Another "Can I Tow It?" Derp thread
06-27-2014, 12:42 AM
#1
Another "Can I Tow It?" Derp thread
Since my wife and I discovered we're having twins, plus the toddler we already have and a dog, I have changed my mind about buying a small 5th wheel that I could tow my boat behind. I need a bigger bumper pull trailer with a slide out for seasonal camping. It will be towed once to the campground and once back to storage each season.
I found a good deal on a 27 foot Heartland Trail Runner. The owner got back to me and the GVWR is 10845 LBS. Now, that's freaking heavy. Dry weight us supposedly under 6000 LBS for what it is worth. I would NEVER tow it with any water in it. Since it is seasonal camping, I will make a few trips with all the stuff we'll need. I'll load up the boat and the bed of the truck with stuff on the second trip to keep the weight of the trailer down.
My truck is:
2014 F150 5.0 V8
Screw
4x4
Heavy Duty Payload Package - 2228 lbs of payload
I think I have a 9200 lbs towing capacity
I really can't see myself EVER approaching the GVWR of that trailer. I mean, if I take it to a scale and it is 6500 lbs unloaded, I MIGHT get 1500 lbs of stuff in it. However, that's unlikely. I will be making minimum two trips to bring stuff out for the season.
So, should I even be considering this trailer or is it too much for my truck once wet? The price seems good and it has a nice layout with a slide and bunks... haven't gone to see it yet as it is about an hour away.
I found a good deal on a 27 foot Heartland Trail Runner. The owner got back to me and the GVWR is 10845 LBS. Now, that's freaking heavy. Dry weight us supposedly under 6000 LBS for what it is worth. I would NEVER tow it with any water in it. Since it is seasonal camping, I will make a few trips with all the stuff we'll need. I'll load up the boat and the bed of the truck with stuff on the second trip to keep the weight of the trailer down.
My truck is:
2014 F150 5.0 V8
Screw
4x4
Heavy Duty Payload Package - 2228 lbs of payload
I think I have a 9200 lbs towing capacity
I really can't see myself EVER approaching the GVWR of that trailer. I mean, if I take it to a scale and it is 6500 lbs unloaded, I MIGHT get 1500 lbs of stuff in it. However, that's unlikely. I will be making minimum two trips to bring stuff out for the season.
So, should I even be considering this trailer or is it too much for my truck once wet? The price seems good and it has a nice layout with a slide and bunks... haven't gone to see it yet as it is about an hour away.
06-27-2014, 12:52 AM
#2
Addition: I found a spec sheet online for the trailer. Appears that it is a 2700BHS model with a dry weight of 5625 lbs (for what it's worth, which I guess isn't a lot, lets say this model will be ~6000 lbs with its options) and the GVWR of 10845 lbs was accurate. This thing was built to smuggle gold bricks or something with that much GVWR.
06-29-2014, 02:53 AM
#5
Just be careful. Using an average 13% of total trailer weight for the tongue weight, your standard tow tongue weight rating is 1,050 lbs. That is equal to a loaded trailer weight of only 8,077 lbs.
Using the average norm of 1300 to 1500 lbs of loaded cargo (water, food, clothes, battery, propane, gear), that would put you at a dry weight of 6577 lbs to 6777 lbs dry. It's definitely better to be under this and be below the hitch receiver rating.
Check the trailer yellow sticker for it's dry weight and payload.
Good luck.
Using the average norm of 1300 to 1500 lbs of loaded cargo (water, food, clothes, battery, propane, gear), that would put you at a dry weight of 6577 lbs to 6777 lbs dry. It's definitely better to be under this and be below the hitch receiver rating.
Check the trailer yellow sticker for it's dry weight and payload.
Good luck.
06-29-2014, 08:58 AM
#6
Senior Member
As Mike said, the trailer will have a yellow payload sticker that will have the actual dry weight as it left the factory. FWIW, my trailer has a published dry weight of 7900 lbs, and an actual as delivered dry weight (per sticker) of ~9100 lbs. So, you can see there might be a huge difference (EVERYTHING is an option of RVs). I would be unusually to have a trailer with 4000 + lbs of cargo capacity, RV manufacturers are generally to cheap to "over axle" a trailer by that margin unless they know the real trailer weight will be much higher.
Anyway, your payload will not likely be an issue, it will be the GCVWR and the tongue weight rating of the hitch that will be your limit. I am assuming your truck is an XL trim level without the MaxTow option? As such, that truck was built to haul but not really tow. You will probably need to get the brake controller put in and you may want to look at the tow mirrors as well. Curt makes a Class V hitch for the F150s that will solve the tongue weight limitation should it become a problem.
Anyway, your payload will not likely be an issue, it will be the GCVWR and the tongue weight rating of the hitch that will be your limit. I am assuming your truck is an XL trim level without the MaxTow option? As such, that truck was built to haul but not really tow. You will probably need to get the brake controller put in and you may want to look at the tow mirrors as well. Curt makes a Class V hitch for the F150s that will solve the tongue weight limitation should it become a problem.
06-30-2014, 07:07 AM
#7
As Mike said, the trailer will have a yellow payload sticker that will have the actual dry weight as it left the factory. FWIW, my trailer has a published dry weight of 7900 lbs, and an actual as delivered dry weight (per sticker) of ~9100 lbs. So, you can see there might be a huge difference (EVERYTHING is an option of RVs). I would be unusually to have a trailer with 4000 + lbs of cargo capacity, RV manufacturers are generally to cheap to "over axle" a trailer by that margin unless they know the real trailer weight will be much higher.
Anyway, your payload will not likely be an issue, it will be the GCVWR and the tongue weight rating of the hitch that will be your limit. I am assuming your truck is an XL trim level without the MaxTow option? As such, that truck was built to haul but not really tow. You will probably need to get the brake controller put in and you may want to look at the tow mirrors as well. Curt makes a Class V hitch for the F150s that will solve the tongue weight limitation should it become a problem.
Anyway, your payload will not likely be an issue, it will be the GCVWR and the tongue weight rating of the hitch that will be your limit. I am assuming your truck is an XL trim level without the MaxTow option? As such, that truck was built to haul but not really tow. You will probably need to get the brake controller put in and you may want to look at the tow mirrors as well. Curt makes a Class V hitch for the F150s that will solve the tongue weight limitation should it become a problem.
But my truck is an XLT with HD Payload, 5.0 V8, Screw, 4x4.
