New to RV’s Seeking Advice

I pulled our 6000# 28' travel trailer all over the place with our '19 laramie 1500 4x4 ccsb. tongue wt. will vary a lot by trailer but ours was under 600# when loaded for travel and I never had any trouble with sway and the trailer tracked great. these trucks have great brakes and I set the brake controller at 5.5 and never had any trouble stopping. I changed out the sway bar to the Helwig and put airbags. I ran around 25# when towing and added a few pounds to the tires to stiffen up things when towing. cruised at 68-69 and got 8.5-10 depending on terrain. get yourself a good WDH and use tow/haul. you will be at the upper end of what that truck will comfortably tow. maybe plan for 65 mph and dont pack much in the truck bed. get it weighed to see exactly where you stand.

TRK_GANG74 said:

I’ve been playing with this calculator for over an hour now and used 2 different trailer numbers and each one says I’m over. Maybe I’m doing something wrong or it’s right. Getting frustrated with this calculator. Screw it I’m gonna get my truck weighed on Monday with a full tank of gas and try again. Truck has a 26 gal tank. Brain is hurting from looking at numbers all day and I gotta operate this dang crane tonight.

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I too have been camping in travel trailers for decades. Owned and pulled a lot of travel trailers (bumper pulls). Can your truck pull that camper- yeah probably. Will it be a white knuckle, tense, stressful time behind the wheel- yeah probably especially in winds.

All too often I see folks buy a travel trailer then realize they live it but want more room and upgrade. I recommend getting a truck you can safely tow a good size travel trailer with without being stressed all the time.

Should be fine. Get a good weight distribution kit. Have the dealer install it and how you how to use it. Take it for a ride at expressway speeds before camping. If it feels uncomfortable, take it back for them to check. They may need to adjust it.

Some newbie towing tips:
Avoid going faster than 65 mph. The faster you go the worse your fuel mileage is. If it's windy, drive slower.
Tire pressure is very important (truck and trailer.) If one tire is 5lbs less than the others, you will likely feel it with sway.
Tire condition is just as important. Tires older than 5 years or have dry rot are ticking time bombs. I like Goodyear Endurance tires.
Use tow/haul mode.. always.. You can use cruise control on highways too.
Tractor Trailers create a suck zone as they pass. You may feel the trailer pull sideways. I like to ride towards the edge of my lane forcing them to get to their edge on the opposite side and then cut back to the other side of my lane. This creates a larger gap which lessens the effect.

TRK_GANG74 said:

Thank you for the detailed look. The answer to your gear question is thing like chairs, table, dog food, 1/2 case of bottled water, clothing, paper eating utensils, toiletries(minimum to get going). That number would probably be less. Tanks would all be dry until at the site.

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The others have you on the right track, so I won't repeat what they've said. However, I will add a caveat to you. If you think it might even be close now, pick a lighter trailer or a bigger truck. As you begin to camp and if you find that you really enjoy it, you'll (I mean your wife) will begin adding little odds and ends to make the experience more fun. Before you know it... you'll be grossly overweight. Trust me. I always tried to leave a good amount of cushion to make sure to account for the accumulation of things that naturally happens.

Slowly we are narrowing in on a TT around 16 to 22ft. Still have a lot more places to look. Found a towing calculator online that has been spitting out some good numbers but I would like to give the same numbers to someone else to confirm the results.

SniperDroid said:

One change. Put three gallons of water in the black tank before you head out, and search t he web for the GEO METHOD, you won't regret it.

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Would this GEO method be ok on a Casita travel trailer with smaller holding tanks? (Black tank 15 gallons, gray tank 25 gallons) Obviously I would use a bit less than what is recommended for larger tanks.

Gawdzilla said:

Would this GEO method be ok on a Casita travel trailer with smaller holding tanks? (Black tank 15 gallons, gray tank 25 gallons) Obviously I would use a bit less than what is recommended for larger tanks.

