smokeywren

2008 F-150s with 5.4L and 3.73 axle with the normal 17" tires have tow ratings over 8,000 pounds. So I wouldn't let that 5,300 pound tow rating concern you too much.


Your real limiter is the payload capacity of your pickup. Weigh the wet and loaded pickup and subtract that weight from the GVWR of the pickup. The answer is the unused payload capacity available for the max hitch weight you can haul without exceeding the payload capacity of your pickup. Divide that max hitch weight by 0.15 and the answer is the max GVWR of any trailer you want to consider. It will probably be less than 6,000 pounds.


Yes, a real hard-side normal travel trailer with GVWR less than 6,000 pounds is a rare find. Mine has GVWR of 5,600, but they quit making it and replaced it with one that has GVWR over 6,000. With a family of 4, if you want a travel trailer without having to use the convertible dinette for the two kids, then you need a bunkhouse model. The lightest bunkhouse model is probably going to exceed 6,000 pounds GVWR, like this one:
http://www.skylinerv.com/page/426/215BH


So you're back to looking at hybreds or pop-ups.



But here is one small bunkhouse (BH) TT that has everything you need to get out of the tent, with GVWR less than 4,000 pounds. You won't find one of these on a used-RV lot. And I suspect there are errors in the specs, because the GVWR is too low for that much trailer.
http://www.forestriverinc.com/produc...odelID=743#Mai


But at least that one gives you hope that maybe you can find a used BH trailer with less than 6,000-pound GVWR.


That one has no slide, so Mama will have a hard and fast rule that everyone stay either outside or in bed or in the bathroom or sitting in the dinette any time she is in the kitchen. There is not room for more than one person in the kitchen, even if just passing through. And she won't like it because she has to crawl around on the bed and bunks to make the beds. So the kids will get to make up their own bunks, and Dad can make the bed. But add a slide to make more room in the kitchen or real walk-around beds and the 18' box is no longer big enough.

The answer is a pop-up. A hybred is a combo of a TT with fold-out beds covered with tent canvas. Not really any better than a pop-up . Here's a pop-up that includes a minimalist bathroom and two large beds plus a sofa-bed with GVWR less than 4,000 pounds.
http://www.forestriverinc.com/produc...delID=940#Main


When my kids were home, we had a pop-up camper with 8' floor and nothing in it but an iebox. We hauled a Coleman 3-burner gas stove, lantern and catalytic heater. Plastic dishpan and a 5-gallon water jug for washing dishes on the picnic table at campgrounds, or taking a sponge bath inside the camper after we heated up a few gallons of water on the Coleman stove. 5-gallon "slop jar" with a commode seat for our porta-pottie. Minimalist camper, but much, much better than a tent. That fancy Rockwood pop-up with AC, hot and cold running water, bathroom with shower, refrigerator, etc. would have been a dream come true for us. Yeah, you have to sit on the pottie while taking a shower, but it beats a sponge bath out of a plastic dishpan. Darling Wife and I got so that we could pop up the camper and make it weatherproof in two minutes. In 20 years, we got soaked only once, and that was at Sequoia National Park around 1978. Yes, it rains in California.


But after all that time in our pop-up, we really appreciate all the liuxury of our current tiny RV trailer.

Mulestang

On the "Tire and Loading Information" tag, it says 1150lbs combined weight (cargo and passengers). This is for the factory 275/45/22 tire. I'm running 275/55/20s, but I don't think it matters.

Bowhuntin4ever

Even though a owned a Jayco 23B Hybrid, this is the one I really wanted at the time.
http://www.forestriverinc.com/produc...delID=965#Main
It would be on the high side of the weight you are looking for. Tongue weight is low enough though. Also, if your kids each bring a friend, there is plenty of beds without braeking down the dinette for an extra bed. This was my favorite Hybrid by far! I bought the Jayco because my wife preferred the Jayco. My boys are old enough now that they actually sleep in a tent with friends when we camp. My daughter prefers the bunk end of our current camper with her friends.

tsigwing

check out
http://trailmanor.com/wordpress/

77Ranger460

I would get a Hi-Lo/Tow Lite before a Trail Manor.

tsigwing

Good to have options.

Mulestang

The Trail Manor and Hi-Lo were options I had never considered. I didn't know the types even existed. Struggling to find a rental right now, but the search continues. Thanks for all the good inputs. They're appreciated.

wrvond

Actually, changing the wheel/tire size will affect your towing capacity. However, knowing exactly how it affects it is difficult to figure out, at best.
I recommend starting with the Ford Towing Guide for your year.
http://www.fleet.ford.com/towing-guides/


With that guide you will know exactly what your safe limits are. Then you can start looking for a TT that fits within those limits.
With a family of four, whatever camper you look at, figure at least 1000 pounds over the dry weight of the camper. In your position, I think I would be looking at the hybrids. They offer berthing that is not your living or dining room. In fact, at a campground last weekend, I saw a hybrid with a slide. Amazing amount of room in there. I have no idea what it weighed or the cost though.
Good luck in your search.

smokeywren

The math is relatively easy. Tire revolutions per mile (revs per mile) is the key. Ignore wheel size and go by the revs/mile for that size/type tire. Any decent tire source includes the revs/mile in the tire specs.


Then:


Percent change is revs/mile = percent change in rear axle ratio, speedo and odo error.


Example for an F-150 Limited with 22" tires:
Tire size
275/65R18 has 648 revs/mile
325/50R22 has 594 revs/mile
648 minus 594 = 54
54 divided by 594 = 0.091 = 9.1%


3.73 axle ratio = 3.73 plus 9.1% = 4.07. So your 3.73 axle ratio with 22" tires would "feel like" a 4.07 ratio with 18" tires.


Assuming your speedo and odo were accurate with 22" tires, then they would be 9.1% fast with 18" tires. So an indicated 70 MPH would be an actual 63.6 MPH on Officer Bob's radar gun (or on your GPS). Your 400 miles on a tankful of gas would be an actual 364 miles. You can have the speedo/odo calibrated to correct the speedo error, but it's not cheap.


So other than the after-the-fact seat-of-the-pants "feel", estimating the impact of the 9.1% change in your effective rear axle ratio would be, as wrvond indicated, difficult to figure out.