Just saying Hello!

[brian4rv]

Just joined and wanted to say hello. Our family is considering a travel trailer and came here for help and research.

Don't want to upgrade vehicles, currently have a GX460 capable of towing 6,500LBS. However, our family really needs a trailer that has a sperate room for the bunks with an actual door and not curtain's. I'm completely new at this but can already tell our needs are special and may even be custom. Our son is 3 and he needs his quiet time for rest. We want to the extra bunkroom to give him that while we can enjoy some adult time after he's gone to bed. Any ideas I'm all ears. Thanks everyone, really glad to be here!

 

[Germanrazor]

First let me say welcome. Hmmmmm, 6500 lbs. towing is not much and needing a separate bunk quarters. Dry weight alone on most separate bunkhouses will be approaching that weight alone without any other equipment loaded unless an ultralight has been developed with that configuration but if so, they will be few to pick from I would think.

Forget towing capacity a moment, what is your payload rating? This is more important most often and the first set of numbers one looks at for ability of their tow vehicle and the TT mated to it.

Good luck and maybe there is something out there but I am betting you may just need a dedicated tow vehicle to get the TT you want and need.

 

[Germanrazor]

I was curious and looked up payload on your vehicle. Anywhere between 1420 lbs roughly. That is not much to be honest. Your tongue weight alone would be at best in your favor maybe 700 lbs. and that is with dry propane tanks. So off the bat you are down to roughly 720 lbs roughly. Factor in occupant weight alone and this scenario, adult male 190 lbs, adult female 150 lbs and then child 80 lbs you are another 420 lbs into the leftover 720 lbs. Now depending on how the payload was calculated, factor a full tank of fuel weight then any gear. You see where I am going I hope. You have eaten if not close to but all your payload.

This is why Super Duty and Heavy Duty trucks and big engines and diesels were developed. Now if you were looking to a small ultralight in a 20 ft length that weighed maybe 3500 lbs. and you could distribute load on the camper with gear and then just your body weight to add to payload you would be fine with your current setup I would say. Do people obviously overload such vehicles anyway and do so successfully? Yes, but I would not want to put my family at possible risk or another on the road.

I really believe towing for vehicles like yours was mainly meant for lightweight utility trailers and small pop up campers and such. I had a Toyota Sequoia I loved, but the numbers were not sufficient to tow a larger trailer for sure. The F-250 Super Duty I bought just for towing the Grey Wolf was out of necessity for sure. A $60k truck is quite insane when I remember trucks in the late 70’s and early 80’s were almost given away by dealers because they were work specific mainly. I had a friend that worked for Ford and in the 90’s when truck and SUV prices sky rocketed and I asked him why?? He laughed and said, and I only repeat what he said from demographics and numbers, was due to women getting into wanting trucks for fun and they knew they would pay whatever they could demand! Men on the other hand used them for farm work and construction and they were not joy riders! LOL.........don’t throw rocks at me for saying this, just repeating what he told me 30 years ago. Now look at truck prices.....some approach $80k just for a pickup! Crazy!

 

[brian4rv]

I was curious and looked up payload on your vehicle. Anywhere between 1420 lbs roughly. That is not much to be honest. Your tongue weight alone would be at best in your favor maybe 700 lbs. and that is with dry propane tanks. So off the bat you are down to roughly 720 lbs roughly. Factor in occupant weight alone and this scenario, adult male 190 lbs, adult female 150 lbs and then child 80 lbs you are another 420 lbs into the leftover 720 lbs. Now depending on how the payload was calculated, factor a full tank of fuel weight then any gear. You see where I am going I hope. You have eaten if not close to but all your payload.

This is why Super Duty and Heavy Duty trucks and big engines and diesels were developed. Now if you were looking to a small ultralight in a 20 ft length that weighed maybe 3500 lbs. and you could distribute load on the camper with gear and then just your body weight to add to payload you would be fine with your current setup I would say. Do people obviously overload such vehicles anyway and do so successfully? Yes, but I would not want to put my family at possible risk or another on the road.

I really believe towing for vehicles like yours was mainly meant for lightweight utility trailers and small pop up campers and such. I had a Toyota Sequoia I loved, but the numbers were not sufficient to tow a larger trailer for sure. The F-250 Super Duty I bought just for towing the Grey Wolf was out of necessity for sure. A $60k truck is quite insane when I remember trucks in the late 70’s and early 80’s were almost given away by dealers because they were work specific mainly. I had a friend that worked for Ford and in the 90’s when truck and SUV prices sky rocketed and I asked him why?? He laughed and said, and I only repeat what he said from demographics and numbers, was due to women getting into wanting trucks for fun and they knew they would pay whatever they could demand! Men on the other hand used them for farm work and construction and they were not joy riders! LOL.........don’t throw rocks at me for saying this, just repeating what he told me 30 years ago. Now look at truck prices.....some approach $80k just for a pickup! Crazy!

Thanks for all this great information. I guess I was hoping my truck could pull a bit more. I do not want to overload in an unsafe manner that's for sure. Point of the travel trailer is the money savings compared to your RV. Guess we'll need to re-think everything now.

I did see this Starcraft 26BH. I know the bunks are open but if it saves us from buying a 60K Truck I'll reconsider our options.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

It really is about the money for most of us. I have two trailers a 16ft cargo trailer and a 26ft fifth ultra light design. I added an extra roughly 700# of batteries and was wondering how I would deal with it.

Well an estate sale had an old 1999 1ton flat bed work truck for sale and the price reflected the need to get it running right(under 3 grand). Moved the fifth hitch over to the flat bed and installed a racing radiator with oil coolers and fixed the problems over the last few days and now I have two trucks one for each trailer.

Even if I had had to have someone else fix the truck I don't think I would have spent more than 1 grand to do it. The radiator is for mountain use as it will get a lot of that.

The point here is if you want a trailer for occasional use, Why not have a old truck for the same. My now RV truck (old work truck) will only see use when the fifth is on the road.

 

[brian4rv]

It really is about the money for most of us. I have two trailers a 16ft cargo trailer and a 26ft fifth ultra light design. I added an extra roughly 700# of batteries and was wondering how I would deal with it.

Well an estate sale had an old 1999 1ton flat bed work truck for sale and the price reflected the need to get it running right(under 3 grand). Moved the fifth hitch over to the flat bed and installed a racing radiator with oil coolers and fixed the problems over the last few days and now I have two trucks one for each trailer.

Even if I had had to have someone else fix the truck I don't think I would have spent more than 1 grand to do it. The radiator is for mountain use as it will get a lot of that.

The point here is if you want a trailer for occasional use, Why not have a old truck for the same. My now RV truck (old work truck) will only see use when the fifth is on the road.

It's def. a consideration. You do come across some great deals on craigslist every now and then. Sounds like your a mechanic and can hold your own if your down on the side of the road 450 miles from home. I can swing a wrench but would like a bit more reliability when I'm away from home, not that confident in my skills you might say. I may look around and see what I can find.