Travel trailer towing help!

[Lane Attaway]

Hey all, wanted to get some insight from people with travel trailers and experience towing them. My fiancé and I are wanting to look for one and have found one we really like, a Bullet 250BHS. Payload on my truck is 1394 lbs. and tongue weight on TT is 600 lbs. so I am good there. Dry weight on the TT is 5285 lbs. and carrying weight is 2115 lbs. which roughly would put the GVW around 7400 lbs. and towing capacity on my truck is 8300 lbs. and actual length is 29’. I know this leaves me with 900 lbs. (which is a little less than what I would prefer for wiggle room but not bad) but I’m more concerned on how the truck would do on interstate/long hauls towing something that long. I am used to towing our 26’ Tritoon in the summer months almost every weekend and some weekdays and am comfortable with how it handles that (even with no trailer brakes) but I never leave local highways. I already am installing air bags on the truck and know the weight distribution hitch w/ sway control will be necessary/highly recommended but I’m just concerned/curious if this TT would “bully” the truck on the interstate or anywhere or if it’d be too much, any info/insight would be very much appreciated!! Btw my truck is a CC 5.7 4x4 with 3.21 gears so I know it’ll probably pull like a pig but I’m not worried about that.

 

[OC455]

Weight Distribution Hitch is a must. Truck should handle the trailer fine if you setup the hitch and load out your trailer correctly.

 

[Lane Attaway]

As in distributing the cargo load in the trailer? If so, I assume it’s best to keep it even as possible but correct me if I’m wrong, a little more of the weight towards the front would be fine right? Like using the front storage area?

 

[crash68]

The best way to know where to move the weight around in the truck/trailer is to weight is at a truck CAT scale. You want to weight just the truck then the truck attached to the trailer w/WDH attached. Do this when you have everything loaded up as if you were traveling. You'll be any to calculate your account tongue weight and be able to adjust the WDH for proper load transfer.

 

[jejb]

Are we talking flat interstates here, or hilly ones? Pretty sure that rig would be fine for flat land, but it's going to be working HARD on any decent hills.

 

[Ramrodd]

If it has the 8 speed transmission it will pull fine. 1st gear is around 4.7 ratio I think.


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[Travelin Ram]

You’re just fine, use the WD hitch and you’ll be steady. You don’t need better gearing, the 8 speed takes care of that. So what if you’re cruising in sixth instead of seventh? Airbags are popular however won’t increase your towing capacity one bit.

 

[tron67j]

Above^. Save your money, airbags won't fix anything, WDH will do that for you.

 

[Ramrodd]

The airbags will act as a stiffer spring. So it will help some and won’t hurt anything.


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[Dennis2]

Hey all, wanted to get some insight from people with travel trailers and experience towing them. My fiancé and I are wanting to look for one and have found one we really like, a Bullet 250BHS. Payload on my truck is 1394 lbs. and tongue weight on TT is 600 lbs. so I am good there. Dry weight on the TT is 5285 lbs. and carrying weight is 2115 lbs. which roughly would put the GVW around 7400 lbs. and towing capacity on my truck is 8300 lbs. and actual length is 29’. I know this leaves me with 900 lbs. (which is a little less than what I would prefer for wiggle room but not bad) but I’m more concerned on how the truck would do on interstate/long hauls towing something that long. I am used to towing our 26’ Tritoon in the summer months almost every weekend and some weekdays and am comfortable with how it handles that (even with no trailer brakes) but I never leave local highways. I already am installing air bags on the truck and know the weight distribution hitch w/ sway control will be necessary/highly recommended but I’m just concerned/curious if this TT would “bully” the truck on the interstate or anywhere or if it’d be too much, any info/insight would be very much appreciated!! Btw my truck is a CC 5.7 4x4 with 3.21 gears so I know it’ll probably pull like a pig but I’m not worried about that.

Where are you getting your weight calculations from concerning the trailer? If it’s from the dealer they won’t be correct especially that low tongue weight. They will tell you anything to sell a trailer. The length and shape of that trailer has to be taken into consideration also it’s not like pulling a boat trailer. What is the combined weight rating for your truck and trailer? With the 3.21 the ratings are pretty low compared to the 3.93. I had the 3.21 and my trailer truck combo was over weight from the get go. And your right it pulled like crap. With that trailer you should be in the 3/4 ton range. IMO.

 

[jvbuttex]

my 1500 has bags and WDH for pulling out Passport. Truck scale shows 6200 loaded when we headed out last trip. We have taken it around Oregon, Down I-5 did great on the freeway, hills no problem. I rarely get passed. There is a good hill leaving bend where we were defiantly climbing. not an issue, typical cars building up behind me, but not slowing down other trailer rigs. I defiantly yield to the speed signs for the corners, but have no issues coming down big hills with trailer pushing me. We have OEM brake controller and it works great. I think you will be find.

