Towing with a Chevy Venture

[VentureVan]

I am considering purchasing a 2015 Sportsmen 14 ft. travel trailer with a dry weight of 2123 lbs. I would be pulling it with a 2004 Chevy Venture that has a 3500 lb tow rating. The trailer has electric brakes and I will be adding air shocks and a transmission cooler to the Venture. I have a class III receiver hitch and plan on using an E2 WD hookup. Am I leaving anything out as far as towing hardware?? I don't plan on towing any faster than 55 to 60 probably not in OD. Thanks

[GaryWT]

Yes, payload is total weight of everything in the tow vehicle including hitch and tongue weight of the trailer. Once you go over that number is can be a safety issue for you and others on the road.

[westend]

nomad297 wrote:

VentureVan wrote:
Not sure what you mean by payload?? 🙂

You really need to do some research and listen to what the experienced people here have to say.

Your payload will be listed on a sticker on your driver's side door pillar.

Bruce

On an '04, maybe not. I think the mandatory tire and safety sticker came around in '06 but it might have one.

It won't make any difference to the OP but "payload" and the payload rating are what the mfg. says the vehicle can carry (weight). This would be the weight of passengers and cargo inside the van, the weight of the WDH, and the tongue weight of the trailer.

[nomad297]

VentureVan wrote:
Not sure what you mean by payload?? 🙂

You really need to do some research and listen to what the experienced people here have to say.

Your payload will be listed on a sticker on your driver's side door pillar.

Bruce

[stepside454]

we towed a 3500 lbs travel trailer( weighed it) with our 06 Ford freestar , rated to tow 3500 lbs for 3 yrs without a problem. was it fast? nope but it did fine, never had a tranny problem.

[VentureVan]

Not sure what you mean by payload?? 🙂

[GaryWT]

Minivans are great for towing popups but not sure I would do more. What is the payload of the van.

[VentureVan]

xteacher wrote:
Given the high profile of a TT, have you looked up the frontal area limit of your van? My 2010 Pathfinder, with a 6000 lb. tow limit (built on the Frontier truck chassis) has a frontal area limit of only 70 square feet, I think. I have the TT in my signature, which only weighs 2507 lb. dry, with a hitch weight of 312 lb. I can definitely feel it behind my car, and I wouldn't want to pull much more than that.

I'd recommend pulling a PUP (and not a huge one!) with your van. I pulled one with a small SUV with a 3500 lb. tow limit, and it did well.

I've already towed an old Apache hard side camper fully loaded and with an 8000 btu A/C mounted over the hitch area and it hardly made any difference in the way the Van performed. I do realize that I will not be able to tow in overdrive mode.

[MackinawMan]

AngryBert-63 wrote:

handye9 wrote:

VentureVan wrote:
I don't foresee a problem with sensible driving as I will be well under the rated towing capacity.

Actually, you will not be well under the rated tow capacity.

The manufacturer rated that capacity, considering the vehicle had a 150 lb driver, with no aftermarket accessories, no cargo, and no passengers.

As you add weight from accessories, people, and cargo, that rated tow capacity is dropping, pound for pound. Just adding the E2 hitch, will take close to 100 lbs of tow capacity away.

If you load the hitch and 500 lbs of people and cargo, your real tow capacity is 2900 lbs. Load 700 lbs of people, cargo, and hitch, your max tow rating would become 2700 lbs.

Now, look at the trailer:

It has an advertised 2133 lb dry weight. Dry weights are rarely accurate.

Average weight of stuff we drag along (dishes, pots and pans, bedding, camp chairs, BBQ, a few tools, groceries, and water, etc) weighs 700 - 1000 lbs.

If the advertised dry weight is close to accurate, adding a battery and propane will push that up to 2200 lbs. Conservatively, you will add another 6 - 700 lbs. That gives you a loaded trailer weight around 2900 - 3000 lbs.

Rather than being well under your tow rating, you could be over.

This^..

I'd bet on it.

No offense to the OP, but this seems like one of those threads where they're not sure of what they are about to do, so they post their situation on here hoping for affirmation that they will be "just fine". When that doesn't happen, the "defense reflex" kicks in.

Just do what you're going to do, and be careful. We want to see you at the campgrounds enjoying yourselves, not stranded along the highway (or worse)!!

[VentureVan]

I will let you all know how it does. 🙂

[Winnebago_Bob]

handye9 wrote:

VentureVan wrote:
I don't foresee a problem with sensible driving as I will be well under the rated towing capacity.

Actually, you will not be well under the rated tow capacity.

The manufacturer rated that capacity, considering the vehicle had a 150 lb driver, with no aftermarket accessories, no cargo, and no passengers.

As you add weight from accessories, people, and cargo, that rated tow capacity is dropping, pound for pound. Just adding the E2 hitch, will take close to 100 lbs of tow capacity away.

If you load the hitch and 500 lbs of people and cargo, your real tow capacity is 2900 lbs. Load 700 lbs of people, cargo, and hitch, your max tow rating would become 2700 lbs.

Now, look at the trailer:

It has an advertised 2133 lb dry weight. Dry weights are rarely accurate.

Average weight of stuff we drag along (dishes, pots and pans, bedding, camp chairs, BBQ, a few tools, groceries, and water, etc) weighs 700 - 1000 lbs.

If the advertised dry weight is close to accurate, adding a battery and propane will push that up to 2200 lbs. Conservatively, you will add another 6 - 700 lbs. That gives you a loaded trailer weight around 2900 - 3000 lbs.

Rather than being well under your tow rating, you could be over.

This^..

I'd bet on it.

[xteacher]

Given the high profile of a TT, have you looked up the frontal area limit of your van? My 2010 Pathfinder, with a 6000 lb. tow limit (built on the Frontier truck chassis) has a frontal area limit of only 70 square feet, I think. I have the TT in my signature, which only weighs 2507 lb. dry, with a hitch weight of 312 lb. I can definitely feel it behind my car, and I wouldn't want to pull much more than that.

I'd recommend pulling a PUP (and not a huge one!) with your van. I pulled one with a small SUV with a 3500 lb. tow limit, and it did well.

[bluie5]

We had a 1999 Venture that we bought new with the tow package. Even with the tow package it still had a little trouble pulling our pop-up.

[VentureVan]

I also forgot to add that I have the basic Venture van without power sliding doors. power seats and power door locks so the Van itself is lighter and it also is not the extended wheelbase version and is not awd.

[VentureVan]

I disagree, the maximum gross vehicle weight for the travel trailer is 2800 lbs. so I will not be overloading the trailer so as not to exceed that weight. I know not to load up the water or holding tanks and not to stuff the trailer full. In addition the van has the heavy middle seats removed saving close to two hundred pounds and I could also remove the rear most seat saving another hundred or so pounds. In addition the Van will be blocking a good part of the front of the trailer thus lessening wind resistance. I will also be using the lighter duty E2 hitch so it will not be overly heavy.

[VentureVan]

Hopefully the tranny cooler will prevent that and I will be keeping a close eye on the temp gauge. I have a lot of experience RV'ing and in the past I have even run the heater in the summer to cool down a vehicle.