for a 28' Airstream with no slide.

[APT]

8500 pounds dry is 10k loaded RV for week+ long trips. So that will put you over GCWR.

There is payload limitation which is usually the first limit hit, well under tow ratings in some cases. Check you actual truck (not brochure/web sites) for those. B-pillar should have this sticker. Note what yours says where mine lists 2051.



That has to include you, wife, cargo in the bed and trailer tongue weight.

Then receiver limit something like this:


Under 7k dry, maybe 6k for the capable half tons. That's where actual RVers are happy. 8k+ People replace the RV or the truck.

[AirForceAngler]

My aunt and uncle pull a 28' Airstream with their Tundra Double Cab all over the place, including from Texas to Alaska and back with no problems. He did have 10 ply tires installed and add-a-leafs, but other than that it was stock. That was with a 2007 Tundra and they just traded for a 2013 Tundra last year. This time he's going with the same tires, but air bags instead of the add-a-leafs for a softer empty ride.

[handye9]

stargirl96 wrote:
We have a 2008 Toyota Tundra double cab V8 with 5.7L. It's rated to pull 10,100 lbs. I know you have to look beyond this tow rating when picking a trailer. We are looking at a 1995 28' Airstream. Dry weight is 8,500 lbs. & tongue weight 650 lbs. Will this work, and how do you figure what you can safely tow in a travel trailer? There will be only 2 medium-sized adult in truck, and we tend to pack light.

Forget about that 10K tow capacity. You will run out of payload (cargo carrying capacity), long before you get there.

Check the sticker on your drivers door post. Look for a payload number or cargo carrying capacity. Payload is max weight capacity for occupants, cargo, WD hitch, and tongue weight combined. Some Tundras have less than 1400 lbs of payload, some have close to 1700 lbs.

The trailer weights don't look right. At a minimum the tongue weight should be 10 percent of trailer weight. Average tongue weight is 12 - 13 percent.

Assuming the 8500 dry weight is correct, you're looking at about 9200 lbs, loaded for camping. The tongue weight will be about 1100 lbs, possibly higher, and there will be another 100 lbs of WD hitch.

If your Tundra is on the low end with payload, you will be at max weight, before you or a passenger get in the truck, and there's no room for cargo of any kind.

[lanerd]

I think you misread the Airstream's specs. With an 8500 "dry" weight, the tongue weight will be, at a minimum, 850 lbs (10%). However, once loaded that 8500 lbs trailer will be at least 10,000 lbs with a tongue weight approaching 1200 lbs.

What's your Tundra's payload rating? Whatever it is, subtract from that rating all the weight you will put in/on the truck including you, passengers, equipment, tools, ect. What's left will be what tongue weight you can accommodate. Bet you're gonna be way over the payload rating...

I'd look for something a little lighter. The 5.7 will pull this weight, but the rest of the truck will be hard pressed.

Good luck.

Ron

[bgum]

While you can pull the 28 ft Airstream I would be more comfortable with a 25 ft Airstream. We have a newer Tundra with the 5.7 and tow a 23 ft Airstream. We at one time pulled a 25 ft Airstream with a Chevy Silverado 1500. We had some room to spare on our weights but would not have been as comfortable towing a larger trailer with that setup.