Towing a Travel Trailer RV with a 1/2 ton Pickup! Watch this!

so what's going on folks so this video is to explain why a coach like this which is a vibe extreme light isn't going to be the right type of RV for a half-ton truck and I'm not talking about specifically this coach I'm talking about any coach that's in the weight and length class of this unit so if we're looking at the numbers of this specific coach you can see that it has an eight thousand four hundred and thirty-two pound gross vehicle weight rating and then it has a maximum of twenty 437 pounds cargo capacity this unit is going to be roughly thirty feet long now something to note about when you read the stickers in regards to the length of an RV this really isn't the length this is more of a model number even though it's kind of supposed to signify a length so you would probably see this and go well it's twenty eight point seven feet long because it's 287 in reality the interior space is going to be about twenty eight point seven feet long the overall length of this trailer is going to be this usually plus about four to five feet so when everything's said and done you're approaching about thirty two feet overall and let me explain why so the length on the model number generally indicates just the cabin it's not indicating the front a frame of your trailer or everything that hangs off the back of the trailer and this usually adds about probably two feet so you have in reality four feet on the front two feet on the back you have six additional feet in addition to the actual body length of this coach so those are all important things to keep in mind whenever you're towing a trailer remember there are tons of different types of trailers you can have a utility trailer you can have a flatbed you could have a box trailer cargo trailer fifth wheel travel trailer there's all sorts of types of trailers available understanding how they tow and that they all towed differently is vitally important if you want to safely tow with your vehicle so with the coach this long roughly 8,500 pounds of weight why couldn't you tow this with half-ton truck that's rated at say 9,000 pounds right it's still under the maximum tow capacity of the truck well let's talk about that so when you look at a trailer like this apex Nano which is a much much shorter trailer and you compare it to this vibe this vibe is roughly a foot taller than this apex Nano which means you have that much more wind surface area that's going to be hitting your trailer from the side when trucks pass you versus one that's not quite as tall and is slightly shorter why this is important is because one foot one additional foot of height is a significant amount when it comes to the amount of wind that's going to be pressing up against it from the side which could in turn cause slave or other catastrophic issues if you're driving in high winds now if either of these were flat trailers let's say they were simply utility trailers and let's say you went to the store and you loaded one up with 6,000 pounds worth of bricks well the profile of that type of load is going to be completely different than a hollow box that you're pulling down the road that's essentially a large wall if you have a flat utility trailer that's approaching your truck's maximum tow capacity with a lot of weight on it well that flat utility trailer isn't going to be acting like a wall first of all and secondly all that centralized weight is going to be pushing down on it so it's also going to help prevent that side-to-side rocking motion and it's not going to be impacted by wind nearly as much as a coach or an RV like this now I know all sorts of people watch my channel and make claims that they have certain types of half-ton trucks and they Tove Airy long travel trailers without any issue and that's completely fine if you're doing that or you're capable or feel comfortable of doing that but for people who watch my channel who want to get into our ving I don't want to put them in a situation where they feel just because the truck manufacturer said my truck can tow 10,000 pounds that they can go out and get a 10,000 pound travel trailer it just doesn't make sense and you're going to have a very very white-knuckle and dangerous experience when you're towing it when it comes to using a half-ton truck like the Chevy Silverado trail boss with roughly a 9,000 pound maximum tow capacity you're gonna want to be very careful in terms of what you actually put behind this truck from an RV perspective about as large as I would want to go is something like this apex Nano coming in at 6,000 pounds and as before when I talked about the length is 20 feet eight inches long from an interior perspective you're gonna be looking close for about 25 feet total length from an exterior perspective so that's about the maximum length and weight I would want to go 25 feet maximum length and 6,000 pounds maximum weight you could tow virtually any arpad just fine even the longest are pods half-ton truck shouldn't have any problem towing in our pod even if you look at a real light like this you're still looking 4500 pounds maximum gross weight rating so this is even fine so this apex Nano comes in at about 4,700 pounds definitely something you can tow with a half ton truck no problem I would consider this vibe extreme light to heavy this Puma is definitely too heavy let's look at the weight on this one this one's seven thousand six hundred and eighty seven pounds this thing is definitely a little bit longer and a little heavier than I would recommend pulling behind a half-ton truck this is 3/4 ton truck area in my opinion let's take a look at this surveyor so this surveyor has a gross vehicle weight rating a seven thousand seven hundred and seventy eight pounds this is absolutely 3/4 ton space in my opinion I would not put this behind a half-ton truck again I know people do it and I'm not criticizing those of you who do if you feel comfortable towing something this heavy this long and this tall behind your half-ton truck that's entirely up to you consider yourself a veteran or an expert in that area I guess but in my opinion I just wouldn't tell anything like this behind a half-ton truck it leaves way too much room for situations that are going to be difficult to get out of and if you look at the sticker here 266 that simply means 20 6.6 feet from a body perspective attack another four to five feet on to that you're looking at about 30 and a half 31 feet long now this Puma I would absolutely not tow with anything other than a 3/4 ton 1 ton or even a dually mainly because if you look at the weight of this coach you're looking right at 10,500 pound gross vehicle weight rating this thing is a very heavy coach it has three slides the numbers designate that the interior space of this coach is about 32 feet long so the exterior of this coach including the a-frame is going to be about 36 to 37 feet long definitely something that you want as much stability as much natural suede control as possible when towing I would absolutely recommend a 1-ton or a dually if you're gonna tow something like this just the hitch weight alone is going to be over a thousand pounds anyways guys figured I would do a quick video on this topic because a lot of people ask me all the time that they think they're half-ton truck is capable of towing a certain type or certain model of travel trailer and I just want people to be warned that travel trailers aren't flat utility trailers they're not boats they're not cargo trailers they're completely different in terms of how they're balanced how they're weighted where things are placed inside of them they're essentially Hollow boxes with walls that you're driving down the road and they are very susceptible to wind sway and all sorts of natural elements so I want you to keep that in mind anytime you're looking at trying to determine what type of travel trailer you should toe with your truck now I've said this before and I'll say it again in my opinion half-ton truck with max tow packages I would keep your travel trailer under 6000 pounds I would not go heavier than that and I would keep the overall length when everything is said and done to under 28 feet I think if you stick with those numbers you'll feel much more confident towing your trailer behind your half-ton truck anyways guys I hope you enjoyed the video if you did please take a moment subscribe to my channel give me a thumbs up and I'll talk to you again very soon [Music]

Channel: Big Truck Big RV

Views: 1,673,800

Keywords: RVing, New RV, RV Shopping, Lippert, Jayco, Forest River, Toy Hauler, Winnebago, Coachmen, Airstream, Dutchmen, Morryde, Offgrid, Solar, RV Solar, Trailer, Apex, Voltage, F450, F350, F250, Living Vehicle, Light Ship, Crossroads, Cruiser RV, DRV, Entegra, Heartland, Keystone RV, KZ RV, Redwood RV, Starcraft, Thor, Tiffin, Venture, Riverstone, Dynamax, Palomino, Prime Time, Shasta, Grand Design, Newmar, Powerstroke, Cummins, Duramax, Towing, 2023, 2024, RV, Travel Trailer, Fifth Wheel, Coach, Motorhome, Toyota, 3500, 2500

Id: M75Sm7XaIdY

Length: 8min 23sec (503 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 23 2018