 

[CamperMike]

I tow a slightly lighter passport 2400bh with a similar truck to yours. Tongue weight will be more like 800-900 once you load the trailer which means you will be close on cargo capacity. The truck should be able to pull it fine though. I think some of these people trashing the 3.21 haven't used it with the 8 speed. I towed our trailer all over colorado this last summer and it was not lacking for power. Most times I could climb hills at the speed limit and had plenty in reserve. With the proper wdh stability should be great. Just watch your weight in the truck as you will be close or over gvwr depending on how many people and how much stuff you put in the truck.

 

[Firebird]

Personally, I am not a fan of towing with a 1500 when you are approaching max tow capacity, I just prefer having more margin when dealing with that much weight, especially with my family on board. That being said, many, many guys do it, and do it successfully. There’s some great advice on this thread, read it all and make your decision.

 

[Lane Attaway]

So far it seems I should be fine. The specs are from a dealers site but it’s been the same across multiple dealer sites. I know they are gonna advertise lowest possible weight they can but that’s why I said something about the extra head room I would have (~900lbs.) because I know what’s listed on the internet is not true for every single unit built. I wanna run airbags mainly just to stiffen up the rear under load, just seems a little too bouncy to me when there’s weight on it plus they’re only $100, I’m not going for one of the full kits. To jvbuttex and campermike, running 65-70, on flat ground and/or hills what is your rpm range w/ the 8 speed? Where we would be heading would be flatter ground (beach one direction) and hilly (blue ridge mountain area, I’m SC born and bred! Lol)

 

[AFMoulton]

Everyone here is right, you need a Weight Distribution Hitch with sway control. 100%.

Also, when you load it up, your tongue weight will be closer to 900#s not the 600#s. So your margin in the truck is now ~600#s.



2018 Ram 2500 6.4L 4x4
Amsoil SS 0W-40

 

[Lane Attaway]

Everyone here is right, you need a Weight Distribution Hitch with sway control. 100%.

Also, when you load it up, your tongue weight will be closer to 900#s not the 600#s. So your margin in the truck is now ~600#s.



2018 Ram 2500 6.4L 4x4
Amsoil SS 0W-40

So Is the tongue weight not factored in to the dry weight or the GVW? Thought the tongue weight was just the amount of the total weight that is on the tongue of the trailer not additional weight to the trailer?

 

[AFMoulton]

So Is the tongue weight not factored in to the dry weight or the GVW? Thought the tongue weight was just the amount of the total weight that is on the tongue of the trailer not additional weight to the trailer?

Tongue weight is factored into the GVW, but all that tongue will eat into your trucks payload. So, the tongue weight they show you is without two 30# propane tanks and a 80# battery on the tongue, or all the stuff you pack into the camper. So more realistic is 10-15%, lean to 15%, of the GVW of the trailer.

So if your GVW of the trailer is 7400#s, then I would be willing to say you will be right at 1000#s of tongue weight.

My current set up is a 33.5’ Travel trailer. GVWR is 9995, my tongue weight loaded and ready to go is 1450#s.




2018 Ram 2500 6.4L 4x4
Amsoil SS 0W-40

 

[CamperMike]

So Is the tongue weight not factored in to the dry weight or the GVW? Thought the tongue weight was just the amount of the total weight that is on the tongue of the trailer not additional weight to the trailer?

The rated tongue weight is with nothing on or in the unit. Actual tw will be 12-15% of the trailer packed for travel. Normally you would guess based on trailer gvwr but yours has a huge 2000lb carrying capacity like mine and you likely will not load it that much. I carry around 1000lb of stuff in mine. So 4500 dry weight and something like 500lb rated tw is actually 5500lbs trailer and around 800lbs tw.

 

[CamperMike]

Lane, I don't remember normal rpms on flat ground. It will run usually in 6th or 7th but I often lock out 7th as it will shift down on the smallest of hills or lug the engine. With hills.... It depends on how steep. The hemi needs to rev a bit for max power so 3500+ would be common, possibly 4500 for brief periods. When in the mountains I never looked much... The engine screamed a bit but pulled no issue. It is a good idea to watch oil temps however as they can get pretty high if you are on a longer hill. Slow down a bit and they'll drop again.

 

[CamperMike]

Duplicate

 

[jvbuttex]

So far it seems I should be fine. The specs are from a dealers site but it’s been the same across multiple dealer sites. I know they are gonna advertise lowest possible weight they can but that’s why I said something about the extra head room I would have (~900lbs.) because I know what’s listed on the internet is not true for every single unit built.

So my trailer was listed at 6200lbs.... I roll though the scales 6300 when we are loaded and full of water on board... So take advertised as a estimate.