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We've been doing it for over 5 seasons now. Never any odor, never fails to drain. I would recommend it on any size tank, just adjust for your capicity. I use 3 gallons of water in the tank, and a gallon of mixture before departure. That's 4 gallons towards my 30 gallon black tank. Camp for 5 days without flushing the BT.

When it comes to black tanks it doesn’t matter what type of solid deteriorating product you use (commercial or homemade) as long you use one and more importantly rinse the tank with multiple flushed thoroughly and often. It also helps to add 5 gallons or so of water before you start using the toilet and use lots of water each time you use the toilet.

TRK_GANG74 said:

Me and the wife are considering a Travel Trailer. This is a first for both of us. Been watching a ton of YT videos, talking with current owners and poking around on RV lots. I currently drive a 2019 Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn with air suspension. I am attaching some info on the kind of rig we are interested in. It’s going to be a while before we purchase. The attached pics is from a rig we like. Can the truck handle it?? I think she can based off what I know already but what do you experienced folks think. Good or bad.
I have the towing info from Rams site using my VIN attached and also the info from the dealers site and travel trailer itself. It would be me, wife, kid and 2 border collies. The family comes in at 520 lbs. Gear would come in at 500 lbs.

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I would definitely perfer a 2500 just works better. Especially if you r bear the wt limt

With the numbers that you have supplied for the TT, it looks like you will have less than 400 lbs of capacity on your truck for the TT tongue weight. You could easily end up with 800 - 900 lbs of tongue weight from a 7000 lb loaded TT. Your truck would be overloaded.
I just want to offer a question for you. You may want to get the TT dealers response and study this point. A travel trailer with two 3500 lb. axles and the trailer is rated for almost 7500 lbs? The dealer will likely tell you that the truck will carry 15% of the weight. If they tell you not to worry about the weight over the 7000 lb axle capacity, ask them what the trailer break-a-way cable is for and what is the max brake capacity for the TT? I started looking for a TT with two 4400 lb axles if the max weight of the TT is over 7000 lbs.

That truck and trailer setup should be fine, like others said, get a quality WDH, load it evenly, get airbags to help with the sag. Take it slow, uphill, downhill and the flats, you will have those RPMs peaking if you plan on any decent hill assents, plan way ahead when hitting downhill slopes with curves, down shifting and proper trailer brake setup is important. What I found helped a lot with my towing is a good set of tires, those OEM rubbers are intended for a smooth ride, soft and squishy. A good 8-10 ply LT truck tire made a big difference in my stability, don’t feel that wobble as much when the big rigs zoom past. My setup 2018 1500 Bighorn ccsb, 3.92 gears. Rated 1500 lb cargo/10k towing capacity. TT 24’ camper, 28’ tongue to tail, 4700 dry, 6700 loaded, 5-600 lb tongue weight. From home to favorite camp spot is about 150miles, going from 1200ft to 8k feet in elevation with multiple hill climbs in between. Plan on ALOT of gas. MPG drops big time on those accents. But all of it is worth it once I’m sitting in my boat on that high mountain lake in 60deg weather in July!

@MADDOG This spreadsheet finally - FINALLY - helped me understand how much of an RV I can actually safely tow. Charts and PDFs online say my rig can tow about 8,500 lbs. But your spreadsheet showed me that I should really be shopping for something with a dry weight of no more than 4,000 lbs. You probably saved my engine, and maybe my life.

FullSteveAhead said:

@MADDOG This spreadsheet finally - FINALLY - helped me understand how much of an RV I can actually safely tow. Charts and PDFs online say my rig can tow about 8,500 lbs. But your spreadsheet showed me that I should really be shopping for something with a dry weight of no more than 4,000 lbs. You probably saved my engine, and maybe my life.

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" This spreadsheet finally - FINALLY - helped me understand how much of an RV I can actually safely tow. "

Where is it?

Jane S said:

Where is it?

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Here's the link from MADDOG.

Dodge 1500 4X4 said:

Here's the link from MADDOG.

Towing Capacity Worksheet – RoadNotes

www.roadnotes.com

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Yes that's a good one. Thanks