First time pulling.

911ems · Aug 21, 2017

We bought a FR Cherokee 274dbh and took it out for the first time. Pulled great. Dry weight is 6300, loaded is 7800. Using an equalizer fastway e2 wdh, only has 2 point control. Thinking about going for the 4 point. Towed great at 65 and didn't have hardly any sway even with semis flying by us. Seemed to have plenty of power left even with 3.21 gears.

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69GWC · Aug 21, 2017

Looks nice, I have a 28' and yes the 3:21s dont have any problems pulling it.

911ems · Aug 21, 2017

Have you done much mountain driving? Wondering how it'll do through the hills. The 8sp definitely seems to be a good trans for pulling.

AFMoulton · Aug 21, 2017

Looks great! Have fun! Keep it in 6th gear with the manual buttons and then down to 4th in the mountains and it will do great.

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AFMoulton · Aug 21, 2017

Keystone Hideout 26BHSWE, 6800 empty, 7750 as it sits loaded up. 8sp with 3.21 does just fine at 65

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muzupan · Aug 21, 2017

911ems said:
We bought a FR Cherokee 274dbh and took it out for the first time. Pulled great. Dry weight is 6300, loaded is 7800. Using an equalizer fastway e2 wdh, only has 2 point control. Thinking about going for the 4 point. Towed great at 65 and didn't have hardly any sway even with semis flying by us. Seemed to have plenty of power left even with 3.21 gears.

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Nice rig, congrats. I had the same Fastway you have in my old trailer, it worked great but now I I have the equalizer with the 4 point I like it much more, of course my new trailer is a lot heavier 7400 lbs loaded vs 9960 lbs loaded. Do you know your to gue weight with the trailer loaded? The short coming of the system you have is the bars only go up to 1000 lbs.

911ems · Aug 21, 2017

I was hoping to find some one that has had both. My tongue weight loaded is suppose to be 900 but I have not scaled that. My hopes were to get the 4pt with the 1200 bars. So do you believe the upgrade in hitchs is worth it? I was impressed with the control the 2pt had, but if I can make it even better than I'm all for that. They come up used on Craigslist and fb around here once in awhile.

BiGMERF · Aug 21, 2017

awesome !! enjoy !

AFMoulton · Aug 21, 2017

So I have the Husky Centerline Tow System with the 1400 lb TW and 14000 lb trailer weight, and it locks that trailer in place, I also bought way more hitch than I would need so I would never have to buy another hitch again!

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Smokey613 · Aug 21, 2017

AFMoulton said:
Looks great! Have fun! Keep it in 6th gear with the manual buttons and then down to 4th in the mountains and it will do great.

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I have a question on this. I can see manually using a lower gear downhill to assist in braking but otherwise why not just use the Tow/Haul mode and let the computers decide what gear it needs to be in?

911ems · Aug 21, 2017

I believe it's just to keep the truck from going into 7th for 10 seconds then kicking back down to 6th. I locked out 8th on the way home today on flat ground and it was happy to be in 7th. The trans did seem to be fairly smart in its gear selection, but I don't mind the rpms being a touch higher when pulling. The tow haul button did seem to help the truck.

911ems · Aug 21, 2017

I did find out that my snap on mirrors aren't enough. The passenger side couldn't see around the awning brackets :/

kltk1 · Aug 21, 2017

This is great information, thanks for sharing.

I'm not nitpicking, as we're looking at travel trailers too, but was wondering if you weighed your trailer to get to the 7800lb number? Also, I noticed both the OP a day AFMoulton have the Tradesmen model trucks. I have a Big Horn QC with a GCWR of 12900lbs., what's the GCWR on your Tradesmen models?

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911ems · Aug 21, 2017

AFMoulton said:
So I have the Husky Centerline Tow System with the 1400 lb TW and 14000 lb trailer weight, and it locks that trailer in place, I also bought way more hitch than I would need so I would never have to buy another hitch again!

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I'll have to check that brand out too! I'm a used kind buyer so I'll watch for them out there. Currently there's a blue ox for sale but they still want 500 for it. Thinking at least a 1200/12k will do it some good.

911ems · Aug 21, 2017

kltk1 said:
This is great information, thanks for sharing.

I'm not nitpicking, as we're looking at travel trailers too, but was wondering if you weighed your trailer to get to the 7800lb number? Also, I noticed both the OP a day AFMoulton have the Tradesmen model trucks. I have a Big Horn QC with a GCWR of 12900lbs., what's the GCWR on your Tradesmen models?

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I'll be honest, I'm going off the brochure on the camper numbers. The dealer said the loaded 7800 number would be considered all tanks full and normal belongings and such for the camper sleep number. He could of been blowing smoke. I forget what the tradesman # is, I'll have to look that one up again. I know my cargo is 1470.

AFMoulton · Aug 21, 2017

So my reason for 6th gear is that it keeps me in the power and more, if I need to react, where 7/8 are Overdrives, in flat ground I may shift it to 7th and let it do its thing, but if I'm approaching hills I will shift it manually, also, I think Tow haul is a gimmick on these trucks, I've found that I can pick a better gear/ unload the truck from working too hard vs what Tow haul does for me.

I've pulled every trailer like that and everyone in my family does the same with their trucks and trailers.

Just personal preference, also I've learned from research that Tow/haul only adjust the shift point, where as it used to allow the trans cooler to run all the time, so that's another reason

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muzupan · Aug 21, 2017

911ems said:
I was hoping to find some one that has had both. My tongue weight loaded is suppose to be 900 but I have not scaled that. My hopes were to get the 4pt with the 1200 bars. So do you believe the upgrade in hitchs is worth it? I was impressed with the control the 2pt had, but if I can make it even better than I'm all for that. They come up used on Craigslist and fb around here once in awhile.

I personally think it would be worth the upgrade. I would consider going to the 1400 pound bars even though you may not need it. My old trailer tongue weight was supposed to be around 800 pounds but when I scaled it it was pushing 1000 pounds. You could always sell your current hitch to pay for some of it. I purchased mine new from radauto.com, I paid less than $500. I just had to buy a new ball whcih they carried as well.

911ems · Aug 21, 2017

kltk1 said:
This is great information, thanks for sharing.

I'm not nitpicking, as we're looking at travel trailers too, but was wondering if you weighed your trailer to get to the 7800lb number? Also, I noticed both the OP a day AFMoulton have the Tradesmen model trucks. I have a Big Horn QC with a GCWR of 12900lbs., what's the GCWR on your Tradesmen models?

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Tradesman is 13,500 with the 3.21 and 8spd hemi.

911ems · Aug 21, 2017

muzupan said:
I personally think it would be worth the upgrade. I would consider going to the 1400 pound bars even though you may not need it. My old trailer tongue weight was supposed to be around 800 pounds but when I scaled it it was pushing 1000 pounds. You could always sell your current hitch to pay for some of it. I purchased mine new from radauto.com, I paid less than $500. I just had to buy a new ball whcih they carried as well.

I bought the e2 hitch for $100 so hopefully I can make a few bucks on it towards the 4pt. I have a rear rack on my camper that I loaded w firewood to hopefully pull some tongue weight. It did seem like most of these Cherokee models were front heavy.

Good to know the 4pt isn't just a gimmick!

kltk1 · Aug 21, 2017

911ems said:
Tradesman is 13,500 with the 3.21 and 8spd hemi.

That's promising. Thanks. We're taking a hard look at a Jayco Octane 222, 5313lbs dry. Like everyone else with a half-ton, I'm bouncing off GCWR when loaded with passengers in the truck and all the other essentials for towing.

First time pulling.

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